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My recent methodology focuses less on parallels and how they
prove the Book of Mormon. We don’t necessarily have to point to a direct
connection between Rome, China and the people of the Book of Mormon because the
underlying behavior, motivations and feelings are so similar.
I’ve talked about many principles between the Jaredite and
Chinese Civil War in my first book. In this case, I was particularly impressed with
the jealousy of the Roman empress regent against powerful generals and how
those generals held key commands around Roman territory. The power struggle
between generals, politicians, and priests using the levers of the state or
their personal commands to protect their own power against rivals aided by
assassination. Aetius also had to recover from defeat which recalled the
similar effort by Coriantumr. These scrums for power place the Book of Mormon
firmly in ancient settings.
We might consider how chaos in both China and Rome allowed
associated barbarian groups to enter and seize control. One Chinese source said
they “picked the bone of the dynasty.” Aetius used his time as a hostage to the
Huns to use them as allies against his enemies. This presents an intriguingly
possibility concerning others in the Book of the Mormon. The Jaredite fight for
power among themselves and crush for manpower could have led to unconventional
alliances or allowed nonaffiliated groups to expand their power. In fact, the Mulekites
could be some of those outsiders. They were too late to affect the twilight
wars of the Jaredites (though the account says Coriantumr lived with the people
of Zarahemla for 9 months.) But they
entered the Jaredite (possibly San Lorenzo) culture zone and soon created their
own mix aristocracy and control of nearby regions.
The more I read ancient accounts and documents the more firmly
I’m convinced of its ancient setting. Without further ado here are the three summaries of the churning for power in ancient society. If you get lost trying to keep track of all the power players, don't worry, that is kind of the point.
China:
After a period of disunion, romantically called the “Three
Kingdoms Period,”1 Sima Yan united China and proclaimed the beginning
of the Jin Dynasty in the mid-3rd century A.D. Sima Yan placed his
relatives in strong military commands surrounding the capital of Luoyang on the
Yellow river.2 As is
typically the case in Chinese history, however, commanders capable enough to
protect the frontier were also powerful enough to assert their will against the
Emperor. It took a strong Emperor at the
center to hold these ambitious commanders in check.
Upon the death of Sima Yan in 290 A.D, his mentally feeble
son Sima Zhong assumed the throne. His
wife, the Empress Jia, suppressed, executed or ran off members of the Sima
clan, and effectively ruled until 300 A.D.
After the murder of the Sima Yu, the various Princes stationed along the
periphery asserted their will in favor of the Imperial (Sima) clan. Two Princes, Sima Yong and Sima Lun,
violently seized power in the capital and forced the Empress to commit suicide.
Up until this point, the various political machinations had
been done under the façade of Imperial authority. The Empress signed an edict in the name of
her feeble husband, and then executed or exiled the various “traitors” to the
Empire. The naked use of power without a
justifying edict by the Sima brothers led to what historian David Graff calls a
“plunge into the abyss.”3
Members of the Sima clan justified their actions based on assertions of
military power, and not Imperial authority.
Less than a year after the two Simas coup, a third, Sima
Yun, attempted a coup but was killed. In
response, Sima Lun abandoned all pretenses of ruling through his feeble cousin
and declared himself Emperor.4
Yet this caused the former Emperor’s younger brothers (Sima Ying, Sima
Yih, and an area commander Sima Jiong) to attack from the West. They defeated
the new Emperor and restored their mentally challenged brother to the
throne.
With the unremitting carnage among the princes in their
struggles for power, by May of 302 A.D., no clear heirs remained to the
(recently restored) Jin Emperor. Sima Ying
hoped for the nomination, and he resented the dominant position taken by the
more distant relative Sima Jiong, while Sima Yung from the west also sought a
role. In complex intrigue during the last days of the Chinese year [heading
into 303 A.D.], Sima Ying and Sima Yung involved Sima Yih in their rivalry with
Sima Jiong, but when Sima Jiong sought to destroy Sima Yih, Sima Yih turned the
tables on him and took his place at the head of government...5
After heavy
fighting, Sima Yih defeated Sima Ying’s forces and held off another army from
Sima Yung, commanded by the vigorous general Zhang Fang. However, Sima Yih was betrayed by his own
soldiers, under the influence of Sima Yue.
In 304 A.D., the latter had the former burned at the stake, and he
continued his efforts to gain control over the Emperor. Sima Yue’s enemy, Sima Yung, tried to appease
him by offering the head of his general Zhang Fang. Sima Yue accepted the head but continued the
fight to gain control of the government. He accomplished his design in 306
A.D.
