UNDERSTANDING EXORCISM. Part 2

In ancient times, holes were drilled into a person who was behaving in what was considered abnormal to let out what they believe were evil spirits. Cave paintings indicate that people believed the practice would cure epileptic seizures, migraines, and mental disorders. The bone that was trepanned was kept and worn as a symbol or charm to keep the evil spirits away.

The civilizations of Greece, Rome, Egypt, China, and India believed in satyrs, spirits, and goblins. The inhabited the sea with mermaids, the rivers and fountains with nymphs, the air with fairies, the fire with Lares and Penates, and the earth with fauns, dryads, and hamadryads. These Nature spirits were held in high esteem, and propiciatory offerings were made to them. Many of the gods worshiped by them were elementals. The Greeks gave the name 'daemon' to some of these elementals, especially those of higher orders, and worshiped them. The mysterious spirit which instructed Socrates, and whom the great philosopher spoke in the highest terms belonged to the divine ones which overshadow themselves in the heart of human nature and who felt its presence and nurtured them.

The branch of philosophy dealing with spiritual substances, based on the research made by Paracelsus (Theo-Phrastus Bom-Bastus Von Hohenheim) maintain that each of the 4 primary elements -earth, water, fire, air, consists of a subtle, vaporous principle and a gross corporeal substance. Air, a 2-fold in nature-tangible atmosphere and an intangible, volatile substratum termed 'spiritual air.' Fire as a visible and invisible, discernible and indiscernible, a spiritual, ethereal flame manifested through a material, substantial flame. Carrying the analogy further, water consists of a dense fluid and a potential essence of a fluidic nature. Earth has likewise 2 essentials -the lower being fixed, terreous, immobile; the higher, rarefied, mobile, and virtual. Minerals, plants, animals, men live in a world composed by the 4 elements in which the physical image has been applied to the primarily form of them and its corresponding invisible, spiritual constituent has been applied to their elemental essences of them.

Paracelsus divided these entities of the elementals into 4 distinct groups, which he called gnomes, undines, sylphs, and salamanders. He believed that they were living entities, many resembling human beings in shape, and inhabiting worlds of their own, unknown to man because of his undeveloped senses that were incapable of functioning beyond the limitation of the 4 physical elements.

Beliefs in spirit possession have remained virtually unchanged since the beginning of civilization and still exist to this day. But the way people understand it have changed due to the lifestyle of our modern world.

UNDERSTANDING EXORCISM. Part one.

In ancient Mesopotamia, it was believed that all forms of sickness came from spirits entering a person's body and attaching to a person.
Assyrian tablets make reference to the use of incantations and prayers to their gods, as well as direct challenges to demons, which were believed to inflict every type of disease, both physical and psychological. Ancient Babylonian priests performed rituals by destroying a clay or wax image of a demon.
In the Hindu religion, the ancient texts known as the Vedas, which were composed around 1000BC, refer to evil beings that interfere in the work of Hindu gods and harm the living.
Accounts from ancient Persia, dating back to around 600BC, offer evidence of exorcism using prayer, ritual, and holy water by the religious leader Zoroaster, who was considered the first magician, and who founded the religion Zoroastrianism.
The Middle Ages (500-1500CE) saw a revival of ancient superstition and demonology and mental illness was seen to be the result of evil possession. The brutal treatment of mental illness was primarily left to the clergy who exorcised patients through a variety of techniques which caused physical pain.
In Christianity, the Gospels, with the exception of John, contain numerous references to demon possession and exorcism and to Jesus performing most of the exorcisms. The ability to cast out evil spirits was very well understood as a sign of a true and genuine disciple, because an attempt to control and cast out evil spirits required an enormous amount of divine spiritual power. Jesus exorcised demons by His commanding Word with no apparent appeal to authority beyond himself. Early Christians received the power and authority from Jesus through the Holy Spirit to do supernatural things.
- Acts 19:1-10 "Paul was visiting some places on his way to Ephesus. In Ephesus he found some other followers of the Lord. Paul asked them, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?' These followers said to Jesus, 'We have never even heard of a Holy Spirit!' Paul asked them, "What kind of baptism did you have?' They said, 'It was the baptism that John taught.' Paul said, "John told people to be baptized to show they genuinely wanted to change their lives. John told people to believe in the One who would come after him, and that One is Jesus. When these followers heard this, they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus. .. There were about 12 men in this group. Paul went into the synagogue and spoke very boldly.. for 3 months. He was trying to persuade the Jews to accept what he was telling them about God's kingdom. But some of them became stubborn and refused to believe. In front of everyone, they said bad things about the Way. So Paul left these Jews and took the Lord's followers with him."
- Acts 5:12-16 "The apostles were given the power to do miraculous signs and wonders .. and they all had the same purpose. None of the other people dared to stand with the apostles, but everyone was saying wonderful things about them .. so the people brought those who were sick or troubled by evil spirits .. hoping that Peter's shadow might fall on them as he walked by.. and all of them were healed."
- Acts 19:11-17"God used Paul to do some very special miracles. Some people carried away clothes and handkerchiefs that Paul had used and put them on those who were sick. The sick people were healed, and evil spirits left them. Some Jews also were traveling around forcing evil spirits out of people. The 7 sons of Sceva, one of the leading priests, were doing this. These Jews tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus to make the evil spirits go out of people. They all said, 'By the same Jesus that Paul talks about, I order you to come out!' But one time an evil spirit said to these 7 Jews, 'I know Jesus and I know Paul, but who are you?' Then the man who had the evil spirit inside him jumped on this Jews. He was much stronger than all of them. He beat them up and tore their clothes off. They all ran away from that house. All the people in Ephesus, Jews and Greeks, learned about this."

