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On Saturn And The Flood

IMMANUEL VELIKOVSKY

[Editor's Note: This essay is based upon a lecture given by = Immanuel=20 Velikovsky at the University of the New World, Valais, Switzerland, in = 1971.=20 It was first transcribed by his secretary, Mr. Jan Sammer, who = supplied both=20 additional textual material (offset by brackets) as well as certain = relevant=20 referential data. Dr. Velikovsky's lecture was derived from his own=20 unpublished manuscript - Saturn and the Flood - which was = first=20 conceived and written in the early 1940's. The present article is thus = a=20 condensation of a much larger work currently being prepared for = publication. -=20 LMG]

Worlds in Collision comprises only the last two acts of a = cosmic=20 drama -- one that occurred in the middle of the second millennium before = the=20 present era; the other during the eighth and early part of the seventh = century=20 before the present era. Prior to the events described in Worlds in=20 Collision, Venus -- following its expulsion from Jupiter -- was on = a highly=20 eccentric orbit for a period of time measured certainly by centuries, = perhaps=20 millennia, before its near-encounters with the Earth. While the actual = beginning=20 of the drama is shrouded in the mist of grey antiquity and difficult to = pinpoint=20 with exactitude, there is a point at which a clearer picture emerges. = This is=20 the time when the two giant planets -- Saturn and Jupiter -- approached = each=20 other closely. Possibly they were close for a long period of time, = passing near=20 one another as they traveled along orbital paths quite dissimilar to = those of=20 today.

Saturn and Jupiter are so often associated in cosmological history = that=20 sometimes I even considered the possibility that they may have = constituted a=20 double star system, of which there are many in the universe. I said that = Saturn=20 and Jupiter were stars, though today we know them as planets. Actually, = in=20 Worlds in Collision, in the last chapter, I also used the word = "star"=20 in referring to the two giant planets. There I wrote, with respect to = the=20 future, that "some dark star, like Jupiter or Saturn, may be in the path = of the=20 sun, and may be attracted to the system and cause havoc in it".(1) At = that time=20 it was said that they were planets, not stars, while today it is known = that=20 Jupiter and Saturn, too, are star-like, producing several times the = amount of=20 heat they receive from the Sun.(2)

Today Jupiter moves on an orbit of twelve terrestrial years and is = about half=20 a billion miles away from the Sun, whereas we are some ninety-three = million=20 miles distant. Saturn is much farther: it is the next planet beyond = Jupiter,=20 approximately another half billion miles outside Jupiter's orbit. They = are=20 presently not of the same size or volume. Jupiter is more than three = hundred=20 times more massive than the Earth, but Saturn only ninety-five times. In = volume,=20 Jupiter is about thirteen hundred times that of the Earth, whereas = Saturn is=20 only about eight hundred times that of the Earth. Today Jupiter is = actually more=20 massive than all the other planets, Saturn and the rest, put = together.

The cosmological thought of ancient peoples conceived of the history = of the=20 Earth as divided into periods of time, each ruled by a different planet. = Of=20 these the epoch of Saturn, or Kronos, was remembered as a time of bliss, = and it=20 was made to precede the period during which Jupiter was the dominant = deity.=20 Insofar as I could understand the physical events that affected the = globe in=20 times preceding the Middle Kingdom in Egypt, I was able to explain them = as the=20 results of a disturbance in which both Jupiter and Saturn participated. = Various=20 peoples witnessed the events and described them, as a celestial-human = drama in=20 different forms: the Greeks, for example, had Jupiter-Zeus, the son of=20 Saturn-Kronos, dethrone his father and banish him, and take his place to = become=20 the supreme deity. In Egyptian folklore or religion the participants in = the=20 drama are said to be Osisris-Saturn, brother and husband of = Isis-Jupiter. And it=20 is not that the wife dethrones the husband, nothing of the kind - there = is,=20 instead, a fight going on in the sky in which some body, described as = Seth,=20 attacks Osiris and kills, actually dismembers him; and after this Isis = travels=20 in search of the dismembered parts of Osiris. You see how the two dramas = are=20 hardly at all alike. I believe that my long experience in interpreting = dreams=20 and associations of my fellow men probably was of help to me to see = similarities=20 where the similarities were not easily seen.

