Scientia Press

There are good reasons to think that Earth and Mars originally formed a single planet outside the orbit of Jupiter.  Early in Solar System history, Jupiter’s powerful gravitational field pulled this planet past the gas giant.  As the planet neared Jupiter, tidal friction heated it to the melting point, and Jupiter tore Mars away from Earth, leaving the Pacific Basin and an array of evidence on both planets.  Earth and Mars then sped off into the inner solar system.

If we can interpret ancient myths correctly, they could lead us to more accurate and penetrating views of the history of the solar system.  They might teach us about the forces at work and explain anomalies bequeathed to us by a long-hidden past.  But how can we interpret these myths, the products of minds so far removed from ours?  How do we know which interpretation is correct, if any?  Are we doomed to speculate without ever achieving certainty?

Here we will interpret two Bronze Age myths to illustrate the high scientific value such myths might contain.  We will also see how easy it can be to understand a myth once the right interpretation becomes available.

Once a leading theory of the origin of the Earth-Moon system, the Capture Theory possessed the virtues of simplicity and intuitive plausibility.  The numerous instances of moons with retrograde orbits supported it.  The lunar orbit’s three moments of inertia were consistent with a past very eccentric orbit, which fit a capture1.  However, the Moon would have had to come from a different part of the solar system to account for its very depleted iron compared to the Earth’s iron, which meant that it would approach the Earth at a high velocity that would prevent capture.  Researchers searched in vain for a braking mechanism that would slow it down so it could be captured.  Still, the accumulated evidence and arguments made the Capture Theory a viable one.

But

There’s no shortage of candidates for the cause of the mass extinctions of prehistory. But experts have found flaws in every one.

In his Worlds in Collision (New York:  Macmillan, 1950), Immanuel Velikovsky argued that Venus emerged as a red-hot comet from Jupiter and passed Earth every 52 years, causing the Bronze Age catastrophes, before settling into its current orbit.  His claim set off a controversy in which his theory was rejected and stigmatized.  But over the years, new findings have changed the picture.  Here are eight new reasons to accept a Revised Venus Theory.