Chapter VIII

The Exodus Catastrophe

March 20/21, 1447 B.C.

The Exodus Catastrophe occurred during the midnight hour (Palestine time) of March 20/21, 1447 B.C. This catastrophe was roughly at the midpoint of the “resonant orbit era,” circa 2500 B.C. to 701 B.C. This was also the worst catastrophe of the entire fire and brimstone series, (but much less in intensity, and of a different nature than the Deluge of circa 2500 B.C).

The March 20/21 dating of the Exodus Catastrophe is similar to the March 20/21 dating of the Isaiahic Catastrophe, and as will be seen, of the Sodom-Gomorrah Catastrophe. All three of these were Case One catastrophes, where Mars was north of the ecliptic plane, and the timing was at the vernal equinox. However, there is one major difference. This catastrophe was an outside pass, a modification of the Case One geometry, and this modification produced significant results. Thus the modified Case One geometry, and the nearness of the Martian fly-by are unique to this particular catastrophe.

This is the last catastrophe for which there is considerable extant literature. Our primary sources describing this catastrophe are (1) the book of Exodus in the Bible, (2) the Exodus Psalms also in the Bible, (3) the Talmud, (4) the works of Josephus and, surprisingly, (5) Plato, in his Critias and Timaeus. These contain the story of Atlantis as we know it. These works describe somewhat the Exodus Catastrophe as it affected the Aegean, even as the Mosaic account describes this holocaust as it affected Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula.

The Job Catastrophe

Estimated 1663 B.C.

SINCE THIS BOOK reverses the normal flow of history (early to late), attention to historical settings may seem like “jumps” backward. This is indeed a problem in our analysis and description of the Exodus holocaust. Some of the historical background will occur in Chapters IX and X on the Sodom-Gomorrah Catastrophe and the Tower of Babel Catastrophe, respectively. However, some background will be included at this juncture.

Understanding the Isaiahic Catastrophe of March 20/21, 701 B.C., helps immeasurably in understanding both the generalities and the specifics of the Exodus Catastrophe. The geometries were similar. ¹ So also was the fly-by similar to the Sodom-Gomorrah event, for this Exodus Catastrophe occurred on the four hundred and thirtieth anniversary of the Sodom-Gomorrah debacle, one which Abraham and Lot both witnessed with their own eyes.

And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, EVEN THE SELFSAME DAY IT CAME TO PASS, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt....
(Exodus 12:41-42)

This historic passover is the basis for the passover celebration in Judaism. This is the night of the tenth and worst of the plagues which left Egypt in shambles. That it was a memorable night is indicated in the above text. That is was the four hundred and thirtieth anniversary of the earlier historic catastrophe day is a point which has been missed by most, if indeed not all, Biblical Commentators. ²

There were minor catastrophes and catastrophes which threatened between 1447 B.C. and 1877 B.C., the Sodom-Gomorrah event. Such shall be as relevant to Chapter IX as to the subject at hand. Two examples in literature are described as follows:

And when Jacob ceased praying to the Lord the earth shook from its place, and the sun darkened, and all these kings were terrified and a great consternation seized them. ³

Another significant catastrophe, a major disaster to Job, is somewhat described in the opening chapter of this work of high drama, the book of Job:

While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, THE FIRE OF GOD ÍS FALLEN FROM HEAVEN, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, AND CONSUMED them.
(Job 1:16)

And behold, there came A GREAT WIND ⁴ from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they [Job's sons] are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
(Job 1:19)

Thus, minor catastrophes are detected between the cycles of major catastrophes in this era, even as such were in the era just preceding the heavy events of the eighth century B.C.

The children of Israel went into Egypt to seek food and security. The date was about 1662 B.C. as gleaned from Dake's commentary, 215 years after the Sodom-Gomorrah event and 215 years before the Exodus event. ⁵ This two hundred fifteenth year between the two catastrophes was also apparently:

1. One year after a Case One catastrophe in 1663 B.C., the Job Catastrophe.

2. At the beginning, the first or the second year of a period of famine. ⁶ Thus there are indications of intermediate catastrophism between the Sodom-Gomorrah and the Exodus events, but of what intensity is unknown.

The family of Jacob, numbering 70 in all, went into Egypt to seek food and security in 1662 B.C. At that time, Joseph, the son of Jacob, was also the premier of Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh. Under Joseph's leadership, food supplies in abundance had been reserved for the expected dearth; indeed, Egypt temporarily became the granary of the Levant-Suez region. Egypt flourished culturally. This was the era of the authorship of the book of Job, the oldest book in the Scriptures. It was the era of Pyramid-building at its best. It was an era of much commerce and trade and of arts and sciences. Defenses were organized along Egypt's northeastern border by Joseph against Amalekite and Amorite incursions. Eventually, however, Joseph died after 80 years of premiership, about 1590 B.C.

The succeeding Pharaoh was weak. His dynasty disappeared as Amorite invaders from Palestine conquered, and established their own dynasty, the “shepherd kings,” or the Hyksos. ⁷ The Amorites and Hebrews were mutually antagonistic. Gradually increasing degrees of servitude were induced upon the Hebrews until they became extremely distressed, longing for release and freedom, but utterly unable to achieve these hopes. This condition lasted for about 100 years, during which Moses was born, and became an adopted son of Bathia, ⁸ an Amorite Pharaoh's daughter. He grew up, was educated, and became a successful general of the armies. However, in time he renounced the adopted culture of the Amorites for his natural birthright, the Hebrew. He sensed a calling in the role of emancipator of his people. (His rejection as would-be emancipator occurred in 1517 B.C., resulting in Moses' 40-year exile from Egypt.)

The Book of Job -- A Cosmological Reference For The Hebrews ⁹

The book of Job is a great drama, a literary work, but one with a deep spiritual message for the Hebrews in Egypt. Their bondage was in a harmony with Job's suffering. Beyond the pathos and the theology of the book of Job, we call attention to its cosmology. This book ¹⁰ reflects the cosmological thought of both Hebrews and Egyptians of the seventeenth century B.C, to the fifteenth century B.C.

ON EARTHQUAKES:
{God} Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger. (Job 9:5)

ON COSMOGONY:
{God} Which alone spreadeth out the heavens... Which maketh Arcturus, ¹¹ Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. (Job 9:8-9)

ON ORBITAL CHANGE:
{God} Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. (Job 9:6)

ON SPIN AXIS SHIFT:
{God} Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. (Job 9:7)

ON SPIN AXIS SHIFT:
The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. (Job 26:11)

ON EARTH'S ROTATIONAL SCHEME: ¹²
He stretcheth out the north over the empty place and hangeth the earth ¹³ upon nothing. (Job 26:7)

ON TIDAL WAVES AND TIDES:
He divideth the sea with his power. ... (Job 26:12)

ON A “WILD” PLANET:
By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed THE CROOKED SERPENT. (Job 26:13)

ON A “WILD” PLANET:
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst THOU BRING FORTH MAZZAROTH IN HIS SEASON? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? (Job 38:31-32)

ON THE COMPOSITION OF A “WILD” PLANET:
His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone [iron and nickel]. (Job 41:24)

ON OBSERVATIONS OF A “WILD” PLANET:
By his neesings a light doth shine and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out of his mouth GO BURNING LAMPS, and SPARKS OF FIRE leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. HIS BREATH KINDLETH COALS, AND A FLAME GOETH OUT OF HS MOUTH. (Job 41:18-21)

ON METEOR STREAMS: Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are? ... or who hath given understanding to the HEART? ¹⁴ (Job 38:35-36)

ON COSMOLOGY:
Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can STAY the BOTTLES ¹⁵ of heaven. (Job 38:37)

ON COSMOLOGY:
Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? (Job 38:33)

In Job, Chapters 40 and 41, there are two mysterious figures which were large, ferocious figures of ancient times. Persons without a catastrophic cosmology have suggested that they were great, fearsome animals of ancient times, perhaps “hippopotamus” and “crocodile.” Their names in Job are Leviathan and Behemoth. Behemoth, or “hippopotamus” is an interesting “hippo.”

