"Around the solar year 2776 BP, human activities related to celestial disturbances were generated respecting Mars, as well as Venus, and are notable in the Near East and Mediterranean world (Velikovsky, 1950, p265ff). Enough subsequent benchmarks were provided by legends and practices for Velikovsky to surmise that a large heavenly body, apparently Mars, was threatening collision with the Earth at fifteen-year intervals. The Mars encroachments may have been initiated by Venus, which, pursuing an ever-shortening orbit, perhaps encountered and displaced Mars from its earlier orbit between the Earth and the Sun (Rose, 1972)."
from http://www.grazian-archive.com/quantavolution/QUANTAVOL/sb_docs/sb_12.pdf