The Gods Were Astronauts: Evidence of the True Identities of the Old 'Gods'

by Erich von Däniken, Astrid Mick (Translator)

Why do nearly all the world's major religions share such similar myths and legends? Erich Von Däniken, author of the runaway international bestseller Chariots of the Gods, believes he knows--and the answer is as wondrous and awe-inspiring as it is controversial: the winged angels populating the Bible, Koran, and other religious texts from cultures the world over were in reality extraterrestrials who visited the Earth in ages long past. Fully illustrated with compelling full-color and black-and-white photographs, the book takes us from the jungles of Myanmar, where ancient pagodas point heavenward in the unmistakable shape of spacecraft, to Portugal's mysterious legend of Fatima and on to the unexplained "landing strips" of Peru and Egypt, offering persuasive evidence that actual living beings inspired the legends that became the basis for many of our religious traditions. Intellectually challenging and provocative, these findings shake the foundations of both science and faith.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Religion, Mythology, Aliens, Alternate History

208 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2003

About the author

Greek: Έριχ φον Νταίνικεν

Erich Anton Paul von Däniken (1935–2026) was a Swiss author of several pseudoscientific books which made claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, including the best-selling Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968. Däniken was one of the main figures responsible for popularizing the "paleo-contact" and ancient astronauts hypotheses.

The ideas put forth in his books are rejected by virtually all scientists and academics, who categorize his work as pseudohistory, pseudoarchaeology, and pseudoscience. Early in his career, he was convicted and served time for several counts of fraud or embezzlement, and wrote one of his books in prison.

Reviews

[Marc Lamot · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pure youth sentiment. Read this when I was 13 and I was wildly fascinated. I senced there had to be something wrong about his assertions, but nevertheless they were very appealing. Getting older, I saw it was all nonsense, but of a very entertaining kind, and thus very dangerous.

[Bubba · Rating 1 out of 5]

So what's with the one star? Didn't I know what I was getting into when I started reading this thing? Yes and no. I thought that I had skimmed through some of "Chariot of the Gods" before, and I seemed to recall it being more entertaining than this book was. Unfortunately, you have to wallow through the first half of the “Gods Were Astronauts” to get to the fun stuff. The first chapter is spent railing against the Old Testament, using others' centuries old arguments about the inconsistencies of the God it portrays, while occasionally throwing similar jibes at the Hindu traditions. Chapter 2 is spent spewing venom at the Catholic Church and its ‘lies’ about the secrets of the ‘Virgin of Fatima.’ During these attacks, which take up 100 pages, Daniken hardly mentions his central thesis, that the old gods were not divine but extraterrestrials, i.e. the title of the book. Apparently he assumes that everybody has read his previous works, and that he needn’t bother to make his case, or even attempt to outline his argument in the most lazy fashion. I was about to give up reading at this point, but finally, after a 100-page anti-religion rant full of tangents on astrophysics, he gets to the goods. He spends the rest of the book looking at amazing passages, mostly, from Hindu scriptures, that discuss fantastic weapons and vehicles (Daniken claims that they describe anti-gravity/space ships, atomic weapons, etc.). However, by this point I was so tired of his book that I merely skimmed through it. Maybe he should have dumped the 100 page rant and stuck with the good stuff. Or, better yet, he could’ve incorporated the Old Testament passages into his discussion of weapons/vehicles, etc. I guess I can’t complain about the guy’s scholarship too much, he is writing about flying saucers.

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Еще кучка доводов (и доказательств) в пользу того, какая патентованная хуйня это ваше христианство, да и вообще любая организованная религия, тем паче монотеизм (это вообще самое зло на свете и есть). Чем дальше, тем меньше у Дэникена речи о пришельцах и тем больше наш автор превращается в весьма увлеченного и убедительного, хоть порой и запальчивого ритора-антиклерикала, эдакого Лео Таксиля или, простигосподи, Ем. Ярославского (хотя это один и тот же человек, на самом деле). Так что если и говорить теперь о «религии Дэникена», то религия эта — свободомыслия, несмотря на противоречие в терминах. Ну а свободомыслие даже совком ценилось, в известных-то пределах, оттого он и стал так популярен в свое время на 1/6 части суши. Дэникен против не только религии — он против любого организованного верования, без разницы, католическая ли это церковь или «храм науки». Наука в своем беспрекословном изводе мало чем отличается от окостенелых ритуалов, окончательно лишившихся какого-либо смысла.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've shelved this as sci-fi, but it wasn't written that way. Half of this book is worth reading, and the other half is pretty irrelevant to his main point. The two good chapters are about the aliens in the Old Testament, and the aliens ancient Indian mythology. The chapter about the Fatima event seemed almost totally irrelevant, and the one about Myanmar was poorly constructed. I skimmed rather than read these two chapters. If nothing else, this is useful as a list of sources of where to find the best science fiction that ancient India has to offer. They seriously did talk about aerial vehicles, space faring vehicles, floating/space faring cities, submarines, etc which shot missiles, had biological/chemical warfare capabilities of many kinds, nuclear weapons, instant audio and visual communication, mercury powered engines, invisibility cloaks, etc. But that's because ancient Indians were brilliant and prolific science fiction authors, not because it actually happened. This book is David Hume's nightmare fuel given the amount of inductive leaps it takes to reach its conclusions.