“His strength is in his loins,
and his force is in the navel of his belly.
The sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
His bones are as strong pieces of brass:
his bones are like BARS OF IRON.
He drinketh up a river.
He can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
He taketh it with his eyes;
his nose pierceth through snares.”
(Portions of Job 40)

This is a remarkable hippopotamus indeed. And the crocodile is even more remarkable. Concerning the “crocodile,” Leviathan:

His scales are ... shut up together as with a close seal:
By his neesings a light doth shine.
Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire.
His breath kindleth coals,
and a flame goeth out of his mouth.
His heart is a firm as a stone,
yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
The arrow cannot make him flee.
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot.
Upon the earth there is not his like...
He beholdeth all high things.
(Portions of Job 41)

These are not descriptions of crocodiles and hippopotami. Neither is this fairy tale mythology. Leviathan and Behemoth represent two planets, probably Mars and Mercury, whose “bones” are made of iron. Mars seems to be represented as Leviathan, and Mercury as Behemoth, ¹⁶ two great, ancient, fearsome beings, but not conventional dragons or even dinosaurs.

William Ward, without understanding catastrophic cosmology, has yet somehow captured the essence of Leviathan and Behemoth. He discusses them with remarkable skill:

Then God resumes his questionnaire, revealing His power and glory in the natural world. But in chapters 40 and 41 we find this done in a different way; we have long descriptions of two creatures called Behemoth and Leviathan. Behemoth is translated hippopotamus, and Leviathan crocodile. The detailed descriptions of these two animals, occupying most of two chapters, seem exaggerated and out of place here, and some scholars have suggested they were not a part of the original poem. This is to miss the point completely.

The descriptions here are not of ordinary animals, as in God's first speech, but are two symbolic creatures which played a most significant role in ancient mythology. The great sea monster was a symbol of the primeval chaos God had to conquer to bring His creation under control. One of the earliest stories of creation was of God's destroying the monster of the deep, Tiamat or Rahab or Leviathan, representing the primeval chaos, to make the universe an orderly one under His control. This story is often referred to in ancient apocalyptic literature, and occasionally in the Old Testament. ¹⁷

We have merely touched upon, and hardly developed the cosmology contained in the book of Job and must resist the temptation to exhaustively analyze the cosmology therein, even as others have analyzed the drama or the theology. Our point is that catastrophic cosmology was unquestioned in that drama. The cosmology of Job 9, for instance, must be considered as closely reflecting their literal experiences. One of these experiences, circa 1930 B.C. or perhaps as early as 2146 B.C. was the creation of the Rift Valley, stretching from Syria into the South Indian Ocean, across the Red Sea and the African Highlands, a cleavage in the Earth's crust 5000 miles long. “Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger,” was tragically literal as were other phrases of the cosmology of Job 9. We must try to think as the Hebrews (and Egyptians or others of that era) thought in order to understand their times, their literatures, their migrations, their architectures and so forth. This has been an excursion into the era of 1663 B.C, of Job, and of its suspected catastrophe.

The Ten Plagues in Egypt

March 1447 B.C.

Note that the flight of the Israelites from Egypt came during the “passover” night, and amidst the Lord's ten plagues upon the land of Egypt. These plagues are listed in the Bible as follows:

1. The waters turned to blood = Exodus 7:17-25
2. Frogs = Exodus 8:2-15
3. Lice = Exodus 8:16-18
4. Flies = Exodus 8:21-32
5. Murrain (Pestilence) = Exodus 9:2-7
6. Ashes of the furnace = Exodus 9:9-12
7. Hail mixed with fire = Exodus 9:15-35
8. Locusts = Exodus 10:4-20
9. Oppressive darkness = Exodus 10:21-29
10. Death throughout the land = Exodus 11, 12:1-42

How many of these ten plagues were a direct result of catastrophism? How many were results of indirect effects? We are not sure, but the following guidelines may be helpful.

1. WATERS TURNED TO BLOOD:
   This may have been iron dust (from orbiting around the red planet) which turned to a brilliant crimson when entering Earth's atmosphere, rich in oxygen. Raphael's painting of the waters of the parting sea as “red” waters was perceptive. The waters of the Nile also were red and badly polluted as the red dust became intermixed and coagulated in such bodies as the “Red” Sea. ¹⁸
   
2. FROGS IN THE LAND:
   We shall offer two thoughts concern ing this rather unusual plague. One view is that, with the invasion of volcanic dust and pumice, and meteoritic dust, water conditions rapidly deteriorated; plants were covered. Faced with a sudden change in their natural environment, frogs came up out of the waters in marshes, canals and rivers to die on the shores, in the streets and almost everywhere.
   
   Normally in Egypt frogs multiply in July and August after the Nile River floods. We cannot place this event within the normal climatic regime.
   
   A second view is that the original Hebrew word, tsephardea (“frogs”), was animated by later Hebrew scholars who had no experience with catastrophism. Tsephardea (“frogs”) is derived from either tsaphar, meaning “to skip about” or from tsephar meaning “a bird.” In this view, the original tsephardea corresponded to volcanic pumice and ash which descended thickly throughout the land in marshes, in canals, in rivers, on the shores, in the streets and almost everywhere.
   
3. LICE THROUGHOUT THE LAND:
   The Hebrew word ken includes the sense of fastening like a gnat, or stinging. When Krakatoa exploded on August 26, 1883, in the afternoon, the sky began to yellow and darken as fine volcanic particles descended amid drops of rain.
   
   This plague may describe voracious mites, suddenly denied their normal habitat due to the volcanic fallout, turning in vast numbers upon man and beast alike. Or it may possibly be an animated description adopted by later scholars to describe volcanic fallout they failed to fathom.
   
4. GRIEVOUS SWARMS OF FLIES:
   The Hebrew word arob can mean diverse sorts of flies such as stinging dragon flies, mosquitoes and other insects. This plague may, like the third, be a result of insects suddenly denied their normal habitat, turning upon man and beast.
   
   Or again, it may be an animated translation of a scene which original involved a fallout of volcanic cinders, ash and fine powder amid wind and rain. When Krakatoa exploded, the volcanic fallout rose as high as 80,000 feet before descending. And during the Exodus holocaust, with such a close Martian fly-by, there must have been hundreds of dormant volcanoes suddenly become active on a scale dwarfing Krakatoa.
5. A GRIEVOUS MURRAIN:
   “Murrain” is from the (by now familiar) Hebrew word deber, elsewhere translated as “pestilence” and “plague.” It describes meteoritic fallout as contrasted to volcanic fallout. It describes fire and brimstone.
   
6. ASHES AS IN A FURNACE:
   “Ashes” in the Hebrew is piyach and describes ashes, dust or powder. It may be very similar to the afore-mentioned “lice”, or perhaps volcanic dust. They caused boils on animals and man alike.
   
7. HAIL MIXED WITH FIRE:
   “Hail” in the Hebrew is barad indicating fiery meteors. This is seen also in Psalm 78:47-48 and 105:32. It is also the word describing meteors in Joshua 10:11 where it is translated “hailstones.” This was the worst blizzard of meteorites of all of the seven major catastrophes. It was “very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation,” (implying that meteors had fallen during other catastrophes, but not in this intensity). That it was accompanied by thunderings, and that “fire ran along the ground” indicates it included both bolides and meteorites. Many prairie fires must have been ignited by them.
   
8. WIND-BORNE LOCUSTS:
   The Hebrew word 'arbeh means a locust, or a grasshopper, a large, flying insect. This word is derived from rabah meaning to enlarge, to increase in whatever respect, to heap up, to overtake.
   
   As in our discussion of frogs, lice and flies, we offered two lines of thought. One was that insects such as grasshoppers suddenly finding the fields denuded, began to migrate and invade human dwellings in great numbers. A second line of thought is that this could be a word, later animated, which described a fallout of volcanic powder, dust and cinders.
   
