Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge And Its Transmission Through Myth [Paperback]

Giorgio de Santillana (Author), Hertha von Dechen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0879232153 | ISBN-13: 978-0879232153

Ever since the Greeks coined the language we commonly use for scientific description, mythology and science have developed separately. But what came before the Greeks? What if we could prove that all myths have one common origin in a celestial cosmology? What if the gods, the places they lived, and what they did are but ciphers for celestial activity, a language for the perpetuation of complex astronomical data? Drawing on scientific data, historical and literary sources, the authors argue that our myths are the remains of a preliterate astronomy, an exacting science whose power and accuracy were suppressed and then forgotten by an emergent Greco-Roman world view. This fascinating book throws into doubt the self-congratulatory assumptions of Western science about the unfolding development and transmission of knowledge. This is a truly seminal and original thesis, a book that should be read by anyone interested in science, myth, and the interactions between the two.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A book wonderful to read and startling to contemplate. If this theory is correct, both the history of science and the reinterpretation of myths have been enriched immensely. --Washington Post Book World

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: David R Godine (August 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879232153
• ISBN-13: 978-0879232153
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.5 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #173,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #90 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Mythology & Folk Tales > Mythology

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars For dedicated scholars only October 18, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

The Reader will find that this book is quoted in the bibliography of many if not all recent books concerning the origins of human civilisation and the extent of knowledge possesed by our ancestors, that it has almost become a bible to modern researchers in this field. However, upon reading, it is not hard to see why this should be.

The authors show compelling evidence that myth was a way of handing down complex information in easy to manage packages within stories, and that modern man has lost all understanding of the true nature of the myth. They also boldly state that the majority of this information pertains primarily to the mechanics of celestial movements and the precessional cycle.

However, it can be at times a very heavy text and can indeed be hard to understand upon first reading, but perseverence is most rewarding. At times the text is interupted by periodic quotes of German, Latin or French which, if one does not know the language can cause the reader to feel that he/she has missed some major point of the argument. Having been published in 1969, this book is beginning to feel its age especially with the help of modern authors explaining many of its main arguments in a much more simple and effective way.

It is an excellent book, and one that you may go back upon in future to study again and again. However, it is not advised for the casual reader, and most definately not for any one with a less than passing interest in myth.

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars i've read it 3 times and still refer to it often June 28, 2000

By erick lashley

Format:Paperback

I must admit, this book is DEEP. The first time I read Hamlet's Mill, I was confused, but my interest was sparked. The second time, I sat in awe as I mentally organized the content. The third time, I got it. This book is not for the casual reader, but for one that is ready for a shift in his way of thinking about astronomy, history and mythology. Hamlet's Mill focuses on the symbolism of Old World mythology and the transmission of knowledge through archaic language. Refering to mythologies from Sumer, Egypt, China, Japan, Iceland and MesoAmerica, it is an indespenseable addition to anyones library interested in the transmission of knowledge through symbolism. Although not organized in a very systematic way, it is by far the most comprehensive book so far written on such subjects. Main themes include the Precession of the Equinoxes, gods as constellations, World Tree as Earth's axis, Deluge as the shifting of the visible sky and much, much more. The info along with the fairly new science of Archeoastronomy should, and one day will, bring about a paradigm in thought about the notions of early civilizations and their knowledge of the heavens in realation to man on Earth.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing treatment of mythology as coded archaic astronomy. March 30, 1997

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I found this book to be an amazing analysis of world mythological systems. The authors are two historians of science that make a convincing argument (in my opinion) that
myths and mythical stories are, in fact, how archaic astronomy had been past from generation to generation. They
reinterperet catastrophic mythical events as reference to the precession of the equinoxes. Mythical personage (Gods, Titans, Dragons, Heroes etc.) from China to Ancient Egypt to Greece to Meso-America are shown to be, in fact, referencing constellations and their positions as these changed due to the precession of Earth's axis over centuries.

Moreover, the authors discuss myths from linguistically, culturally, temporally distinct societies and show the astonishing commonality of names, events, and motifs.
They make a cogent argument that the knowledge base of archaic people was far deeper and wider; that the archaic people have had empirical knowledge of the precession of equinoxes-a knowledge that requires at least a couple of hundred years of continuous observation to arrive at-and that they encoded their knowledge in the language of myths. This was knowledge for the elect and unlike our contemporary sciences it was not for everyone.

In addition, the authors claim that these myths are tatters of an archaic World-View that placed man in an orderely universe of change. A world view whose echoes may still be heard in the Illiad & Odyssey, Shahnameh,Timeaus, Mahabaharata, and Nihon-gi.

It is remarkable that this book, first published in 1968, has not made any waves in those circles that value such
understanding. It is also remarkable that how much more convincing the author's arguments have become in the light of the discovires chronicled by E. C. Krupp in his marvelous
volume "Echoes of the Ancient Skies".

I shall never again look at the myths in the way I used to
look at before reading this book, i.e. as just-so stories.