An Egyptologist, one of the most prominent Egyptologists of the last = forty=20 years (he died several years ago), Sir Alan Gardiner, wrote -- and I = read it=20 twice in his writings(3) -- that he could not understand who Osiris was. = Osiris=20 occupied an extremely important role in the religion, folklore, and = rites of=20 Egypt. But who was he? Was he a king who had been killed? -- Gardiner = could not=20 figure it out. He did not understand that Osiris represented a planet, = Saturn,=20 as did Tammuz in Babylon. Sir James Frazer, author of The Golden = Bough,=20 describes in the volume Adonis, Osiris, Attis the great = lamentations=20 and crying for the fate of Tammuz. Similar rites were observed in Egypt = for=20 Osiris; and it should be understood that these lamentations were = actually for=20 Saturn, because the time of Saturn -- the Golden Age of Saturn, or = Kronos --=20 came to its end when the supreme god of that period, the planet Saturn, = was=20 broken up.

I have already discussed the statement, contained in the Tractate = Brakhot of=20 the Babylonian Talmud, which points to the celestial body Khima as the = source of=20 the Deluge; and I have shown why Khima is to be identified with = Saturn.(4)

[Hindu sources also provide information which links the planet Saturn = with=20 the Deluge. This catastrophe is said to have taken place during the = Satya yuga,=20 in the reign of Satyavrata, who is usually identified as Saturn. = Actually, it=20 becomes apparent that the whole epoch named Satya yuga was the Age of = Saturn as=20 well as of the Deluge. Sir William Jones, who occupied himself mainly = with=20 comparative linguistics and with Hindu lore, expressed this very = thought. He=20 wrote that the Satya yuga meant the Saturnian Age, and that this was the = Age of=20 the Flood.(5)]

Also in the Mexican codices it is said that the first world age, at = the end=20 of which the Earth was destroyed by a universal deluge, and which was = therefore=20 called "the sun of water" or Atonatiuh, was presided over by Ce-acatl, = or=20 Saturn.(6)

The ancient sources all point to Saturn; but how did Saturn cause the = Deluge?=20 What did really happen?

Suppose that two bodies, such as Jupiter and Saturn, were to approach = one=20 another rather closely, so as to cause violent perturbations and huge = tidal=20 effects in each other's atmospheres. As a double star, or binary, they = might=20 interact to the extent that, under certain conditions, the interaction = of the=20 members of such a pair will lead to a stellar explosion, or nova. A nova = is=20 thought to result from an instability in a star, generated by a sudden = influx of=20 matter, usually derived from its companion in a binary system. If what = today we=20 call Jupiter and Saturn are the products of such a sequence of events, = their=20 appearance and respective masses must formerly have been quite = different.

Such a scenario would explain the prominence of Saturn prior to its=20 cataclysmic disruption and dismemberment -- it must have exceeded = Jupiter in=20 size. At some point, during a close approach to Jupiter, Saturn became = unstable;=20 and, as a result of the influx of extraneous material, it exploded, = flaring as a=20 nova which, after subsiding, left a remnant that the ancients still = recognized=20 as Saturn, even though it was but a fraction of the size of the = celestial body=20 of earlier days.