   When Krakatoa blew up August 26-27, 1883, so much volcanic material was released into the atmosphere that, 14 weeks later the bark Ta Lee passed through a bank of pumice extending about 25 miles, some pieces as large as two feet square.
   
9. OPPRESSIVE DARKNESS:
   The explosion of Krakatoa in 1883 resulted in Batavia (100 miles distant) being darkened, even at noon, for about a day. The Exodus darkness in 1447 B.C. was worse, darkness caused by volcanic smoke, ashes, cinders and dust so thick that sunlight could not penetrate for three days. This was a darkness which could be “felt”, indicating the maximum volcanic pollution of Egypt's atmosphere.
   
10. DEATH THROUGH-OUT THE LAND:
    Scriptures indicate death on the night of the cosmic fly-by was so wide-spread that in Egypt, the “first-born” of every family died (that is every family which did not have the blood of the lamb on the door). ¹⁹ Under these conditions, destruction was so widespread that no count could possibly be made, Some entire communities perished with falling bolides. Earthquakes leveled most structures.

The word “firstborn” in Hebrew is bekowr meaning elder, chief or first-born, and comes from the prime verb bakar, to burst from the womb. We suspect the death toll throughout Egypt that cataclysmic night was 15% to 25% and that, on the average, “one born” ²⁰ of most families perished. This principle also extended to animals as earthquakes, bolides, meteors, prairie fires, respiratory reactions and shortly, tidal waves, took an unimaginable toll.

Thus we propose that plagues 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 9 were directly related to the massive vulcanism in nearby areas. Plagues 1, 5, and 7 were related to astronomical red dust (from the red planet), and from bolides and meteors (fire and brimstone). Plague 10 is tidal. Mars was causing an immense tide in Earth's crust, especially at the midnight hour, the hour of the height of the fly-by. This extreme earthquake was extreme in both duration and intensity, See Table VIIL, later in this chapter.

It may be interesting to note that there is a parallel to the ten plagues of Egypt in the plagues in Greek myth of Cephalus. Greece, even more so than Egypt, is located in a region of crustal weakness, including submarine volcanoes. This suggests that the plagues as recounted in the Exodus were not just a localized event, but in one form or another, in one intensity or another, were global in scope. The plagues of Egypt occurred, it is believed, over a period of about seven days, possibly less.

The Timing Difficulty of the Ten Plagues

A significant difficulty arises in trying to place this Exodus catastrophe into a calendaric scheme with the ten plagues. The time scale for global events (crustal tides, spin axis precession and polar relocation, electrical discharges, etc.) directly associated with a Mars fly-by is a day or two. Local after effects (earthquakes, tidal waves, vulcanism etc.) might continue for some time. By comparison, the time scale for the ten plagues in the book of Exodus seem to have spanned many weeks or even months.

Such a lengthy period is conceivable if the Mars passover occurred first, causing a global upheaval for a day or two, and perpetuating a lengthy series of local violent after-effects extending over several weeks or even months. According to the Biblical record, the most violent events seem to be the 5th plague of grievous murrain (an intense blizzard of fire and brimstone), the 7th plague of hail mixed with fire (also fire and brimstone, bolides and meteors), the 10th plague (intense earthquake activity) and the “postscript”, the tidal wave. We might call the “postscript” the 11th plague, the tidal bore sweeping across the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean Sea. These plagues, the 5th, the 7th, the 10th and the postscript are far from the earliest events (assuming the Biblical record is in chronological order). Neither did they occur within a day or two of each other. Furthermore, dating the 10th plague, the “passover” or fly-by at March 20/21, 1447 B.C. places the nine other plagues after the scheduled pass over rather than preceding.

The Bible dates the Mediterranean Sea flooding with tidal waves after the Mars passover, since this could have been caused by continuing vulcanism and earthquakes. But it doesn't seem possible to locate the whole series of plagues after the tenth which is the climax and capstone of the whole series, and which is known to have been on the night of March 20/21.

We cannot even venture an answer to this problem at present time. A study of the Greek account of plagues (the Cephalus myth) and the Egyptian account (by Ipuwer) may help resolve the mystery. Further studies of Near and Far Eastern literature and mythology (with an open mind toward the catastrophic world view) may furnish significant information.

Comparisons Between the Exodus Catastrophe and the Isaiahic Catastrophe

A lengthy discussion has already been presented concerning the Isaiahic Catastrophe, its celestial mechanics, historical background and eye-witness description. To understand the Isaiahic Catastrophe is to largely understand the somewhat more intense, and somewhat more ancient Exodus Catastrophe.

We can detect three major differences between these two similar catastrophes. First, Mars was closer to the Earth on the Exodus fly-by, possibly closer than 60,000 miles. Second, the display of meteoritic and bolidic activity was more intense, indeed it had no equal among all the other post-flood cosmic holocausts. It was truly

...a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.
(Exodus 12:42)

So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt....
(Exodus 9:24-25)

Thirdly, Mars made an outside fly-by rather than an inside fly-by. This suggests why the Long Day of Joshua was only 43½ years later rather than 53½ years which was normal for the resonant orbit model. ²¹ That is, Mars gained angular momentum with an outside fly-by whereas it lost angular momentum with an inside fly-by. Probably the two orbits very nearly went out of resonance on this occasion, whereas on the fly-by of 701 B.C. they did finally break out of resonance, and Mars into an entirely new orbital scheme. Figure 26 illustrates the geometry of the Exodus Catastrophe as the orbits are seen from the celestial north. Figure 27 illustrates the geometry of the Exodus Catastrophe as seen from the Earth's celestial location on January 1 of 1447 B.C.

The Geometry of the Exodus Catastrophe (1). This March 20/21 catastrophe was similar to the Isaiahic event (701 B.C.) and the Sodom-Gomorrah holocaust (1877 B.C.) in date. But it was dissimilar in that it is believed to have been an outside fly-by.

The Geometry of the Exodus Catastrophe (2). Geometry illustrating an outside fly-by, north of the ecliptic plane. A comparison is made with the geometry of the Isaiahic event.

TABLE VII

COMPARISON OF THE EXODUS AND THE ISAIAHIC CATASTROPHES

Dating the Exodus Catastrophe

The dating of the Exodus Catastrophe is established from the Scriptural record already discussed in I Kings 6:1. The temple, founded in 967 B.C., was 480 years after the Exodus. The Exodus was in 1447 B.C. This closely correlates with carbon-14 dating of contemporary artifacts, as will be demonstrated by Charles McDowell in a future publication and is already available in publications by J. V. Luce and James Mavor, Jr.

In terms of the resonant orbit model, the Exodus Catastrophe would be expected 53½ years earlier than the Long Day of Joshua, which was in November, 1404 B.C. Thus, a resonant orbit model, assuming normal conditions, would propose a date of March, 1457 B.C. However, because Mars made an outside fly-by in the Exodus event, it gained angular momentum rather than lost it. Therefore the Long Day of Joshua, the next cosmic crisis, came ten years earlier than the model would dictate. This is due mainly to the outside pass, and perhaps partially to the unusually close fly-by of this occasion. The expected calendaric date, March 20/21 was the correct day as Mars still intersected Earth's orbit at this location.

Ramifications of the Exodus Catastrophe

The many facets of this catastrophe are listed as follows, and are subsequently discussed, one by one in this chapter.

