The historian Elan F. Alford put forward a hypothesis back in 1998 that ancient myths are in fact a retelling of real events that happened in the distant past. This fundamental idea is finding more and more supporters in our time. The difference of opinion on this matter concerns only the question of what these real events were. Some historians believe that myths keep the memory of former enlightened peoples and disappeared civilizations, others profess the belief that alien intelligent forces interfered in the origin of earthly mankind, others see in myths memories of cycles lasting 26 thousand years, called precessions (periods of movement of points of spring and the autumnal equinox due to the rotation of the earth's axis).
Etymology
In modern language, the word "myth" is associated mainly with fiction. However, in ancient Greek, it denoted a traditional retelling or legend, telling about the real deeds of gods and heroes. This idea of myths was shared by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato in the 4th century BC.
For example, in the dialogue "Timaeus" the philosopher retells as a real event the story of the son of the sun god Phaethon, in which, according to Plato, the truth about the past cosmic cataclysm is hidden. The sage sees confirmation of this in the words of an Egyptian priest addressed to Plato's ancestor Solon during his long-time visit to Egypt: “Eh, Solon, Solon. You, Greeks, judge your history as children … But terrible catastrophes on Earth have occurred and will continue to be repeated, exterminating millions of people. Among your compatriots, there is a legend about Phaethon, who somehow climbed into his father's chariot, but could not cope with it and deviated from the beaten path. He burned all life on Earth and himself died from a lightning strike. The truth of this myth lies in the fact that some celestial body really got lost from its orbit and, revolving around the Earth,incinerated everything on its surface”.
Cataclysms in the annals of the ancient Greeks
The sage of ancient times, Hesiod, believed that the birth of the universe began with the fall of heaven, when the great Uranus fertilized Gaia (Mother Earth). As a result, horrible monsters were born in Gaia's womb. One of these titan-gods was Kronos, who castrated Uranus and ascended Mount Olympus as the new ruler of all things. Then Kronos impregnated Gaia, after which a fierce battle began between the titans of Kronos and the entourage of Zeus. This struggle gave rise to a flood that engulfed the entire Earth, and a loud tremor of the heavens. The abode of the gods - Olympus, under the onslaught of the immortals, also survived the concussion to its very foundations. The battle balanced the power of the opposing sides and Zeus intervened in the matter. He descended from Olympus and rushed into battle! As a result, Kronos and his titans were defeated, expelled from Olympus and sent to the underworld of Tartarus. Among the exiled titans were the brothers Atlas, Prometheus, Epimeteus and Menoitios. Zeus forced Atlas to support the heavens, and, according to Hesiod, Zeus chained Prometheus to a rock and sent an eagle on him, inflicting eternal torment on the titan.
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A special place in Greek mythology is given to the so-called world ages. The first world century began with the fertilization of Gaia by Uranus, the second - when Kronos castrated Uranus and the third - with the expulsion of Kronos from Olympus. It should be noted that the beginning of each world century and its end were marked by terrible cataclysms on Earth. By the way, the current world age must also be brought about by a cataclysm that will announce to the surviving people the beginning of a new world age.
Races of people
According to Hesiod, the present race of humanity belongs to the iron race, which was preceded by three races - gold, silver and bronze. Each of these three races was destroyed by the will of the gods. The last time this happened was during the flood of Deucalion. By the way, the myth of Deucalion is probably the most revealing in terms of its connection with the cataclysm. It is curious that in Greek mythology the hero Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha gave rise to a new race of people not in the usual way, but … by throwing stones! Elan Alford sees this as an analogy to the idea of bringing life to Earth by meteorites! In this light, it is no coincidence that Hesiod connects the battle of the titans with Zeus with the formation of the cult of meteorite worship. Kronos, according to Hesiod, swallowed a meteorite,but Zeus forced him to pluck out the swallowed stone and set it up at Delphi as an object of worship for all mortals. The Greeks consider this famous meteorite to be the "navel of the Earth".
The voice of traditional science
Representatives of traditional science adhere, as everyone understands, to different views.
They personify such gods as Uranus, Kronos and Zeus, only with rain, rockfall, thunder and lightning. In their opinion, Mount Olympus does not belong to the heavens (that is, space), but … the troposphere! It is noteworthy that even the British Encyclopedia of 1999 adheres to the same view: “According to the ancient Greek poet Homer, the heavens are located on top of Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece, and serve as the logical abode of the rain gods” (!). There are several reasons for this incongruity. One of them is that the pioneers of science in the 18th and 19th centuries had little idea about meteorites and the places where they fell. Surprisingly, scientists of those centuries disputed even the very idea of meteorites falling to Earth. American President Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) said when he received reports of falling meteorites: “I would rather believe in the lies of American professors,than falling stones from the sky! " And the French Academy of Sciences, as you know, & in its time passed a verdict: "In our enlightened age there are still superstitious people who claim that stones are falling from heaven!"
The ignorance of catastrophism in the mythology of the ancients (not only in ancient Greek) by scientists of the 20th century seems more mysterious. True, one can try to explain it in two words: Immanuel Velikovsky! This refers to his "explosive" hypothesis of the origin of the solar system as a result of a collision of planets! This odious theory cast a shadow over the catastrophism of ancient Greek mythology, so that scientists who showed adherence to Velikovsky's ideas put themselves at risk of official science. And its representatives promoted the idea of cataclysms as extremely rare events, which supposedly cannot be confirmed. Perhaps this conclusion is true for limited periods of time. But as for the million years, a completely different picture emerges here. For example,if you look at the Neolithic era or the times of the existence of the Egyptian or Mesopotamian civilizations, then at least one major cataclysm certainly took place in reality.
Comets
In the memory of mankind, there are cases of cataclysms caused by the participation of comets, fireballs and meteorites. In a series of studies, cometologists Victor Klub and Bill Napier proved that Comet Encke and the Tauride meteor shower are the remnants of a huge comet that collapsed about 80 thousand years ago in our solar system! “The study of the evolution of cometary orbits,” Klube and Napier point out in one of their books, “suggests that in the not very distant past, the trajectories of some of them crossed the Earth's orbit, creating a very real risk of collision. At times, these heavenly bodies or their fragments literally filled the sky with flaming fires, leaving an indelible impression on ancient people about the deeds of higher beings in heaven."
Golden rope
In his Iliad, Homer tells about the golden rope, with the help of which Zeus intended to lift the Earth into space and thereby connect it to the sky. “Do not be afraid to hang on a rope, for you cannot drag me down,” Zeus warned. - And I will be able to lift everything that is on Earth to heaven: gods, goddesses, people, seas and oceans. Then I will tie the end of the rope to the top of Olympus and everyone will hang in the middle of space."
To some extent, this reasoning echoes the ideas of Plato, expressed by him in the famous "Theory of Forms". In this work, the philosopher views all things on Earth as "tainted" copies of perfect originals that exist in heaven in the "world of forms." This world of perfect archetypes is invisible, beyond the visible heavens. Plato describes it as an earthlike planet, which he calls "true light and true earth." Here the "world of forms" is personified by the Demiurge (God), who creates the visible Universe.