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hey there I'm Mike Rugnetta this is

crash course mythology and today we'll

be talking about the moment that you've

all been waiting for

or perhaps dreading that's right Thoth

it's the end of the world these days

books and movies and video games are big

on a post-apocalyptic stories nuclear

fallout

zombies robot uprisings nuclear-powered

robot zombie uprising but before there

were post apocalypse stories there were

plain old apocalyptic stories open

apocalypse well it's a fancy way of

saying the end of the world but often

with a religious connotation so yes fair

warning the apocalyptic visions we're

discussing come from living religious

texts and as usual we're not going to

touch on their religious significance

but these stories do fit our definition

of myth significant stories that have

been important to many people for a very

long time so let's get started with all

of these endings

[Music]

we can find stories of the end of the

world in cultures around the globe and

perhaps that's because they reflect the

uncomfortable fact that for individual

people the world does come to an end in

a sense when we you know die but

apocalypses are about more than any

individual death they're about imagining

how a supernatural power will eventually

end all human life in its entirety

according to our old pal David leaming

through their myth of the Apocalypse

human societies express a sense that the

higher powers of the universe must

intervene definitively to put an end to

the failure of humanity the theme of

divine punishment is similar to what we

saw in all those flood stories try not

Mesopotamia the Inca Empire but there's

one significant difference flood stories

are about the past but apocalypse

stories apocalypse comes from a Greek

word for uncovering it by the W always

reveal something yet to come this makes

talking about them a little strange

because their old stories rooted in the

past which discuss a distant glob only

knows when future what we'll see today

is the flood story theme of judgment

combined with the focus on torment for

those harshly judged and in many cases

just like the flood stories these end of

everything tales actually promise a new

beginning there's more than one tale of

Apocalypse in the Hebrew Bible foretold

by a number of prospects in some of

these prophecies the end of the world is

marked by two events first general

destruction usually of the natural world

followed by a judgement punishing the

enemies of God we're going to see these

themes repeated again and again the Book

of Isaiah describes the promised

destruction behold the Lord will strip

the earth bare and lay it waste and

twist its surface and scatter its

inhabitants the book of Zechariah has a

little bit more detail about how the

judgment will work itself out amid the

destruction of the world the people of

Jerusalem will be embroiled in a great

battle but the Lord Himself will go

forth to sway the battle and save his

righteous followers and those on the

other side of the battle

righteous you might be wondering well

their flesh shall consume away while

they stand upon their feet and their

eyes shall consume away in their holes

and their tongue shall consume away in

their mouths anyone who manages to

survive the literal face-melting

the Lord will put a great tumult among

them leaving all the non-believers to

fight each other as the world burns down

around them for the true believers in

Yahweh X the process he promises safety

and survival in the kingdom of God this

is an apocalyptic attribute that we're

going to see more than once today if you

got faith you say for the ancient

Persians or a stream the ultimate deity

ahuru mazda has a destructive

counterpart in Angra Mainyu or Ahriman

and their apocalypse prophecy your fate

is tied to which one you follow the many

followers of Ahriman will be punished

while the few faithful to a hurry Mazda

will be rewarded according to David Lee

mang fire the son of a Mazda will

flow like a river over the universe as

an ultimate sacrifice destroying all

before it including even hell and

separating the good from the evil as a

Last Judgment then through ceremonies

presided over by the Saviour

so she ant the resurrection of the

bodies of the good will take place and a

new golden age will follow

so she ant who's referred to as a single

figure sometimes and other times is a

group of figures is a kind of Messiah

who will help remake the world and

redeem worthy humankind in some

traditions associate is also a product

of a virgin birth but this story

involves bathing in a lake filled with

sperm like a spermicide maybe you're

picking up on some similarities there

was a great deal of syncretism among the

religions of the eastern Mediterranean

which brings us to the Christian

apocalypse the end of the world is

described in the book of Revelation it

portrays the coming of the kingdom of

God to earth the raising of the Dead and

the Last Judgement we got angels and

Antichrist playing exist end of days has

it all come on down to the south amid

all the chaos the end of day st. John

Devine described in particular detail

the alchemical plague of seven a new

he writes and I saw another sign in

heaven great and marvellous seven angels

having the seven last plagues for in

them is filled up the wrath of God the

seven angels appear each holding their

own vial of plague liquid one by one

they pour them out across the land the