1. On Depopulation -- The Plague of Death
2. On Crustal Tides and Earth Shocks -- The Plague of Death
3. On Renewed Vulcanism -- The Plague of Darkness
4. On Iron Dust -- The Plague of Blood, or Red Snow
5. On Meteors and Bolides -- The Plague of Hail Mingled with Fire
6. On Orbital Shift -- Resulting in Calendaric Reorganization
7. On Spin Axis Shift -- Resulting in a Change in Latitude
8. On Cosmic Scenery
9. On Cosmic Imagery -- The Golden Calf
10. On Astrology
11. On Ancient Catastrophes in the Aegean -- The Atlantis Story by Plato
12. Vestiges of Ancient Cosmic Catastrophic Lore in Current Life

Depopulation of Egypt -- The Plague of Death

It was estimated that up to 3% to 5% of the population of Palestine was destroyed during both the Greater David Catastrophe and the Joel-Amos holocaust. Perhaps as much as 5% to 10% of the population was destroyed during the Long Day of Joshua and the Isaiahic Catastrophe, (including 185,000 from one single bolide). All of the texts and the context of the Exodus Catastrophe deal with its widespread severity. Some of these Scriptural accounts are found in Exodus; other corroborating accounts are found in the Exodus Psalms.

So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was NONE LIKE IT IN ALL THE LAND OF EGYPT SINCE IT BECAME A NATION. And the hail smote THROUGHOUT ALL the land of Egypt....
(Exodus 9:24-25)

The height of the catastrophe for Egypt was the midnight hour, as Palestine on the globe swept past evening, facing Mars on its outside fly-by, or passover. The depopulation of Egypt was considerable.

And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon ; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; FOR THERE WAS NOT A HOUSE WHERE THERE WAS NOT ONE DEAD.
(Exodus 12:29-30)

In some parts of Egypt, where bolides chanced to fall, we propose that entire communities were demolished, (as in the case of the collapsed building where Job's children were having a birthday party exactly 216 years earlier). In addition, as we shall soon show, tidal waves perhaps 100 feet high swept the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. (When the tidal wave emanated from Krakatoa in 183, it was a maximum of 100 feet high on the nearby coasts of Java and Sumatra and 36,000 people were drowned.) A tidal bore sweeping up the Nile Delta would also create ample havoc for that, the richest part of Egypt.

On Crustal Tides and Earth Shocks -- The Plague of Death

The following description of crustal upheaval sounds to the modern mind (unaccustomed to planetary catastrophes) like fancy, myth or poetic imagination. Let the reader realize that it is authentic description under near fly-by conditions. Observe the magnitude in this, the worst of the series we are discussing:

The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan ²² [Lake Menzilah, at that time a swampy lagoon of the Mediterranean Sea] was driven back. The MOUNTAINS SKIPPED LIKE RAMS, and the LITTLE HILLS LIKE LAMBS....Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord....
(Psalm 114:3, 4, 7)

SOLID EARTH DISTORTION BY MARS. Mars would have a greater effect on Earth's crust at 60,000 miles than at 120,000 miles, but greater by how much? Gravitational interaction follows the principle of Newton's inverse square law, that is, if the distance between the Earth and the Moon were halved, the gravitational attraction would be increased fourfold rather than twofold. This applies to freely moving fluids, but for SPHERICAL DISTORTION OR TIDAL DISTORTION, gravitational interaction follows the inverse of the cube. ²³

NOTE: The effects of the Krakatoa eruption in 1883. The shaded area indicates localities at which ash is reported to have fallen after the eruption (suggesting northeasterly winds prevailing at the time). The dotted line indicates the area over which the explosions were heard. (Alice Springs is 2300 miles from Krakatoa; Rodriguez is 3000 miles distant.). The numbers refer to sightings of floating pumice. From Lost Atlantis, page 79, courtesy of McGraw-Hill Book Co.

The current crustal tide caused by the Moon is two to three inches. The Moon's average distance from the Earth is 240,000 miles, and its mass is .0123 of Earth. Mars, we believe, was at perigee with Earth on this particular fly-by, we estimate, at 60.000 miles. The mass of Mars is .107 of Earth. Table VIII is an endeavor to sketch the tide-raising ability of Mars on a close fly-by with respect to Earth's crust. The two to three inch tide which the moon currently causes is sometimes reinforced by the influence of the Sun, and is sometimes opposed by that same influence depending on their geometries at any particular time.

Velikovsky discovered the Papyrus Ipuwer ²⁴ in the Leyden Library. It purports to be an ancient Egyptian account, an eye-witness account of this same event, only penned by an Egyptian rather than by a Hebrew.

Ipuwer witnessed and survived this earthquake.
“The towns are destroyed. Upper Egypt has become waste
... All is ruin.”
“The residence is overturned in a minute.”
[Papyrus Ipuwer 2:11, 3:13]. Only an earthquake could have over-turned the residence in a minute. > The Egyptian word for “to overturn” is used in the sense of “to overthrow a wall” ²⁵

Also, Hieronymus (St. Jerome) wrote in an epistle that “in the night in which Exodus took place, all the temples of Egypt were destroyed either by an earthshock or by the thunderbolt.” ... An inscription which dates from the beginning of the New Kingdom refers to a temple of the Middle Kingdom that was “swallowed by the ground” at the close of the Middle Kingdom. ²⁶

Under these conditions, many tents would collapse, resulting in little injury to the tent-dwelling Israelite slaves, living in Goshen, (adjoining the Suez Isthmus). Conversely, many obelisks, city walls, temple structures and other heavy architectures would topple in ruins, decimating the more urbane populace, in this case mostly Egyptians. During the midnight hour of this fateful catastrophe, destruction was so intense that, as we have indicated, as much as 20 percent of the populace died. Some died perhaps due to bolidic explosions, other due to respiratory and heart conditions, others soon to die in the imminent tidal wave, and perhaps most of all due to the earth-shocks and their terrible effect on structures.

TABLE VIII

SOLID EARTH DISTORTION BY MARS

@This distance is measured from the core of the Earth.

Renewed Vulcanism -- The Darkness Plague

A crustal distortion such as we have suggested in Table VIII (or even a fraction of the magnitude thereof) would renew thousands of dormant or “extinct” volcanoes, both volcanoes on land, and submarine volcanoes. This discussion is limited to volcanoes on land, terrestrial volcanoes.

He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth:
he toucheth the hills, AND THEY SMOKE.
(Psalm 104:32)

How many volcanoes on the Sinai Peninsula were reactivated at this time we have no idea, but there was at least one. Mount Sinai, the mount of lawgiving (the decalogue), is located about 200 miles from the delta of the Nile. It, for one, became a renewed volcano. Depending on the prevailing wind system of that week, ashes, dust and cinders from this volcano (and presumably others) were the source of the plague of darkness. Volcanic action may also have been related to the plague of frogs, the plague of locusts, and the plague of ashes from the furnace. This one particular mountain, Mount Sinai, was still quaking and in volcanic activity 50 days after the Mars fly-by, the day of lawgiving.

And Mount Sinai was altogether in a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in a fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
(Exodus 19:18)

When Krakatoa in the East Indies blew up in 1883, it was reported that darkness even at noonday was great in Batavia (100 miles distant) and in Bandung (150 miles distant). Bandung is 2000 feet above sea level. ²⁷ The delta of Egypt was 200 miles from volcanic activity in Sinai, but possibly an entire symphony of belching volcanoes east of the Gulf of Suez added to the effect. While darkness in Indonesia lasted for about a day, the Biblical account suggests a more intense regional volcanic activity:

... and there was a thick darkness
in all the land of Egypt three days.
(Exodus 10:22)

This darkness was so intense that it was “even darkness which may be felt.” (Exodus 10:21)

Volcanic action took place not only in Egypt but also else-where in the Mediterranean, (note Etna, Stromboli, Vesuvius). The subject of marine vulcanism is reserved for later in this chapter.

On Iron Dust -- A Red Snow

We have proposed that Mars at 200,000,000 miles in orbit once fragmented a smaller planet (Electra) sometime between 2400 B.C. and 2100 B.C. Orbiting around Mars were tens of thousands of larger asteroidal fragments from Electra, but also orbiting around Mars (the red planet) were billions of particles or granules and dust also from Electra. Such dust must have orbited in a ring, a reddish ring, around Mars at least as far out as 25,000 miles. (This compares to Saturn's icy ring.) When on this occasion, the red planet came as close as perhaps 60,000 miles, much of the iron dust must have been captured by the Earth, and drifted down into the atmosphere, where it oxidized into a rusty hue, and fell as an impressive if unwelcome blanket. Falling in water it precipitated out as orange-red, like blood. In this particular catastrophe the iron oxide was merely one aspect of other more severe phases of catastrophism, hot thunderbolts and lightnings, earthquakes, vulcanism, tidal waves.