FRUITS MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURES. Part Three.

POMEGRANATE (Punica Granata) is native to the Southern Caspian belt (Iran) and North East Turkey, and has been cultivated for 5,000 years. The fruit was once known as the fruit of Carthage, hence the latin name 'Punica.'
The pomegranate was introduced into Egypt from Syria around 1600BC and reached Egypt though the inflow of Semitic people (Hyksos). It is widely used in jewish iconography and coins.
Skin color varies from bright red to leathery brown. It was long admired for its medicinal purposes.
- 1Kings 7:13-22 "King Solomon sent for a man named Huram who lived in Tyre and brought him to Jerusalem. Huram's mother was an Israelite from the tribe of Naphtali. His dead father was from Tyre. Huram made things from bronze. He was a very skilled and experienced builder. SoKing Solomon asked him to come, and Huram accepted. King Solomon put him in charge of all the bronze work, and Huram did all the work he was given to do. Huram made two bronze columns for the porch. Each column was 18 cubits tall and 12 cubits around. The columns were hollow and their metal walls were 3 inches thick. He also made two bronze capitals that were 5 cubits tall. He put these capitals on top of the two columns. Then he made two rows of bronze pomegranates. He put the bronze pomegranates on the nets of each column to cover the capitals at the top of the columns. The capitals on top of the columns were shaped like flowers. The capitals were on top of the columns, above the bowl-shaped net. There were 200 pomegranates in rows all around the capitals. Huram put these two bronze columns at the porch of the Temple. One column was put on the South side of the entrance and one was put on the North side of it. The column on the South was named Jakin. The column on the North was named Boaz. They put the flower-shaped capitals on top of the columns, and the work on the two columns was finished."
- Songs 8:1-2 "If you were a baby, like my little brother nursing at his mother's breast, and if I found you outside, I could kiss you, and no one would say it was wrong. I would lead you into my mother's house, to the room of she who taught me. I would give you spiced wine squeezed from my pomegranate."
ALMOND (Prunus Amydalus) grow wild throughout South West and Central Asia, from Turkey and Syria into the Caucasus and into the deserts of Tian-Shan and the Hindu Cush Mountains.
Based on the Scriptures, almonds were introductions into the Holy Land as early as 2000BC.
There are two principal types: sweet and bitter (amygdalin containing). Domestication involves selection of non-bitterness as a result of a single dominant gene and increased kernel size.
The famous sprouting rod of Aaron, mentioned in the Scripture in the Book of Numbers signifying that he and his descendants could be priests, was an almond.
Numbers 17: 1-8 "The Lord said to Moses, 'Speak to the Israelites. Get 12 wooden walking sticks from them. Get one from the leader of each of the 12 tribes. Write the name of each man on his walking stick. On the stick from Levi, write Aaron's name. The must be one stick for the head of each of the 12 tribes. Put these walking sticks in the Meeting Tent in front of the Box of the Agreement. This is the place where i meet with you. I will choose one man to be the true priest. You will know which man i choose because his walking stick will begin to grow new leaves. In this way I will stop the people from always complaining against you and Me... The next day Moses entered the Tent to witness; and, behold, the walking stick of Aaron for the House of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossom, and yielded almonds."
- Exodus 37:17-24 "Then he made the lamp stand. He used pure gold and hammered it to make the base and the shaft. Then he made flowers, buds, and petals, and joined everything together into one piece. The lamp stand had 6 branches -3 branches on one side and 3 branches on the other side. Each branch had 3 flowers on it. These flowers were made like almond flowers with buds and petals.
The shaft of the lamp stand had 4 more flowers. They were also made like almond flowers with buds and petals. There were 6 branches -3 branches coming out from each side of the shaft. And there was a flower with buds and petals below each of the 3 places where the branches joined the shaft.
The whole lamp stand, with the flowers and branches, was made from pure gold. Al this gold was hammered and joined together into one piece.
He made 7 lamps for this lamp stand. Then he made lamp snufflers and trays from pure gold. He used 75 pounds of pure gold to make the lamp stand and the things with it."

FRUITS MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURE. Part Two

DATES (Phoenix Dactilifera) is a dioecious, long-lived, palm, indigenous from Northern Africa through the Arabian peninsula to Northern India, esteemed for its sweet fruit and its valuable wood and leaves. It may have been the first cultivated fruit and was well established in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. The plants lacks a deep root system so that irrigation is essential. Because the date is dioecious, production of fruit by pistillate clones requires a source of pollen, and artificial pollination was well illustrated in Assyrian bas reliefs where practice became codified in the laws of Hammurabi  1,750BC and the practice became a religious one.
- Deuteronomy 2  "Then we did what the Lord told me to do. We went back into the desert on the road that leads to the Red Sea. We traveled for so many days to go around the Mountains of Seir. Then the Lord said to me, "You have travelled around these mountains long enough. Turn North. Tell the people this: You will pass through the land of Seir. This land belong to your relatives, the descendants of Esau. They will be afraid of you. Be very careful. Do not fight them. I will not give you any of their land -not even a foot of it, because I gave the hill country of Seir to Esau to keep as his own. You must pay the people of Esau for any food you eat or water you drink there....      He knows about everything that happened on the trip through this great desert. The Lord your God has been with you these 40 years. You have always had everything you needed." So we passed by our relatives, living there in Seir.
We left the road that leads from the Jordan Valley (the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees) to the Towns of Elath and Ezion Geber. We turned onto the road that goes to the desert in Moab. The Lord said to me, "Do not bother the Moabites. Do not start a war against them. I will not give you any of their land. They are the descendants of Lot, and I gave them the City of Ar." In the past the Emites lived in Ar. They were strong people, and there were many of them. They were very tall, like the Anakites. The Anakites were part of the Rephaites, but the people of Moab called them Emites."
- Psalms 1:3 "And He shall be like a tree planted by the Rivers of Water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither ..."
- Psalm 92:7-8 "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree .. Those that be planted in the House of the Lord shall flourish .. They shall bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.
FIG (Ficus carica, Ficus sycomorus). Two species of fig are mentioned in the Scriptures: common fig and sycomore fig. The common fig is a gyno-dioecious species consisting of monoecious inedible wild types (caprifig) and pistillate domesticated.
Borne on small trees, figs are one of the classic Mediterranean fruits. Domestication was generally contemporary with olive and grape in the Eastern Mediterranean basin. Pollination is affected by a tiny wasp (Blastophaga psenes) that overwinters in the caprifig. The wasp, after emergence, enters the common fig, which contains only long-styled pistils, not adapted to ovi-position, causing the wasp to perish, but not before pollination has occurred. The tree of Good and Evil in the Genesis story of the first human couple was often depicted as a fig tree.
The sycomore fig originated in the savannas of Eastern Central Africa and was introduced into Egypt in pre-dynastic times. It became an important cultivated plant for its decay resistant wood and its fruit, which although not exceptional, was widely consumed. Because the pollinating wasp seems not to have been introduced, the fruits did not develop normally and ripening was achieved by scraping with a metal tool, an example of an innovating horticultural practice that relied on ethylene release from the wound response.
- Genesis 3:7 "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."
- Amos 7:14 "I was not a prophet or a prophet's son but i was a herdsman, and a piercer of sycomore fruit."
- Mark 11:12,20 "The next day, Jesus was leaving Bethany. He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, He came, if haply he find anything thereon: And when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. So Jesus said to the tree, 'People will never eat fruit from you again.' And in the morning as His followers passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots."
- Luke13: 6-9 "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser (cultivator) of his vineyard, 'Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none; cut it down; Why should it waste the ground?'
But the dresser answered, 'Master, let the tree have one more year to produce fruit. Let me dig up the dirt around it and fertilize it. Maybe the tree will have fruit on it next year. if it still does not produce, then you can cut it down."