Anyway, I'd give the India chapter 4 stars, the bible chapter 3 stars, and the other ones nothing, so whatever, 2.

[Anwar · Rating 2 out of 5]

daniken mengajak kita berkelana ke situs2 dunia dan meninggalkan sejuta tanya tentang 'hasil karya' makhluk cerdas dari luar angkasa..

sekarang, membacanya terasa absurd, seiring dengan makin tua pembacanya.. hehehe.

[jeff kappenman · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent

again the author has written a book that makes you think. i dare any person to read one of his books and not have more questions. it is a shame that more academia does not have a mind that dares to look at things in the world and question why and how does this exist.

[Olga Dvornikova · Rating 4 out of 5]

My grandfather's favorite book.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read. Some very interesting theories. Really makes me think.

[Beatriz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not much evidence, just some opinions!

[Leo Guidry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book. He makes so many good points but in the end no one knows except God himself, but it is fun to speculate, contemplate and infuriate yourself.

[Jordan Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_vo...

[Outmind · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book by Deniken I've ever read. And the best at that. The others seemed to be just a repetition of what he stated here. Intriguing, if nothing else.

[Tigran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprise. This bastard isn't that retrograde.

At least he's smart enough not to reject the evolutionary theory altogether.
Also nice to learn he's not obsessed with conspiracy theories.

[David Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although there was a lot of Biblical references I still enjoy his open mindedness on the subjects.

[dragonhelmuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kindled for £1.94. Amazing book, much better written than the average ufo style. This is the authors second main book on the subject. It’s quite short, (shorter?) but he definitely has good fun. The book is split into three parts. The first part is all about how religion doesn’t make sense – the central contention is that God isn’t omniescent or omnipresent in the Old Testament. It’s a bit boring really. The second part, mostly about Fátima is slightly better. He is quite convincing that miracles have taken place. Unfortunately his argument about what that means is completely unsustainable, but nevermind. The real fun comes in the third part. The author runs through Sanskrit literature and points out all the many occurances of vimanas (of which there are hundreds). His own Sanskrit is a bit subpar, but his conclusions (using translations) are fair. The speculation is just so much fun (genuinely), whether you believe a word of it to be true or not. He looks at various archaeological sites in Asia and South America, points out the strange abundance of quicksilver and how it was transported. Unfortunately he stops at this point, just when the story is at its most fun – I would appreciate suggestions about other (nonfiction) books which speculate about alien technologies and motives, especially with a touch of conspiracy, so if anyone can suggest any, please leave a comment. Three quotes to illustrate:

{UFOs in Sanskrit literature}
Let us start with some simple things. In the Vymaanika-Shaastra, an ancient collection of different texts, the following technologies are described:82 a type of mirror that can be used to attract or draw in energy; a device that allows a flying vehicle to be enlarged or reduced at will during flight; a device for storing radiating energy; an instrument that can measure the intensity of lightning; an apparatus for prospecting the most diverse natural resources under the surface of the planet (minerals, ores, gold, and so on); a device that can turn bright daylight into darkness; a device that can neutralize wind pressure; a sonic canon; twelve different types of electricity; an apparatus that can be used to capture pictures and conversations from flying enemy vehicles; a machine that can tap solar energy; an apparatus to stop the movement of an enemy flying machine; a gadget that can make your own flying vehicle invisible; crystals that produce energy; an apparatus that repulses chemical and biological substances used as weapons; a protective shield around one's own machine; several types of metal that repulse heat; motors for flying machines, the energy for which is derived from quicksilver (mercury); indescribable alloys that we do not understand yet, because the Sanskrit words are untranslatable. Sanskrit scholar Professor Dr Kanjilal cites the following old sources that report on terrible weapons...
...
The principles of the construction of flying machines are explained in 230 lines in the Samarangana Sutradhara of Bhoja. They are described as being unusually manoeuvrable, rather like our helicopters. They can hover on the spot in the air, fly round the Earth or beyond. The descriptions are insufficient to reconstruct a copy of the vehicle now, but there was methodology in them, even then. The unknown author remarked, thousands of years ago, that he was not doing this out of lack of knowledge, but to avoid misuse. Mastery of air and space was not just restricted to the chosen few in those days. We read: The body must be constructed so that it is strong and durable . . . Out of lightweight metal [mica is mentioned, EvD] . . . The power residing in mercury, which is set in motion by the driving force of the whirlwind, enables a human being to travel great distances in the heavens in a wonderful manner. Likewise, a vimana [ancient Indian name for a flying vehicle] can be constructed, so it is as large as the temple for the 'God-in-motion.' Four strong containers for mercury must be built in. When the latter are heated up by regulated fire in the iron containers, the vimana will develop the power of thunder through the mercury, and it will soon appear like a pearl in the sky.83


