Odyssey of the gods : the alien history of ancient Greece

Legendary UFO expert von Däniken stirs up another controversy with an imaginative supposition: What if the myths of ancient Greece were attempts to describe events that really happened? What if ancient peoples were visited, not by imaginary gods and goddesses, but by extraterrestrial beings who arrived on earth thousands of years ago? The author's research into both ancient mythology and current archaeological discoveries leads him to some explosive hypotheses. He suggests that the best explanation of such creatures as centaurs and Cyclops, as well as stories about the lost continent of Atlantis and wars among the deities, may be efforts by artists of the times to record never-before-seen phenomena. Dozens of color photos depicting ancient sculptures and temple decorations document a variety of hitherto unexplained objects which, von Däniken points out, look surprisingly similar to equipment used by today's astronauts. Could these be long-lost secrets, being rediscovered by scientists today? Using archaeological evidence and citing authors such as Plato and Aristotle, Erich von Daniken sets out to show that the Greek 'gods' were, in fact, extraterrestrial beings who arrived on Earth many thousands of years ago.