FRUITS MENTIONED IN THE SCRIPTURE. Part One

The Hebrew Scriptures, written in Hebrew and Aramaic, and translated into Greek in the 2nd century BC, and then constantly translated into all the languages of the world, mention fruits that have long been of historic interest despite the many translation problems.
Seeds and fruits remains are exciting discoveries for archaeologists because they provide clues about ancient agriculture and diets.
The Scripture mentions 6 types of tree fruit, many of which appear dozen of times: Grape, Olive, Fig, Pomegranate, Date, Apple. This 6 fruits are used in 8 different ways.
- First, many people are named after fruit, e.g., Tamar in Genesis 36, which means 'Date,'  'Tappuah in 1 Chronicles 2:43, which means 'Apple', and 'Rimmon' in 2 Samuel 4:2, which means 'Pomegranate.'
- Second, fruit are the namesake for a number of 'Cities' and 'Towns,' e.g., 'Anab' in Joshua 11:21, which means 'Grape,'  'Rimmon', which means 'Pomegranate' in Joshua 15:32, and 'Tappuah' which means 'Apple' in Joshua 12:17. Once the remaining 'Olives' are for the poor.
- Third, images of fruit are used as decorations, e.g., the blue, purple, and crimson 'Pomegranates' on Aaron's priestly garments (Exodus 28:33-34) and the engraved 'Date' palm trees in Solomons Temple (1 Kings 6:29).
- Fourth, fruits are the subjects of laws, e.g., the law in Numbers 6:3 that a Nazirite may not eat or drink 'Grape' products or the law in Deuteronomy 24:20 that one may only beat an 'Olive' tree.
- Fifth, fruits are used in a number of metaphors and similes such as, "Your breath is like the fragrance of the apples" in Song of Songs 7:9 and "I found Israel as grapes in the wilderness" in Hosea 9:10.
- Sixth, fruits appear in curses and blessings such as "Your olives shall drop off" in Deuteronomy 28:40 and "Israel is a land of wheat and burley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey" in Deuteronomy 8:8.
- Seventh, fruits are used pedagogically in Proverbs such as "He who tends to a fig tree will enjoy its fruit" in Proverbs 27:18 and "Parents eat sour grapes and their children's teeth are blunted" in Ezekiel 18:2.
- Eight, fruits appear as objects in narratives, such as in Numbers 13:23, where the spies of Moses examine the 'Grapes', 'Pomegranates', and 'Figs' of the land, and in Genesis 3, where the first woman eats the forbidden fruit and is cast from Eden.
Fruit was much more than a fruit for the ancient Israelites. It was a symbol that appeared prominently in the culture's names, laws, proverbs, and traditions.
GRAPES (Vitis orientalis, Vitis vinifera) both wild and cultivated are mentioned in the Hebrew bible. The wild grapes of the Old World (Vitis sylvestris) are indigenous to the South Caspian belt, Turkey, and the Balkans, and were widely distributed in the Northern Mediterranean area including the Black and Caspian Seas. Toward 5000 BC, the domestic grape (V. Vinifera), migrated from Anatolia to Syria and thence to the Holy Land. Signs of domestication are found in Mesopotamia, the Holy Land, Syria, Egypt, and the Aegean. By the 2nd millennium BC, there is evidence of vessels for wine storage as well as raisins. Grapes are easily propagated vegetatively, permitting extensive plantings of unique clones. The great genetic change in domestication was the switch from dioecism to hermaphroditism, increase in berry size and sugar content, and selection of various skin colors, and later, selection for seedless, a key factor for table grapes and raisins. The cultivation involves extensive vine training and pruning, and in no other fruit crops are these practices more important. The Scripture is rich in allusions to viticultural practices and wine making.
Isaiah 5:1-7,10 "Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved toughing his vineyard. My well beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest wine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes. And now.. judge.. betwixt me and my vineyard.
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?"
Ezekiel 17:5-7 "He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters, and set it as a willow tree. And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots thereof were under him: so it became a vine, and brought forth branches and shot forth sprigs."
John 15: 1-6 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that bears not fruit He takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit .. As the branch cannot bear fruit itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in Me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit for without Me you can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
OLIVE is a slow-growing, long-lived evergreen tree uniquely adapted to and a defining feature of the Mediterranean type of climate. Archaeological evidence of the olive  dates to 10,000 BC. The olive was not used by the Babylonians and Assyrians, whose sources of oil were sesame and walnut, but olive was long known in Syria and the Holy Land and was introduced to Egypt between 3000 and 1600 BC. By the time of Ramses II (1197-1165BC) olive oil was used for illumination and as a skin emollient for cracks and sunburn. The burning oil of olive gives a very luminous flame. The oil was also used in cooking and as a dressing, and is still the most common culinary oil in the Mediterranean area. Somehow humans learned that the small, bitter fruits, almost inedible and somewhat poisonous as a result of the phenolic glucoside eleuropein, could be made edible by soaking and fermentation.
Olive along with grape, is the most mentioned fruit in the Scripture. The olive tree became a symbol of beauty, freshness, fertility, wealth, fame and peace. Its importance is reflected in its use for religious purposes such as consecration of ceremonies. The word 'Messiah' literally means 'the anointed One.'
Exodus 27:20 "And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always."
Judges 9:8-9 "The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, 'Reign you over us.' But the olive tree said unto them, 'Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honor gods and humans. Should I stop making my oil just to go and sway over the other trees?'
Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'Come and be our king.' But the fig tree answered, 'Should I stop making my good sweet fruit just to go and sway over the other trees?' Then the trees said to the vine, 'Come and be our king.' But the vine answered, 'My wine makes men and kings happy. Should I stop making my wine just to go and sway over the trees?' Finally all the trees said to the thorn bush, 'Come and be our king.' But the thorn bush said to the trees, 'If you want to make me king over you, come and find shelter in my shade. But if you do not want to do this, let fire come out of the thorn bush. Let the fire burn even the cedar trees of Lebanon.'
Romans 11:17, 24 "And if some of the branches be broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were graffed in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree.. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were graffed contrary to nature in a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

