Why does humanity so often remember civilization as something taught rather than independently invented?
The recurring archetype of beings who appear at the threshold of civilization and bring:
- writing;
- agriculture;
- astronomy;
- law;
- ritual;
- healing;
- metallurgy;
- music;
- measurement;
- sacred kingship;
- temple arts.
Across traditions these figures appear as:
- angels;
- Watchers;
- Apkallu;
- culture heroes;
- sages;
- divine kings;
- star-beings;
- teachers from the gods.
The Descent of the Gods / Civilizing Teachers
When the Gods Walked Among Men
- Anunnaki;
- Apkallu;
- Egyptian divine dynasties;
- Watchers;
- culture heroes;
- Oannes;
- Thoth;
- Prometheus;
- Viracocha or Quetzalcoatl as comparative side-notes if useful;
- divine kingship traditions.
Ancient humanity repeatedly remembers a period when knowledge came from beings perceived as more-than-human.
Are they?
- gods;
- angels;
- extraterrestrials;
- survivors of earlier civilization;
- priestly elites mythologized later;
- archetypal figures;
- visionary beings;
- combinations of the above.