While I’m trying to figure out more of the Armenian family trees, I decided to just post up ‘historical Jesus’s’ real identity.

Much of the research for this comes from Ralph Ellis, who is actually a freemason.

To be clear, a lot of what Ralph Ellis speculates is plain wrong, but where his research stands up – as with the identity of the real, historical ‘Jesus’ – it DOES stand up.

And there is also support for his identification of who Jesus really was – a King of Edessa, who converted to Judaism, together with his mother and brother – in our Talmud.

Except in the Talmud and in Josephus, this family is known as Munvaz / Monbaz, the family of Queen Helena of ‘Adiabene’.

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Here’s a couple more basic things you should know:

‘Adiabene’ was a made-up name for the city-kingdoms of Edessa and Palmyra. ‘Josephus’ changed the name on purpose, to make it much harder to figure out what was really going on, both in his account of the Jewish War, and also in his other fairy tales known as the ‘New Testament’.

And also, this historical figure called ‘Jesus’ didn’t live in the 30 CEs.

He lived at the time of the destruction of the Temple, was definitely leading the fight against the Roman occupiers, and maybe his family were even the main instigators of the Revolt against the Romans at that time.

There WAS another Hasmonean King crucified by the Romans – Mark Antony – in 40 BCE, a century earlier. That was Antigonus Mattathias II, the son of Aristobulus II.

I am still trying to figure out where the kingdom of Emesa fits into this story – as opposed to ‘Edessa’.

That will probably click into place once the Armenian family trees are compared with each other, BH.

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So, King Izates II of Adiabene seems to be the prototype for the historical ‘Jesus’.

He was a King of Edessa.

He was a convert to Judaism – although it seems likely that he was practising some sort of hybrid ‘Sabean-Judaism’, which is something I still need to figure out more.

And his mother was ‘Queen Helena of Adiabene.’

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Josephus makes some passing references to ‘Adiabene’ and Monabazus fighting the Romans, at the beginning of the Revolt in 66 CE.

He says this (from Chapter 19 of the Wars of the Jews):

[Roman General] Cestius, with his whole army, had been in danger: however, five hundred and fifteen of the Romans were slain, of which number four hundred were footmen, and the rest horsemen, while the Jews lost only twenty-two, of whom the most valiant were the kinsmen of Monobazus, king of Adiabene, and their names were Monobazus and Kenedeus; and next to them were Niger of Perea, and Silas of Babylon, who had deserted from king Agrippa to the Jews.

And in Chapter 6 of that same work, he tells us that Monobazus is the son of Helena of Adiabene:

Simon held the upper city, and the great wall as far as Cedron, and as much of the old wall as bent from Siloam to the east, and which went down to the palace of Monobazus, who was king of the Adiabeni, beyond Euphrates; he also held that fountain, and the Acra, which was no other than the lower city; he also held all that reached to the palace of queen Helena, the mother of Monobazus. 

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In Chapter 16, the Roman propagandist called ‘Josephus’ writes a whole screed that almost certainly wasn’t delivered to the Jews defending the walls of Jerusalem from the Romans.

But it’s very interesting for a lot of other reasons, including making clear that the Jews were revolting because of the obscene amount of taxes the Romans were squeezing out of Judea (does this sound familiar?). And also, because of what he says about Adiabene (aka Edessa):

Where then are those people whom you are to have for your auxiliaries?

Must they come from the parts of the world that are uninhabited? for all that are in the habitable earth are [under the] Romans.

Unless any of you extend his hopes as far as beyond the Euphrates, and suppose that those of your own nation that dwell in Adiabene will come to your assistance; but certainly these will not embarrass themselves with an unjustifiable war, nor, if they should follow such ill advice, will the Parthians permit them so to do; for it is their concern to maintain the truce that is between them and the Romans…

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It’s interesting to note that Josephus doesn’t mention ‘Edessa’ once, in the whole long book of the Jewish Wars.

Before we continue, I just want to point you back to THIS post, where we learned that there is a Talmudic tradition that Munvaz is the son of King Herod Agrippa, who is in turn the son of Herod.

Here’s a screenshot:

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In that post, we also learned that the Frankists had a strange connection to King Agrippa of Judea, and at  least some of them seem to believe he was actually ‘the messiah’.

I’m parking that side of things for now, as it’s complicated enough as it is.

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So, at the end of the failed Revolt against Rome, when the Temple had been destroyed and so many Jews slaughtered, with so many more sold into slavery and prostitution, we get another brief mention of this royal family in Josephus.

