Ancient Asian Wonders of the World ( Mausoleum at Halicarnassus )

why and what makes Mausoleum at Halicarnassus a wonder of ancient world of Asia in present day Turkey?

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The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus (in Greek, Μαυσωλεῖον τῆς Ἁλικαρνασσοῦ) was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC in the Greek colony of Halicarnassus for Mausolus, a satrap in the Persian Empire, and Artemisia II of Caria, his wife and sister. The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyros and Pythis. It stood approximately 45 m (148 ft) in height, and each of the four sides was adorned with sculptural reliefs created by each one of four Greek sculptors — Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas of Paros and Timotheus. The finished structure was considered to be such an aesthetic triumph that Antipater of Sidon identified it as one of his Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.



The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus:
The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus or Tomb of Mausolus (in Greek, Μαυσωλεῖον τῆς Ἁλικαρνασσοῦ) was a tomb built between 353 and 350 BC at Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey) for Mausolus, a satrap in the Persian Empire, and Artemisia II of Caria, his wife and sister. The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyros and Pythius of Priene. The Mausoleum stood approximately 45 m (148 ft) in height, and each of the four sides was adorned with sculptural reliefs created by each one of four Greek sculptors — Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas of Paros and Timotheus. The finished structure of the mauloseum was considered to be such an aesthetic triumph that Antipater of Sidon identified it as one of his Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

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Ancient Asian Wonders of the World ( Hanging Garden)

The Hanging Gardens are one of the Wonders of the World from the ancient world of the Asians of Babylonia , present day Iraq

Does it really exists , today ?
What makes it a Wonder and why ?

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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are considered to be one of the original Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. They were built in the ancient city-state of Babylon, near present-day Al Hillah, Babil, in Iraq. They are sometimes called the Hanging Gardens of Semiramis (in reference to the legendary Queen Semiramis).

The gardens were supposedly built by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II around 600 BC. He is reported to have constructed the gardens to please his homesick wife, Amytis of Media, who longed for the trees and fragrant plants of her homeland Persia. The gardens were destroyed by several earthquakes after the second century BC.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIVw4JkXpY4&feature=share&list=LPLzYuJQeAoDY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDRze962yFU&feature=share&list=LPLzYuJQeAoDY

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The killer badgers of Basra

Honey Badgers

BASRA, Iraq — Nazariya al-Muwamara, they call it in Arabic: the conspiracy theory. As they go, this one is a gem.

Take a Western army wearing out its welcome in the ancient land of Mesopotamia. Add a large, sharp-toothed creature halfway between a bear and the Hound of the Baskervilles. Simmer in the 120-degree Fahrenheit (49-Celsius) temperatures of summer and sprinkle with provincial Iraqi newspapers eager to fill newsprint gaps left by vacationing government officials.

The result? Many residents of the southern city of Basra have convinced themselves that the British Army has loosed savage cattle-eating badgers onto its unsuspecting populace as a final gesture of ill intent before it departs the city later this summer.

Throw in, for good measure, the fervent belief that British soldiers have planted snake eggs in waterways and unleashed bomb-sniffing dogs purposefully infected with rabies.

All three stories have been manufactured by Iraq's tireless rumor mill, the only machine here seemingly capable of functioning day and night without need of electricity or generators.

Iran has gotten in on the act as well, claiming that Western forces have been fitting Iraqi squirrels with miniaturized surveillance devices and sending them scurrying across the border to spy.

"In recent weeks, intelligence operatives have arrested 14 squirrels within Iran's borders," IRNA, the Iranian state-sponsored news agency, reported. "The squirrels were carrying spy gear of foreign agencies, and were stopped before they could act, thanks to the alertness of our intelligence services."

As for the badgers, the distinction between reality and fiction has been somewhat blurred by the fact that some of the animals do actually live around Basra. That much is verifiable. But many of the deeds and intent ascribed to the creatures are not.

