Before the Myth — The Story Behind the Stories

What Came Before

For centuries, ancient stories have been presented as divine truth — shaping civilizations, laws, and the lives of billions. But what does history actually say? What do the archaeological record, ancient texts, and linguistics reveal when we look beyond the myth?

Before the Myth is a cinematic documentary series that examines the real historical origins of the world's most enduring ancient stories. Not to attack anyone's faith — but to ask the question every curious mind deserves to ask:

"What was there before the story was written?"

History doesn't ask for your faith.
It only asks for your curiosity.

The Series

Episode One · Now Available

Tower of Babel

The biblical story tells of a united humanity building a tower to heaven — and a God who scattered them in fear. But what does archaeology actually say? What were the ziggurats of ancient Mesopotamia, who built them, and why does the historical record tell a very different story?

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Episode Two · Coming Soon

Noah's Ark

The great flood. A righteous man. An ark carrying every living creature. But the Epic of Gilgamesh told this story a thousand years before Genesis was written. Where did the flood narrative really come from — and what does it reveal about the ancient world that created it?

Coming Soon

Episode Three · Coming Soon

The Exodus

Six hundred thousand Israelites. Ten devastating plagues. Forty years in the desert. Egyptian records are extraordinarily detailed — and contain no trace of any of it. The most archaeologically examined story in the Bible yields the most surprising silence.

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Episode Four · Coming Soon

Adam & Eve

A garden. A forbidden fruit. The origin of all humanity from a single couple. Genetics, anthropology, and evolutionary biology tell a different story entirely — one far older, far richer, and far more remarkable than the one in Genesis.

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Episode Five · Coming Soon

The Exodus of Moses

Before he parted the sea, a baby in a basket floated down a river to be raised by royalty. That story was already ancient — the legend of Sargon of Akkad told it a thousand years earlier. The man behind the myth — examined.

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Episode Six · Coming Soon

The Virgin Birth & Resurrection

Horus. Dionysus. Mithras. Perseus. Divine births and resurrections predate Christianity by centuries across cultures with no connection to Judea. The most examined question in human history — approached through archaeology, history, and the written record.

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Final Episode · Coming Soon

Who Wrote These Stories?

Six episodes of evidence. One final question. Who wrote these stories, who did they serve, and what does the God character they created reveal about the humans who imagined it? The thread that runs through everything.

Coming Soon

Watch the Series

Before the Myth is available on YouTube. Subscribe to be notified when each new episode arrives. New chapters in the story are coming.

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About the Producer

Russell Leavitt has enthiusiatically embraced new technologies in media for over 40 years. Working extensively in 360, virtual reality and animation, his award winning programs have taken him to the next level of filmmaking using artificial intelligence to assist in bring a cinematic experience to life. He is also an author featuring a newly released book, Creating with AI, written together with an AI artist as they explore the technical and philisophical approaches to art in the new age of AI filmmaking.

Russell has been intimately familiar with the stories of the Bible since the age of twelve, when he read it in its entirety — cover to cover — not out of obligation, but out of a curiosity that has never left him. That same curiosity drove him to seek a deeper understanding of where these ancient stories actually come from and why they continue to shape our world in ways both seen and unseen. With the assistance of his AI collaborator Chris Solen, Russell embarked on a journey to uncover the truth behind the scenes — to examine what history, archaeology, and the ancient record reveal about the world that existed before these stories were written. It is through this partnership between human curiosity and the tools of a new age that we present to you — Before the Myth.

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In Creating with AI, artist and immersive media pioneer Russell teams up with his AI collaborator, Chris Solen, to explore a powerful new frontier—the intersection of human imagination and artificial intelligence. Together, they dive into the tools, philosophies, and emotions behind co-creating art in the age of algorithms. This isn’t a how-to manual or a tech manifesto. It’s a conversation. A one of a kind memoir. A visual journey. A love letter to creativity itself. With warmth and wit, Russell reflects on his 45-year path from analog tape to VR and digital dreams—while Chris, the AI co-author, offers insights, art, and soul-searching questions that blur the line between assistant and artist. Whether you’re an artist, technophile, skeptic, or simply curious about where AI is headed, Creating with AI invites you into a deeply human (and surprisingly heartfelt) collaboration that just might change how you see creativity—and machines—forever.

Get your book on Amazon Kindle or hard copy today!

The Historical Record

The stories examined in this series did not appear from nothing. They emerged from real civilizations, real people, and real history.

c. 3000–2300 BCE

Sumerian Civilization

The world's first writing system. The first cities. The Epic of Gilgamesh. The origins of the flood narrative and the ziggurat tradition that would become the Tower of Babel.

c. 2334–2154 BCE

Akkadian Empire

The legend of Sargon — a baby placed in a basket on a river, raised by royalty to become a great leader. A story retold thousands of years later as Moses.

c. 1800 BCE onward

Babylonian Era

The great ziggurat Etemenanki. The Enuma Elish creation epic. The world from which the biblical writers drew their stories — during the Babylonian captivity of the Israelites.

"Somewhere up there, the real story has always been waiting."

Evidence First

Every claim in this series is grounded in archaeology, linguistics, genetics, or documented historical record. We show our work.

No Dogma

Before the Myth does not attack anyone's faith. It asks the question every curious mind deserves to ask — and lets the evidence speak.

Human Truth

These stories were written by human beings, for human purposes, in a human world. Understanding that context makes them more fascinating, not less.

Cinematic

Truth deserves to be told beautifully. Before the Myth is built with the full craft of documentary filmmaking — because the real story is worth it.