Egyptian god Anubis and Celtic writings in an ancient cave in North America
Perhaps one of the greatest historical anomalies of the New World is the Cave of Anubis, Oklahoma, North America. Inside some depictions were found which would be proof of the mysterious presence of an ancient Egyptian cult in pre-Columbian America.
Located in Oklahoma, near Tulsa, the Cave of Anubis is made up of five seemingly insignificant caves, but which due to their contents have become the object of confusion among researchers. The cavities contain unusual sculptures depicting the Egyptian god Anubis, in his typical jackal appearance and an enigmatic sculpture of a large bull.
To fuel the mystery in 2010 a sandstone rock was found a short distance from the cave along the Arkansas River, which depicts a large sculpture of a bull, in the style of the hieroglyphic images of the Api ox, considered divine by the ancient Egyptians, very similar to the one depicted in the Cave of Anubis.
How was it possible that icons of ancient Egyptian culture could have arrived in North America in pre-Columbian times? In reality, the iconography featured within the cave is even more complex. Ogham, an ancient Celtic language used in Ireland and Scotland around 350 AD have been found within it.
The history of discovery
The discovery of the Cave of Anubis dates back to 1968, when a local Oklahoma newspaper reported news of a mysterious cave covered in figures and signs. Ten years later, a research team led by Gloria Farley, traveled to the site and found what turned out to be five caves.
The first cave had three walls completely covered in writings and petroglyphs. The most notable figure was the canine image with pointed ears, a crown on its head and a kind of whip on its back, very similar to the royal scourge of ancient Egypt. Furthermore, the presence of writings in Ogham script and writings in Numidian was detected.
Farley identified the figure of the jackal with the scourge on its back with Anubis, a Greek term for the Egyptian god Anpu. Frequenter of necropolises and caves, he was considered an inhabitant of the underground world, and therefore god of the dead to whom he ensured food and good burial; the dead love to turn into jackals.
Anubis is generally depicted as a black jackal with a bushy tail, or as a black-skinned man with a jackal's head. The jackal is usually in a recumbent position, squatting with its head raised.
The depiction of Anubis in the Oklahoma cave is very similar to an image painted on a New Kingdom papyrus, dating back to the period 1580-1090 BC, and today preserved in the National Library of Paris.
It appears in a picture depicting the course of the sun and walks beneath the cubic throne of Râ-Harakte. This form of solar God depicts a man with the head of a falcon, dominated by the solar disk and the uraeus, the sacred serpent. Sometimes, in fact, Anubis is assimilated to the sun god.
Mithras worshipers
Phil Leonard, an expert on the Cave of Anubis, explained in an interview with the History Channel that the carvings found in the cave may have been made by ancient worshipers of Mithras and that the cave was designed as an indicator for the equinoxes.
The Caves of Anubis represent the best preserved evidence of the ancient cult of Mithras, which has spanned time and distances, from the Persian Empire to the Roman Empire. The sun god Mithras was worshiped in India before 2000 BC.
Subsequently, the cult spread to Persia and Asia Minor, eventually becoming a Hellenistic and Roman god, who was worshiped in mystery religions from the 1st century BC to the 5th century AD. It is not clear how much there is in common between these three cults.
The origins of the Mithraic cult in the Roman Empire are not entirely clear and would have been significantly influenced by Hipparchus of Nicaea's discovery of the precession of the equinoxes. Mithras would be the celestial power capable of causing the phenomenon.
In every Roman temple dedicated to Mithras, the place of honor was dedicated to the representation of Mithras in the act of slaughtering a sacred bull. Mithras is represented as an energetic young man, wearing a Phrygian hat, a short tunic that flares out at the hem, breeches and a cloak that waves behind him. Mithras grabs the bull forcefully, throwing its head back as he strikes it in the neck with his short sword.
A snake and a dog seem to drink from the bull's wound, from which drops of blood are sometimes depicted dripping; a scorpion, however, tries to injure the bull's testicles.
These animals are precisely those that give their name to the constellations that were on the celestial equator, near the constellation of Taurus, when during the spring equinox the sun was in the constellation of Taurus, a period called the Era of Taurus.
When Mithraism finally spread among the Celtic peoples of Western Europe and Britain, great emphasis was placed on the depiction of Mithras slaying the bull. Interestingly, the bull sculpture on the banks of the Arkansas River also appears to depict bleeding, lending further credence to Mithras' theory.
Certainly many unanswered questions remain. Assuming that the Celtic peoples reached as far as North America, why did they consider it necessary to depict the god Anubis together with the god Mithras? It seems to be the depiction of a sort of handover between deities.
Also, how exactly did the ancient Celtic people reach Oklahoma? Certainly, this discovery reinforces the idea that the Vikings, skilled navigators, reached North America centuries before Columbus.
