The Smart Set, an excellent web magazine of ideas and things, has just published an article of mine on “ancient astronaut” theory—the idea that all the gods that the ancients believed in were actually extraterrestrials with advanced technology. Ancient astronauts are an old hobby of mine, a delightful mix between my interests in religion and and science fiction. And incidentally, I consider them an important case study in new religious movements and the meanings of science and religion in the modern world.
As a special for readers of The Row Boat, I’m pleased to present a hand-written “transcript” of my “interview” with the great ancient astronaut theorist Zecharia Sitchin: the notes he scribbled at the bottom of the questions I mailed him. I’m very grateful for his response, though unfortunately it didn’t provide me with enough to merit a mention in the article. To view the full-size .jpg, click here or on the thumbnail.
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One response to “Where Went the Ancient Astronauts?”
[…] Throughout the foregoing, Mysteries drops hints here and there of similarities with other ancient civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia, as well as the occasional mention of Atlantis. In the book’s final section of chapters, though, Tompkins takes on these concerns outright, without flinching. Here he reveals himself as an all-out New Age enthusiast (see his aptly-named son Ptolemy’s memoir on the subject). Ancient Mesoamerican civilization, Tompkins believes, was likely seeded by seafaring Phoenicians who came by way of the mythical continent of Atlantis. Part of the evidence for this he takes from the visions of the great twentieth century psychic Edgar Cayce. I kept wondering why his credulity fell short of that beloved occult fad of the 70s, ancient, alien astronaut theory. […]