Customer Reviews

Jesus: Last of the Pharaohs

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As conspiracy theories go, this is a humdinger. Ellis draws together unlikely bits of flotsam and jetsam of bible and archeological history to develop a compelling tale of a very human motivation for the New Testament. As he would have us consider, Paul's divine Jesus is the puffed up remant of a the story of a very human but ambitious royal exile. As a descendant of Moses (forget David as revisionist history), Jesus was actually a Hyksos king and of the royal bloodline of Egypt. All the references to the Kingdom were actually him speaking of his shadow nation living in Palestine. And since he was Pharoah, he was God. No wonder he referred to himself as the Son of God as his father, also a Pharoah, was also God. No wonder the Romans let the Jews crucify him - he was a seditious rebel ! For those who like alternative views of accepted history, this is a good starter in a four book series by Ellis. Be prepared to wade through details as he tends to make his case by endless lists of facts. But he makes you want to know more.

It is nice to see a book that does not simply trot out the same old arguments all pillaged from other books and other authors. If nothing else, readers will find that Ellis' work is highly original and deeply thought provoking. Yes, it is true that his arguments are not entirely proven, but it is also true that he has systematically taken apart the traditional interpretations placed upon the biblical texts.

The central thesis, that the Israelite leaders were actually the Hyksos pharaohs of Egypt, has a distinct ring of truth to it. I, for one, think Ellis is probably right here, but of course this small change changes every aspect of the biblical story.

Could there be a more provocative premise? Ellis' book proposes that Jesus was one of a long line of Egyptian pharaohs. If you're going to read this, you have to decide in advance if you're going to give it a fair ear, or if you're going to dismiss the entire idea right from the outset.

I had an open mind, with no vested self-interest, for or against. I wanted to hear what he had to say. As I went along, I realized I was going to have to accept that not everything Ellis said was going to be set on solid ground. But that didn't have to invalidate everything. I came to realize that if he could convince me, beyond reasonable doubt, that even ONE of the biblical patriarchs was actually a pharaoh, then EVERYTHING else we've "learned" suddenly falls flat on its face.

Folks...his analysis of Abraham sold me. Sold! It was the most convincing of all the patriarchs, and one he addressed very early in the book. I was completely sold on Ellis' reasoning, and then he got to the coup de gras: the mambre tree. I almost fell over. He had already convinced me, and then he made that connection. From there on out, I had no choice but to at least give his ideas a fair shake.

Do I think he proved all his ideas? Not at all. Some theories didn't have enough evidence to completely prove anything. But if ONE patriarch can be reasonably be proven to be a pharaoh, doesn't everything else we know suddenly fall flat? And Abraham, the original patriarch for Judaism, Islam, and Christianity...was the most convincing of them all. From there, all bets are off.

This book changed my view of not only history, but present society. Suddenly the whole world looks like a different place to me. If you're open to a life-changing experience, read this book.

Ralph Ellis has uncovered incredible insight into the evolution of the theological tenants of Western Civilization. His presentation is typical modern academic "rational material" perspective, and the reader needs to restore the ancient perspective to the wisdom Ellis uncovers. Ellis uses the words "lateral thinking" as a way of inserting his own intuitive perspectives. This serves him and the reader very well.

On the other hand, Ellis is not presenting a religious book, and in general, he avoids the religious perspective of the ancients. This causes him to focus on the earth bound perspectives of the archaeology. To restore the holistic images behind the ancient perspective it is mandatory that the ancient metaphysics be applied. Metaphysics was the focus of all monumental cultures. They were driven by the desire for "higher science" rather than the mundane quest for "material science." The ancients saw the universe through rational material perceptions and emotional spiritual perspectives. In fact, their primary objective in the monuments they created was to save the lost emotional spiritual perspective of a primordial Golden Age when "higher science" represented the "Word of God."

A reader who comprehends the repressed metaphysics of modern Western culture will recognize the evolutionary path of our heritage through all of the books Ellis has written on the genre. Unfortunately, most readers are looking for entertainment rather than evolutionary theological wisdom. They will be biased to see the Pharaoh Jesus in the books of Ellis rather than the God Jesus, which the ancients were attempting to convey. To those few who seek Divine Truth and have the perseverance to pass between these "clashing rocks," the Dove of Peace will emerge in the Elysian Field of the Golden Age when Pharaohs were Great Houses of the Creator's Dream of Eternal Life.

Very good. More truth than most would like to or be able to admit.

