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) "THIS IS meant to be only an essay..." (more)
Key Phrases: astronomical ceilings, equinoctial colure, equinoctial sun, Milky Way, Kai Khusrau, Golden Age (more...)

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 Description

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: David R Godine; 2nd paperback edition edition (August 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879232153
• ISBN-13: 978-0879232153
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47,839 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for content, loses a star for delivery, October 22, 2002

By	Plaque "Plaque" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hamlet's Mill (Hardcover)

I have to agree with another reviewer here. This book is desperate for a new editor. Far too much information is listed in an "appendix" format, while the bulk of the theories presented come across confusing and disjointed.

However, the scholarship is top notch. This is one of those works which was scoffed at for years until being accepted as "common knowledge" today. The basic premise involves the transmission through ancient myths of astronomical knowledge. The fascinating thing is that this astronomical knowledge is spread all over the world through hundreds of cultures. A full understanding of the workings of Precession of the Equinoxes is the main focus here, which is incredible when you consider that the precessional cycle covers a period of approximately 25725 years. The calculations necessary to chart precession should be nearly impossible for ancient people to accomplish, particularly since we've been told for years that they were barely able to feed themselves, much less have the time or patience to develop such an exacting observational science.

The symbolism of myth is a direct correlation with the movements of the stars and planets, as well as a description of the workings of the Earth's wobbly axis, according to the authors. After reading this work, one line of questioning always comes to mind: How is it that peoples separated by thousands of miles and an equal number of languages always seem to refer to astronomical pheonomena by the SAME names? The Zodiac constellations are represented by the same animals the world over... how is this possible? The constellations certainly don't look like much to the casual observer or even those who were more-than-casual. How did the ancients reach the same observations if they had no contact with each other? The book doesn't answer this question, but it stares every reader in the face.

The theory here is very satisfying to those who refuse to believe that ancient peoples were nothing more than savages. The scholarship is superior to most of the "alternative" historical works currently in print as well.

The ideas rate 5 stars, but because of the jumbled delivery I am forced to remove a star. This is not light reading; be prepared to work hard to capture the ides presented. It's worth it.

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

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

By A Customer

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.

31 of 32 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

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.