JAINISM AND THE CONCEPT OF SOULS.

Jainism is the name of one of the religions traditions that have their origin in the Indian subcontinent. The teachings are eternal and hence have no founder.
According to their thought, the basic constituents of reality are souls, matter, motion, rest, space, and time. The 4 elements -earth, water, air, fire, are the components of matter.
Space is understood to be infinite in all directions, but not all space is inhabitable. A finite region of space, usually described as taking the shape of a standing man with extended arms, is the only region of space that can contain anything. This is so because it is the only region of space that is pervaded with the principle of motion (dharma). The physical world resides in the narrow part of the middle of inhabitable space. The rest of the inhabitable universe contain other elemental beings.
Jainism is dualistic -that is matter and souls are thought to be entirely different types of substance. The universe is eternal, matter and souls being equally uncreated. The universe contains spirits who may be worshiped for various reasons, but there is no being outside it exercising control over it. For them gods and superhuman beings are all just as subject to karma and rebirth as humans are. By their actions, souls accumulate karma, which is understood to be a kind of matter, and that accumulation draws them back into a body after death. Hence, all souls have undergone an infinite number of previous lives, and -with the exception of those who win release from the bondage of karma -will continue to reincarnate, each new life determined by the amount of karma accumulated. Release is achieved by purging the soul of all karma, good and bad.
Every living thing has a soul, so every living thing can be harmed or helped. For purposes of assessing the worth of actions, living things are classified in a hierarchy according to the kinds of senses they have; the more senses a being has, the more ways it can be harmed or helped.
Plants, various one-celled animals, and elemental beings (beings made of one of the 4 elements -earth, water, air, fire) have only one sense, the sense of touch. Worms and many insects have the senses of touch and taste. Other insects, like ants and lice, have those 2 senses plus the sense of smell. Flies and bees, along with other higher insects, also have sight. Humans along with birds, fish, and most terrestrial animals, have all 5 senses. This complete set of senses (plus a separate faculty of consciousness) makes all kinds of knowledge available to human beings, including knowledge of the human condition and the need for liberation from rebirth.
The idea of reality is multifaceted or non-one-sided, such that no one view can capture it in its entirety.
While the lists of valid sources of knowledge differ no one is skeptical. The Jain list of knowledge includes sense perception, valid testimony (scripture), extra-sensory perception, telepathy, and the state of omniscience of a perfect soul.
Any judgment is true only from the viewpoint or perspective of the judge, and ought to be expressed. Given the multifaceted nature of reality, no one should take his or her own judgments as the final truth about the matter, excluding all other judgments.
By seeing all that surrounds us as embodied with life and worthy of respect, Jainism offers a different angle, and angle that decentralizes and universalizes ethics, taking away overly anthropocentric concerns, and brings into vivid relief the urgency of life in its various forms. It might well be an angle of immediacy and care because of the value of it.
Jainism has been described as a spiritual pathway, with a love for the spiritual life and dislike for the world. The living soul that permeates all reality is understood to be a life-giving spirit, which inhabits everything, but paradoxical can become trapped in the inert/non-living matter.
While refraining from the belief in a Creator God, the concept is already framed just with the desire of preservation of life in its purest form.

