Historical Stories ... faith & beliefs.
( a little light reading )
Ancient writings and stories have been passed down since there was human ability to record and leave records. Many were passed down simply by word of mouth, generation to generation, then later committed to writings... for future people's to know those stories. Most stories record historical events, either man made occurances or acts of nature.
Human events usually center around wars or conflicts, and as history reveals, those that won the war or conflict, write history from their perspective... justifying their side of the story. Unfortunately, much like the Europeans coming to America vilified Native Americans thus justifying the atrocities of war that took everything from them. So recorded history is usually tainted with the perspective of those that wrote the stories.
Natural events, mainly natural disasters, are in many times recorded as to the facts of what happened, but embellished by the perspective or beliefs of those that recorded the events. Natural events that were not explainable in scientific terms, were attributed to some intangible power. The mayans, aztecs, and egyptians, as well as others, attributed acts of nature, good or bad, as being the result of divine intervention by their gods. So we have factual records of those natural events, but their causes were attributed to their beliefs and faiths. Beliefs and faiths take those natural events, and claim their causes to be attributed to their gods, thus using natural events to justifying and reinforce those beliefs in the faiths.
Today, scientific research and studies have revealed historically, those natural events were factual... scientifically proven... along with scientific proof as to why they happened... which had nothing to do with the intervention of their gods. Earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding, wildfires, tornados, tsunamis, droughts, climate change, and even meteor strikes were all attributed to acts of the gods being displeased with human behavior. Clearly when joined with their beliefs and faiths, this was another way to control people that needed to obey the will of their gods, or suffer devastation and death. A powerful way to control people. Elevated by the promise of a rewarded life after death for following those beliefs, or an everlasting punishment and torture for eternity if you do not follow those teachings or beliefs. Mesoamerican cultures exalted their kings and leaders as if they controlled the prosperity of the land and the people. And during natural disasters, when Nature turned against their prosperity, it was said the gods were angry, and this kings and leaders that were considered to be closest to them were revolted against, and put to death for failing the people. In some cultures their kings and leaders were self-proclaimed God's themselves, as in Egypt... And only started in favor when prosperity was good.
Of course, there are the theories that some ancient kings and rulers were not only humans considered gods... but were advanced beings not of this earth... supported by their extensive technical knowledge of the heavens and earth that was well beyond that of humans of the time. In many cases, knowledge that would not be scientifically achieved and proven for thousands of years later. Every culture has written that their gods can down from the heavens to influence and impart knowledge upon mankind. And that some day they will return. Some believe that some never left, but exist deep in the oceans or remote regions... only occasionally spotted via UFOs. Or the highly questionable retrieval of crashed alien ships, that never happened, but resulted in tremendous leaps and technological knowledge.
So there you have it. Factual history embellished and credited to various beliefs, for various agendas, to achieve credibility or control. It's an age-old story embedded in every culture from ancient times to the present.
