why were ancient cultures terrified of the planet mars?
150349
The Mysteries of Mars \n\nWhy did so many of the early cultures worship the Planet Mars?  They were terrified of this strange planet.  It was called the "God of War." Why?  (The term "martial arts" is still in our working vocabulary.) And there are other mysteries that seem to be associated with this strange planet.\n\nThe recent space age discovery of "orbital resonance"-the tendency of orbits to synchronize on a multiple of one another--has led to a fascinating conjecture that the orbits of the Earth and the Planet Mars were once on resonant orbits of 360 days and 720 days, respectively.  A computer analysis has suggested that this could yield orbital interactions that would include a near pass-by on a multiple of 54 years, and this would occur on either March 25 or October 25. Such near pass-bys would transfer energy, altering the orbits of each.\n\nIn near proximity, such pass-bys would be accompanied by meteors, severe land tides, earthquakes, etc., and this would help explain why all the ancient cultures were so terrified by the Planet Mars and why calendars tended to reflect either March or October.  A series of such pass-bys could also explain a number of the "catastrophes" of ancient history, including the famous "long day of Joshua" and several other Biblical episodes. \n\nStability appears to have been attained during the last near pass-by in 701 B.C., resulting in Earth's and Mars' present orbits of 365 1/4 days and 687 days, respectively.  Provocative, but where's the evidence?\n\nThis remarkable conjecture, that Mars made pass-bys near the Earth, would seem to be corroborated by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) in his famous fantasy known as Gulliver's Travels.  In his third voyage, Gulliver visits the land of Laputa, where the astronomers brag that they know all about the two moons of Mars.  Their highly detailed description includes the size, the rotation, the revolutions, etc., of each of the two moons. \n\nWhat makes this particular allusion so provocative is that the two moons of Mars were not discovered by astronomers until 151 years after Swift's publication of Gulliver's Travels in 1726.  It was in 1877 that Asaph Hall, using a new telescope at the U.S. Naval Observatory, shocked the astronomical world by discovering the two moons of Mars. \n\nWhat makes the two moons so difficult to see is that they are only about 8 miles in diameter and have an albedo (reflectivity) of only 3%.  They are the darkest objects in the solar system: they are almost black.  The two moons are also unique in their rotations and one of them is the only object in the solar system that orbits in reverse.  For Swift to have "guessed" these correctly is absurd.  \n\nYet the telescopes of his day were inadequate to have actually seen these objects.  But then how could he have known what the astronomers of his day did not? Swift, in order to embroider his satirical fiction, undoubtedly drew upon ancient records he probably assumed were simply legends, not realizing that they were actually eye witness accounts of ancient sightings when Mars was close enough for the two moons of Mars to be viewed with the naked eye!\n\nOther Implications \n\nThe possibility that the Planet Mars interacted with the Planet Earth may have implications beyond simply ancient perturbations of our calendar and the subsequent veneration of October 31 as Halloween. It has been widely noted that the ancient Stonehenge monument in England and the Great Pyramid at Cairo have astronomical implications.  The geometric and mathematical mysteries of these fabled monuments have been the subject of much conjecture.  Cairo was founded on August 5, A.D. 969 by conquering Fatimid armies and named, "Al Kahira," after Mars.  Why?\n\nAnd there are other enigmas.\n\nThe Nebular Hypothesis \n\nMost of us have been taught that the planets of our solar system came out of the sun. It may come as
1010178
Yeah, like these crazy pyramids discovered on Mars, next to the giant face.  What were those guys thinking those were pyramids?\n\nhttp://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/Bigpappadiaz/cydred.jpg\n\nIt's OBVIOUS that all those are just illusions.\n\nhttp://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e397/Bigpappadiaz/cydonia.gif
894152
Hmm.... now I always thought the obvious interpretation was that Mars is the god of war, while Venus is the god of love.  In other words, the reason men and women often seem incompatible is because they are from two different planets (personality-wise.)
