What strikes me as difficult to fathom are the references in all the ancient works to flying machines and descriptions of events that when looked at through our eyes today, seem like descriptions of modern machines through the eyes of primitive people.
Here's a good example:
The Egyptian kings believed in a journey to a place called 'the Duat', a journey which took them across water and between mountains to a place which they described as the 'strairway to heaven'. It was believed that, by reaching the heavens, they could achieve immortality like their Gods.
Most of our knowledge of the Egyptian sfterlife comes from the Pyramid Texts. One of the most famous images is that of the Ani Papyrus (the Book of the Dead) where the Pharaoh is being prepared for his journey alongside a rocket type vehicle.
The Pyramid texts describe a series of underground chambers in the Duat, through which the Pharaoh travels prior to his ascent to heaven. In one of these underground chambers he here's ' a mighty noise, like that heardin the heights of heaven disturbed by a storm'. In another instance he encounters doors which open by themselves and 'Gods', humming like bees', in cubicles. Sometimes the Pharaoh encounters Gods who keep their faces hidden. Next, the Pharaoh sees Gods whose task is to provide 'flame and fire' to Ra's 'celestial boat of millions of years', and other Gods who 'order the course of the stars'.
The Pharaoh then approaches his final destination, where he is required to shed his garments and dress in divine clothing. The 'Shem-Priests'. are now present. The text goes on to describe a long tunnel called 'Dawn at the End' and a cavern 'wherein the wind is brought'. The Pharaoh reaches a point called the 'Mountain of the ascent of Ra', where he sees an object called 'the ascender to the sky'. He steps into this boat described as 770 cubits lond (1000 feet) and seats himself in a 'perch'. After various technical sounding procedures, the 'mouth of the Mountain is opened' and the boat ascends to heaven.
If you were to try and explain a rocket take of to a primitive people, or you were from the 1800's and you had to desribe a take off at NASA, would your description be similar to the one above?
