This work presents various forms of thought and paradigms that have occurred over more than twenty centuries around catastrophic phenomena: mythical, prophetic, providential, apocalyptic, naturalistic, hygienistic and technical thinking, since each era has its paradigm with ruptures and continuities, contrary thoughts that at the same time overlap or contradict each other. The aim here is to show how current scientific thinking about risks and disasters has been the heir of observations, interpretations and imaginaries developed from Antiquity to the modern era. This work also aims to bring the reader closer to the relationships between natural phenomena and discourses socially constructed by various cultures and societies on both sides of the Atlantic.