The accepted chronology of ancient Egypt and Babylonia is wrong to a dramatic degree, with some major historical events mis-dated almost 2,000 years before they actually occurred. The controversial 4-part series 'Ages in Alignment' argues for a complete reconstruction of ancient chronology, re-tracing the histories of the Near Eastern cultures from the rise of the first monarchies, around 1100 BC, until the conquest of Alexander.
Starting with clues unearthed by history sleuth Immanuel Velikovsky and others, Emmet Sweeney takes the investigation further. While the Near Eastern civilizations are generally considered to have taken shape around 3300 BC about 2,000 years before those of China and the New World, Ages in Alignment demonstrates that they had no 2,000-year head start. All the ancient civilizations arose simultaneously around 1100 BC, in the wake of a terrible natural catastrophe recalled in legend as the Flood or Deluge.
Sweeney points out that the presently accepted chronology of Egypt is not based on science but on venerated literary tradition. This chronology had already been established, in its present form, by the third century BC when Jewish historians (utilizing the 'History of Egypt' by the Hellenistic author Manetho) sought to 'tie in' Egypt's history with that of the Bible. Apparent gaps and weird repetitions resulted. Improbable feats like the construction of major cut-stone engineering projects before the advent of steel tools or Pythagorean geometry point to the weaknesses of the traditional view.
Taking a more rigorous approach and pointing to solid evidence, Emmet Sweeney shows where names overlap, and where one and the same group is mistaken for different peoples in different times.
Volume 1, The Genesis of Israel and Egypt, looks at the archaeological evidence for the Flood, evidence now misinterpreted and ignored. This volume examines the rise of the first literate cultures in the wake of the catastrophe, and goes on to trace the story of the great migration which led groups of early Mesopotamians westwards towards Egypt, where they helped to establish Egyptian civilization.
This migration, recalled in the biblical story of Abraham, provides the first link between Egyptian and Hebrew histories. The next link comes a few generations later with Imhotep, the great seer who solved the crisis of a seven-year famine by interpreting pharaoh Djoser's dream. Imhotep is shown to be the same person as Joseph, son of Jacob.
With this new edition of Vol. 1, the series is complete.