... and all the waters that were in the river [Nile] were turned to blood.
(Exodus 7:20) ²⁸

On Meteors and Bolides -- The Plague of Hail Mingled With Fire

Deber, translated “murrain,” has been also translated “pestilence” 48 times in addition to having been translated about 17 other ways. It is meteoritic activity, meteors and bolides. This is the nature of the murrain, the fifth plague. Apparently there were little particles (dust) , middle-sized particles (murrain), and big particles (bolides and meteors).

He gave up their cattle also to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
(Psalm 78:48) ²⁹

... thine arrows also went abroad.
The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven;
THE LIGHTNINGS LIGHTENED THE WORLD;
the earth trembled and shook.
(Psam 77:17-18)
So there was HAIL, AND FIRE MINGLED WITH THE HAIL, VERY GRIEVOUS, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt.
(Exodus 9:24-25)

The Long Day of Joshua, compared to this, was “moderate” in meteoritic activity.

The world view of catastrophism, and the Jewish experience in catastrophism (more often than not, deliverance from invasion or oppression) is seen in Psalm 91.

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler
[the devil], and from THE NOISOME PESTILENCE ...
Thou shalt not be afraid FOR THE TERROR BY NIGHT;
nor for the ARROW THAT FLIETH BY DAY;
nor for the PESTILENCE THAT WALKETH IN DARKNESS;
nor for the DESTRUCTION THAT WASTETH AT NOONDAY.
(Psalm 91: 3, 5, 6)

“Pestilence that walketh in darkness” could describe the midnight hour of the Exodus Catastrophe. “The terror by night” could describe the eventide hour of the Isaiahic Catastrophe. “The arrow that flieth by day” could describe the dawn hour of the Sodom-Gomorrah holocaust. “The arrow that flieth by day” could also describe the afternoon hour of the Tower of Babel Catastrophe. “The destruction that wasteth at noonday” probably best describes the Long Day of Joshua. Thus the holocausts were known to the ancients to come from one direction (from on high) but at varying times of the day or night, as would be expected in a long series.

On Orbital Shift -- Resulting in Calendaric Changes

In Chapter IV, we discussed the geometry of the Isaiahic Catastrophe. It was quite similar to the Exodus Catastrophe except it was less intense, and Mars made an inside fly-by. Hence, we conclude:

1. The spin axis precession was greater during the Exodus Catastrophe.
2. The polar migration was in another, but not necessarily opposite direction upon our globe.
3. The position of Palestine at Mars' perigee was about six hours later (midnight rather than evening).

Assuming the correctness of our model, the spin axis relocation during the Exodus Catastrophe may have been in the range of 400 to 800 miles. “True” east and “true” north once again changed their position somewhat. Possibly some change in axial tilt accompanied the polar relocation.

In the Isaiahic Catastrophe, it was also noted that the year changed from 360 days to 365¼ days. While a minor part of this change may have been due to an increase in spin rate, the major part (as much as 70%) of the change in day count per year was due to an expanded orbit. The result in 701 B.C. was the sudden need among ancient people for a calendaric revision. Some peoples revised by adding five days per year, some revised by adding a month every few years. A calendaric revision is an indication, then, of an orbital shift, either an expansion (which would require more days per year) or a contraction (which would require less), or a spin rate change.

According to the model, the Exodus fly-by was a modified version of the Case One geometry, the modification being an outside pass. The normal geometry, the inside pass would result in an increase of angular momentum for Earth (and a decrease for Mars). In this modification, the outside pass, we would expect the opposite, that is, a decrease in angular momentum of the Earth, thus contraction of the orbit to some degree, and fewer days per year.

In Chapter II, we observed that the Teutons, in response to catastrophic cosmology in their early ages, named the days of the week after the planets. The Latins named the first several months of the year after the planets, probably following the Etruscan pattern. Other ancient civilizations followed comparable patterns in their veneration of the planets. The names of some of the Hebrew months may also be of interest, especially the month which was roughly October 7 to November 6, which was the month of all the autumn catastrophes. The name Marchesvan is related to ma'or (me'orah), ancient Hebrew for “Mars.” ³⁰, ³¹

Left: One of “Cleopatra's Needles,” set up by Thothmes III at Heliopolis, removed to Alexandria in 23 B.C., and thence to New York where it now stands. It is 67.2 feet high excluding pedestal. This compares with Ahaz' sun dial which we estimated at 60 feet high. (see fig. 17).
Center: the second of “Cleopatra's Needles,” 68.4 feet high removed to London.
Right: obelisk of Senusret I still standing on its original emplacement near Heliopolis, the earliest obelisk known to us. From Wonders of the Past, Vol. II, p. 530, courtesy of G. P. Putnam's Sons.

ANCIENT HEBREW CALENDAR

It is entirely possible that names of some of the months are related to the planets. For instance, note the similarity of Iyyar (April) with the Chaldean Ishtar, or Venus, the same month corresponding to the Latin Aprilla, also after Venus. Marchesvan was the ancient month in which the Case Two catastrophes occurred, and a variant name for Marchesvan is “Bul,” after Bel or Baal, already identified as Mars in Chaldean and Ugaritic.

The calendaric change instituted by Hezekiah about 696 B.C., while significant, appears modest when compared to the calendaric revision instituted by Moses. Moses did the equivalent of switching January into July. He shifted Tishri, or September, from the first month in the Hebrew calendar to the seventh. Similarly, Nisan (March-April) was shifted from the seventh to the first. Perhaps cumulative discrepancies due to the Sodom-Gomorrah holocaust and the suspected Job Catastrophe (1663-B.C.) were demanding a revision even before this particular flyby. At any rate, the older Hebrew calendar prior to the Exodus Catastrophe suddenly became obsolete.

And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month [the month of the 1447 B.C. fly-by] shall be unto you THE BEGINNING OF MONTHS: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
(Exodus 12:1-2)

This day, the fourteenth of Nisan (and the thirteenth, its eve) became the most memorable day in the Hebrew calendar. The same day, later, was designated by Numa to become Rome's New Year Day.

In the ancient Hebrew calendar, the month of Tishri (including the time of the autumnal equinox, September 21, the first day of autumn) had been the first month, and had included the original New Year Day. Josephus describes this time of calendaric reform. The earlier Tishri calendar had been in use for 1,000 years, back to the era of the Flood Catastrophe.

This calamity happened in the six hundredth year of Noah's government [age] in the second month, called by the Macedonians Dius, but by the Hebrews Marchesven; for so did they order their year in Egypt. But Moses appointed that Nisan, which is the same with Xanthicus, should be the first month for their festivals, because he brought them out of Egypt in that month: so that this month began the year, as to all the solemnities they observed to the honour of God, although he preserved the original order of the months as to selling and buying, and other ordinary affairs. ³³

Marchesvan (Bul) was originally the second month, and this month saw such catastrophes as the Tower of Babel Catastrophe, the Long Day of Joshua, and the Joel-Amos Catastrophe.

Shortly after the Isaiahic Catastrophe in 701 B.C., King Hezekiah not only introduced a calendaric revision, but also closed the east gate of Jerusalem, for it no longer identified or portrayed “true” east. (It very likely had a surveying significance.) In the Isaiahic Catastrophe we believe the geographical poles shifted some 300 miles to 400 miles, and latitude shifted between 5° and 6½°. The Exodus Catastrophe was worse; a 500 mile polar relocation could be a conservative estimate. Egypt and Palestine may well have changed between 5° and 10º of latitude.