[Jupiter, stripped of its outer envelope, was seen as a new creation = and=20 received a new name -- Horus in Egyptian texts, Zeus in Greek mythology. = Thus=20 did Isis-Jupiter give birth to Horus, who was also Jupiter; and = similarly Rhea,=20 Kronos' companion, produced Zeus.] In Saturn's explosion much of the = matter=20 absorbed earlier was thrown off into space. Saturn was greatly reduced = in size=20 and removed to a distant orbit -- the binary system was broken up and = Jupiter=20 took over the dominant position in the sky. The ancient Greeks saw this = as Zeus,=20 victorious over his father, forcing him to release the children he = earlier had=20 swallowed, and banishing him to the outer reaches of the sky. In = Egyptian eyes=20 it was Horus-Jupiter assuming royal power, leaving Osiris to reign over = the=20 kingdom of the dead.

My conclusion that, as a result of its interplay with Jupiter, Saturn = became=20 a nova,(7) I found confirmed in many ancient sources, in which Saturn is = regularly associated with brilliant light; but I was led to this idea = first of=20 all by a certain clue contained in the Biblical account of the Deluge. = The story=20 as found in the book of Genesis starts with these words: "And it came to = pass=20 after seven days, that the waters of the Flood were upon the earth."(8) = It is=20 not explained, after seven days of what? Some words seem to be missing = here from=20 our text of the Old Testament. It is clear, however, that Isaiah refers = to the=20 same seven days in his description of the messianic age to come, when = "the light=20 of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun = shall be=20 sevenfold, as the light of the seven days...."(9) This memory of the = seven days=20 of light preceding the Deluge(10) is a most important indication of the = physical=20 cause of the catastrophe. The intense light, filling the sky, points to = a source=20 in a nova within the solar system.

If, as all evidence indicates, the nova was in fact Saturn, we may = obtain an=20 estimate of the Earth's distance from the source of the illumination in = the=20 following way: The light from Saturn's explosion probably reached the = Earth in a=20 matter of minutes, practically simultaneously with the beginning of its = nova=20 phase; but the waters followed seven days later. Though ejected in the = same=20 catastrophic disruption, the Saturnian gases or filaments took a week to = reach=20 the Earth. If we can estimate the initial ejection speed of this = material(11)=20 and fix with some approximation the length of the day at that time, it = may be=20 possible to get an idea of how far removed the Earth was from the focus = of the=20 cataclysm. It is conceivable that the Earth was, at that time, a = satellite of=20 Saturn, afterwards possibly becoming a satellite of Jupiter.

With the end of the seven days of light the Earth became enveloped in = waters=20 of cosmic origin, whether coming directly from Saturn -- and Saturn is = known to=20 contain water(12) -- or formed from clouds of hydrogen gas ejected by = the nova,=20 which combined, by means of powerful electrical discharges, with the = Earth's own=20 free oxygen. There are definite indications of a drastic drop in the = atmospheric=20 oxygen at the time of the Deluge - for instance, the survivors of the=20 catastrophe are said in many sources to have been unable to light fires. = The=20 Midrashim and other ancient sources describe the waters of the Flood as = being=20 warm;(13) in addition the waters may have been rich in chlorine, an = element=20 which in combination with sodium forms common salt. Marine geologists = are unable=20 to trace the origin of the huge amounts of chlorine locked in the salt = of the=20 Earth's oceans, the Earth's own rocks being rather poor in this element = and=20 incapable of supplying it in the needed quantities. Chlorine may thus be = of=20 extraneous origin; being a very active element, it could possibly be = present in=20 some different combination on Saturn.

The effects of nearby supernovae on the biosphere have been the = object of=20 intensive study by geologists in recent years,(14) in an attempt to = account for=20 abrupt changes in the history of life on this planet. Sudden extinctions = were=20 followed by the appearance of new species, quite different from those = preceding=20 them in the stratigraphic record. In a relatively brief interval whole = genera=20 were annihilated, giving way to new creatures of radically different = aspect,=20 having little in common with the earlier forms they replaced.(15) Thus, = over the=20 past two or three decades, many geologists and paleontologists have = found=20 themselves increasingly drawn to the view that the observed abrupt = changes in=20 the biosphere, such as that which marked the end of the Mesozoic and is = thought=20 to have brought with it the extinction of the dinosaurs,(16) among other = animal=20 groups, could best be explained by the exposure of the then living = organisms to=20 massive doses of radiation coming from a nearby supernova. The radiation = would=20 annihilate many species, especially those whose representatives, whether = because=20 of their large size or for other reasons, were unable to shield = themselves from=20 the powerful rays; at the same time, new organisms would be created = through=20 mutations, or "macro-evolution".(17) Animals would suffer much more = severely=20 than plants -- on plants the principal effect would be = mutagenic.(18)