THE KEY MEANING OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION.

The Book of Revelation occupies a central place in Christian doctrine. Its title is derived from the 1st word of the text, written in Greek, 'apokalypsis,' meaning 'unveiling' or 'revelation.'
The author of Revelation is plainly named 'John.' It begins with John, being a prisoner on the island of Patmos in the Aegean, where  he had been exiled because of his Christian faith. He was well known among the churches of Asia, and was classed as a "prophet." He is being given a series of 4 visions from the Son of God, and addressed a warning letter to the "7 Churches of Asia."
Patmos is seldom mentioned by ancient writers, but very little can be conjecture about the earliest inhabitants. It was believed that Patmos came into existence as an island at the bottom of the sea.
According to a legend in Greek mythology, the island's original name was "Letois," after the goddess and huntress of deer Artemis, daughter of Leto (meaning 'disputed').
Leto was a daughter of the Titans Coeus and Phoebe, the sister of Asteria, and the mother, by Zeus, of Apollo and Artemis. The island Kos is claimed as her birthplace.
In the Olympian scheme, Zeus is the father of her twins, Apollo and Artemis, the Letoides, which Leto conceived after her hidden beauty accidentally caught the eyes  of Zeus. The myth records his pregnancy and her search for a place where she could give birth to her twins, since Hera in her jealousy had caused all lands to shun her.  When Hera, the most conservative of goddesses -for she had the most to lose in changes to the order of nature- discovered that Leto was pregnant and that Zeus was the father, she realized that the offspring would cement the new order. She was powerless to stop the flow of events. Finally, Leto finds an island that is not attached to the ocean floor so it is not considered land and she can give birth. Once the twins grew up, Leto withdrew, to remain a dim.
Artemis frequently paid visits to Caria, the mainland across the shore from Patmos. There she met the moon goddess Selene, who cast her light on the ocean, revealing the sunken island. Selene was always trying to bring the sunken island to the surface and hence to life.  Selene finally convinced Artemis, who, in turn, gained her brother Apollo's help to persuade Zeus to allow the island to arise from the sea. Zeus agreed, and the island emerged from water. The sun dried up the land and brought life to it. Gradually, inhabitants from the surrounded areas, including Mount Latmos, settled on the island and named it "Letois" in honor of Artemis.
In the Classical period, the inhabitants preferred to identified themselves as Dorians descending from the families of Argos, Sparta, and Epidaurus, further mingling with people of Ionian ancestry. During the 3rd century BC, in the Hellenistic period (between the death of Alexander the Great in 323BC and emergence of Roman Empire), Patmos acquired the form of an acropolis (core built upon a hill with precipitous sides) with an improved defense through a fortification wall and towers.
Early Christian life on Patmos barely survived. Muslims raided the area from the 7th to 9th century. Then the island was controlled by the Ottomans for many years. In 1912, in connection with Italo-Turkish War, the Italians occupied all the islands of the Dodecanese, including Patmos. The Italians remained there until 1943, when Nazi Germany took over the island. In 1945, the Germans left and the island of Patmos remained autonomous until 1948, when it, together with the rest of the Dodecanese Islands, joined the independent Greece.
The Dodecanese (12 islands) are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the Southern Aegean Sea, off the coast of Asia Minor (Turkey), of which 26 are inhabited. They have a rich history, and many of even the smallest ones boast dozens of Byzantine churches and medieval castles.
The most historically important and well-known is Rhodes, which has been the area's dominant island since Antiquity. Of the others, Kos and Patmos are historically the more important.
The name "Dodecanese" were applied to the 12 Cyclades islands clustered around Delos. The Cyclade culture is best known for its schematic, flat idols carved out of the island's pure white marbles centuries before the Minoan civilization arose in Crete. A distinctive culture amalgamating arose between Anatolian and mainland Greek elements in the Western Aegean before 4000 BC. The islands faded into insignificance, with the exception of Delos, which retained its archaic reputation as a sanctuary throughout antiquity and until the emergence of Christianity.