Interesting ideas about the connections between Egyptian religious beliefs, pharaohs and the Israelites. However, key supporting elements are not documented as having been researched and bring the entire work into question. But, read for yourself and see what you think. This book is certainly "food for thought".

I read the 2006 edition of the 2nd revised version of 2001 of the originally 1998 book.

Usually, I am open minded to challenging / revelatory books as can be seen in my respective reviews. However, this one is really stretching it. It startet all promising. In fact, after reading the revelation that the Hyksos were rather Egyptians in a religious civil war than foreign invaders, which made this much sense, as a lot of previous information I had acquired elsewhere, suddenly neatly fell into place, that I immediately ordered five more books by Ralph Ellis. As I read on, I realized that the author isn't exactly, well, my first choice of trustworthiness. I was really glad, when I finally finished his book. Now, I could hit myself over the head with a huge hammer like in a Tex Avery cartoon for having to endure another five.

The main premise of astronomical precession leading to two-millennia-ages of veneration of Taurus, then Aris, then Pisces is indeed very revealing, including all of this representing the engine for major religious-political cataclysms at the respective transition periods. Orthodox historians perfectly know of former astronomical/Astrological ages getting vilified successively. That's why the devil concept was first associated with a bull (Taurus), then ram-features (Aris). It does indeed make sense to connect that with the Biblical Exodus, even saying two events were merged into one. Even identifying Saul/Paul with a certain historic figure und revealing the Gilgamesh epos as astronomy based is comprehendable. As for most of the rest of the history revision of this book, I am a little lost...

In his follow-up book Tempest & Exodus Ralph Ellis admits that he was writing the former book "at lightning speed". That is exactly, how it feels. For example that Tutankhamun isn't Akhenaten's son, but brother gets superficially "explained" very late and that in a footnote. Nice theories, for which no time had been found to really examine and verify. For the open minded, it may sound all swell, however, I have read many such swell theories, and they all sound logical. Usually, they contradict each other. And this book harbors the least proven theories of them all. Everything the authors of The Hiram Key: Pharaohs, Freemasonry, and the Discovery of the Secret Scrolls of Jesus have been (more or less wrongly) accused of, is so much more true for Ralph Ellis that the critics of the former probably regret having shot their bolt. Constructing evidence and neglecting other to fit a prefabricated theory; flawed use of sources; singlehandedly rewriting virtually all of history without thinking twice; building successively on ever more shaky theories. I did not really share the sentiments against "The Hiram Key". But I am not entirely sure, wether Ralph Ellis himself upfully believes in everything he is writing. After all his US sales men of the fittingly named publishing house "Adventures Unlimited" is David Hatcher Childress, himself an infamous yellow press style author of many dubious books, one of which I have read. In it (Technology of the Gods: The Incredible Sciences of the Ancients) he is openly suggesting that every reader has to please pick that, what she or he wants to believe. As very real information is mixed with the very absurd. The same seems to apply with Ralph Ellis, however, without THIS author openly suggesting that.

Whatever the case, there are many things in this book I am downly sceptical about. Few things I am certain about. And all those certain things, Ellis has written this sloppy about that they are all wrong. Maybe insignificant details and maybe coincidental. But maybe very symptomatic.

In the introductory Ellis is referencing two (teams of) authors. Ahmed Osman (Moses and Akhenaten: The Secret History of Egypt at the Time of the Exodus and The Hebrew Pharaohs of Egypt: The Secret Lineage of the Patriarch Joseph) and Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas ("The Hiram Key"). For one thing, Ellis is referencing the latter title as "Hyram Key". For another, he is not bothering himself to disprove his latter role models in order to make his own theories possible, which would have been necessary once in a while. He IS going into that a little bit with the former, Ahmed Osman, but not all the way. Namely obviously not as soon as he is lacking any idea to synthesize one or the other head-on collision. Yet, by engaging in a synthesis once in a while, he is leaving the impression as if everything would have been worked out. NOT! In other words, for those, who would like to take "Jesus: Last of the Pharaos" at face value, I would recommend reading (at least) the three above mentioned books by the other authors before. Who did not write with lightning speed and at least provided a certain amount of evidence while putting forward new theories, as a result of their research (and not the other way around).