first angel pours their vial and there

fell a noisome and grievous sore upon

the men which had the mark of the beast

and upon them which worshipped him the

second angel for their vial into the sea

which turns into blood the third angel

pours a vial on the rivers and fountain

which also turn into the fourth angel

pours their vial into the Sun which

flares up and scorching those on the

face of the earth angel five pours a

vial on the seat beast this builds their

kingdom with darkness and causes their

followers now their own tongue Hank the

sixth angel pours their vial on the

great river Euphrates and in kind of a

twist the river doesn't turn into blood

but it does dry up entirely

the final angel pours out their liquid

into the air which causes a great

booming voice to come from the temple of

heaven saying it is done thunder

lightning and a terrible earthquake all

the remaining cities all the nations of

Earth crumble thank you cloud bubble the

apocalypse story in Revelation has a lot

in common with the older prophecy told

by Zechariah plagues war the dissolving

of terrestrial nations but there's one

very significant difference which is

that revelation makes frequent reference

to the Beast

Saint John has added a villain similar

to what we saw in Zoroastrianism of

course the villain stuff gets

complicated because there are actually

two beasts and a dragon yes there is

also a dragon so I guess that means that

there are then three bees also the

dragon is the devil the last story of

Apocalypse that we're going to talk

about comes from Islam and since Islam

is also an Abrahamic tradition it's

unsurprising that there are similarities

between Jewish Christian and Muslim

accounts of the end of the world there's

a long description of the final judgment

in Sura 56 of the Quran but there's also

interesting additional information

recorded in a collection of hadith which

are sayings and stories of the life of

Muhammad it's worth noting that while

this is a religious text in Islam it's

considered a secondary text to the Koran

and not all collections of hadith are

equally esteemed muslims have a variety

of relationships with the hadith often

depending upon their denomination and

how well sourced a given hadith is here

at crash course mythology were

interested in stories which is why we're

drawing on this particular hadith but if

you want to know more you can check out

the two episodes of crash course world

history about Islam that covers this

very topic when asked about the judgment

that's mentioned in the Quran Muhammad

offers further explanation he says that

at this terrible time people will

forsake studying the Quran and indulge

in earthly pleasures there will be

famine and plague in Medina and Mecca

earthquakes throughout North Africa

thunderstorms in Iran and Turkey

banditry in Iraq and floods in the Far

East as morality decays among all the

people the Dajjal or Antichrist will

appear riding on a donkey and subjecting

all the people to his rule to Jones will

not the donkeys rule the Dajjal will

rule for only 40 days though before God

sends Jesus and an army of the faithful

from heaven Jesus will defeat and kill

the Dajjal and then rain for 40 years

but each of these years will have 26

months

so it'll be more like 87 years at that

point Jesus will travel to Jerusalem

pray at the Dome of the rock and be

taken up to heaven and this is where

things get intense seven days after

Jesus ascends the monster's ya'juj and

ma'juj referred to in the old and new

testament as gog and magog will escape

their bondage and destroy civilization

then the angel is Rothfeld will blow the

horn of judgment Mountains will crumble

there will be 40 more years of

earthquakes and terrible storms then

Israel will sound the horn again the

souls and bodies of the faithful will be

reunited resurrected and spent the next

40 years praising Allah after this final

40 year period the trumpet will sound

again and Mohammed will return to earth

for the Day of Judgment everyone will

have their secret sins measured against

their good deeds

on the scales of judgment the allowed

will pick the scale if one of the Damned

sincerely called for mercy and finally

all will walk to cross the bridge into

paradise easy and wide for the righteous

while the Damned can't help but slip off

and fall below into hell but even if

they do fall into hell if they really

have a change of heart along the way

they'll be able to scramble out in time

there's always hope for things to turn

around so these apocalyptic stories

feature plagues and natural disasters

and things far beyond mortal control and

let's not forget the unnatural disasters

like rivers of molten metal or the

dragon not nice ones interested in

responding or helping with floods either

and yet these apocalyptic stories mix

terror with hope as in flood myths

apocalypse stories from the religious

traditions of the eastern Mediterranean

all offer some sense of an everlasting

life beyond this world at least for

believers if they speak to the end of

the world they also speak to the

faithful in the present moment

promising great rewards or amnesty from

everlasting torment if that faith

continues but let's hope the world is an

end too soon

at least not before we get to talk about

Ragnarok thanks for watching we'll see

you next time check out our crash course

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beware and

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