Jaredite:
The Jaredite Civil War is no less sanguine, complicated, or
less known by the public at large. Ending in roughly 300 B.C.,6
the historian Moroni summarized Ether’s account.7 The final war begins
with the latter’s eviction from the rulers’ court. At this point, many “mighty
men” fight Coriantumr. Knowing “all the
arts of war” (Ether 13:16), Coriantumr fights back for three years before being
put into captivity by Shared. His sons
promptly rescue him and restore him to the throne. This naked aggression seems
to throw the kingdom into continual bloodshed, as there was “none to restrain
them” (Ether 13:31). A “curse” upon the
land corresponds to this bloodshed. It is manifested by a complete lack of
trade and a shredding of the Jaredite economy.
Shared and Coriantumr
continue their back and forth fight and exchange victories across the land
until the latter kills the former.
Shared’s brother, Gilead, beats Coriantumr in a series of battles and
assumes the throne. Then Gilead’s high
priest murdered him as he sits upon the throne.
The text is a bit unclear, but this high priest is either Lib, or killed
by Lib so that he can take the throne (Ether 14:10).8 Renewed from his defeat and succored by what
appears to be a regional power base, Coriantumr regains the throne and kills
Lib (or the man who killed Lib). By this
point, the armies are forcibly conscripting soldiers and destroying large
populations and cities in their path. Lib’s brother, Shiz, continues the fight,
despite peace overtures from Coriantumr, until the nation ceases to exist in
any organized form.9
Roman:10
A six year old boy cannot rule an empire, even in the hands
of so capable and experience a mother as Galla Placidia….The fragmentary
records indicate that she aimed to sustain a balance of power in which no one
figure among the military or bureaucratic elite should become too dominant. The
main contenders for power and influence in the years after 425 were the leaders
of the three main western army groups: Felix [Italy], Aetius [Gaul], and
Boniface [North Africa]…
For awhile, Placidia’s strategy just about worked. The threatened
dominance of first one figure, then another, was kept in check, if not entirely
smoothly. Slowly, however, the situation fell out of the Augusta’s control.
Felix made the first move. Accusing Boniface of disloyalty, in 427 he ordered
him to return to Italy. When he refused, Felix sent forces to North Africa, but
they were defeated. Then Aetius stepped in. On the strength of some military
successes in Gaul against Visigoths (426) and Franks (428)…he felt confident
enough to move against Felix. Perhaps his successes had won him new favor with
Placidia, or perhaps personal extinction was the price of Felix’s failure
against Bonficace, but in 429 Aetius was transferred to Italy and to the post
of junior central field army general…In May 430 Aeitus had Felix and his wife
arrested for plotting against him. They were executed at Ravenna. Three had
become two, and high noon was fast approaching for Boniface.
Aetius seems to have lost little ground at court after he
got rid of Felix. Perhaps, one again, Placidia was fearful of the dominance of
one unchallenged generalissimo. Boniface was therefore recalled to the Italy,
seemingly while Aetius was absent in Gaul again; and Boniface too was promoted
to the post of central field army general. Aetius immediately marched to Italy
with an army, and met Boniface in battle near Rimini. Boniface was victorious
but also mortally wounded; he died soon afterwards. His political position, and
the struggle with Aetius, were immediately taken up by his son in law
Sebastianus. After the defeat, Aetius first retreated to his country estates,
but after an attempt was made on his life, he turned to the Huns, as he had in
425. In 433 he returned to Italy with enough Hunnic reinforcements to make
Sebastianus’ position untenable…Aetius had emerged by the end of 433 as the de
facto ruler of the western Empire.
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1 This period is
similar in legend and romance to that of Arthurian Britain.
2 See Appendix B in my book a map of Jin Provinces.
3 David Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare: 300-900 (New
York: Routledge Press, 2002), 62.
4 Edward Dreyer,
"Military Aspects of the War of the Eight Princes, 301-307," in Military
Culture in Imperial China, ed.
Nicola di Cosmo, 112-142 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009).
5 Rafe de
Crespigny, “The Three Kingdoms and Western Jin: A history of China in the Third
Century AD,” Internet Edition, 2003.
6 The timeline for this section of The Book of Mormon is incredibly tenuous. I give a tentative timeline of the battle below (see fn. 53).
7 This following is a summary of the major events starting in Ether 13:15 to the end of chapter 15.
8 Ether 14:10 could be explicating verse 9 or could be introducing a new actor.
9 At this point in The Book of Mormon’s timeline, the Jaredites fade from history and the Nephites assume a central role. While the common assumption is that the Jaredite nation is destroyed, Hugh Nibley concludes that the political leadership is destroyed, but Jaredite individuals continue to participate in Nephite society, usually as bad actors. See Hugh Nibley, The World of the Jaredites.
10 Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire, (Oxford University Press, 2006), 260-262.