Ralph Ellis relies heavily on linguistics. Even for experts, there's always the acute danger of folk etymology. For the most part, I would have to take Ellis' word for that what he writes about linguistics. Which I can't do, because that which I DO know about, he is wrong with certainty. He is averring a certain ancient Egyptian sign would be pronounced like the "-ch" in Scottish "Loch" or German "ich". The trouble is, these "ch"s couldn't possibly get pronounced any more differently. The "ich"'s ch is phonetically [ē], similar to the English "sh", while the Scottish "Loch" (lake) is phonetically [x]. Which is the same, ironically, as the German "Loch" (hole). Something like the combined attempt of hissing and gurgling at the same time. Yes, there are two ways of pronouncing "ch" in German... Curiously, Ellis is giving a German Egyptologist as the source. It is simply impossible that the German could have suggested such a linguistic blunder.

Besides all of that, occasionally, Ellis history revisions are diametrically opposed to theological concepts. Not of the Church necessarily, but of the more original concepts. Without going into such a heavy alteration (if he is even aware of that and/or cares). For example, he takes Jesus as intending to become a literal king. Every teaching of Jesus concerning kings is the opposite of that and that for a reason. Next, Ellis is averring a happy end for the crucifixion. Hmm... When Jesus gets killed much later, it happens this quickly, that you might miss it while blinking. Out of nowhere, i.e. not even with any superficial attempt of claiming to have found any evidence for that whatsoever, he is relocating Sodom and Gomorrha into Egypt, getting destroyed by some pharao. He doesn't even say, where exactly in Egypt, it just gets included in the Biblical story according to the gospel of Ellis, which most chapters' second parts are comprised of. All earthly characters, but the content is still about homosexuality. (In reality, it is a very important teaching about the sin of violating the duty of hospitality, following the sin of greed.)

By the way, the title is misleading. Jesus isn't even mentioned before page 166 (of 310 pages), and quite soon sight of him gets lost again.

In its major theory about astronomical precession, Ellis' book, including about the length of this cycle, is ossified ever since Lost Star of Myth and Time was published. Which should also be read, when it comes to the round towers of Ireland and other places. Ellis' idea of simple phalli symbols is flawed. Most certainly, he should get a brush up on genetics. It is not true anymore that only female mitochondria are any source for tracing lineages. Patrilineal geneologies can be traced the same by now (or actually even at the time this book had been written...)

Other revelatory books should get consulted, such as by Gary Greenberg and Rocco A. Errico, for in some instances, Ellis has escaped one or the other revelation - which are better proven than most of his...

What a fun book! A conspiracy theory in the extreme, but that's okay. Sometimes it's entertaining to simply recognize the parallels--in this case, the strong resemblance between Biblical characters and the Pharaohs of Egypt--and run with them, to see where they take you. This book leads deep into Egyptology, relating the stories of the Bible directly to ancient Egypt, and concluding that Judaism, including its offshoot Christianity, stems from ancient Egyptian ritual. You'll find Abraham, Moses, even Jesus among the Pharaohs.

Ellis' analysis of the exodus as stemming from the eruption of Santorini is one of the book's more interesting passages. This isn't a new idea (see Acts of God, by Graham Philips) but Ellis fleshes it out, explaining the boils on the skin and more. His point is that the Biblical account is historical and fits nicely into the timing of his thesis, relating Moses to the Hyksos people.

Ralph Ellis has produced a suite of similar books, and this is apparently the one that started the ball rolling. Jesus: Last of the Pharaohs has gone through at least two reprintings. There's an awful lot of original information here, and a lot of conclusions drawn on linguistics and minimal evidence, but if Ellis and his topic piques your interest, there's much more available to read.

While this is not a religious book, its intent is to uncover the truth about Christianity. It is, according to Ellis, "The true history of religion revealed." It's dedicated to his children so that they "may know the truth." Ellis obviously wants us to take his conclusions very seriously, and change our view about religion. While I can accept that Egyptian history and myth influenced the stories written in the Hebrew scriptures on some level--this should not be terribly surprising if Israel really escaped from Egypt--I can't quite carry the parallels as far as Ellis does. But I still found the book fascinating and learned a lot.

To believe the views in Jesus, Last of the Pharaohs, one must believe that: (1) The Bible is merely an error-riddled historical text; (2) Coincidence is not an option; and (3) Word-play is an acceptable form of archeology. Now, even with all three criteria, this book is a stretch of the imagination. I knew nothing of this book or the author before I ordered it, so I'm informing others. I expected an interesting analysis and instead I received boring, useless fiction to include: Jesus' last name (Grail) and Paul's motivation (greed). Ellis' conclusion states it all: he wants us all to get back to the "oldest religion" - astrology.