The peoples of ancient times, who, like the primitive peoples of the present, lacked modern protection against the elements of nature, and who lived in the insecurity of tropical storms and tornadoes or frost and snowstorms, must have been more accustomed to seasonal disturbances than we are, and would not have been impressed by the overflow of a river to such a degree as to carry their experience to all parts of the world as a story of a cosmic upheaval.
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Traditions about upheavals and catastrophes, found among all peoples, are generally discredited because of the shortsighted belief that no forces could have shaped the world in the past that are not at work also at the present time, a belief that is the very foundation of modern geology and of the theory of evolution. "Present continuity implies the improbability of past catastrophism and violence of change, either in the lifeless or in the living world; moreover, we seek to interpret 1
Lewis Spence, The History of Atlantis (1930), p. 224.
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the changes and laws of past time through those which we observe at the present time. This was Darwin's secret, learned from Lyell." 2 It has been shown in this book, however, that forces which at present do not act on the earth, did so act in historical times, and that these forces are of a purely physical character. Scientific principles do not warrant maintaining that a force which does not act now, could not have acted previously. Or must we be in permanent collision with the planets and comets in order to believe in such catastrophes?
The Pageants of the Sky
Cosmic perturbations took place, catastrophes swept the globe, but did witches fly through the air on brooms? The reader would agree that cosmic catastrophes, if they occurred, could leave, and must have left, similar memories all around the world; but there are fantastic images that do not appear to represent realities. We shall follow this rule: if there exists a fantastic image that is projected against the sky and that repeats itself all around the world, it is most probably an image that was seen on the screen of the sky by many peoples at the same time. On one occasion a comet took the striking form of a woman riding on a broom, and the celestial picture was so clearly defined that the same impression was imposed on all the peoples of the world. It is well known how, in modern times, the forms of comets impress people. One comet was said to look like "un crucifix tout sanglant," another like a sword; actually every comet has its peculiar shape which may also change during the visibility of the comet.
To illustrate what is said here by another example, it may be asked: What induced the Mayas to call by the name of Scorpion the constellation known to us and to the ancients by the same name? 1 The outlines of this constellation do not resemble the shape of this insect. It is "one of the most remarkable coincidences in nomenclature." 2
2H. F. Osborn, The Origin and Evolution of Life (1918), p. 24.
1 Sahagun, in the fourth chapter of the seventh book of his historical work, says that the people of Mexico called the constellation Scorpion (Scorpio) by this very same name.
2 Seler, Ges. Ahhand. zur amer. Sprach- und Alterthumskunde, II (1903), 622. His surmise, disagreeing with the assertion of De Sahagun, was that Scorpion
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The constellation, which is not at all like a scorpion, probably was called by this name because a comet that looked like a scorpion appeared in it. Actually, we read on one of the Babylonian astronomical tablets that "a star flared up and its light radiated bright as day, and as it blazed, it lashed its tail like an angry scorpion." 3 If it was not this particular appearance of a comet that caused the constellation to be called Scorpion, there must have been a similar occurrence on another date.
Another example is the dragon. All around the world this image is prominent in literature and art and also in the religion of peoples. There is probably no nation that does not use this symbol or this creature as an important motif, yet it does not exist. Several scholars thought that possibly it represented some extinct menace that impressed mankind to a much greater degree than any other creature since it appears on the Chinese flag, and in pictures showing Archangel Michael or St. George in battle with it, in Egyptian mythology, in Mexican hieroglyphics and bas-reliefs, and in Assyrian bas-reliefs. However, bones of this presumably extinct reptile have not been found.
From the description of the comet Typhon that spread like an animal over the sky with its many heads and winged body, with fire flaming from its mouths, as described in a previous chapter by quotations from Apollodorus and others, we recognize the origin of this widespread motif.
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The Subjective Interpretation of the Events and Their Authenticity
What helped to discredit the traditions of the peoples about the catastrophes was their subjective and magical interpretation of the events. The sea was torn apart. The people attributed this act to the intervention of their leader; he lifted his staff over the waters and they divided. Of course, there is no person who can do this, and no staff with which it can be done. Likewise in the case of Joshua who com-of the ancients was more to the south. However, with the displacement of the poles, the stars acquired new positions.
8 Kugler, Babylonische Zeitordnung, p. 89.
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manded the sun and the moon to halt in their movements. Because the scientific mind cannot believe that a man can make the sun and the moon to stand still, it disbelieves also the alleged event. What contributes to this is the fact that least of all do we place faith in books that demand belief, religious books, though we swear on these.
The peoples of the past were prepared to see miracles in unusual occurrences; for this reason modern man, who does not believe in miracles, rejects the event together with the interpretation.
But as we find the same event in the traditions of many peoples, and as each people has differently comprehended it, its historicity can be checked, and this in addition to the control offered by natural science. For example, if the geographical poles changed their location, or the axis its inclination, the ancient solar clock would not show the correct time; or, if the magnetic poles became reversed at some time in the past, the lava of earlier volcanic activity must show reversed magnetic orientation.
But there is also a check by folklore. Isaiah foretold to King Hezekiah, probably a few hours before the event, that the shadow of the sundial would return ten degrees. (As we know now, the planet Mars was at that moment very close to the earth, and Isaiah could make an estimate based on experiences during previous perturbations of the earth by Mars.) The Chinese explained this phenomenon as having occurred to help their princes in their strategy, or to settle a quarrel among them. The Greek people thought the phenomenon was an expression of heavenly wrath at the crime of the Argive tyrants. The Latins thought the phenomenon was an omen associated with Romulus, son of Mars. In the Icelandic epos the same event has a different purpose, in the Finnish epos another, and yet others in Japan and Mexico and Polynesia. The American Indians say that the sun went backwards several degrees for fear of a boy who tried to snare it or because of some animal that terrified it. Precisely because there are great differences in the subjective evaluation of the causes or purposes of the phenomenon, we can assume that the folklore of different peoples deals with one and the same factual event, and only the magical explanations of the miracle are subjective inventions. Many accompanying details are preserved in the variants 308 WORLDS IN COLLISION