When there was no moon yet in the sky: ancient myths about the “under-lunar” people and moonless land

References to times when there was no moon in the sky can be found in some ancient scriptures and traditions. Democritus and Anaxagoras mention that there was a time when the moon was not visible in the night sky.

While describing the history of the Greek region of Arcadia, Aristotle writes that the Pelasgians (“sea people” in Greek) have lived in the area since very ancient times: “At a time when the moon did not exist.” Apollonius of Rhodes mentions something similar; he tells of a time when not all celestial objects existed in the sky, until the time of the birth of Deucalion and Pyrrha, when the moon did not exist and the only people who existed were the Pelasgians who lived in the mountains of Arcadia (a region of Greece).

These inhabitants of Arcadia were also known as sieved or resettled (which in Greek means “those who were before the moon”). Anaxagoras, who lived in the fifth century BC, was one of the first people in written history to recognize that the moon is a stone “mountainous” body, and not a “deity.”

In Plutarch’s ‘Moralia’, we find the following: “There were followers of the Arcadians of Evander, the so-called prelunar peoples.” Similarly, the Roman poet Ovid wrote: “It is said that the Arcadians owned their land before the birth of Zeus, and the people are older than the moon”. Stephanus of Byzantium wrote: “Arcadians and women existed before the moon”. Hippolytus refers to a legend which says that “Arcadia gave birth to Pelasgus, older than the moon”. Luciano de Samosata, in his work ‘On Astrology’, mentions that “the Arcadians, in their madness, claim to be older than the moon.”

Evidence has been found in other parts of the world, the oral traditions of Colombian indigenous people from the highlands of Bogota, in the eastern cordillera of Colombia, date back to the time before the moon: “In the most distant times, when the moon was not yet in the sky,” say representatives of the Chibcha tribe. 

Further south in America, at Tiahuanaco, the symbols on the Puerta del Sol and the walls of Kalasasaya indicate that the Moon entered orbit around the Earth at a certain point in time, about 12,000 years ago. This conclusion was reached in 1956 by the researcher and writer Hans Schindler Bellamy, who studied the monument and he wrote about it in his book.

Bellamy interpreted ancient astronomical symbols as a story telling about the moon. He explained that the symbols on the stone represent mathematical and astronomical information. In addition to indicating when the Moon arrived, they argue that before it entered orbit, the Earth rotated more slowly and the year was only 290 days. 

Because of this time difference, it is believed that the planet rotated on its axis at a slower rate than it does today, and the days were longer. According to the aforementioned author, the interpretation of the symbols tells us that these characteristics of the Earth changed with the arrival of the Moon, which would cause a powerful wave due to gravitational attraction.

There would be an increase in storms, earthquakes, floods and many other disasters. It is believed that this event may have been the source of stories of the Great Flood, Noah’s Ark, and others that pervade cultures around the world. 

Biblical Genesis (1:14) mentions that “God” said ” Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to separate the day from the night; and they serve as signs of the seasons, days and years.” Notably, seasons, days, and years are mentioned, but months are not. And the month got its meaning and its name from the moon! Months are first mentioned in Genesis 7:11 in connection with Noah’s flood.

None of this proves, of course, that there was no moon up to this time, and therefore no months. Could Earth’s takeover of the moon played an important role in causing the Flood? If so, then the first appearance of the moon (or the first month) may have been the signal for Noah to build the ark. 

Perhaps on the tenth day of the second month, the moon was so close to the planet that, as a sign of impending disaster, Noah was forced to enter the ark (Genesis 7:1-10). Then, on the seventeenth day of the second month, the moon may have had its catastrophic effect, causing the Flood on the earth. 

If this was indeed the case, which is, of course, a matter of speculation based on non-biblical sources, it would explain that since then, time has also been divided into months, whereas this was not yet done in Scripture, in Genesis 1:14.

Africa also offers its point of view. According to a Zulu legend, the moon was brought hundreds of generations ago by reptiles, two brothers in “space suits”, Wowane and Mpanku.

According to shaman Credo Mutwa, the two brothers stole the egg-shaped moon from the “Great Fire Dragon” and emptied the yolk until it was hollow. Then they “rolled” it through the sky to Earth, causing catastrophic events on this planet that ended the “golden age” of the past.

The ancient memory of a moonless land inhabited by humans has been passed down from generation to generation, shaping the traditions of numerous civilizations. Are they just myths or not? How did the moon get into Earth’s orbit? Is it part of the Earth and the result of a colossal impact, as scientific theories claim? Is its existence natural, in its current position, or was it formed somewhere else and put into orbit or perhaps artificially created by an extraterrestrial civilization?