One Basra farmer claimed the beasts attacked his cattle. Panic spread, with other reports of one killing humans.

The alarm was heightened by the rapid circulation of a cellphone video showing one fearsomely clawed animal captured and surrounded by nervous villagers, who invoked the name of Shia Islam's first and most-revered imam: "What's that? Help us, Ali!"

The British were soon blamed, perhaps aided by the unfortunate coincidence that one of the British Army units serving in the city center is named Badger Squadron.

The reality, Iraqi officials point out, is that the badger, named Kirta or Gariri in Arabic, has been a native of the marshland area around Basra for decades. Less commonly seen after Saddam Hussein drained the marshes, it has reappeared as the wetlands returned.

"Old people know of the Girta, but the younger generations are not as aware of these animals," said Mushtaq Abdul-Aziz of Basra's Health Department.

Major Mike Shearer, a British military spokesman in Basra, rebutted all animal-related allegations with an admirably straight face: "Of course we categorically deny that we have released badgers into Basra. "It flies in the face of what we are primarily here to do, which is to set conditions that will enable the Iraqi security forces to have self-determination in their own security matters, which of course sets the conditions for good governance."

A spokeswoman for the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office was somewhat more succinct in denying the rumor. "Don't be silly," she said, after sighing.

At the British headquarters, commanders have weightier matters to consider. On senior officers' desks sit copies of Carl von Clausewitz's 1832 treatise "On War" and David Galula's colonial-era French manual "Counterinsurgency Warfare." Neither is definitive on the deployment of baby-eating monsters or surveillance squirrels.

Asked whether coalition forces were ever likely to have been as welcome in Iraq as pre-war optimists hoped, one senior British officer shook his head wearily. "It would have been difficult, given the conspiracy mindset," he said. "Just look at the badgers."

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Iraq: Can ancient Babylon be rescued?

By Christopher Torchia and Ammar Al-Musawi

BABYLON, Iraq — It was one of the world's first, greatest cities — a place where astronomers mapped the stars millennia ago and kings created an early code of law and planted what became known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Yet little remains of the ancient capital, as seen by The Associated Press during a trip to Babylon last month on one of the few permits issued by Iraq's government since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The site has the aura of a theme park touched by the ambition of dictator Saddam Hussein and the opportunism of looters: Modern walkways run beside crumbling old walls, a reconstructed Greek theater and a palace built for Saddam atop an artificial hill.

Now, for the first time, global institutions led by the U.N. are thoroughly documenting the damage and how to fix it. A UNESCO report due out early next year will cite Saddam's construction but focus, at the Iraqi government's request, on damage done by U.S. forces from April to September 2003, and the Polish troops deployed there for more than a year afterward.

The U.S., which turned Babylon into a military base, says the looting would have been worse but for the troops' presence. The U.S. also says it will help rehabilitate Babylon, funding an effort by the World Monuments Fund and Iraq's State Board of Antiquities and Heritage, but has yet to release precise funding figures.

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Vampires of Babylonia & Persia ( مصاصي الدماء من بابل وبلاد فارس )

Assyrian ( Syria, Iran and Iraq)

Ekiminu of Babylonia



The malignant spirits (Half Ghost Half Vampire) of the Assyrian are known as Ekiminu. Ekiminu origins are likely from Babylonia and it later spread over to neighbouring nations and empires.

This malignant spirit are as a result of improper burial! In some cases hoever, it is due to insufficient offering to them. They are invisible and absoultely capable of possessing humans. They lived underground and emerge during the night to feed on the living.

It is only by weapons make of wood and exorcism that they can be destoryed.

Lilith




Lilith is deemed to be as a female demon. She was once the kife of Adam, Consort of Lucifer and had a marriage with an Archangel Samael.

She is also known as Queen of the Succubi, goddess of witches, A dark feminine principle known as the goddess Hecate.



The Hebrew Bible (Book of Isaiah) described Lilith but her roots are more likely in Babylonian demon studies. Lilith was a monster who roamed at night taking on the appearance of an owl. She would hunt, seeking to kill newborn children and pregnant women. She was said to be the first wife of Adam. However, she was demonised because she refused to obey Adam. She was considered evil for such "radical" desires and became a vampire who eventually attacked the children of Adam and Eve.

Lilitû demons



The Assyrian lilitû were said to prey upon children and women and were described as associated with lions, storms, desert, and disease. Early portrayals of such demons are known as having Zu bird talons for feet and wings. They were highly sexually predatory towards men but were unable to copulate normally.

They were thought to dwell in waste, desolate, and desert places. Like the Sumerian Dimme, a male wind demon named Pazuzu was thought to be effective against them.



Lilith's epithet was "the beautiful maiden". She was described as having no milk in her breasts and as unable to bear any children.


Other storm and night demons from a similar class are recorded from Akkadian texts around this period. The Ardat-lili is from Ardatû, which is a young unmarried woman or maiden, also sometimes a title of prostitutes, and lilitû. These "maiden liltû" would come to men in their sleep and beget children from them. Sick men would also be described as being seized by Ardat-lili. Their male counterparts, similar to an incubus, were the Irdû-lili. These demons were originally storm and wind demons; however, later etymology made them into night demons

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Zoroaster came from India & not in Mesopotamia(Iraq)

Indians (Indus valley residents) and Iranians (Mesopotamians) shared a common religious past, which led historians to sometimes even term the common ancestral religion as Proto-Indo-Iranian religion. Have we ever understood the implications of this common religious past of the two communities on the historical studies of the two regions? Let us a dig a little into their religious legends and see what they have to offer.

Zoroastrianism was the most prominent religion of Mesopotamia. What are their beliefs? Firstly, that their God is Ahur Mazda. Secondly, they believe in a certain powerful satanic spirit called Ahriman. And their scriptures talk about two types of people -- Yazats and Devas. Devas are symbolic of the evil spirit, an embodiment of all that should not be. Even now, when people of the Mesopotamian region talk about Devas, they talk about them with disgust -- that is the kind of hatred that the Devas have generated. And most importantly, they are led by the demonic evil spirit called Ahriman. On the other hand, Yazats are the followers of the Supreme God Ahur Mazda. They are the righteous people, an embodiment of everything that should be correct.



Historians and theologians are still so confused even today because they have still not understood the events that led to the birth of Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism was born as a revolt against the religious setup in India. The mount on which Zoroaster received divine revelation was in India. He formed a new religion and called his God Asur Mazda, meaning God of Asurs (this later got morphed to Ahur Mazda). He rejected the religion of Devas, and termed their god as evil spirit, whose worshippers would go to hell. This new religion was repellant to Devas, who then expelled the Zoroastrians. Having been expelled, Zoroaster led his people to the nearby Mesopotamia, and thus came into existence the civilization of Mesopotamia.

Shukra, the evil Asur Guru, derided even today in an extraordinarily large body of religious legends in the nook and corner of India, is none other than Zoroaster aka Zarathushtra of Mesopotamia. And Zoroaster was born in India, not in Mesopotamia (Today's Iraq).

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Iraq Swears by Bomb Detector

BAGHDAD — Despite major bombings that have rattled the nation, and fears of rising violence as American troops withdraw, Iraq’s security forces have been relying on a device to detect bombs and weapons that the United States military and technical experts say is useless.



The small hand-held wand, with a telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being used at hundreds of checkpoints in Iraq. But the device works “on the same principle as a Ouija board” — the power of suggestion — said a retired United States Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, who described the wand as nothing more than an explosives divining rod.

Still, the Iraqi government has purchased more than 1,500 of the devices, known as the ADE 651, at costs from $16,500 to $60,000 each. Nearly every police checkpoint, and many Iraqi military checkpoints, have one of the devices, which are now normally used in place of physical inspections of vehicles.

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