THE DOOMSDAY COMET

One of the mysteries of ancient history is the sudden collapse of the Bronze Age civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean. In order to explain this tragedy, many theories have been put forward, none of them satisfactory. The real cause was an extremely rare occurrence: a comet impact. Thus far, the history of this devastating catastrophe has lain hidden in a number of poorly understood ancient myths. In this book, the facts are finally brought to light.

On the way to its final destination, the comet wreaked havoc in the Eastern Mediterranean by setting the forests ablaze, poisoning the water, and destroying harvests and entire towns. It made large areas of land uninhabitable and caused a volcanic winter and massive population movements.

The celestial body eventually crashed into an island or peninsula to the northwest of Africa, called "Hesperou Keras," which means "Horn of the West." The major part of Hesperou Keras sank into the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain tops of the horn-shaped ridge in its western part remained above water. They are still there and are known as the Canary Islands. "Hesperou Keras" was the geographical name of that country. It is better known by its political name: "Atlantis."

As if this were not enough, the Solar System object triggered still another natural disaster. It brought about gigantic earthquakes, which blocked the Strait of Gibraltar for many centuries. That is the reason why the kings of Israel and Judah had ships built in the Gulf of Aqaba, which had to sail all the way around Africa to reach Tartessos on the Atlantic coast of Southwest Iberia.

It cannot really be proven, but the odds are that it was this particular celestial body that lies at the root of the excessive fear of comets that has haunted humankind for a very long time and, to a lesser degree, is still doing so.