DOCSLIB.ORG

David N. Talbott

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
David N. Talbott David N. Talbott THE SATURN MYTH A reinterpretation of rites and symbols illuminating some of the dark corners of primordial society Intrigued by Velikovsky’s claim that Saturn was once the pre-eminent planetary god, David Talbott resolved to examine its mythical character. “I wanted to know,” he wrote, “if ancient sources had a coherent story to tell about the planet . I had no inkling of the spectacular tale hidden in the chronicles.” In this startling re-interpretation of age-old symbolism Talbott argues that the “Great God” or “Universal Monarch” of the ancients was not the sun, but Saturn, which once hung ominously close to the earth, and visually dominated the heavens. Talbott’s close textual and symbolic analysis reveals the fundamental themes of Saturn imagery and proves that all of them—including the “cosmic ship”, the “island at the top of the world”, the “eye of heaven” and “the revolving temple” were based on celestial observations in the northern sky. In addition he shows how such diverse symbols as the Cross, “sun”-wheels, holy mountains, crowns of royalty and sacred pillars grew out of ancient Saturn worship. Talbott contends that Saturn's appearance at the time, radically different from today, inspired man's leap into civilization, since many aspects of early civilization can be seen as conscious efforts to re-enact or commemorate Saturn’s organization of his “celestial” kingdom. A fascinating look at ancient history and cosmology, The Saturn Myth is a provocative book that might well change the way you think about man’s history and the history of the universe. David N. Talbott is the founder and former publisher of Pensee, an out-growth of the Student Academic Forum which developed the book, Velikovsky Reconsidered. He is also the co-author of The Ecstasy of Sati-Ra, a cosmological mystery. He now lives with his family in Oregon. Talbott, David N., The Saturn Myth ISBN: 0-385-113376-5 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 76-51986 Copyright © 1980 by David N.Talbott. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. First Edition. Kindle version created by PapaLazzzaru, August 2013; revised March 2014, February 2015. Final revision June 2016. CONTENTS I: INTRODUCTION MYTH AND CATASTROPHE II: THE GREAT FATHER THE “ONE GOD” OF ARCHAIC MONOTHEISM THE UNIVERSAL MONARCH THE AGE OF KRONOS India Iran China Northern Europe THE RITES OF KINGSHIP THE HEAVEN MAN WHO WAS ADAM? THE GREAT FATHER SATURN THE SATURN MYTH RECONSTRUCTED III: THE POLAR SUN SUN AND SATURN DAY AND NIGHT SATURN AND THE POLE THE UNMOVED MOVER Egypt Mesopotamia India China The Americas IV: SATURN’S COSMOS THE ENCLOSED SUN THE LOST ISLAND The Egg THE COSMOS AND THE DIVINE ASSEMBLY THE CIRCLE OF THE GODS THE GREAT MOTHER WOMB AND THIGH WOMB AND COSMOS THE HERMAPHRODITE V: THE HOLY LAND THE MOTHER LAND SATURN’S EARTH THE EGYPTIAN PARADISE THE WORLD WHEEL THE ONE-WHEELED CHARIOT THE CITY OF HEAVEN THE ENCLOSURE AS PROTOTYPE THE WORLD NAVEL THE OCEAN VI. THE ENCLOSED SUN-CROSS THE FOUR RIVERS OF PARADISE THE CROSSROADS THE FOUR-EYED OR FOUR-FACED GOD THE FOUNDATION STONE THE FOUR PILLARS OF HEAVEN SYMMETRICAL ELABORATIONS OF THE SUN-CROSS VII: TEMPLE, CROWN, VASE, EYE, AND CIRCULAR SERPENT THE TEMPLE THE EGYPTIAN TEMPLE TEMPLE AND WOMB THE CROWN THE VASE THE EYE THE CIRCULAR SERPENT IN SUMMARY: A COHERENT DOCTRINE VIII: THE COSMIC MOUNTAIN Egypt Mesopotamia India Japan, China, Iran, Siberia Siberia Greece And Rome Western Semitic The Americas A COLLECTIVE MEMORY THE MOUNT OF MASCULINE POWER THE COSMIC MOUNTAIN PERSONIFIED THE SINGLE LEG THE SERPENT/DRAGON THE STREAM OF LIFE Boreas And The Hyperboreans The North Wind Shu The River Of Life The Eden-Fountain THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN IX: THE CRESCENT THE CRESCENT AND SATURN THE CRESCENT AND WOMB CRESCENT AND MOTHERLAND THE CRESCENT AND MOUNT THE HEAVENLY TWINS WHO WERE THE DIOSCURI? THE BLACK AND WHITE TWINS The Two Assemblies The Two Lands The Two Crowns The Two Eyes The Two Serpents The Two Thrones The Two Vases (=Two Eyes) The Two Lakes or Rivers The Two Cords SYMBOLISM OF THE CRESCENT THE CRESCENT HORN THE HORNED MOUNTAIN X: THE CRESCENT-SHIP (PART 2) The World-Ship The