| Subj: | Were there catastrophic Solar Events in the past? |
| Date: | 6/23/01 11:06:41 AM Pacific Daylight Time |
| (Tim Edwards) |
|
Were 'solar-related events' (i.e., flares, CMEs, high-speed solar wind, ect...)
responsible for the destruction of certain past (antediluvian)
civilizations?
I have been contemplating this explanation for a long time, and from the available data, there is substantial evidence which suggests that this could indeed have happened in ancient times.
For example:
The following excerpt is from Plato's Dialogs (timaeus)
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/timaeus.html
[scroll about 1/4 down the page]
On one occasion,
wishing to draw them on to speak of antiquity,
he began to tell about the most ancient things in our part of the
world-about Phoroneus, who is called "the first
man," and about Niobe; and after the Deluge, of the survival of
Deucalion and Pyrrha; and he traced the genealogy
of their descendants, and reckoning up the dates, tried to
compute how many years ago the events of which
he was speaking happened. Thereupon one of the priests,
who was of a very great age, said: O Solon, Solon,
you Hellenes are never anything but children, and there is
not an old man among you. Solon in return asked
him what he meant. I mean to say, he replied, that in mind you
are all young; there is no old opinion handed
down among you by ancient tradition, nor any science which is
hoary with age. And I will tell you why. There
have been, and will be again, many destructions of mankind
arising out of many causes; the greatest have
been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other
lesser ones by innumerable other causes. There
is a story, which even you have preserved, that once upon a
time Paethon, the son of Helios, having yoked
the steeds in his father's chariot, because he was not able to
drive them in the path of his father, burnt up
all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a
thunderbolt. Now this has the form of a myth,
but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving in the
heavens around the earth, and a great conflagration
of things upon the earth, which recurs after long intervals;
at such times those who live upon the mountains
and in dry and lofty places are more liable to destruction than
those who dwell by rivers or on the seashore.
And from this calamity the Nile, who is our never-failing saviour,
delivers and preserves us. When, on the other
hand, the gods purge the earth with a deluge of water, the
survivors in your country are herdsmen and shepherds
who dwell on the mountains, but those who, like you, live
in cities are carried by the rivers into the
sea. Whereas in this land, neither then nor at any other time, does the
water come down from above on the fields, having
always a tendency to come up from below; for which
reason the traditions preserved here are the
most ancient.
The fact is, that wherever the extremity of winter
frost or of summer does not prevent, mankind exist,
sometimes in greater, sometimes in lesser numbers.
And whatever happened either in your country or in ours,
or in any other region of which we are informed-if
there were any actions noble or great or in any other way
remarkable, they have all been written down by
us of old, and are preserved in our temples. Whereas just when
you and other nations are beginning to be provided
with letters and the other requisites of civilized life, after the
usual interval, the stream from heaven, like
a pestilence, comes pouring down, and leaves only those of you who
are destitute of letters and education; and so
you have to begin all over again like children, and know nothing of
what happened in ancient times, either among
us or among yourselves. As for those genealogies of yours which
you just now recounted to us, Solon, they are
no better than the tales of children. In the first place you
remember a single deluge only, but there were
many previous ones; in the next place, you do not know that
there formerly dwelt in your land the fairest
and noblest race of men which ever lived, and that you and your
whole city are descended from a small seed or
remnant of them which survived. And this was unknown to you,
because, for many generations, the survivors
of that destruction died, leaving no written word. For there was a
time, Solon, before the great deluge of all,
when the city which now is Athens was first in war and in every way
the best governed of all cities, is said to have
performed the noblest deeds and to have had the fairest
constitution of any of which tradition tells,
under the face of heaven.
The above texts state specifically that:
'There have been, and will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes'
'There is a story, which even you have preserved, that once upon a time Paethon, the son of Helios, having yoked the steeds in his father's chariot, because he was not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt.'
There have been specific discoveries of sand fused into glass in several different locations around the world, which would require extreme heat to be applied to the Earth's surface from some source. There have been discoveries of specific amounts of radiation - which have been precisely measured - that could also be attributed to solar events literally coming down through our atmosphere to the Earth's surface.
I think this idea needs much additional research. Although, in my opinion there is already enough substantial physical evidence to justify a 'mainstream' scientific research effort to determine if such solar-related events have indeed occurred in our past (and if they're likely to occur in the future)
After I have accumulated enough additional material, I will attempt to make a valid case for a 'solar-related' catastrophe in Earth's ancient past.
Additionally, there are other interesting statements contained in Plato's Dialogues which refer to additional controversial topics. Although, I am only researching the 'solar connection' at this time.
I am interested in any comments or info you may have on this.
Thanks!
Tim
--
*So much to learn and so little time!*
DreamScape
http://timledwards.users.50megs.com/dreamscape.htm