Chloé Zhao’s ‘Eternals’, as well as the Marvel comics it is drawn from, seems inspired by some anthropological suspicions.
Why old religions always foresaw catasterisms*?
Taken for granted creativity and imagination of prehistoric and ancient men, and cults of Nature a part, where did some myths come from?
Why so many prehistoric and historic handcrafts seem to be based on alien, extraterrestrial imagines?
Why in Mahabharata it is told of a weapon more powerful than thousand suns?
Why the Latin historian Tacitus (in Historiae**) wrote of a sort of battle in sky, while the temple of Jerusalem was about to be built down, and referred of a voice coming from inside: «Gods are leaving!»?
Was the word Elohim in the Holy Bible just another name for God or, given the plural form, did it mean many different divinities, as thought by some?
And what of the possibility that some discoveries throughout the entire history of humanity could have been inspired by people coming from other worlds?
Of course, scientists and academic professors are quite sceptical toward such approaches, and are more likely to take as possible solutions superstitions, optical illusions, and so on.
‘Eternals’ is a wonderful film, actually deserving the second chapter already eagerly awaited.
As for divinities, the Truth will be soon discovered…
*catasterism: mechanism for a human being is transformed in a star or in a constellation (please refer to Eratosthene’s ‘Catastherisms’, a comprehensive compendium of astral mythology including origin myths of the stars and constellations)
**“Evenerant prodigia, quae neque hostiis neque votis piare fas habet gens superstitioni obnoxia, religionibus adversa. Visae per caelum concurrere acies, rutilantia arma et subito nubium igne conlucere templum. Apertae repente delubri fores et audita maior humana vox excedere deos; simul ingens motus excedentium. Quae pauci in metum trahebant: pluribus persuasio inerat antiquis sacerdotum litteris contineri eo ipso tempore fore ut valesceret Oriens profectique Iudaea rerum potirentur. Quae ambages Vespasianum ac Titum praedixerat, sed vulgus more humanae cupidinis sibi tantam fatorum magnitudinem interpretati ne adversis quidem ad vera mutabantur. Multitudinem obsessorum omnis aetatis, virile ac muliebre secus, sexcenta milia fuisse accepimus: arma cunctis, qui ferre possent, et plures quam pro numero audebant. Obstinatio viris feminisque par; ac si transferre sedis cogerentur, maior vitae metus quam mortis. Hanc adversus urbem gentemque Caesar Titus, quando impetus et subita belli locus abnueret, aggeribus vineisque certare statuit: dividuntur legionibus munia et quies proeliorum fuit, donec cuncta expugnandis urbibus reperta apud veteres aut novis ingeniis struerentur.“ (Tacitus, Historiae, V, 13)
Translation: Prodigious phenomena had occurred, but this people, given as it is to superstition and hostile to true pity, considers a crime to ward them off by sacrifices and vows. Hosts locked in combat were seen to clash in the sky, arms flashing red, and the temple was aglow with fire from heaven. The doors of the sanctuary had suddenly opened and a voice greater than man’s proclaimed that the gods were abandoning the temple. At that moment a great stirring was heard, as of a mass exodus. Only a few saw these events as ominous: the majority deeply believed what was written in the ancient records of the priests, namely that in their own time the Orient would rise to power and men setting out from Judaea would conquer the world. These obscure predictions had pointed to Vespasian and Titus, but the common people, as is the way with human selfishness, interpreted this great destiny in their favor and not even in adversity could they be made to face the truth. We are told that the number of besieged of every age, both men and women, were six hundred thousand. Arms were issued to all who could bear them, and many more came forward than was expected from the size of the population. Men and women were equally determined to fight and if they were forced to abandon their homes, the fear of life ahead was greater than the fear of death. It was against such a city and people that Caesar Titus, since the terrain made a direct assault or surprise attack unlikely to succeed, resolved to proceed using earthworks and movable shelters. The work was divided among the legions and fighting came to a halt until all possible means ever invented by the ancients or by modern ingenuity for reducing a city were ready for action.