http://www.sciscoop.com/2003-2-20-13423-7087.html Scooping up science news and dropping it on your desk Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:03:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.sciscoop.com/2003-2-20-13423-7087.html/comment-page-1#comment-1812 Drog Fri, 21 Feb 2003 06:40:37 +0000 http://localhost/~arielschwartz/wordpress/sciscoop/?p=458#comment-1812 I saw a documentary based on the book <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=scifitoday-20&path=tg/detail/-/0517888513/qid%3D1045836690/sr%3D1-3">The Secret of the Incas: Myth, Astronomy, and the War Against Time</a></i>, by William Sullivan. The author argues that the Incas were convinced that their fate was intertwined with the movements of the stars and planets, and that astronomical transitions presaged earthly cataclysms. He says that changes in the night skies observed by the Incan priest-astonomers in the 1400s foretold the imminent destruction of their empire. He believes that the Incas assumed that the arrival of Pizarro represented the culmination of the prophecy and their failure to prevent its occurrence, and that this is why a band of 170 Spanish adventurers were able to conquer their empire overnight--they believed it was their destiny to be destroyed and thus put up no resistance. I've been meaning to buy this book, but haven't got around to it yet. I saw a documentary based on the book The Secret of the Incas: Myth, Astronomy, and the War Against Time, by William Sullivan. The author argues that the Incas were convinced that their fate was intertwined with the movements of the stars and planets, and that astronomical transitions presaged earthly cataclysms. He says that changes in the night skies observed by the Incan priest-astonomers in the 1400s foretold the imminent destruction of their empire. He believes that the Incas assumed that the arrival of Pizarro represented the culmination of the prophecy and their failure to prevent its occurrence, and that this is why a band of 170 Spanish adventurers were able to conquer their empire overnight–they believed it was their destiny to be destroyed and thus put up no resistance. I’ve been meaning to buy this book, but haven’t got around to it yet.

]]> http://www.sciscoop.com/2003-2-20-13423-7087.html/comment-page-1#comment-614 Alan Von Fan Thu, 20 Feb 2003 19:20:37 +0000 http://localhost/~arielschwartz/wordpress/sciscoop/?p=458#comment-614 Pretty lights in the sky have always held great fascination for us planet-bound types, and the belief that they have an influence on life on Earth is an old one in many cultures. The strangest I have so far heard of was whilst watching a programme about the dubious theory that the Giza pyramids were placed so as to mirror the constellation of Orion. According to this programme (I think it was on the Discovery Channel) the Ancient Egyptians mistook meteors etc for, um, ejaculate matter of the gods. Pretty lights in the sky have always held great fascination for us planet-bound types, and the belief that they have an influence on life on Earth is an old one in many cultures. The strangest I have so far heard of was whilst watching a programme about the dubious theory that the Giza pyramids were placed so as to mirror the constellation of Orion. According to this programme (I think it was on the Discovery Channel) the Ancient Egyptians mistook meteors etc for, um, ejaculate matter of the gods.

]]>