Skywatchers, Shamans & Kings

E. C. Krupp

In Skywatchers, Shamans, and Kings, acclaimed author E. C. Krupp takes us on a fascinating journey to all corners of the world to visit the shrines and temples, tombs and caves where ancient priests and rulers communed with the gods of the sky. These are the sacred places where the magical power of the celestial spheres was encountered and the secrets of the planets and stars were divined. Drawing on his intimate knowledge of more than 1,300 ancient sites he has visited, E. C. Krupp, one of the world's foremost experts on ancient astronomy, takes us to the essential sacred places - as well as celestial shrines far off the beaten path - in an evocative narrative richly enhanced by more than 150 photographs and illustrations. Through vivid descriptions of the important sites and their ritual meanings, he reveals how the rulers of ancient peoples from the Aztecs to the Mongols built monuments and practiced rituals with which they harnessed the power of the sky and sanctified their authority over their worlds. He decodes enigmatic inscriptions on temples and tombs, interprets the haunting imagery of sand paintings and petroglyphs, and traces the elaborate astronomical alignments according to which monuments and whole cities were constructed so that they mirrored the structure of the cosmos and permitted contact with its power. He describes the constellations and sky gods envisioned by the ancients and recounts the stories told about the characters painted in the stars. We meet shaman-chiefs and storm lords, pharaohs and imperial rulers, medicine men and rain kings, and we learn how the rituals they practiced expressed intriguing beliefs about the cosmic order, from how the celestial powers governed nature - presiding over the rhythms of time in the progression of days and seasons - to the way in which the world was created and what our place is in the sacred landscape.