Direct statements concerning dramatic changes in the appearance of planets are few and far between in ancient sources.
A classic example is a fragment from the obscure Greek astronomer Castor of Rhodes (1st century BCE), as cited by his contemporary, the Roman grammarian Marcus Terrentius Varro, who was in turn cited by the church father Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE). According to this tantalisingly brief passage, the planet Venus once “changed its colour, size, shape and course, a thing which has never happened before or since.” This information, frequently considered in catastrophist theories, presents quite a puzzle.
Immanuel Velikovsky was a controversial author, his views on astronomical and historical events have been widely rejected by the academic community, despite some of his ideas to be later proven true.
His books use comparative mythology and ancient literary sources to argue that Earth suffered catastrophic close contacts with other planets (principally Venus and Mars) in ancient times.
There is no other place on Earth like Egypt’s Giza Plateau. Anyone with even a slight interest in history and civilisation is aware of this fact. For on this plateau there stands the Great Pyramids and their sculpted guardian, the Great Sphinx.
Archaeologists have unearthed traces of a previously unknown, 14th-century Canaanite city buried underneath the ruins of another city in Israel.
The traces include an Egyptian amulet of Amenhotep III and several pottery vessels from the Late Bronze Age unearthed at the site of Gezer, an ancient Canaanite city.
Ever since the gradualist doctrine natura non facit saltus cast an ossifying spell on the academic community, catastrophist theories of myth and other traditions have been anathema to the learned.
How It All Began: A Small Question About the Exodus
In the summer of 1939 Velikovsky came with his family to the United States to complete his research for a proposed book on ancient history covering the time of the Hebrew Exodus from Egypt. In comparing records, it struck him as curious that an event that figured so prominently in Hebrew history seemed to have no corresponding account on the Egyptian side. This had been a longstanding problem for historians, who had never been able to agree even who the Pharaoh at the time of the Exodus had been. It turned out to be only one of many examples of major historical events in the Hebrew account with no correlating Egyptian counterpart, which had led some historians to dismiss Hebrew history as largely fictional. On the other hand, its claims received substantial support from archeological findings.
In These New Times 