Delos has a position as a holy sanctuary for a millennium before the Olympian Greek mythology made it the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. From its sacred harbour, the horizon shows the 2 conical mounds that have identified sacred landscapes, one, retaining its Pre-Greek name Mount Kynthos, is crowned with a sanctuary of Zeus. Established as a cultural center, Delos had an importance that its natural resources could never have offered. In this vein Leto, searching for a birth-place for Artemis and Apollo, addressed the island:
  "Delos, if you would be willing  to be the abode of my son Phoebus Apollo and make him a rich temple; for no other will touch you, as you will find: and I think you will never be rich in oxen and sheep, nor bear vintage nor yet produce plants abundantly. But if you have the temple of far-shooting Apollo, all men will bring you hecatombs (a sacrifice to the gods of 100 cattle) and gather here, and incessant savour of rich sacrifice will always arise, and you will feed those who dwell in you from the hand of strangers; for truly your own soil is not rich."
A hecatomb was a sacrifice to the gods of 100 cattle. Hecatombs were offered to Greek gods Apollo, Athena, and Hera, during special religious ceremonies. At the end of the Olympic Games, a hecatomb was also offered to Zeus at Olympia. In the Illiad the religious sacrifice is described as follows:
 "They ranged the holy hecatomb all orderly round the altar of the god. They washed their hands and took up the barley-meal to sprinkle over the victims, while the priest lifted up his hands and prayed aloud on their behalf. When they had done praying and sprinkling the barley-meal, they drew back the heads of the victims and killed and flayed (skin is removed from the body) them. They cut out the thigh-bones, wrapped them round in 2 layers of fat, set some pieces of raw meat on the top of them, and then the priest laid them on the wood fire and poured wine over them, while the young men stood near him with 5-pronged spits in their hands. When the thigh-bones were burned and they had tasted the inward meats, they cut the rest up small, put the pieces upon the spits, roasted them till they were done, and drew them off. Then when they had finished their work and the feast was ready, they ate it, and every man had his full share, so that all were satisfied. As soon as they had enough to eat and drink, pages filled the mixing-bowl with wine and water and handed it round, after giving every man his drink-offering. Thus all day long the young men worshipped the god with song, hymning him and chanting the joyous paean, and the god took pleasure in their voices."
The predominant view of the Book of Revelation alludes to the ancient way of life. The Book rarely quotes directly from the Old Testament, but every verse alludes to or echoes the Older Scriptures. Over half of the references stem from Daniel, Ezekiel, Psalms, and Isaiah, with Daniel providing the largest number in proportion to length and Ezekiel standing out as the most influential. The allusions clearly show in a symbolic way the behavior of the ancient elemental spirits that existed in heaven before the world came into existence and then when the earth was formed.
The main purpose of the Book is to reveal the divine person of the Son of God as the Redeemer of the World and as the conqueror of evil, presenting in symbolic form the plan by which He will carry out His work.
The structure of the plan is built on 4 great visions, each of which begins with the phrase "In the Spirit," and contains one aspect of the spiritual person of Christ in His capacity as the Judge of the World.
The letters addressed by the Lord to the 7 churches are typical of the churches of all time. In them He voices His commendations and criticism, concluding with a warning and a promise.
Beginning with the 4th chapter, the seer is transferred to heaven, and beholds "things which must be hereafter." Through a succession of judgments, the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls, the earth is punished for its sin, and the great Day of God's wrath is ushered in. No indication is given of the length of the process, though it seems to accelerate toward the end.
In the 17th chapter through the 20th, we are given a detailed view of the consummation of the age. The return of the Son of God in glory with the armies of heaven, the establishment of the Kingdom and its conclusion in the final judgment of the white throne, and the creation of the new world are depicted.
The last vision continues the third vision by describing more fully the nature of the City of God.
The conclusion of the Book is a call to 'devotion.' If the Son of God is going to return, holiness and industry are obligatory upon His people.