337147
Aliens took it away to MARS. They think you are the reincarnation of their ancient king, they wanted to test the saliva sample on your bottle to confirm. Now they are coming for you!!!!!11
32808
initially the land formation did resemble a face but later pictures taken with better resolution proved that it was just an optical illusion from poorer quality pictures-although i'm guessing your not asking weither there is a real face on mars! :)
164702
*Shrugging my furry shoulders* Humans fear the unfamiliar...\nFear triggers a fight or flight instict and in this case that fear triggered fight instinct has led to irrational blindness of actual reality.\nNowhere is this blindness seen in greater concentration than in the groups that sadly are filled with a lot of people who would prefer to believe in text, written during the dark ages, when the world was thought of as flat; than to think for themselves and use their hearts and minds to decide what is right and wrong.\n\nThey are just lazy I guess or sadly far far from in touch with the true path...
665354
Fear of the unknown.\nFear of separating from the herd.
1155674
I have asked the question, "What does a world at peace look like to you?"  The answers were very discouraging.  I find that the problem lies in the many different definitions of what world peace is and who would make the decisions about what is and is not allowed in that peaceful world.  Some people's and culture's peace is another's worst nightmare.\n\nThe answer that said it best was that Mars, in its barrenness and lifelessness is the best example of a world at peace.
705074
This is a strange one.\nSome phobia lists on the internet seem to quote briophobia but the brio- prefix does not have any Ancient Greek origin that would link it to feet!\n\nThe word that does make sense is podophobia as this has the Greek root podes (ποδες) which means feet.
446109
They are going to try and explore the possibilities of living on Mars in the future due to the fact that they believe the Earth will eventually become unlivable due to the warming of the planet. It probably won't happen in our lifetime but Man will pollute the Earth, the air, and the water so much that we will not be able to survive. The hole in the ozone layer is becoming a major problem.
828635
Fear of the unknown.\n\n*(*
1073223
Because Earth's gravity is holding our atmosphere around the Earth.  The planet Mars used to have a significant atmosphere billions of years ago but because Mars is much small than Earth and also has less gravitational force, it's atmosphere escaped into outer space.
285593
It's obvious why he is shy, people want to capture and/or kill him. I would be very elusive too, wouldn't you? I don't know if dinosaurs chewed cavemen bones or tossed them up in the air or not. Some were carnivorous so they probably did snack on them a little.
777584
It might be because ancient arabs used to travel during the night to avoid scorching heat of sun during the day.\nSo they liked moon better, their calandar is based on moon shapes,\nrather than sun.\nTheir swords were made like moon cresent which was perfect for beheading people. \nThey also feet themselves on nucturnal animals, like lizzards, rats, and bats.\nMoon simply worked better for them.
357986
the male symbol is the ancient symbol for mars, and women are venus.\n"Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus."
507377
Because they are afraid of people who made a mistake a long time ago...
367040
When Plato's ancestor Solon went to Sais in Egypt (600 BC), the priests told him about Atlantis. They also said that inscriptions on their temple walls told how many times civilisations had risen to great heights and then fallen because of natural catastrophes such as floods, fire, earthquakes, etc. I think that maybe we are being a little presumptuous to think that it can't happen to us. I have spent the last 15/20 years researching a related subject and in my opinion the last great catastrophe was 9600 BC, with the sudden and abrupt end of the mini-ice-age called the Younger Dryas period. I believe that this is the basis of the Biblical flood. Getting back to today - the Christian versus Muslim thing - yep, of course it coming, you can smell it! I should imagine that most of the faceless men in grey suits already know this and are moving their pieces on the world chess board accordingly. Humans are amazing - we've been on the moon and sent machines out to beyond the solar system, I can pick up my phone and talk immediately to a person on the other side of the world, I can sit in my armchair and with the smallest of thumb movements be entertained by 100 different TV channels - but with the flick of an eyelid this civilisation can be destroyed because people believe that their unseen and unproven overlord of the cosmos is better than the other man's invisible and all-seeing ever-present boss. It almost makes you want to scream! We're such clever animals - but I don't think that we're too intelligent - and when it's all over we'll begin again.