Island-Ship The City-Ship The Temple-Ship The Wheel-Ship The Egg-Ship The Eye-Ship The Vase-Ship The Shield-Ship The Throne-Ship The Serpent (Dragon)-Ship THE CRESCENT-ARMS THE KA-ARMS THE CRESCENT-WINGS INTERCONNECTED SYMBOLS The Plant Of Life Sword The Altar ABOVE AND BELOW, LEFT AND RIGHT SATURN’S DAY XI: CONCLUSION BIBLIOGRAPHY ENDNOTES I: Introduction The planet Saturn today is recognizable only to those who know where to look for it. But a few thousand years ago Saturn dominated the earth as a sun, presiding over a universal Golden Age. Modern man considers it self-evident that our familiar heavens differ hardly at all from the heavens encountered by the earliest star worshippers. He assumes that the most distinctive bodies venerated in primitive times were the sun and moon, followed by the five visible planets and various constellations—all appearing as they do today, but for such ever-so-slight changes as the precession of the equinoxes. This long-standing belief not only confines present discussion of ancient myth and religion; it is the fixed doctrine of modern astronomy and geology: every prevailing theory of the solar system and of earth’s past rests upon an underlying doctrine of cosmic uniformity—the belief that the clocklike regularity of heavenly motions can be projected backward indefinitely. But the evidence assembled in the following pages indicates that within human memory extraordinary changes in the planetary system occurred: in the earliest age recalled by man the planet Saturn was the most spectacular light in the heavens and its impact on the ancient world overwhelming. In fact Saturn was the one “great god” invoked by all mankind. The first religious symbols were symbols of Saturn, and so pervasive was the planet god’s influence that the ancients knew him as the creator, the king of the world, and Adam, the first man. Since the only meaningful defense of this claim is the entire body of evidence presented here, I shall not presume upon the reader’s credulity, but only ask that he follow the narrative to its end. Myth And Catastrophe If our generation disdains the possibility of fact in the language of myth it is because we are aware of discrepancy between myth and the modern world view, and we ascribe it to the blindness or superstition of the ancients. There is hardly an ancient tale which fails to speak of world-destroying upheavals and shifting cosmic orders. Indeed, we are so accustomed to the catastrophic character of the stories that we hardly give it a second thought. When the myths tell of suns which have come and gone, or of planetary gods whose wars threatened to destroy mankind, we are likely to take them as amusing and absurdly exaggerated accounts of local floods, earthquakes, and eclipses—or write them off altogether as expressions of unconstrained fancy. How many scholars, seeking to unravel the astronomical legends and symbols of antiquity, have questioned whether the heavenly bodies have always coursed on the same paths they follow today? In the past three hundred years barely a handful of writers have claimed any connection between myth and actual celestial catastrophe: William Whiston published in 1696 A New Theory of the Earth, arguing that the biblical Deluge resulted from a cometary cataclysm. The book produced a storm of scientific objections and had no lasting impact outside Christian orthodoxy. In 1882 and 1883 two books by Ignatius Donnelly appeared: Atlantis, the Antediluvian World, and Ragnarok: the Age of Fire and Gravel. Relying on global myths, Donnelly claimed that a massive continent called Atlantis once harboured a primordial civilization, but the entire land sank beneath the sea when a comet rained destruction on the earth. Both of Donnelly’s books became best sellers and are still available today. Yet conventional theories of earth and the solar system remain unaffected by these works. Around the turn of the century Isaac Vail argued in a series of brief papers that myths of cosmic upheaval relate to the collapse of ice bands surrounding our planet.1 Three quarters of a century after his death, his work is familiar only to the esoteric few. In 1913 Hans Hoerbiger published his Glacial-Kosmogonie, contending that the great catastrophes described in ancient myth occurred when the Earth