/catastrophism/ - Ancient Catastrophes

This will be in imitation of the Adam/Atlas figure likely seen anciently appearing to bear Saturn aloft in his arms. Resembling this figure carved into rocks all over the world and can be reproduced in a mercury-vapour tube - basically like a domestic strip light but wider and shorter.

An Anglican or Catholic priest raises his arms in a similar way during a church service. Presumably a very ancient gesture.

This is the same as the images showing Atlas holing the Heavens aloft. Note also the reference to time in this picture. Saturn seems to been observable as a clock indicating the time. Hence the names of Chronos and Old Father Time

I have not understood exactly how the celestial mechanism worked to render Saturn as a clock. With Earth's North Pole pointing directly at Saturn's South Pole the daily rotation of the Earth would have kept Saturn fixed to one spot in the northern skies, with the crescent rotating during the say.

But what then makes day and night? The crescent itself must be a brighter object behind Saturn, perhaps out modern-day Sun or perhaps Jupiter. But why would rotation of the Earth then cause day and night?

The theory goes that once Saturn came into contact with the present Sun it lost much of its luminosity but grew visible. That instead of a plasma sheath encompassing Earth with Saturn sometimes visible within, the sheath was gone but Saturn larger and less bright - to gather more electrons.

To get a proper day and night that suggests that this configuration orbited the Sun, so by daily rotation Earth would get a sunrise and sunset.

But what then is the crescent? I can only think of perhaps Jupiter in line directly above Saturn, with all planets in the rotation moving around the Sun like a baton. But that would imply the Earth and other planets in the line were orbiting off-axis vis-a-vis the Sun. Which surely would create tidal stresses.

The other option is the Crescent of Saturn is the modern-day Sun, and it is the crescent that is providing light. But why then would the rotation of the Earth in front of Saturn make for a definable day and a celestial clock by rotation. Although the crescent would rotate the day light would be constant form it, if the planets were arranged in a straight line.

Also, drawing from Arthurian mythology, to be a round table and to have "knights" around it implies that some planets orbited Saturn in the conventional circular motion. Why not Earth too?

Also, why a crescent at all? For that to be present that which lit behind Saturn would have to be persistently off-axis. This is the "Ark" (arc) or "El" as a name of Saturn, which we still have in calling the similar shape of a boat its "hull". The daily rotation of Saturn being described as the Boat of Heaven does appear. Also the Chariot or Wheel of Heaven.

It is hard to tell exactly what the layout was at this time to produce such clear legendary descriptions, to be a celestial clock and to be a straight-line configuration.