Timothy Jay Schwab of The God Culture bolsters his claims that the Philippines is the ancient source of Greek gold, as if there were no gold mines in ancient Greece, by claiming that ancient Greek armor has been found in Mindanao.
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| https://youtu.be/kWjFtcV_6Nc |
Beginning at 5:27 Timothy Schwab says:
"When we visited Butuan, Philippines in May we were actually able to see this Greek armor which was found in 2018 in the Philippines. The thing is these are indisputably Greek from the symbols and the structure and they are dated all the way back to 800 B.C. up to about 480 B.C. "
Now that is indeed rather interesting don't you think? Ancient Greek armor was found in Mindanao and dated between 800 and 480 B.C.? That would be a huge archaeological discovery seeing as Alexander did not even reach India until 326 B.C.! It would mean Greek soldiers marched or sailed to the Philippines BEFORE the Peloponnesian War. What can one do in the face of such overwhelming evidence that the Greeks were in the Philippines possibly only 300 years after the Trojan War? Question it and tear it apart of course.
I don't doubt that Timothy saw this armor. It obviously exists. Just look at the pictures. But where did he see it? A museum? Somewhere else? A search for news about this discovery leads to one and only one source which is a Youtube video posted by Kasaysayan Hunters on April 30th 2019.
As to the provenance of this discovery I think you will not be shocked to hear that these artifacts appeared suddenly out of nowhere. From the video:
"In 2018 locals in Mindanao were surprised to find armor of a type they have never seen before complete with helmets and weapons, soon sold in the Philippine antiquities market. We were fortunate enough to track down two sets of these amours which may give us important insight into our ancient past."
That is some stunning documentation right there. Unnamed locals found armor of a kind they had never seen before at an undisclosed location and quickly sold it on the Philippine antiquities market. What is this Philippine antiquities market anyway? Sounds like there is a thriving trade in antiquities on the black market in the Philippines.
The video offers no clue as to the origin of the armor. Rather than question its authenticity the narrator assumes it as a fact and goes on to describe all the details like the lions heads and anemones and gorgon heads carved into the armor as being genuinely Greek. They even expect us to believe that ancient Greeks wore helmets decorated with tokay geckos which are native to the Philippines and not Greece! Did the Greeks manufacture these helmets while in the Philippines?
The video offers no clue as to the origin of the armor. Rather than question its authenticity the narrator assumes it as a fact and goes on to describe all the details like the lions heads and anemones and gorgon heads carved into the armor as being genuinely Greek. They even expect us to believe that ancient Greeks wore helmets decorated with tokay geckos which are native to the Philippines and not Greece! Did the Greeks manufacture these helmets while in the Philippines?
The axe decorated with a lion's head we are told is a battle axe. Because when you want to kill someone in battle you definitely don't want an gigantic axe with a huge smooth, sharp edged double head. You want a short and stylish decorative piece.
Here is a picture of the set in full.
Lots of questions need answering.
Where and how was this armor found?
How many more sets were found and where are they now?
What other artifacts were found in the vicinity?
Did any archaeologists visit the site where this armor was found?
Why is the armor in relatively good condition?
Who dated the armor to between 800 - 400 B.C. and what method did they use?
Has Greece been notified of this discovery?
Has Greece been notified of this discovery?
Have any experts in Greek antiquities examined these artifacts?
What kind of tests have been run on this armor? Metallurgical?
What kind of tests have been run on this armor? Metallurgical?
Where are these artifacts now and why does it look they are sitting on a house porch?
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| Is this the "Philippine antiquities market?" |
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| Safe at home on the porch? |
As Indiana Jones would say:
Apparently Tim and the God Culture did not think to ask any of these questions but accept these pieces as genuine ancient Greek armor with zero proof except that they look like Greek armor. One thing to note is that the pieces lying on the table are of a darker color than in the photo showing the full set. That brings up a few more questions.
Where these pieces cleaned?
What were they cleaned with?
Were any kind of tests run on this armor before they were cleaned?
An image search for "Greek muscle cuirass" and "ancient Greek battle axe" gives results that look nothing like the armor above. There is armor with fake abs but not with lion heads and celestial wheels for nipples. Maybe such did exist but they are not coming up in any search online. And believe it or not those Greek battle axes have more of a Tibetan design than Grecian.
Where these pieces cleaned?
What were they cleaned with?
Were any kind of tests run on this armor before they were cleaned?
