Customer Reviews

The Book of Hiram: Freemasonry, Venus, and the Secret Key to the Life of Jesus

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I thought that this was a great read. After reading all of the authors previous books, I opened this one knowing that they were going to make some mistakes, which they would try to correct in the next book (or that other scholars would give them hell for). However, I think that these kinds of mistakes are forgivable in a process where new ideas are introduced and where the bar is being pushed beyond what has already been agreed upon in popular theory. Research, in my opinion, is always in some capacity about disproving the most recently "proved" theory or else about providing a foundation from which the truth about a new theory can be discovered. That's what this book does very effectively.

To my knowledge, this book is the first to so completely tie ancient traditions, stories, and histories together as far back as 7000 B.C. The continuity of Venus worship and sun worship (even with glossing over the cultural differences) from the Grooved Ware People, to the formation of Christianity in Rome, to the treasured beliefs of secret societies is particularly intriguing.

Yes, the authors sometimes get over zealous with tying things together. And yes, they sometimes overemphazise the role of Free Masonry's connection to the ancient world (as another reviewer pointed out, the Masonic Testament section of this book should not so swiftly be taken to be info passed down for thousands of years - although it's not definitively proven that this knowledge doesn't have a tie to some ancient source, either).

Once you acknowledge that there are definitely generalizations and a few misteps, you can dig into the new ideas and concepts that make this book so enjoyable.

Another thing: after reading this book, I went back to reread the Hiram Key (their first book), and I would definitely recommend this book INSTEAD of the Hiram Key. This book is like a major facelift to the Hiram Key.

Because so many related discoveries are still being debated, translated, and analyzed, I'm sure that the new ideas and discoveries in this book will be trumped at some point. After all, the authors do not touch on the Cro Magon or Grimaldi peoples who migrated to Europe prior to the building of megalithic sites. And they do not go into depth about the roles of John the Baptist and Mary Madalene at Qumran. For now, this book is a breath of fresh air because of it's willingness to go against dogma with an open mind and freeness that traditional research lacks.

Read this book, along with Uriel's Machine (their third book) and Civilization One (the fifth book), for a more complete view of the author's revolutionary ideas. And read the Templar Revelation by Lynn Picket, plus related books, for counter ideas and to fill in some of the gaps. I'm off to find another book...

In the last ten years many books have come onto the market that explore and expose Freemasonry, the Knights Templar and the ancient connections that these groups have had in our distant past back to the time of the Egyptians. The Book of Hiram is the fourth in a series explored by Chrsitopher Knight & Robert Lomas.

In this title, Knight & Lomas take us even further back, to the Stone Age where sites such as Stonehenge and Newgrange in Ireland were astronomically aligned to the movements of the stars and the rising and falling of Venus as the Morning and Evening Star in particular.

As always, I was rivetted by the work and detailed research presented by both these authors. Both are themselves Freemasons and both have an intense desire not only to fully understand the seemingly strange rituals held in Freemasonry but also to trace the origins of these rituals and reasons for the secrecy which surrounds them.

Today, many in the twenty-first century take the liberties of Democracy, equality, a justice of liberty and religious tolerance for granted. The world was not always so, and in order to achieve these goals, many thousands of years and many lives had to be sacrificed, often under the cloak of secrecy in order to wrest away power from those who advocated autocratic states and a trail by ordeal. The French Inquisition, the American War of Independence, the French Revolution and the Second World War are cases in point.

Whether you regard the Freemasons as a demonic order or not, after studying their history, their basic precepts as laid out at the end of this book and the goals that they set out to achieve over many centuries, one has to admire their tenacity and determination and perhaps....... even take some time to thank them for once instead of denouncing them?

Much like all orders and groups, there are those who would use their connections for humanitarian aims and those who would use them for selfish acquisitive purposes. The recent exposure of homosexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church is a case in point. Not all Roman Catholic priests are sexual child abuses, not all Roman Catholics are bad people. Mother Theresa was a nun under the order of a Roman Catholic church and her life was a testament to human kindness and caring.

So to I believe it is with much of Freemasonry, which in some instances has been connected to the Illuminati, much denounced in recent times for their apparent attempts at world domination and global control. These were not the aims of the Knights Templar or those of Freemasonry in general, though I am sure that some used and are possibly still using these orders to achieve such aims. I believe that Knight & Lomas have only the highest ideals in mind and their willingness to share their truth and the riddles that they have solved against all odds and much criticism, is admirable to say the least.

Should you wish to explore Freemasonry, then these authors are the best place to start, not only in The Book of Hiram but in all their works.

Gail Evans. author of THE FIRSTBORN OF GOD.

I bought this in hope it would resolve where the "The Hiram Key" left off, however, the whole treasure-under-Rosslyn-Chapel theory remains just that, as permission to excavate was withdrawn for some reason.

This book just like previous ones, journeys all over the place. It's main theme appears to be on mankind's past and ongoing relationship with the planet Venus. Terms and customs we use today all relating to the appearance and position of this planet in our early morning skies. This then progresses onto the scientific validity of astrology, and so on it goes...

A large portion at the end of this book is "The Masonic Testament" - a compilation of stories "reassembled from across the rituals of the 160 degrees of Freemasonry", adopting "the chapter and verse convention of other testaments".

"The Hiram Key" was a good read, full of uncited wild theories. "The Book of Hiram" improves on this by including sources of reference to their quoted research, and yet, still has me scratching my head about what's going on.

Knight and Lomas tend to go on a bit in all of their books, but never before have they gone so far afield, and astray, as in this one. I had hoped that after The Hiram Key there would be more hard research and less WAGs and speculation, but instead this book proves to be the opposite.

Essentially, the Book of Hiram is really two books. The first concerns man's early spiritual development in Europe, and the spread of what the authors take to be worship of Venus, allegedly transferred from prehistoric society to more modern ones down to where Jesus becomes a Venus-worshipper. Got that? And from there of course the knowledge was picked up by others and has become the guiding light of Freemasonry. Completely ridiculous, of course.

One would have more patience for such flights of fancy if the research and reasoning behind this kind of wild conjecture were more sound. However, the m.o. seems to be to attribute one (perhaps even plausible) practice to a given society - say, the Grooved Ware People who in this book drive all knowledge - and then, when seeing a similar-appearing development occur hundreds or thousands of miles away, assume that all of this 'knowledge' was transferred wholly, completely and without alterations to that much newer society. Coincidences become proof, and the chain of coincidences of course never ends. This kind of reasoning also drove Donnelly's discussion of languages in the original book on Atlantis over 100 years ago, and it's just as laughable here.

The second part of the book amounts to a distillation and itemization of as many parts of Masonic teaching and lore as Knight and Lomas could compile, presenting it in the form of a coherent 'religious' book. Leaving aside that Masonry is not a religion, though it has drawn from several, this Genesis-like invention seems an exercise in intellectual self-abuse. It is not religious, it is not Masonic, it is not complete and it is not definitive or informative. It seems pointless.

The best section of this book is the Bibliography. Take an entry at random, go to the library and read it, and you will have read a better book than The Book of Hiram.

As some of the other reviewers pointed out, these authors have had some success with their earlier works. The Hiram Key in particular was interesting and did quite well. My only problem with it is the assumption that the Legend of Hiram is somehow an ancient oral history that unlocks the key to understanding the roots of Masonry. Most actual researchers into the history of Freemasonry will tell you that the Legend of Hiram was not in the Lodges prior to the formation of the so-called Grand Lodge of London (later to become the Grand Lodge of England) in 1717. So, it cannot explain a connection going back to ancient Egypt by way of the 2 Temples in Jerusalem -- it was a substitution legend tacked on after the Grand Lodge decided to drop the legends associated with the Gothic Constitutions.

This book falls into the same trap, only does so in an even larger way. Attached and appended to the core of Freemasonry are dozens of additional degrees, each with it own rituals, symbols, signs, grips, etc. These authors looked for and found, or were given, copies of some of the oldest versions of these additional degrees. They were particularly interested in ones that were worked prior to 1813, when the 2 Grand Lodges in England merged into the United Grand Lodge of England and the new Grand Master, the Duke of Sussex had the rituals revised. What they fail to understand, and again, this is in the historical record, is that none of these degrees go back past the 1700s. There are apparently no records and there are no exposes or other evidence to support the existence of any elaborate rituals or legends of the sort that show up in these "higher degrees" before the Grand Lodge era began in 1717. Other Masonic researchers have pretty much established that there were 2 degrees worked in England and either 2 or 3 in Scotland and Ireland when the Grand Lodge was formed. So, while it is interesting to see the various rituals put together to tell a coherent story in chronological fashion, the resulting story is basically worthless as any sort of oral history.

In other words, the Masonic Testament that makes up the last third of this book is not a real source, it is a compilation of rituals that were developed in the 1700s, and NOT Masonic or other oral history. So, that leg of their story does not stand.

As for the connections between Venus worship and these various cultures that they claim worshipped Venus, I believe that only the Greeks or Romans would have used that name. Other cultures would have used other names and other concepts for the same astronomical events and bodies and these authors gloss over all the differences across time and culture.

They also repeat themselves a huge lot and make assumptions that they later claim were shown or proven to be true. In short, it needed better editing and it lacks logical rigor in many places.

Wait for it to come out in paperback and then look for the hardback on the remainder tables. It is worth reading only to see how far off the path of real history these folks have strayed and to be ready in case people interested in Masonry ask if you have read it -- but it has so many flaws, I could not recommend it otherwise.

The BOOK of HIRAM is a sequel to the bestselling THE HIRAM KEY by Knight and Lomas. I point out that fact right away because in the interim the dynamic duo of authors have published several other titles such as THE SECOND MESSIAH, URIEL'S MACHINE, etc. Some of their works were more directly follow-up to THE HIRAM KEY than others, but fact is the whole reason for preambling my review with a pseudo-bibliography is to state I anxiously awaited a sequel to the HIRAM KEY. I loved that book, learning about freemasonry, ties to early Christianity and other fascinating topics. I eagerly bought THE BOOK OF HIRAM. These were after all authors I had in the past year and a half become very familiar with their writing style and research results, i.e. musings and theories put forth in their tomes as they tangentially thought about one mystery or another.
Therefore it saddens me to baldly state I did not enjoy this title nearly as much as I thought I would.
The authors continue with their religious/ritualistics questions and theories. Searching for further ancient ties to freemasonry in forgotten realms of antiquity. However by this time much of their writing is almost repetitive. In fact I counted too many footnotes that were self-referential. Apparantly most of the source material for this book was earlier titles written by the authors:O. Which led me to wonder if maybe their earlier success in the sales department spoiled them. Instead of searching for answers were they just milking previous success? Were their numerous footnotes subtle ads hinting at readers' to pick up any previously un-read titles put out by them? It was a little distracting and disappointing to have these thoughts as I tried to read what was as well written a book technically as any other Lomas/Knight book, even if their revelations and chapters were not nearly as interesting as in previous titles.

I finished this book not regreting reading it, only hoping it isn't quite a bestseller to spawn further sequels that further deteriotes the pleasure I had in reading THE HIRAM KEY.

This is the first of four books written by Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas, each one as breath-taking as the last. Finally - a true glimpse of our past history! Through researching Masonic rituals, Christopher and Robert have uncovered incredible information - things that make you go "Hmmm!"

Any freemason interested in knowing more about the story in the east should read this book.

Whatever may be said about The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasonry, and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus, at least it was original and put some challenges forward, appreciated by some, reacted allergic to by others. This second part hasn't that awfully lot to reveal, mostly it is just providing more evidence for the former book (without making any progress seven years later in 2003 in excavating beneath "Rosslyn Chapel"), referencing in debth one of the authors' other books, "Uriel's Machine", and is derailing with the few new "revelations". The latter opinion from the perspective of someone who actually largely appreciated "The Hiram Key". In the 2005 edition, there are no pictures to be found, in contrast to the first part.

Exploring the Venus cult, which in itself is indeed rewarding, the authors adopt the folk etymology that Jerusalem would be derived from "Urushalim", with "-shalim" supposedly named after an Amorite god (with no evidence of his cult ever to be found in this city), meaning "Venus at dusk". Ahmed Osman's explanation in Jesus in the House of the Pharaohs: The Essene Revelations on the Historical Jesus appears to make more sense. "Salem" meaning peace. Not because the city, known under a different name before, was so peaceful, but because its inhabitants successfully attempted to appease pharao, who was rampaging through Canaan, levelling all resisting cities. Symbolically saying with the new name in their correspondence with him "we will submit to you, no need to destroy us". And guess what: 40 pages after the Venus-at-dusk interpretation, in a completely different context, the authors translate "salem" indeed as "peace". The power of constructivism must be very great!

I couldn't share the hefty criticism, which "The Hiram Key" encountered for the brave theories put forward, with supposedly too much speculation and too less evidence. One might think, the authors should have learned from that. Yes. But not as expected, rather as in: You have nothing to lose once you've lost your reputation. Circumcision would be an old rainmaking tradition. After all, it began in dry areas and rainmaking rituals are usually associated with circles. And a severed foreskin is a circle, through which once liquid sprinkled. I have to confess, as a campaigner against forced body mutilation, I will follow that one up some day (or please, anybody leave a note of confirmation with source), yet, that should have been the job of those who propose such an imaginative idea. (As in ASKING the rainmakers, what the circles are all about...) Gary Greenberg in The Bible Myth: The African Origins of the Jewish People puts the no less unorthodox, but much more conceivable information forward that this habit goes back to ancient Egypt (which by itself is accepted knowledge already), as a covenant with God (which is what it is called today in e.g. Judaism, which derives from Egypt). Originally, Osiris was meant, whose "best part" had been severed once. The foreskin representing the humanly possible symbolism for that.