With a relocated pole and a shift in axis tilt, up to a month could be either added to, or removed from the calendar (depending on the geometry of the case). Rather than make a minor adjustment to patch up the calendar (as Numa, who added five days per year, or Hezekiah, who added one month every five years), Moses merely rescheduled entire calendar, making the vernal equinox of the Northern Hemisphere the New Year Day. A new direction for true north was also the new order, but surveying concerns were not uppermost in the Hebrews minds as they were leaving Egypt anyway, and becoming a nomadic people for the next 40 or 45 years.

On Spin Axis Shift -- A Change in Latitude ³⁴

Comparisons to the Isaiahic Catastrophe have already been made in terms of calendaric revision, orbital shift and suspected spin axis shifts. The discussion was based on the precedent of the Isaiahic Catastrophe, and general theory of precession derived from Chapter IV.

The Sinai Peninsula is the region to which the children of Israel migrated, and camped for the better part of their 40 year period in the wilderness. Their encampments were especially in the southern part of that peninsula. This peninsula today comprises about 25,000 square miles, latitude 29° to 30° N. It is desolate, arid, hostile, a sandy waste, virtually devoid of flora and population. However, in 1447 B.C. to 1410 B.C., it supported an estimated two million persons plus their livestock.

In today's climatology, there is a zone called the “horse latitudes” throughout the Earth. The zone is located from 15° N. to 35° N. on the westerly sides (but not the easterly sides) of all the continents. In this latitude zone, there are deserts in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Deserts in this “horse latitude” zone include the Atacama of Chile, the Sonoran of Northern Mexico, the Kalahari of Southwest Africa, the Great Australian Desert, the Sahara Desert of North Africa and its extension, the Arabian Desert. (This zone has been given the name “horse latitudes” because in such arid zones, horses became a critically essential part of the nomadic culture.) Today Sinai is in the middle of this zone of aridity.

Today the Sinai Peninsula is so deficient in rainfall that the hardiest of scrub plants often fail to survive. Creeks and rivers are nonexistent. Oases are very few, very small and far between. Yet during the era after the Exodus Catastrophe over two million people encamped there with their cattle a population density of nearly 100 per square mile. There is no record of perishing from thirst; instead the record indicates an experience of hardy survival and growth in numbers, both for people and livestock. This kind of population requires ample water, and the only way the Sinai Peninsula could have been moderately-well watered would be for it to catch the rain-bearing winds, either the rain-bearing westerly wind system of the mid-latitudes, a generally cool wind zone, or else the trade winds astride the equator in a more equatorial latitude. Here, with another attitude, perhaps the Sinai could catch the easterly trade winds of another era.

In the Isaiahic Catastrophe, we proposed a shift of between 5° and 6½° latitude, a southerly shift. Other shifts occurred during the Exodus Catastrophe, the Long Day of Joshua and perhaps also during the Greater Davidic Catastrophe, to change the climatic zone of the Sinai. This is another, indirect method of concluding that the location of the geographic poles migrated significantly during these ancient catastrophic days, or, to quote the book of Job, “the pillars of the earth trembled.”

On Cosmic Scenery

In The Book of Enoch and other Jewish apocryphal and Talmudic writings, six archangels are named and their functions are associated with the luminaries.

...I beheld seven stars of heaven bound in it together, like great mountains, and like a blazing fire...
These are those of the stars which have transgressed the commandment of the most high God...
(The Book of Enoch 21:3)

Then the angel said: This place, until the consummation of heaven and earth, will be the prison of the stars, and the host of heaven. The stars which roll over fire are those which transgressed the commandment of God before their time arrived: for they came not in their proper season...
(The Book of Enoch 18:15-16)

Various ancient Jewish literary works including Talmudic commentaries are helpful in understanding the term “the angel of the Lord,” an archangel, which passed over Egypt on the night of March 20, 1447 B.C., and which passed over Jerusalem on the days of the Davidic Catastrophe and the Isaiahic Catastrophe.

The Lord will PASS OVER the door, and will not suffer
THE DESTROYER to come in unto your houses to smite you.
(Exodus 12:23)

And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them;
and the PILLAR OF THE CLOUD went from before their face,
and stood behind them...
it was a cloud and darkness to them,
but it gave light by night to these.
(Exodus 14:19-20).

And the Lord went before them by day IN A PILLAR OF A CLOUD, to lead them the way;
and by night IN A PILLAR OF FIRE, to give them light;
to go by day and night:
He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night...
(Exodus 13:21-22) ³⁵

...It is the sacrifice of the Lord's PASSOVER, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt...
(Exodus 12:27)

It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt:
this is THAT NIGHT OF THE LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.
(Exodus 12:42)

As with most peoples, later generations of the children of Israel scarcely remembered, and could little appreciate the earlier events of the nation's dramatic history:

They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
And forgat his works, and HIS WONDERS that he shewed them.
Marvelous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt....
In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
(Psalm 78:10-12, 14)

On Cosmic Imagery–The Golden Calf ³⁶

In Habakkuk 3:4, the Martian passover is described as having “horns.” These horns are thought to describe the thin but silvery and fearful crescent of Mars as it assaulted Earth. It came somewhat from an “out of the Sun” in direction. The sacred Egyptian bullock also had two long curved horns. This bullock, Apis, was the god of the ancient cult. It was identified in Egyptian religion with the marauding planet we now know to be Mars. Worship of the sacred bovine was widespread during those days of astrological lore and astronomical catastrophism. (Vestiges of this worship survive in India today where the Brahmans still worship the “sacred” cow. Celestial cows which hurl their fire upon the Earth are described in passages of the Hindu Ramayana.)

Many of the Hebrews leaving Egypt were still oriented to Egyptian religious themes, idolatrous and polytheistic. Several weeks after their escape through the “Red” Sea, Moses climbed the volcanic Mt. Sinai where he was to receive the decalogue. In his absence, the children of Israel reverted to idolatry. They gathered all the golden jewelry, melted down the gold and cast it into a model of the bullock Apis, a golden image replete with horns. It was a symbol of the astronomical destroyer, the marauding planet in its crescent appearance, which had just caused the massive holocaust.

The Sea of Reeds (Yam Suf), not the contemporary Red Sea, is believed to have been the route of the Hebrew exodus. Much of the local geography has changed as lakes have silted up, river courses have shifted and desert sands have moved in. Courtesy of Charles McDowell and V. Bodrock, Cuyahoga Community College, Parma, Ohio.

On Astrology

The Hebrew understanding of cosmology was that the planets were part of God's creation and purpose, whether bringing catastrophes or not, whether regular or irregular in their periods. The pagan rites involved the worship of Baal, or Mars, and of Ashtoreth, or Venus. Baal was the evil god of fire and destruction which needed placating; Ashtoreth was the goddess of restoration and fertility. Child sacrifices were offered to the former, sex orgies to the latter. The Baal cult was influential in Babylonia at least as early as the twenty-second century B.C. ³⁷ Canaanite, Greek, Phoenician, Egyptian and to a lesser extent Roman cultures were influenced by this cult.

Associated with the worship of Ashtoreth and Baal were astrological omens, incantations, licentious rituals, sacrificial murders, orgiastic music, sorceries and witchcraft. During times of national crises, there was a rash of human sacrifice rituals. One such time was the night before Carthage fell, when Roman troops could smell strongly the burning flesh of the Carthaginian children. Other national crises included eves of the planetary holocausts. If planetary catastrophism came anyway, it was rationalized that an insufficient number of sacrifices had been made.

With this general background, we can see that, especially in the general region of Palestine, clashing religious views paralleled the clashing orbits and the clashing geomagnetic sheaths of Earth and Mars. The origins of astrology were established early within this era of history, certainly before 2100 B.C. It is the strong Hebrew tradition of monotheism which clashed head-on with the Amorite-Chaldean-Phoenician system of Ashtoreth and Baal. ³⁸ Since Amorite kings assumed power in Egypt about 100 years before the Exodus holocaust, circa 1550 B.C., this background may be helpful in understanding why the Hebrews were singled out for slavery, for pyramid-building, and for gradual genocide, seen as the state policy at the time of the birth of Moses.