After the Deluge many new forms of life came into beings especially = plant=20 life. Thus it happened that Saturn was later called a god of vegetation. = Frazer=20 in his Golden Bough considered Osiris and Tammuz to be nothing = more=20 than vegetation gods - so strong was Saturn's connection with the new = forms in=20 the plant kingdom that appeared following the Deluge.

There is one important phenomenon which the supernova theory does not = explain, however, namely the geological upheavals that accompanied the = great=20 extinctions. The Midrashic sources relate that, during the Deluge, all = volcanoes=20 erupted;(19) and other ancient accounts assert the same. Changes took = place in=20 the lithosphere as well as in the biosphere. Most pronounced, however, = were the=20 changes in the hydrosphere -- the volume of water on the Earth was = vastly=20 increased. And it is of interest that the Atlantic Ocean was called by = the=20 ancients "the sea of Kronos"(20) -- indicating that it came to be only = after the=20 Deluge.

The memory of these stupendous events survived for millennia and = vestiges of=20 the cult of Saturn persist even till today. One of these memorials is = the feast=20 of light, celebrated in mid-winter: Hannukah or Christmas, both stemming = from=20 the Roman Saturnalia. These are all festivals of light, of seven days' = duration,=20 and they commemorate the dazzling light in which the world was bathed = for the=20 seven days preceding the Deluge; in their original form these festivals = were a=20 remembrance and a symbolic re-enactment of the Age of Saturn. It was = said that=20 in that age there had been no distinction between masters and servants - = thus in=20 Rome, for the duration of the Saturnalia festival, the household slaves = were=20 freed, and were actually waited on by their masters. Also the statue of = Saturn=20 which used to stand in the Roman Forum was for a time released from its = bonds.=20 This statue, which had bands around its feet, represented the planet = Saturn with=20 its rings -- it was understood that it was Jupiter that had bound Saturn = with=20 these bonds after he had overthrown Saturn. Astronomers are unable to = explain=20 their origin, but they must have formed in that event in which Jupiter = disrupted=20 Saturn.(21)

There is evidence that the ancient Maoris of New Zealand were also = aware of=20 the rings around Saturn. They called the planet Parearau, which means = "her band=20 quite surrounds her".(22)

Saturn was the chief deity of, among other peoples, the Phoenicians = and the=20 Scythians - in cuneiform sources the Scythians are called Umman-Manda, = or "the=20 people of Saturn". The Phoenicians used to bring human sacrifices to the = planet,=20 calling it Moloch, or "king". Usually children were the victims, = consumed by=20 Moloch, as Saturn had devoured his own children. Porphyry records the=20 persistence in some cities of the Greek world of human sacrifices to = Saturn well=20 into Roman times.(23)

[The worship of Saturn was also reflected and perpetuated in = political=20 institutions in many parts of the world. In ancient Egypt the ruling = king was=20 identified with Horus, or Jupiter, as the earthly analogue of the = reigning=20 heavenly power. Upon his death he came to be regarded as Osiris, or = Saturn, a=20 departed but still highly venerated heavenly body.