An image search for "Greek muscle cuirass" and "ancient Greek battle axe" gives results that look nothing like the armor above. There is armor with fake abs but not with lion heads and celestial wheels for nipples. Maybe such did exist but they are not coming up in any search online. And believe it or not those Greek battle axes have more of a Tibetan design than Grecian.
It's obvious that Tim does not believe these artifacts are genuine ancient Greek armor because they have been rigorously and thoroughly tested by experts and found to be so. He believes because it confirms his thesis that the Philippines is the ancient land of Ophir. He ignores what is so obviously gives away the fraud which is the tokay gecko on the helmet! But this would not be the first fact that Tim ignores.
To prove that the Greeks visited the Philippines Time produces a map, made in 1898 mind you, and points to two little islands labelled Chryse and Argyre and says this is Luzon and Mindanao! Pray tell what happened to the Visayas? You know, Negros, Iloilo, Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, and all the rest which lie in between Luzon and Mindanao! His map and his assertions cannot account for them. Here is the map he shows.
What is the source of this map anyway? Well if you're not paying attention you will miss the reference which is in VERY TINY PRINT in the bottom left corner. Let me show you.
Contrary to what the God Culture has claimed that is NOT 30 point font!
It should also be noted that Tim ignores all the scholarship regarding the identification of Chryse, Argyre, and the Golden Chersonesus which he encounters. In the book by Thomas Suarez which he cites the islands are identified as Malaya and Burma while the Golden Chersonesus is identified as the Malaya Peninsula. Has he read this book by Paul Wheatley?
To prove that the Greeks visited the Philippines Time produces a map, made in 1898 mind you, and points to two little islands labelled Chryse and Argyre and says this is Luzon and Mindanao! Pray tell what happened to the Visayas? You know, Negros, Iloilo, Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, and all the rest which lie in between Luzon and Mindanao! His map and his assertions cannot account for them. Here is the map he shows.
What is the source of this map anyway? Well if you're not paying attention you will miss the reference which is in VERY TINY PRINT in the bottom left corner. Let me show you.
Contrary to what the God Culture has claimed that is NOT 30 point font!
He even claims our sources are in very tiny print yet there are a 30 point font thus rather disingenuous as we have come to expect from this communist-style agitator. If you are viewing it on a cell phone screen perhaps it is small but plenty big when we create our slides and all right there to review which this writer has done with their confirmation bias.
https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-god-culture-100-clues-philippines.html?showComment=1580698889368#c5406023618075777202I am viewing this on a 13-inch Macbook Pro and it's barely legible!! You have to zoom in to read it properly. It also doesn't help that there is a God Culture watermark superimposed over the map which they took from another source!! The source is atlantisjavasea.com. Specifically it is this page: https://atlantisjavasea.com/2015/09/26/taprobana-is-not-sri-lanka-nor-sumatera-but-kalimantan/. This is a web page dedicated to proving that Atlantis was located in Southeast Asia. Goodness knows how Tim ended up on this page but it should be noted that the map is an 1898 reconstruction of Mela by Konrad Miller. Mela himself never drew a map!
It should also be noted that Tim ignores all the scholarship regarding the identification of Chryse, Argyre, and the Golden Chersonesus which he encounters. In the book by Thomas Suarez which he cites the islands are identified as Malaya and Burma while the Golden Chersonesus is identified as the Malaya Peninsula. Has he read this book by Paul Wheatley?
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| https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/v692t6367 |
While the book is not available online the table of contents are and there is no hint of the Philippines. The subtitle also gives the game away. "Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay Peninsula before A.D. 1500."
There is simply no credible evidence that the Philippines are the islands Tim says they are or that the Greeks were ever here. However there is an article that makes this assertion which Tim has likely come across.
Professor Austin Craig rejects the "romantic dream" of the Philippines being Ophir and Greeks trading in these islands. Instead He focuses his scholarship on written records and calls them "more reliable and valuable." On the other end of the spectrum Timothy Jay Schwab and the God Culture latch on to every kind of myth and legend and reject what scholars have to say in order to promulgate their doctrine. Men like Professor Austin Craig and Thomas Suarez do history while Tim and his bunch engage in pseudo-history.
