Based on more than two decades of systematic research and cross-cultural comparison by comparative mythologist David Talbott, Remembering the End of the World reconstructs a cosmic drama when planets hung in the sky close to the earthโan epoch of celestial wonder giving way to overwhelming terror. This highly visual presentation offers new answers to enigmas that have baffled experts for centuries. Why did every ancient civilization celebrate a former โAge of the Godsโ, an age claimed to have ended in earth threatening disaster? What was meant by the lost โGolden Age?โ Why did ancient sky worshipers refer to Saturn as โthe sun?โ Why was Venus worshiped as the โMother Goddess?โ And why did both Old and New World astronomers celebrate the planet Mars as a great warrior whose battles shook the heavens?