In the Chinese concept of kingship, which persisted till the early = years of=20 this century, the Emperor was the earthly representative of the ruling = planet=20 Saturn. Ssu-ma Ch'ien, the great Chinese historian of the second century = before=20 the present era, in his treatise on The Rulers of the Heavens = wrote=20 that Saturn is the planet of the Sovereign, or the Emperor. As Saturn = occupied=20 the central place in the sky, even so the Emperor was at the center of = his realm=20 on Earth. Thus Saturn came to be connected in Chinese thought with the = pole=20 star, because the pole star marks the "center" of the sky around which = the=20 entire heavenly vault revolves -- it was considered the most favored = place.(24)=20 Saturn was regarded as the most important celestial object, = corresponding to the=20 Emperor, and thus placed in the center of the sky. So we see that the = Chinese=20 monarch was not a "sun-Emperor" -- he was a Saturn Emperor.(25) What = could have=20 moved the Chinese to put such stress on the importance of Saturn if this = planet=20 was always only a faint, sluggishly moving point of light in the starry = sky?=20 Saturn's role in the Chinese idea of government, preserved in its = political=20 institutions almost till our own days, lets us get a glimpse of the = planet's=20 importance in the past as a dominant celestial = body.]

References=20

1. Worlds in Collision, Chapter 9, Section "The End".
2. = [D.=20 McNally, "Are the Jovian Planets 'Failed' Stars?", Nature 244 (August, = 1973),=20 pp. 424-426; R. F. Loewenstein, et al., "Far Infrared and Submillimeter=20 Observations of the Planets", Icarus 31 (1977), p.315. Cf. Astrophysical = Journal=20 157, pp.169ff. - JS. Also see Science News, Vol.109 (Jan. 17, 1976), = pp.42-43;=20 American Scientist, Vol. 63 (Nov.-Dec. 1975), p. 638; Science News, = Vol.116=20 (Sept.15, 1979), p.181; Pensee IVR I (May, 1972), p.12 under the entry = JUPITER.=20 - LMG]
3. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 46 (1960), p.104; Egypt of = the=20 Pharaohs (Oxford Univ. Press, 1961), p.424.
4. "Khima and Kesil" in = KRONOS=20 III:4 (1978), pp.19-23.
5. ["On the Gods of Greece, Italy and India" = in=20 Asiatick Researches I (1799), p.234. Cf. E. Moor, The Hindu Pantheon = (1864),=20 p.108. - JS. Also see Larousse World Mythology, ed. by Pierre Grimal = (N.Y.,=20 1965), p.244. - LMG]
6. E. Seler, Gesammelte Abhandlungen, Vol.II, = p.798.=20 [Also see Mythology of the Americas (N. Y., 1968), pp.180-181. - LMG] =
7.=20 [Cf. the remarks by William Mullen in Pensee IVR III (Winter, 1973), = p.14=20 "Velikovsky has suggested that as a result of disruption Saturn went = through a=20 short nova-like phase in which its light would have obscured everything = else=20 visible from earth; the deluge followed shortly thereafter." - LMG] =
8.=20 Genesis 7:10.
9. Isaiah 30:36.
10. Similar memories are to be = found in=20 Babylonian and Hindu sources; an intense light flooded the Earth just = prior to=20 the Deluge.
11. [The usual range of the velocities is between 1,300 = and 2,500=20 km/sec. See Science News, Vol. 110 (October 16,1976), p.251. - = JS}
12. [See=20 T. Ferte, "A Record of Success" in Pensee IVR I (May, 1972), p.23 under = the=20 entry SATURN. Velikovsky correctly claimed that "Saturn contains (or = consists=20 of) water .... The Saturnian rings consist of ice". Pioneer 11 indicated = that=20 Saturn's core is "wrapped in a compressed blanket of such materials as = water,=20 methane and ammonia extending to about 0.23 percent of Saturn's radius = (0.23=20 Rs)". Furthermore, "many researchers have assumed that the ring = particles are=20 composed largely of water ice, and the new data seem supportive" = (Science News,=20 9/15/79, p.181). - LMG]
