Robert Charroux

, publishing at least six non-fiction works in this genre in the last decade of his life, including "One Hundred Thousand Years of Man's Unknown History" (1963, 1970), "Forgotten Worlds" (1973), "Masters of the World" (1974), "The Gods Unknown" (1974) and "Legacy of the Gods" (1974).

The influence Charroux's first work, in its 1963 version, had on Erich Von Däniken's first books, written about 1966, as well as the influence Von Däniken's early books had on Charroux, is widely appreciated, but Von Däniken seems to have been equally familiar with an earlier French New Age ancient astronaut work, "The Morning of the Magicians" by Lewis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier (1960), which is likely to have been a direct inspiration for both Charroux and Von Däniken. [http://kjmatthews.users.btopenworld.com/cult_archaeology/von_daniken.html] Charroux's publisher contacted Von Däniken's in March 1968 concerning evidence of plagiarism, with the result that later printings of "Chariots of the Gods" and "Return to the Stars" at least mentioned Charroux in the bibliography.

Another Space God writer appearing roughly simultaneously with Charroux and considerably pre-dating Von Däniken was prolific British author W. Raymond Drake, whose first book on the topic was published in 1964.

Celticism

Some of Robert Chourroux's works are seen by many as early examples of pseudo-history as well as Celticism. Celticism similar to Nordicism was a popular Nationalistic movement in France and Celtic countries in the early 20th century. Robert Chaurroux for example in his book 'Lost Worlds: Scientifc Secrets of the Ancients' suggested that the Mayans and ancient Peruvians were ancient Celtic migrants. According to Charroux 'The candle stick of the Andes and the Nasca Lines were created by a pre-celtic civilization, perhaps the same as those who created the Long Man of Wilmington of Sussex in England. [Lost Worlds, p97] He also related the white skinned Gods mentioned in the Popul Vuh to ancient Celts from Hyperborea.

External links

* [http://www.coolfrenchcomics.com/atomas.htm Atomas]
* [http://www.cafes.net/ditch/motm1.htm Morning of the Magicians, a probable influence on Charroux]
* [http://jcolavito.tripod.com/lostcivilizations/id26.html More on Ancient Astronaut influences in 1960s France]
* [http://monsite.orange.fr/robert-charroux} robert charroux and co the french site

References

* Story, Ronald, "The Space Gods Revealed," New York, Barnes and Noble, 1976, ISBN 0-06-464040-X.