captured another planet which became our moon.2 The relatively small interest in Hoerbiger’s thesis vanished within a couple of decades. This was the extent of noteworthy research into myth and catastrophe when Immanuel Velikovsky, in early 1940, first wondered whether a cosmic disturbance may have accompanied the Hebrew Exodus. According to the biblical account, massive plagues occurred, Sinai erupted, and a pillar of cloud and fire moved in the sky. His quest for a solution led Velikovsky through a systematic survey of world mythology and eventually to the conclusion that ancient myths constitute a collective memory of celestial disorder. The great gods, Velikovsky observed, appear explicitly as planets. In the titanic wars vividly depicted by ancient chroniclers the planets moved on erratic courses, appearing to wage battles in the sky, exchanging electrical discharges, and more than once menacing the earth. Velikovsky set forth his claims of celestial catastrophe in his book Worlds in Collision (published in 1950), proposing that first Venus and then Mars, in the period 1500-686 B.C., so disturbed the Earth’s axis as to produce world-wide destruction.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pushing the Boundaries of Myth: Transformations of Ancient Border
    THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF MYTH: TRANSFORMATIONS OF ANCIENT BORDER WARS IN ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL GREECE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS: ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD BY NATASHA BERSHADSKY CHICAGO, ILLINOIS MARCH 2013 UMI Number: 3557392 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3557392 Published by ProQuest LLC (2013). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 Acknowledgements I would like to express my deep gratitude to the members of my dissertation committee, Jonathan Hall, Christopher Faraone, Gloria Ferrari Pinney and Laura Slatkin, whose ideas and advice guided me throughout this research. Jonathan Hall’s energy and support were crucial in spurring the project toward completion. My identity as a classicist was formed under the influence of Gregory Nagy. I would like to thank him for the inspiration and encouragement he has given me throughout the years. Daniela Helbig’s assistance was invaluable at the finishing stage of the dissertation. I also thank my dear colleague-friends Anna Bonifazi, David Elmer, Valeria Segueenkova, Olga Levaniouk and Alexander Nikolaev for illuminating discussions, and Mira Bernstein, Jonah Friedman and Rita Lenane for their help.
    [Show full text]
  • Birds in the Ancient World from a to Z
    BIRDS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD FROM A TO Z Why did Aristotle claim that male Herons’ eyes bleed during mating? Do Cranes winter near the source of the Nile? Was Lesbia’s pet really a House Sparrow? Ornithology was born in ancient Greece, when Aristotle and other writers studied and sought to identify birds. Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z gathers together the information available from classical sources, listing all the names that ancient Greeks gave their birds and all their descriptions and analyses. Arnott identifies (where achievable) as many of them as possible in the light of modern ornithological studies. The ancient Greek bird names are transliterated into English script, and all that the classical writers said about birds is presented in English. This book is accordingly the first complete discussion of classical bird names that will be accessible to readers without ancient Greek. The only previous study in English on the same scale was published over seventy years ago and required a knowledge of Greek and Latin. Since then there has been an enormous expansion in ornithological studies which has vastly increased our knowledge of birds, enabling us to evaluate (and explain) ancient Greek writings about birds with more confidence. With an exhaustive bibliography (partly classical scholarship and partly ornithological) added to encourage further study Birds in the Ancient World from A to Z is the definitive study of birds in the Greek and Roman world. W.Geoffrey Arnott is former Professor of Greek at the University of Leeds and Fellow of the British Academy.
