Ten Notable Apocalypses That (Obviously) Didn't Happen

Apocalyptic predictions such as those warning of global destruction in 2012, are nothing new - they have been around for millennia.

By Mark Strauss

Smithsonian.com, November 12, 2009


1. The First Warnings From Assyria

An Assyrian clay tablet dating to around 2800 B.C. bears the inscription: “Our Earth is degenerate in these later days; there are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents; every man wants to write a book and the end of the world is evidently approaching.”

The world didn’t end (just look around), and despite the plague of corruption and petulant teenagers, four centuries later the Assyrians would establish an empire that eventually encompassed most of the Near East. The Assyrian Empire came to an abrupt end in 612 B.C., when its capital was attacked by the Babylonian army. Still, by the standards of ancient empires, 18 centuries wasn’t such a bad run.

Smithsonian.com