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As much as we are motivated by our immediate and instinctive drives for food and sex, shelter and purpose, our lives are fundamentally shaped by our need to understand the world around us. Why are there rivers of water and stars in the sky? Why do some years bring droughts and others monsoons? Why does day give way to night and night day? Because modern humans can draw upon generations of preserved knowledge, and then fertilize that foundation with more modern theories of science, we have hard answers to these questions, answers based on empirical data and serious observation. We know that water chases gravity and that the sky is illuminated by light from distant suns. We understand that weather patterns are subject to cycles and that our planet's rotation gives it a 24-hour day-night cycle. But what if we didn't know these things? What if we had no schools to teach us, no books to impart knowledge? How would we explain the world then? In this, his study of the relationship ancient cultures had with astronomy, Mr. Krupp explains.
From Babylonian sky gods to Mayan snake deities, from Egyptian pyramids to Incan temples, Mr. Krupp summons the symbology, the calendars, the gods and the monuments that Earth's ancient cultures used to explain the world around them, using them to weave an exquisite tapestry that explains how ancient cultures viewed their place in their bewildering world. Lacking anything like a modern comprehension of the universe, and devoid of any scientific method by which to acquire that knowledge, every proto-civilization, from the Chinese to the Celtic, from the Indian to the Native Indian, was kept from finding non-mystical answers to the question of their origins. And so they turned to metaphor and story to supply the necessary truths. They invented pantheons of gods and spirits, investing them with the knowledge of the omnipotent and then built temples to them as a means of communicating with them and beseeching their indulgence in a world often marked by turmoil and mercilessness.
This worldview, so rich with mythology and tale, heroes and demons, both enriched and defined the lives of those who occupied these ancient cultures. They believed themselves to be playing a tiny part in a cosmic game whose significance was never questioned. After all, to question would be to invite the scorn of the beings who brought the rains that fertilized the crops, who brought the sun out of night, and who kept the seas from consuming the earth. To go against them would not only be folly, it'd be the end of everything they knew.
Echoes of The Ancient Skies is a delightful and engrossing expose of the intense, personal relationships ancient cultures had with their gods and their skies. Mr. Krupp has managed that most rare of literary feats, marrying an academic history with a vital narrative to create an enduring work that enlightens as much as it entertains. With chapters on symbols and rituals, temples and gods, calendars and ceremonies, the author revives a half dozen ancient cultures and describes in marvelous detail how they constructed a logical world without any understanding of how that world actually functioned. In this, he reveals not only how devoted humans are to uncovering the roots of their origins, but the phenomenal extent to which they can and will construct rich narratives that connect them with a universe they can barely comprehend. This wonderful journey is only slightly marred by a seriously dated conclusion, the only point at which the work shows its nearly 30 years of age.
There is no one way for humans to be. Even today, we believe in different stories and metaphors, using them to wire us into a broader world, a larger plan. Over the centuries, those beliefs have come and gone a thousand times, leaving behind only a single constant. We always will search for answers, to our origins and to the universe that has been our cradle. The gods, even the constellations, will change, but the drive remains. Echoes of The Ancient Skies is a beautiful exemplar of this truth about our fundamental nature. And this is what allows the work to transcend a simple, archaeological discourse.
Sharp and compelling to the end... Required reading for anyone even passingly interested in our cultural evolution. (4/5 Stars)
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