What would the advent of Beelzebub, the demon of flies and a repository of pestilence, described by Christians, to earth look like if it did take place?
An ancient disease would awaken from unknown lands, then, brought along with pain and suffering to the coast by slave traders, it would sweep the entire continent, dragging hundreds of thousands of victims with it into a whirlpool of brutal death. And epidemics would be followed by wars, endless wars ... World War I, wars of colonies and metropolises, civil conflicts, hunger, poverty and dozens of new diseases, one worse than the other. Unfortunately, I am now describing the real history of one of the African diseases and one of the largest epidemics that occurred at the turn of the century.
Sleeping sickness or trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease. It is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei, and is carried by the blood-sucking Tsetse flies. The epidemic, which I will talk about today, lasted almost 20 years, taking, according to the most approximate estimates, about half a million lives, flaring up like a forest fire, and being replaced by the echoes of the colonial and civil wars of Europe in Africa. The medicines available were little better than the symptoms, and doctors were sent to the land of the dead at the same speed as the sick. Well, let's talk about everything in order.
Winged Baal
What does Beelzebub have to do with it? Who is it and where is it from? In the Christian worldview, this name is usually the name of an assistant devil, demon or prince of demons. The very name "Beelzebub" is taken from the Old Semitic beliefs, but they also borrowed it, if not invented at all. "Baal" - and in fact it is just a designation of God - was crossed with the fly "Zevuv", creating the image of the Lord of the Flies, repulsive and frightening. And if we open the Second Book of Kings of the canonical Hebrew Bible, then we will meet "Baal Zuboba" there in the context that he is the god of Ekron, one of the Philistine cities that are at war with the Jews. But why would anyone worship the god of flies, was that really what he called?
Solomon meets Queen Saabe, bas-relief, Batisterio San Giovanni, Florence, Italy.
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And this is a very positive dynamic for the disease, the emergence of epidemics of which strongly depends on the carelessness of a person in relation to how he changes nature to suit his needs.
Yours, old SV.
PS: this is a blog of one person, among politics, cats and eroticism, passionate about knowledge. I do not sell my articles, but write and publish them for free and without advertising.