Before I bring that quote, here’s another snippet from Chapter 9, that makes clear that ‘Izates’ and ‘Monabazus’ are from the same Adiabene royal family, and were directly involved in the fighting in Jerusalem:

Yet did the army that was under John raise a sedition against him, and all the Idumeans separated themselves from the tyrant, and attempted to destroy him, and this out of their envy at his power, and hatred of his cruelty; so they got together, and slew many of the zealots, and drove the rest before them into that royal palace that was built by Grapte, who was a relation of Izates, the king of Adiabene;

The beginning of the third wall was at the tower Hippicus, whence it reached as far as the north quarter of the city, and the tower Psephinus, and then was so far extended till it came over against the monuments of Helena, which Helena was queen of Adiabene, the daughter of Izates.

This from Chapter 6, explains what Josephus says happened to this Adiabene royalty, fighting against the Romans in Jerusalem:

On the same day it was that the sons and brethren of Izates the king, together with many others of the eminent men of the populace, got together there, and besought Caesar to give them his right hand for their security; upon which, though he was very angry at all that were now remaining, yet did he not lay aside his old moderation, but received these men. At that time, indeed, he kept them all in custody, but still bound the king’s sons and kinsmen, and led them with him to Rome, in order to make them hostages for their country’s fidelity to the Romans.

Long story short, ‘Izates’ is very easily turned into ‘Jezus’.

But there’s a lot more to this story than that.

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Ellis has written a bunch of books on this topic, but the one I’m currently almost done reading is called:

Jesus, King of Edessa

In that book, he makes quite a convincing case that ‘Helena of Adiabene’ descends from none other than…. Cleopatra VII.

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Ellis claims that Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar had another daughter together (while Cleopatra was in Rome, when Julius Caesar was murdered on the steps).

There is some historical back up for this idea, and we know that they definitely already had a son together, named Caesarion, who was executed by Octavian, Emperor Augustus, when he defeated Cleopatra and Mark Anthony in the leadership battle for the Roman Empire.

So.

Ellis suggests this daughter was given to Phraataces IV, the enemy King of Parthia, as a ‘peace offering’, when the Parthians and Romans came to a truce under Augustus. The daughter was called ‘Thea Muse Ourania’, and while Josephus says she was an Italian slave girl, somehow she managed to become the main Queen of Parthia.

She had a son called Phraates V – then bundled all of her husband’s rival sons off to Rome, as ‘hostages’.

Then, she poisoned her husband Phraates IV, installed her son Phraates V as King of Parthia – then married him herself, as these Egyptian Ptolemies were doing a lot of.

Her subjects revolted, so Phraates V and Thea Muse Ourania went off into exile – in Edessa and Palmyra.

This area of land was ‘gifted’ to them by Herod (or in truth, by Rome, the real controllers) so that the Edessans could act as a ‘buffer’ between them and their old enemies, Parthia.

And this is the area of land that Josephus deceptively renamed ‘Adiabene’.

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Ellis brings a lot of evidence to show that when this exiled, incestuous royal couple moved to Edessa, they also changed their name.

Phraataces V became ‘King Abgarus V’ of Edessa.

You can read a little about King Abgarus V on Wikipedia HERE.

Snippet:

Abgar was described as “king of the Arabs” by Tacitus, a near-contemporary source. Moses of Chorene depicted Abgar as an Armenian, but modern scholarly consensus agree that the Abgarids were in fact an Arab dynasty.

Armenian historian Moses of Chorene (ca. 410–490s AD) notes that Abgar V’s chief wife was Queen Helena of Adiabene, who according to Josephus was the wife of King Monobaz I of Adiabene.

Notice, Abgarus V married ‘Queen Helena of Adiabene’

Notice, the strange ‘mix up’ with the Armenians (this is a recurring theme… we’ll return to the Armenians in another post, BH).

Notice, that Josephus says that Helena is the wife of King Monobaz I of Adiabene.

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What this tells us is that Monobaz I of ‘Adiabene’ = Abgarus V of Edessa = Phraataces V of Parthia, grandson of Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar.

Now, Thea Muse Ourania, this king’s mother-wife, daughter of Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar, also had another daughter with the Parthian King Phraataces IV.

When Thea Muse Ourania (his mother-wife) died, Phraataces V / King Abgarus V married this sister.

Her name is Julia Ourania aka ‘Queen Helena of Adiabene’.

There is a whole discussion (admittedly, based on Josephus) trying to measure Jewish sources against this question of who Queen Helena of Adiabene really was, and how she could convert to Judaism if married to her brother, on Judaism Stack Exchange HERE.

But the point is, Ralph Ellis’s research suggests that this family are direct descendants of Cleopatra VII, and the Ptolemaic royals of Egypt.

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Guess what?

