Giorgio De Santillana - Hertha Von Dechend

The Profile

Co-authors of Hamlet's Mill (Il Mulino di Amleto), a long essay linking myth and astronomy and arguing that myths encode precessional and celestial information.

Hamlet's Mill (Il Mulino di Amleto) was published in 1969. The book argues that many myths encode astronomical knowledge, especially precessional motion, and sets out interpretive conventions (animals=stars, gods=planets, topography as solar location).

The available review praises Il Mulino di Amleto (Hamlet's Mill) for its bold reading of myths as encoded astronomical knowledge. It highlights the authors' thesis that myths point to the stars and explains three interpretive conventions (animals=stars, gods=planets, topography=solar location). The review finds the book dense, wide-ranging, and intellectually striking.