    [Show full text]
  • THE ORIGIN of the GODS Incorporating the Ideas of Edward Furlong
    ARLY MEN saw the world through minds uninfluenced by scien- Etific knowledge. Like wild animals, they responded with positive or negative feelings towards other people and inexplicable phenomena. In this book you will follow the author as he unravels the truth un- derlying the various mythologies inherited from the ancient world. You will discover the true nature of elves, dwarfs, dragons and gods. The story begins with the discovery of the totally unexpected location of the Garden of Eden. Known in Norse mythology as Midgard, Eden is where an ash tree, holding a cherished beehive, furnished sacred honey which was fermented to make mead—the nectar that nourished the earthly gods. It was also the place where Elves invented the rudimentary writing that enabled minstrels to preserve the songs of great exploits and heroic deeds. Thus we can say of Eden that it was the place where recorded history began. THE ORIGIN OF THE GODS Incorporating the ideas of Edward Furlong E. Peter Battey-Pratt CONTENTS chapter page Preface vii Introduction 11 2 Edward Furlong and the Garden of Eden 16 3 Analysis of the Bible 28 4 Gilgamesh and the Wine Woman 38 5 The Immortals 53 6 The Indo-Europeans and the Aryans 60 7 Prometheus, Io and Perseus 76 8 The Amazons 97 9 Atlantis 112 10 Hercules 133 11 The Great Serpent 149 12 Invasion of the Sea People 178 13 The White Man and the Ash Tree 244 14 Valhalla 247 15 Mithridates, Father of Kings 275 16 Beowulf and St. George 279 17 Abraham’s Family 293 18 Bull Men and the Jealous One 350 19 The Chinese Dragon 369 20 Bringing
    [Show full text]
  • Masks of God: Primitive Mythology
    JOSEPH CAMPBELL THE MASKS OF GOD: PRIMITIVE MYTHOLOGY LONDON : SECKER & WARBURG : 1960 OCR by Angel (Christian Library) [email protected] Version 1.0 COPYRIGHT © 1959 BY JOSEPH CAMPBELL The author wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the generous support of his researches by the Bollingen Foundation Printed in England by The Pitman Press Ltd., Bath and first published 1960 by Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd. 7 John Street, London W.C.I CONTENTS Prologue: Toward a Natural History of the Gods and Heroes 3 I. The Lineaments of a New Science 3 II. The Well of the Past 5 III. The Dialogue of Scholarship and Romance 8 PART ONE: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF MYTH Introduction: The Lesson of the Mask 21 Chapter I. The Enigma of the Inherited Image 30 I. The Innate Releasing Mechanism 30 II. The Supernormal Sign Stimulus 38 Chapter 2. The Imprints of Experience 50 I. Suffering and Rapture 50 II. The Structuring Force of Life on Earth 57 III. The Imprints of Early Infancy 61 IV. The Spontaneous Animism of Childhood 78 V. The System of Sentiments of the Local Group 88 VI. The Impact of Old Age 118 PART TWO: THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE PRIMITIVE PLANTERS Chapter 3. The Culture Province of the High Civilizations 135 I. The Proto-Neolithic: c. 7500-5500 B.C. 136 vi CONTENTS II. The Basal Neolithic: c. 5500-4500 B.c. 138 III. The High Neolithic: c. 4500-3500 B.c. 140 IV. The Hieratic City-State: c. 3500-2500 B.C. 144 Chapter 4. The Province of the Immolated Kings 151 I.