Let's say these are real ancient Greek artifacts and not just fakes manufactured by locals in Mindanao. That would change so much of what we know about history. It would mean that the Greeks were either sailing around Africa long before Bartolomeu Dias did in 1488 or marching overland to the East hundreds of years before Alexander. In short it would be a groundbreaking archeological discovery and the area where the armor was found would certainly be excavated for more artifacts. But since the source of our knowledge of these antiques is only one Youtube video and there are no scholarly references to this find in reputable journals and no news reports either it is a safe bet that this ancient Greek armor is a modern-day fraud. The Philippines may be the ancient land of Gold according to The God Culture but today it is most certainly the land of frauds, cheats, and thieves.
There is simply no credible evidence that the Philippines are the islands Tim says they are or that the Greeks were ever here. However there is an article that makes this assertion which Tim has likely come across.
The Visayan Islands had earlier encounter with the Greek traders in 21 A.D. 2 (Felix Regalado and Quentin B. Franco, History of Panay (Ilo-ilo City Central Philippines University , 1973) ed., Eliza B. Grimo, p. 78.)
http://cebu-online.com/swum/html/exhibits.htmlOver at a message board about history this question of Greek traders in the Philippines was raised and the book cited as the source of this information, History of Panay, was located and the appropriate section quoted.
Professor Austin Craig, eminent student of Philippine history, said that the ancient traders of the Philippines exported sinamay cloth to Greece in A.D. 21 and Strabo, a Roman geographer of the First Century, referred to the commodity as "Ta see sika", or 'flex combed from the trees'. Manila hemp was well known to the Caesars of Rome, and sinamay cloth was once sold to the museum of Dresden, Germany for its antiquity.
https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/46708/did-greek-traders-visit-the-philippines-in-the-1st-century-adIf you cross check the reference from Professor Austin Craig which is found in "A Thousand Years of Philippine History Before the Arrival of the Spanish" you find this subject of ancient Greek contact with the Philippines on the very first page.
The Philippine History of which one is apt to think when that subject is mentioned covers hardly a fourth of the Islands' book-recorded history.
These records are not the romantic dream of a Paterno that under the name Ophir the Philippines with their gold enriched Solomon (l0th century B. C). They are solider ground than any plausible explanations that Manila hemp (abaka) was Strabo's (A. D. 21) "ta seerika," the cloth made of "a kind of flax combed from certain barks of trees." The shadowy identification of the Manilas with Ptolemy's Maniolas (c. A. D. 130) is not in their class. Nor, to accept them, is recourse needed to farfetched deductions like Zuniga's that the American Continent received Israel's ten lost tribes, and thence, through Easter Island, Magellan's archipelago was peopled. Their existence saves us from having to accept such references as how Sinbad the sailorman (Burton: The Arabian Nights, Night 538 et seq.) evidently made some of his voyages in this region, though it would not be uninteresting to note that the great Roc is a bird used in Moro ornament, the “ghoul" of the Thousand and One Nights is the Filipino Asuang and that the palm-covered island which was believed to be a colossal tortoise because it shook might well have been located where the Philippine maps indicate that earthquakes are most frequent.
The records herein after to be cited are for the most part of the prosaic kind, all the more reliable and valuable because they are inclined to be dry and matter-of-fact. They make no such demand upon imagination as Europe’s pioneer traveller's tales, for instance the- sixteenth century chart which depicted America as inhabited by headless people with eyes, nose and mouth located in the chest.
https://archive.org/stream/thousandyearsofp00crairich#page/n7/mode/2upRead that carefully and see that the authors of the "History of Panay" misrepresent what Austin Craig writes.
Professor Austin Craig rejects the "romantic dream" of the Philippines being Ophir and Greeks trading in these islands. Instead He focuses his scholarship on written records and calls them "more reliable and valuable." On the other end of the spectrum Timothy Jay Schwab and the God Culture latch on to every kind of myth and legend and reject what scholars have to say in order to promulgate their doctrine. Men like Professor Austin Craig and Thomas Suarez do history while Tim and his bunch engage in pseudo-history.
Let's say these are real ancient Greek artifacts and not just fakes manufactured by locals in Mindanao. That would change so much of what we know about history. It would mean that the Greeks were either sailing around Africa long before Bartolomeu Dias did in 1488 or marching overland to the East hundreds of years before Alexander. In short it would be a groundbreaking archeological discovery and the area where the armor was found would certainly be excavated for more artifacts. But since the source of our knowledge of these antiques is only one Youtube video and there are no scholarly references to this find in reputable journals and no news reports either it is a safe bet that this ancient Greek armor is a modern-day fraud. The Philippines may be the ancient land of Gold according to The God Culture but today it is most certainly the land of frauds, cheats, and thieves.