On Ancient Catastrophism in the Aegean

One final episode of the Exodus Catastrophe remains to be considered, an episode which is of considerable import. In our model, Mars approached perhaps as close as 60,000 miles, justifiably causing worldwide panic. The Earth's crust experienced a tide of perhaps 130 feet, compared to the normal two to three inches induced by the Moon and Sun. Volcanic activity occurred on land. Mount Sinai was one illustration:

And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke...
the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace,
and the whole mount quaked greatly.
(Exodus 19:18)

...the earth trembled and shook.
(Psalm 77:18)

He looketh on the earth and it trembleth:
he toucheth the the hills, and THEY SMOKE.
(Psalm 104:32)

Terrestrial vulcanism has been discussed, and among the effects were a thick darkness which accompanied the passover. This darkness was explained as a result of volcanic ashes, cinders and dust which virtually shut out sunlight for three days. This was terrestrial vulcanism. There is a second kind of vulcanism equally as significant, namely marine vulcanism. This occurs when volcanic islands, or submerged volcanic cones suddenly become active. Boiling, discolored water, earthquakes and tidal waves are among the results of marine vulcanism.

THERA. Thera is an island 70 miles north of Crete in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, and about 180 miles southeast of Athens. It is a caldera, ³⁹ about eight miles across on one side and ten miles across on the other. The rim of the caldera projects above sea level; the crater is below sea level. A caldera is formed when a marine volcano expels several cubic miles of ash, cinder, dust and lava, and the expulsion results in a hollow center. The hollow center is partly below sea level. The volcanic walls then collapse, leaving merely the rim. Thera is the largest known caldera on Earth. See Figures 31, 32, 33.

Volcanic eruption and collapse, typical behavior of a Theran cone. (1) Eruption. (2) Eruption and partial voiding of the magma chamber below. (3) Collapse of the unsupported cone into the empty magma chamber, creating a great water-filled caldera. From Voyage to Atlantis, p. 44, by arrangement with G.P. Putnam's Sons.

In ancient times, before 1500 B.C., Thera was closely associated with Crete, and the ancient empire of Minos (the Minoan Empire). Crete was the political capital of that ancient, far-flung, maritime empire, and the island of Thera was the empire's religious capital. The capital on Crete was the historical Knossos. This famous but remote empire disappeared from the scene of history, as it were, overnight.

Possible reconstruction of Thera-Atlantis before the great collapse of the 15th century B.C., and an aerial view of Thera today. From Voyage to Atlantis, p. 78, by arrangement with G. P. Putnam's Sons.

The eruption of Thera has been correlated within the last two decades with the cataclysmic events simultaneous with the Exodus Catastrophe. The correlation in timing has been by carbon-14 datings, by buried archaeological pottery, and by historical analysis. Certain timbers remain there, buried in the paroxysm, which yield carbon-14 dates identical to those of the Exodus upheaval. ⁴⁰, ⁴¹ The correlations in timing have been well documented by Mavor, Luce, and more recently, in National Geographic.

So, between 1450 and 1400 B.C., the greater part of the island of Thera collapsed into the cavernous abyss left by the eruption of cubic miles of ash and pumice, leaving behind the three remnants we know today. Thera, Therasia and Aspronisi are disposed concentrically about a central bay some 32 square miles in area, with a maximum depth of 1,300 feet. This enormous hole is the most imposing marine caldera, or collapsed volcano, in the world. ⁴²

The collapse also created tremendous sea waves, which radiated in all directions as far, certainly, as the coasts of Africa and the Levant... ⁴³

The morphology of the caldera, however, and the extent of the pumice deposits indicate that it was at least as powerful, and it may well have been more powerful [than the explosion of Krakatoa], judging from the greater depth of the graben. We do know that fine Thera tephra was scattered over an area of 300,000 sq. km., mainly in a south-easterly direction. THERE IS ALSO SOME INDICATION OF A TIDAL WAVE OVER 200 M. [meters] HIGH ON NEARBY ANAPHI... ⁴⁴

It is known that this particular volcanic eruption spread nine to ten cubic miles of ash and cinders across at least a 150,000 square mile area of the Eastern Mediterranean, blanketing Crete and reaching almost to Egypt. Compare this single eruption with the eruptions which must have occurred from the volcanic cones on the Sinai Peninsula just 150 to 200 miles southeast of the Nile Delta and the Suez Isthmus.

A massive tidal wave of 200 meters is about 650 feet high, and such a wave is believed to have occurred at this time on the nearby islands, ⁴⁵ This tidal wave overwhelmed the Cretan coast-line and inundated, virtually intact, such cultural centers as Knossos. Assuming that the effect would dissipate with distance, how large would the tidal wave have been on the Levant Coast, or moving up the Nile Delta, or across the Suez Isthmus? A wave of 100 feet in height could be a conservative estimate. The Suez Isthmus is 500 miles from Thera, ^{46 47 48}

The paroxysm of Thera correlates with the Exodus holocaust in Egypt. Three days after the passover, the tidal waves generated by the collapsing walls of the volcanic cone would correlate with the water overwhelming Egyptian charioteers as they pursued the children of Israel across the Suez Isthmus. The site of the inundation of the Egyptian army and deliverance of the fleeing Hebrews is thought to be an arm of Lake Menzilah, an ancient lagoon adjoining the Mediterranean Sea, and was not the Red Sea as we know it today. This should be a good site for archaeologists interested in Egyptian chariots.

The tidal wave of 1447 B.C., affecting Egypt and the Levant, is recounted twice by the historian Amos in his messages warning his people of the coming holocaust in 756 B.C. He uses the “flood of Egypt” as a template of the holocaust he is predicting.

Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein?
and it shall rise up wholly as a flood;
and it shall be cast out and drowned, AS BY THE FLOOD OF EGYPT.
(Amos 8:8; see also Amos 9:5)

It is worth noting that Amos differentiated between the flood of Egypt and the flood of Noah. Ancient Greek texts do the same, differentiating between the floods of Deucalion (Noah) and Ogyges (contemporary with Moses).

Following this recounting of the Exodus-Thera tidal wave, the “flood of Egypt,” Amos records simultaneously the migration of three peoples. They are the Hebrews out of Egypt, the Philistines (Cretans or Minoans, including Therans) out of Caphtor (or Crete), and the Syrians out of Kir (Amos 9:7). He could have added, with accuracy, the Amalekites out of Northwestern Arabia into the Nile delta, a migration of hungry, plundering nomads which Moses records.

Migrations of unsettled peoples probably followed many times in the wake of the several ancient catastrophes. Many of the Cretans and Therans who survived the Thera disaster settled on the coast of Palestine, where they were known as the “Philistines,” and in fact have given their name to “Palestine.”

When the walls of Krakatoa were collapsing in August, 1883, and the immense, hundred-foot tidal waves were being generated, it is recorded that sailors on ships passing through the straits noticed virtually nothing at all as their boats gradually were lifted 50 to 100 feet above mean sea level, and were gently let down again. It was with great surprise that they realized they had experienced a tidal wave, even though they had ridden the crest of it. Meanwhile, people by the tens of thousands were drowning on the nearby coasts. This suggests that during the Thera paroxysm, refugees sailing across the open sea were safer than those who had just landed on the shores of Crete, Rhodes, Palestine or other friendly ports. (This also suggests that in the far worse watery catastrophe, the Deluge, a barge or boat in open sea was easily the safest of all places.)