    [Show full text]
  • Rhyming Scrabble Dictionary Based on OSPD4
    A pataca hammada zooglea omega farinha ascidia ilia petunia aphasia bacca armada cochlea fanega aloha pygidia cilia hryvnia aplasia aa malacca nada ilea senega agrapha conidia sedilia sequoia acrasia baa mecca panada pilea dagga epha gonidia milia pia entasia markkaa wicca posada olea quagga alpha oidia pallia tilapia astasia rufiyaa felucca pintada plea saiga sulpha peridia folia sepia woodsia ba yucca tostada perinea taiga nympha basidia acholia anopia babesia aba caeca lambda tinea giga hypha pyxidia scholia senopia freesia baba ceca kheda guinea amiga murrha scandia abulia sinopia silesia indaba theca alameda hyponea viga sha alodia peculia meropia amnesia jellaba ootheca reseda apnea alga kasha melodia dulia ectopia atresia casaba seneca zenaida dyspnea belga tamasha allodia thulia utopia fuchsia piasaba areca candida eupnea anga pasha podia aboulia myopia camisia cassaba arabica cnida cornea fanga bugsha cardia amia ria banksia mastaba modica querida usnea galanga geisha giardia lamia aria celosia abba chica corrida ipomoea malanga rikisha exordia zamia sudaria agnosia zareeba silica gravida apnoea manga poisha codeia anaemia angaria abrosia gleba gallica matilda eupnoea panga orisha pereia uraemia sharia anopsia ameba plica banda toea sanga wisha mafia pyaemia malaria tarsia amoeba replica wakanda zoea tanga ricksha tafia bohemia talaria cassia zareba mica panda pea bubinga buqsha ratafia anemia velaria quassia copaiba vomica veranda cowpea anhinga aphtha maffia viremia filaria ossia ceiba formica vanda area linga naphtha raffia coremia
    [Show full text]
  • On Greek Religion and Mythology. the Daughters of Zeus
    ^be ©pen Goutt A MONTHLY MAGAZINE Bevote& to tbe Science ot IReUGfon, tbe IReliaion ot Science, an& tbe Bitension ot tbe IRelioious parliament HDca Editor: Dr. Paul Carus. E. C. Hegeler. associate:, j Assistant -j Editor. T. J. McCormack. j^^^^ Carus. VOL. XiV. (no. 10) October, 1900. NO. 533 CONTENTS: Frontispiece. The Three Fates. After Michael Angelo. On Greek Religion and Mythology. The Daughters of Zeus. —Hera, the Wife of^Zeus, and Her Children. —Apollo and Artemis. —Dionysos. With Numerous Illustrations from the Monuments, the Sarcophagi, and the'^General Pictorial and Sculptural Art of Classical x'Vntiquity. Editor 577 The Curbing of the Spirit of Inquiry. A Sketch of the History of the Con- flict Between Theology and Science. With Portraits of St. Augus- tine and Aristotle. Carus Sterne, Berlin 607 Certain Aspects of the Eleusinian Problem. I. Primitive Rites of Purifica- tion. The Rev. Charles Jajmes Wood, York, Pa 618 Tlie Penitent Thief. Exhibiting Buddha's Doctrine of the New Birth and the Forgiveness of Sins. Now First Translated from the Pali by Albert J. Edmunds 628 Experinie7ital Mathematics : Hanus's Geometry in the Grammar School; Campbell's Observational Geometry ; and Speer's Advanced Arith- metic. With Illustrations 634 Immortality. A Poem. Solomon Solis- Cohen 639 Book Reviews 640 CHICAGO ®be ©pen Court IpublisbinG Company LONDON : Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd. Per copy, 10 cents (sixpence). Yearly, $1.00 (In the U. P. U., 5s. 6d.). Copyright, 1900, by The Open Court Publishing Co. Entered at the Chicago Post Office as Second-Class Matter. y — — . A CLASSICAL WORK ON CHINA THE TRAVELS IN TARTARY, THIBET AND CHINA Of MM.
    [Show full text]