13. See sources in L. Ginzberg, The Legends = of the=20 Jews (Philadelphia, 1925), Vol.V, p.178.
14. [The first proponent of = the=20 supernova hypothesis was O. H. Schindewolf in his Der Zeitfaktor in = Geologie und=20 Palaeontologie (Stuttgart, 1950); see also idem, "Ueber die moglichen = Ursachen=20 der grossen erdgeschichtlichen Faunenschnitte" in Neues Jahrbericht der = Geologie=20 und Palaeontologie, Abh. 10, pp.457-465; V. I. Krasovsky and I. S. = Shklovsky,=20 "Supernova explosions and their possible effect on the evolution of life = on the=20 Earth" in Dokl. Ac. Sci. USSR 116 (2): pp.197-199; L. J. Salop, = "GIaciations,=20 Biologic Crises and Supernovae, Catastrophist Geology, Vol.2, no.2 = (1977),=20 pp.22-41. JS]
15. see N. D. Newell, "Revolutions in the History of = Life,"=20 Geological Society of America Special Papers 89, pp.68-91.
16. But = see my=20 article in KRONOS II:2, "Were All Dinosaurs Reptiles?" (Nov.1976), = pp.91-100.=20 [Cf. Adrian J. Desmond, The Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs (N.Y., 1976), = especially=20 pp.184-196, 224-225; also see "Cosmic Radiation Blast Linked to End of=20 Dinosaurs" in New York Times, 5/30/79, p.A20. - LMG]
17. see my = comments in=20 Pensee IVR IV, "The Pitfalls of Radiocarbon Dating" (Spring-Summer, = 1973), p.13=20 - "...in the catastrophe of the Deluge, which I ascribe to Saturn = exploding as a=20 nova, the cosmic rays must have been very abundant to cause massive = mutations=20 among all species of life ...." In 1963, in a letter to H. H. Hess, I = suggested=20 that tests should be devised for detection of low energy cosmic rays = emanating=20 from Saturn, especially during the weeks before and after a conjunction = of=20 Earth-Jupiter Saturn" (see Pensee IVR 11 (Fall, 1972), p. 28; Velikovsky = Reconsidered, "H. H. Hess and My Memoranda" (N. Y., 1976), p.49). = Besides cosmic=20 rays, I have suggested that Saturn emits X-rays (see Pensee IVR I (May, = 1972),=20 p. 23). [Also see "Long-period X-ray transients" in Science News, Vol. = 110,=20 Oct.16, 1976, p.250. - LMG]
18. K. D. Terry and W. H. Tucker, = "Biologic=20 Effects of Supernovae" in Science 159 (1968), pp.421-423.
19. Sefer=20 Hajashar.
20. See for example Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, Chap. 32; = Clement of=20 Alexandria, Stromata, Vol.8, p.360; Aristotle, fragment no.196.
21. = For a=20 possible explanation of the mechanics of the formation of the Saturnian = rings,=20 cf. H. Friedman, "Cosmic X-ray sources: A progress report" in Science = 181 (3=20 August 1973), p.396. [Cf. American Scientist, 66 (Jan.-Feb.,1978), = pp.30-37. -=20 LMG]
22. E. Best, The Astronomical Knowledge of the Maori, Genuine = and=20 Empirical: New Zealand Dominium Museum Monograph (Wellington, 1922),=20 p.35.
23. Porphyry, On the Abstinence from Animal Food, transl. by = Th. Taylor=20 (Centaur Press, U. K., 1965), p.81 (II.27), p.102 (II.54).
24. [Cf. = similar=20 assertions in Proclus, In Platonis Rem Publicam II.213.4f.; Eusebius,=20 Praeparatio Evangelica VI. 1.4; Nonnos, Dionysiaca 4 1.350. - JS]
25. = [Cf.=20 Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend, Hamlet's Mill (Boston, = 1969),=20 p.129. - LMG]=20

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