Further describing the Krakatoa explosion, a smaller model of the Thera disaster, is the following:

A pall of darkness spread rapidly outwards as the great central column of dust and vapour began to descend. By 10:30 a.m. it had become so dark in Lampong Bay that the Gouverneur-Generaal Loudon had to anchor. An hour later complete darkness had spred to Batavia 160 km. [100 miles] away, and a heavy dust-rain went on till 3 p.m. Eventually the darkness extended to Bandung nearly 240 km. [150 miles distant and 2400 feet above sea level] east of Krakatoa. ⁴⁹

The caldera of Thera has a surface area of 32 square miles and is some 1,300 feet deep, with a volume about five times that of the Krakatoa caldera. Based on the volume of collapsed land, a Hungarian scientist, P. Hedervaris, has estimated that the heat energy released during the Thera eruption must have been four and one-half times that of Krakatoa. The total energy unleashed during the Krakatoa eruption has been estimated as 430 times more powerful than the explosion of an Eniwetok H-bomb. ⁵⁰

Earlier, we mentioned the pioneer archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann who was convinced that the Iliad contained a core of geographical and historical truth about Troy. His excavations proved his hypothesis as his finds of relics of ancient Troy amazed the scientific world. What Schliemann failed to also realize was that the cosmology of the Iliad, the war between Apollo/Ares and Hera, or Earth (with Aphrodite and Zeus as bystanders), also contained a core of cosmological and astronomical truth.

And similarly, Spyridon Marinatos has published on his outstanding hypothesis that the paroxysm of Thera correlates with both the Egyptian plagues and the Atlantis legend. What Marinatos has failed to realize is that a near fly-by of Mars, in the month and year of March 1447 B.C., caused both dormant volcanoes (Sinai and Thera) to mightily erupt. Mars at 60,000 miles would cause a 130 foot crustal tide as measured from Earth's core, ample to renew 1,000 and perhaps 10,000 dormant volcanic cones, both terrestrial and submarine. Thera is at a junction of fault lines crossing the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, and the crust in its area was under particular stress.

ATLANTIS. Marinatos first conceived the idea that the Theran paroxysm and the Atlantis tradition were one and the same. He published on this in 1939, and some 30 years later, this outstanding hypothesis has begun to receive its due credit and become generally accepted. Of course there were serious discussions and unimaginative detractors surrounding him and his startling hypothesis within archaeological circles, especially within Greek archaeological circles. However, the important thing is that in time, the evidence became convincing, even overwhelmingly in favor of his view. Not only did he link the Theran paroxysm with the Exodus events; he also linked it with the legend of Atlantis, as is found in Plato's Timaeus and Critias. Plato described in considerable detail the customs of the empire, the urban geography of this ancient island kingdom of Atlantis, and its associated island which we now know to be Crete. The story originally was cycled through Egyptian sources back to Greece, where Plato copied it several generations later, from Solon's account.

From Plato's account, Atlantis should be located geographically beyond Gibralter due to the number of stadia given for its distance. However, Marinatos has proposed that in the translation of the account from Egyptian into Greek, one zero was added into all numbers of 100 or more by a translator's error.

Dr. Galanopoulos has an explanation for the tenfold discrepancy: in the translation of the Egyptian scripts by Solon, the symbol 100 was unquestionably rendered as 1,000. An example of this same sort of confusion in modern times, is the contrast between the American billion, which is a thousand million, and the English billion, which is a million million. ⁵¹

If this hypothesis is applied, distances, dimensions and populations of the two islands fit Thera and Crete very very well, if not perfectly. This means that Plato's account of Atlantis and other accounts of the sudden demise of an ancient but great civilization describe the fall, virtually overnight, of the great Minoan civilization. This also means that the Atlantis tradition and the ten plagues of Egypt were contemporary developments. Egypt suffered terrestrial and astronomical destruction even while Crete and Thera were being inundated and destroyed.

Moreover, by means of trade and diffusion of religious ritual, in the second millennium B.C., the Cretan connection extended to northern and western Europe as well as to all the Mediterranean lands. And significantly, in all these places Egypt, Italy, Spain, Sardinia -it ceased about 1500 B.C., just at the time of the Thera eruption. ⁵²

Metropolis of Atlantis according to Plato. From J. V. Luce, Lost Atlantis, page 39, permission from McGraw-Hill Book Co. (A comparable diagram occurs in Voyage to Atlantis, p. 10 by Mavor.)

For further details on this fascinating excursion into ancient history, ancient geography, ancient literature and archaeology, we recommend further study of the aforementioned works by Mavor and Luce, as well as the article in National Geographic.

The Thera-Atlantis disaster cannot be understood fully without its correlation to ancient cosmology and the fly-by of Mars in March, 1447 B.C., a fly-by which we estimate was perilously close. In the broadest panorama of thought, the Atlantis-Exodus-Thera scene is best understood in terms of the cyclic nature of catastrophes of that millennium, and of the entire era from 2500 B.C. to 701 B.C. The Atlantis-Exodus-Thera event is to be understood in the same cosmic context as is the Long Day of Joshua, or the Isaiahic Catastrophe or the Tower of Babel Catastrophe. Only the dates, the leading actors, and the geographical location of the incidents reported vary. The Exodus Catastrophe was severe in Egypt, where an estimated 15% to 25% of the populace perished during one week; but it was worse on Crete and Thera, twin centers of another, equally-advanced ancient empire and civilization, where mortality may have ranged from 60% to 80%.

Vestiges of Ancient Cosmic Catastrophes in Current Life

Some generalized discussion has already been given for surviving traditions of these ancient catastrophes in traditions, holidays, religions and lores. The Passover Holy Season of Judaism is a direct derivation of the Exodus Catastrophe. The Celtic New Year, which began on November 1, is a recollection of either the Tower of Babel event or the Long Day of Joshua (or perhaps both). October 31 was both the end of summer and a festival for the dead. Astrologies, auguries, divinations and other magical practices were exercised. It was a time when goblins appeared in the ether, and a celestial witch rode across the sky with a cometary, meteoritic broom in her wake, terrifying the populace, inspiring dread, fear and panic. Bonfires were lighted on the hilltops in order to plead with the celestial deities to depart.

This is similar to the beating of conch shells and prayers to Indra whenever there is an eclipse in India, even today. The ancient fly-by of Mars apparently has been equated in India to lunar eclipses, whereas originally when Martian eclipses threatened, all the aforementioned associations also threaten,

In astrology, the first point of Aries, or March 21 is another commemoration of this ancient condition when Earth's and Mars' orbits were in resonance; March 21 was one of the two dates where the orbits intersected. We suggest that the era circa 2500 B.C. to 701 B.C. was a time when augurs, seers, and general sky-gazers really had something worth discussing, in contrast to contemporary astrologers.

Another tradition going back to ancient times is ill luck on Friday the thirteenth. The Isaiahic Catastrophe was the evening preceding the fourteenth of Nisan; as was the Exodus Catastrophe, the Sodom-Gomorrah event, plus such other ancient minor catastrophes as the Job event suggested earlier in this chapter. All of these were Case One catastrophes. The fourteenth of Nisan was always a Saturday in the Hebrew calendar. The evening before the fourteenth of Nisan was obviously Friday the thirteenth, sometimes a day of severe cosmic disturbance. Historically, Friday the thirteenth of Nisan was a night of dread in contrast to other Friday nights of other months. This is to suggest that such a silly superstition as ill luck on Friday the thirteenth has deep historical roots, and that those roots go back to the resonant orbit era. Are these few examples surprising? An analysis of the lore of India and other countries will very likely yield further illustrations of vestiges of the catastrophic era.

Effectiveness in research is not just proportional to the effort. The airplane, if it does not travel fast enough, does not get airborne. -- H. A. Krebbs

SUMMARY*

*Distances are estimates in all cases and are given to help compare the intensities of the heavier catastrophes with the minor catastrophes

**The Long Day of Joshua may have occurred with a fly-by over the North Pole.

***The Exodus Catastrophe did occur with a fly-by on the outside of the Earth, This angular momentum added to Mars, was subtracted from Earth, and resulted in the unique 42-year period, or fast cycle for the next cosmic event in 1404 B.C.

NOTES