{fun comments about archaeologists and a bit of archaeology}
Our archaeologists lack imagination---because they are not allowed to have any. Archaeology is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative branch of research, carried out by witty, humorous scientists, for the most part with great integrity. Inevitably, at their universities they are required to swat up on the homogenous mix of teaching that stubbornly orientates itself on the evolutionary principle. Everything has developed slowly, constantly, one thing after the other. The specialist for Central America knows nothing about Indian myths; he is not interested in them. The specialist for Egypt has not the foggiest notion of the phenomenal prehistoric buildings in the highlands of Peru. The India expert has never studied the Old Testament, knows nothing about technical descriptions of a spaceship in the book of the prophet Ezekiel. If he/she did know, presumably he/she would make those cross-connections. But just a moment! This cannot be, because it is one of the dogmas of classical research that there were no connections between one continent and the other thousands of years ago.
...
The scientific report on the finds, which were found up to several hundred metres from the coast, ends with the following words: 'The clues in the Mahabharata about Dwarka as a city were neither exaggerations nor myths. It was a reality in the fullest meaning of the term.' Indian geologists who participated in the exploration of the underwater ruins of Dwarka came face to face with remains of walls that displayed traces of vitrified stone. Stone will not melt unless extremely high temperatures are applied. This kind of vitrified stone is found not only in Dwarka but elsewhere too. There have never been any sensible explanations for the causes. As early as 1932, Patrick Clayton, a geologist employed by the Egyptian government, found puzzling greenish shining vitrified sand in the dunes of the 'Great Sand Lake' (Saad Plateau, north of the south-western tip of Egypt). In July 1999, the British periodical New Scientist reported on vitrified sand in the Libyan Desert.110 No volcanoes exist there, which might have been cited as the cause of these features. The Bedouins have always fashioned knives and axe heads out of this 'desert glass.' More than 1,000 tons of the desert glass have been found so far, without there being a convincing argument for its origin. Even in the 19th century, reports about inexplicable vitrification haunted the press. In 1881, the American Journal of Science reported on the occasional vitrified granite block111 that had been discovered in French castles of the towns of Chateau-vieux and Puy de Gaude (northern coast). In his latest book,112 American author David Hatcher Childress has listed 22 places in the world where unexplained sand and stone vitrification can be observed. I myself have seen a few places with vitrifications above the Peruvian city Cuzco. The riddle has never been solved but it has also been pushed aside.

{on Mandalay – who knew it was so cool?}
Mandalay was Buddha's city, and in the face of the British threat, King Mindon called 'the fifth great synod' in Mandalay, a gathering that was rather similar to the councils in the Christian Church. At that time, in 1872, 2,400 Buddhist scholars came together in Mandalay and compiled the Tipitaka canon, the Buddhist 'teaching of the three baskets.' Before that, the teaching had only existed in writing on palm leaves, but the king now had it chiselled into 729 marble tablets. They were to remain indestructible until the coming of the next Buddha. According to this teaching, a Buddha will return every 5,000 years. Two thousand four hundred years had passed since the Buddha's last appearance, so the tablets had to last for another 2,600 years. King Mindon therefore had a pagoda erected over each marble tablet. The result was a complex that has been dubbed the 'biggest book in the world,' and rightly so. A modern paper copy consists of 38 volumes of 400 pages each. Christianity really cannot come up with anything similar to match it.

[Daniel Folk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure lunacy

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely interesting and plausible if you come with an open mind from a scientific standpoint and don’t prejudge this based on your religious beliefs.

[Neil · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried. I really did. But this book is just as specious as any of the religious texts it references for evidence. To paraphrase the first chapter, "There must have been ancient aliens because so many stone age and bronze age religious oral histories say that there were wars in the sky." Couldn't have been storms, comets, meteors, or eclipses, must have been aliens. I was really hoping for a Time-Life Mysteries of the Unknown tongue in cheek vibe...but this guy's full of shit.

[Camila Carvalho · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book really makes you think about a lot of things, but the way the chapters are organized is a little confusing. Despite being a small book, the author shows a lot of information at once that could be better organized. The author exaggerates in some points, but I believe he is right when he says that we are very used to thinking inside a box and that we should give more space to our imagination.

The best message of the book is that we must break out of the traditional way of thinking.

[Eric Lieb · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a few words, this book shed light in a lot of common knowledge and makes the reader re-think what we take for granted in historical (and biblical) facts. Very eye oppening, although it is a 30+year old book!

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extremely quirky book, picking up some loose ends from the author’s past provocations. It was, you might say, “literally all over the map” — and figuratively, too.

I especially enjoyed the thological speculation. His deism is semiotic in nature. Fascinating.

[Neeleisch G · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual Erich von Daniken amazes me by giving the new and interesting facts about our Ancient Religions and their completely different sides.

My rating for this masterpiece would be 4/5.

Keep reading, keep reviewing.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to visit some books about evidence of Aliens now that there is some pretty strong evidence that they really have visited earth. I love the authors passion! It’s really quite convincing.