The last example is the softening of the authors on Astrology. Generally, they do not believe in it, but after reading some Swiss paper on it, they suddenly have to confess: "But something is happening out there." The author of the paper took official population data and sortet it according to e.g. which sign of the zodiak marries another, who stays single, who dies of what cause etc. With astonishing results, of course. Using probability calculations, it gets "proven" that it is impossible to be accidental that so many... yawn... Any disciple on constructivism has a field day with such studies. I don't know about Switzerland, but about neighbouring Germany. The frequency of people there asking after someone's star sign within the first three questions of getting acquainted and then acting accordingly is this alarming that I stopped giving out that information. People get fed with Astrology and who gets along with whom best from earliest childhood. IT IS A RELIGION, addable to any other, including Atheism. Any marrying schemes are self-fulfilling prophecies. Who stays unmarried? Well, e.g. homosexuals have not been excluded by the data, who didn't have a choice in that country at the time. Many other data was not considered and as such this part of the study is void. For the death causes accidents and violence has been excluded to get best results. ??? Could someone, within the logic of Astrology, explain that to me, please? I am sure wondering, wether the big tsunami killed according to the asterisk... If I had time and space, I could debunk that study for hours and pages. But, according to the book, the probability statistics say that people have been convicted for less likelihood with DNA-samples. In DNA there are no unknown factors, everything is 100% measurable. Life is not measurable, but full of LIMITLESS, INTERCONNECTED and UNKNOWN factors. Probability statistics simply cannot get compared in both fields. If you attempt that, you fall victim to constructivism. But even that aside, for such a study to merit some attention, it would have to be reproducable anytime, anywhere, by anyone. Where Astrology has never been heard of, let's say in a remote valley in Papua New Guinea and with a different Astrological system such as China. Plus, there wouldn't have to be single exceptions admissable - otherwise any theory gets automatically invalid.

But now it starts: The authors attempt to prove their theories via probability calculations, as in how likely is it that two unrelated cultures developed this many features the same way. Don't shoot the messenger: It all depends and what and how you feed the calculation with. For example I could say probability calculations prove that Hitler's Germany is secretly related to Tibet, because both used the swastika, believe in an Underworld people (I am not kidding!), are relatively close to "Aryans", share a number of similar words, and the Nazis visited Tibet. That already is sufficient to make for a probability of several million to one. However, the Egyptians believed in the Underworld, used the swastika before Tibet, gave Germans their words for e.g. Mum, sea, nature and there were Arians as well (as in followers of Aris). Plus, the Nazis even invaded Egypt. Statistically it is more likely for anyone to get hit by lightning than to win the jackpot in the lottery. Yet, week for week, more people hit the jackpots than get killed by lightning. Using statistics is for politicians and the desperate: You can "prove" ANYTHING with that, depending on your input and interpretation. It should not be part of history books. If your theory does not work without statistics, then discard it. That is not to debunk completely the book. After all, there IS a connection between Nazigermany and Tibet in my example. There is also better evidence, of HOW and WHY the Nazis borrowed so much from Tibet.

But why did the authors got into the notion of attempting to prove Astrology? Because they found out that Freemasonry and Christianity, in their roots, however unrecognizable, are based on Astrological beliefs. And if Astrology is complete nonsense, than both Freemasonry and Christianity must be also. Completely disregarding that humanity progresses and/or leaves its concepts, and that this line of thinking, venerating the origins only, is needlessly nihilistic. Humans would be "worthless", if they originate, say in seaworms, and so on. I have read something similar in Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus). The author, once an adherent to inerrancy, converted to a "happy agnostic", because he doesn't know what the original text of the Bible was and only the original counts. That is a typical human mechanism: Getting ever more radical, and when something disturbs that picture, the ENTIRE concept is pushed from the pedestal. Completely unnecessary... (Besides: Read Lost Star of Myth and Time and find out, what Astrology in turn is based on, if you cannot find another way than looking at origins to find some comfort.)

I also advise reading the books by Rocco A. Errico (e.g. Let There Be Light: The Seven Keys to find out about the original meaning of Aramaic idioms in the Bible quoted and misunderstood in this book.

Other criticism include that the Groove Ware People of Western Europe are supposed to be the origin of Egyptian civilization. Please read "Before the Pharaos: Egypt's Mysterious Prehistory", "Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings" and "When We Ruled" to adjust to this Eurocentric orthodox Egyptology time frame!

One last audacity of this book is to explain the economic situation of a country based on her inhabitants' learning capabilities (somehow linked to Astrology again), using the term of the Achieving Society. In what sort of parallel globalization are the authors dwelling? I advise reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman (Unabridged) to start with instead.

Verily, verily, the third part of the trilogy is the best of all: Civilization One: The World Is Not as You Thought It Was.

When I read The Hiram Key and The Second Messiah, I realized that bad scholarship can go from bad to worse but this has exceeded my worst expectations.

This book ought to be borrowed, not bought. The authors may be right in pointing out the ancient symbolic pedigree of the craft, but they long ago lost sight of a fundamental fact of symbolism, asserted by the famous art historian Erwin Panofsky, which is that symbols are like vehicles that travel through time and, while they can be stable bearers of content ("meaning") which hitches a ride like passengers, new ones can and do get on board.