We have authentic Jewish sources that suggest the same thing.

The Midrash in Bereishit Rabba (46:10):

“[R]elates that Munbaz and his brother Bazutos (similar to Izates) the sons of King Talmai (Ptolemy) converted to Judaism.”

(Footnote 30 in the Artscroll Edition, referring to Tractate Yoma 37a.)

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Chazal were one of the few ‘alternative’ sources of history, particularly the real history of what occurred around the Jewish Revolt, and the Roman creation of ‘xtianity’.

Even with all the terrible censorship and persecution, they still managed to include lots of coded hints and references all over the place, to what had really happened, just waiting for their descendents to sit patiently learning Gemara, until finally, with a lot of siyatta di shmeya, they understood these coded messages of their ancestors.

No wonder the Roman-xtians have perpetually raged against the ‘rabbis of the Talmud’, and tried to burn and outlaw the Gemara.

Because knowing the real history brings the whole house of cards down.

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So.

‘Bazutos’ = Izates = ‘Jesus’.

He and his brother ‘Munbaz’, Kings and Crown Princes of Edessa, convert to some form of Judaism, together with their mother.

They descend from the Ptolemaic royal family – hence the refence to ‘King Talmai’ = Ptolemy = descendants of Cleopatra VII.

And if that’s not enough, this account is found in the middle of a whole big discussion about circumcision, in the Midrash, and if you look at Bereishit 46:10 in the Torah (the verse linked to this midrash) you see it’s talking about ‘Shaul the son of the Caananite woman’.

And the commentators tell us that ‘Shaul the son of the Caananite woman’ is actually the son of Dina, sister of Shimon, who was raped by Hamor.

And then, we are told, Shimon married his sister Dina, in order to ‘cover up’ her shame.

Are you starting to understand the genius of Chazal?

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UPDATE: This is a link to the Midrash Rabba where Shimon marrying Dina, and the connection to the ‘Caananite Woman’ is discussed (in Hebrew):

http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/Tanach/raba1/80.htm

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Ok, a couple more details here, and then we’ll wrap this up for today, and I’ll sum it up.

Another Roman historian called Cassius Dio had this to say about ‘Monabazus’:

[Emperor Nero] sent into Armenia Monobazus, King of Adiabene, and Monaeses, a Parthian. (Cassius Dio, Rome 62:20).

‘Herod Chalcis’ is meant to be the brother of the Agrippa I and Aristobulus Minor, mentioned above.

Tigranes V, also known as Tigran V  (Armenian: Տիգրան, Greek: Τιγράνης, 16 BC–36 AD) was a Herodian Prince who ruled as a Roman Client King of Armenia from 6 AD to 12 AD….

Tigranes was born and raised in Herod’s court in Jerusalem. After the death of Tigranes’ father in 7 BC [Alexander Helios], Herod forced his mother [supposedly Glaphyra of Cappadocia] to return to Cappadocia, leaving her children under the sole custody of Herod in Jerusalem. Tigranes and his brother remained under Herod’s guardianship so he could be able to control their fates….

Herod died in 4 BC in Jericho.

After the death of Herod, Tigranes and his brother decided to leave Jerusalem and to live with their mother and her family in the Cappadocian Royal Court.

After Tigranes and his brother arrived in Cappadocia, they disowned their Jewish descent and religion and embraced their Greek descent and religion.

Archelaus sent Tigranes to live and be educated in Rome.

Over the next few days, with God’s help, I plan on finally trying to figure out all of these people’s real names and real identities.

The Revolt against Rome in Judea seems to have been more about not paying taxes, than securing religious freedom – which is why the Rabbis of the time opposed it.

PS: When I was re-reading this post, I suddenly had another small eureka! moment.

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Who was the king that Nero sent into Armenia at this time?

Aristobulus, the supposed son of ‘Herod Chalcis’, the guy on the coin, above.

So, now we know that this ‘Aristobulus’ was also known at ‘Monobazus’, the King of Adiabene.

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Now, let’s go back to the quote from Rashi, above:

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So, if Munbaz = Aristobulus, King of Lesser Armenia, sent there by Emperor Nero.

Then, ‘Herod of Chalcis’, father of Aristobulus, is actually one and the same as ‘Herod Agrippa’ the son of Herod.

I need to go and plug this information back into the family tree matrix now…

But I know we just came a big step closer to finally figuring this out.

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UPDATE:

This page has a few more examples of much clearer coins of Aristobulus and Salome, Herodian King and Queen of Lesser Armenia, including this one, that was apparently struck the year the revolt in Judea began:

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Now, I’m inspired to go and look for coins from ‘Herod the Great of Judea’….

We’ll see what turns up.

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