Humans Have Always Lived in a World of Many Worlds

By

Greg Anderson

Return to Article

A mural in Los Angeles.

We Are Still Here

A mural in Los Angeles shows a Native American man and a horse with the message “Decolonize and Chill: We Are Still Here.” (Image by wiredforlego)

Boys play football in front of a Pachamama mural.

Pachamama Mural

Boys play football in front of a Pachamama mural in Medellín, Colombia. (Image by young shanahan)

A nineteenth-century depiction of the Moirai.

Goddesses of Fate

A nineteenth-century depiction of the Moirai, or Greek goddesses of fate, by John Melhuish Strudwick.

1845 painting showing Pizarro in the act of capturing the Incan Emperor Atahualpa.

Emperor Atahualpa

The 1845 painting by John Everett Millais, showing Pizarro in the act of capturing the Incan Emperor Atahualpa.

A map of the world.

Medieval Map of the World

A map of the world as depicted in a psalter from Westminster, England, c. 1265.

An eighteenth-century depiction of the Hindu creation myth.

Hindu Creation Myth

An eighteenth-century depiction of the Hindu creation myth. Brahmā, the Hindu deva of creation, emerges from a lotus risen from the navel of Viṣņu, who lies with Lakshmi on the serpent Ananta Shesha.

Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the highest heavens in Canto XXXI of Paradiso by Dante Allghieri.

Paradiso

Dante and Beatrice gaze upon the highest heavens in Canto XXXI of Paradiso by Dante Allghieri. Illustration from Gustave Doré's edition of the Divine Comedy (1892).

An eighteenth-century engraving of the Bill of Rights being presented.

Bill of Rights

An eighteenth-century engraving of the Bill of Rights being presented to the joint monarchs William III and Mary II in 1689.

Depiction of Chrysippos and Zeuxo.

Chrysippos and Axioche

Depiction of Chrysippos, the illegitimate son of Pelops and the nymph Axioche, and Zeuxo, a water nymph and the daughter of Oceanus, ca. 490 BCE.

The Acropolis imagined in an 1846 painting.

The Acropolis

The Acropolis imagined in an 1846 painting by Leo von Klenze.

The Athenian politician Pericles delivering his famous funeral oration.

Pericles

The Athenian politician Pericles delivering his famous funeral oration in front of the Assembly.

A modern artist’s rendition of Pachamama.

Pachamama

A modern artist’s rendition of Pachamama. (Image by Habacuc).

An excerpt from the Book of the Dead.

Book of the Dead

An excerpt from the Book of the Dead reveals the existence of another reality for ancient Egyptians.

A sketch of Otto von Guericke's experiments.

Otto von Guericke

A sketch of Otto von Guericke's experiments on electrostatics with the sulfur globe, 1672.

An illustration of Spanish cruelty in Cuba.

Spanish Cruelty

An illustration of Spanish cruelty in Cuba in an edition of Bartolomé de las Casas's 1552 work A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies.

An early nineteenth-century painting by Jean-Baptiste Debret.

Indigenous Brazilians

An early nineteenth-century painting by Jean-Baptiste Debret entitled Famille d’un Chef Camacan se préparant pour une Fête, depicts an indigenous Brazilian family preparing for a feast.

Aboriginal Australian warriors perform the Bora ceremony.

Bora Ceremony

Aboriginal Australian warriors perform the Bora ceremony, photographed between 1900-1927.

The view from Kaisariani Hill looking towards Athens.

Mother Attica

The view from Kaisariani Hill looking towards Athens.

A mural commemorating the Occupation of Alcatraz.

Mural at Alcatraz

A mural commemorating the Occupation of Alcatraz which lasted from 1969-1971.

Graffiti on the Alcatraz sign.

Indians of All Tribes

Graffiti on the Alcatraz sign dating from the occupation by the Indians of All Tribes protest group.

A modern depiction of Yggdrasil.

Yggdrasil

A modern depiction of Yggdrasil, the Norse world tree which connects the heavens, the world, and the underworld.

Max Brückner’s 1896 painting Valhalla.

Valhalla

Max Brückner’s 1896 painting Valhalla shows the great hall located in Asgard. The branches of Yggdrasil, the world tree, can be seen in the background.

A Congolese man looks at the severed hand and foot of his five-year-old daughter.

Belgian Congo

A Congolese man looks at the severed hand and foot of his five-year-old daughter who was killed by members of the Anglo-Belgian India Rubber Company militia in the Belgian colony of the Congo Free State, 1904.

A traditional Aymara ceremony.

Aymara Ceremony

A traditional Aymara ceremony on the border of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. The flag is the Wiphala, an emblem used to represent some native peoples of the Andes.

Dionysus and satyrs depicted on the interior of a cup.

Dionysus and Satyrs

Dionysus and satyrs depicted on the interior of a cup, ca. 480 BCE.

Share: