Celestial Mechanics

As noted way earlier, my recent project has had me studying the cultures of the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas, and a number of ancient mythologies. It's really got me thinking about the change in perception over the years.

The Aztecs believed, essentially, that if they didn't feed the gods with the blood of their daily sacrifices, the gods wouldn't have enough energy to get the sun from one horizon to the other. They were doing it because if they didn't, the world would come to an end. Every day they had to do this, to keep things going. That blows me away. As history goes, this was recent; only going back a few hundred years. Not some ancient B.C. civilization.

Of course, the Spanish showed up and within two years the Aztec empire was toppled. Damned Europeans messing things up again! This cut down on the daily bloodshed (and offered new varieties of bloodshed) but totally crushed a culture and some of the amazing things they'd accomplished.

Just one culture in the mix of our spinning globe that came and went.

In any case, episode 18 of Escapee is up. It's getting weirder.