The Parthenon Code: Mankind's History in Marble [Hardcover]

Robert Bowie Johnson Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2004

The Parthenon Code reveals, for the first time in 2,000 years, the meaning of the seven sculptural themes on Athena's temple. A simple, but hidden artists' code expressed on vase-paintings and the Parthenon sculptures, leads to the astonishing truth that Greek myth/art chronicles in great detail the reestablishment of the way of Kain (Cain) after the Flood.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A startling testament to the validity of Scripture. -- James R. Coram, Unsearchable Riches Magazine, June 2004

Original, seminal, ground-breaking, unforgettable, and highly recommended. -- James A. Cox of the Midwest Book Review, May 2004

This is the book the thinking Christian community has been waiting for. -- Ian T. Taylor, Creation Moments, May 2004

About the Author

Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. has been studying the Sacred Scriptures, Greek myth, Greek art, and the Parthenon since 1984. He is a graduate of West Point, and an airborne ranger infantry veteran of Viet Nam. His previous two books are ATHENA AND EDEN: THE HIDDEN MEANING OF THE PARTHENON’S EAST FAÇADE, and ATHENA AND KAIN: THE TRUE MEANING OF GREEK MYTH.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Solving Light Books (June 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970543832
• ISBN-13: 978-0970543837
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #335,172 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars TENDENTIOUS Is the Word for this Book, September 9, 2010

By 

Muttley - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Parthenon Code: Mankind's History in Marble (Hardcover)

The author basically starts out saying that the Biblical story of Genesis is literally true and that he is going to interpret Greek mythology as its "evil" counterpart. This he proceeds to do by laboriously, shall I say relentlessly finding counterparts in Greek mythology for all the major elements of Genesis. Anyone with ANY significant prior exposure to the Greek myths can see how he is slanting the stories and leaving out parts that don't fit his thesis. To take just one example: after identifying Zeus and Hera with Adam and Eve (on the basis of not much more than they are both mythic Dad and Mom figures)the author states "With no Creator-God in the Greek religious system, the first couple advances to the forefront." Nice idea... All he has to do is ignore the fact that Zeus and Hera HAD a creator-god in the form of Cronos. This kind of shabby scholarship (or straight-up dishonesty) occurs throughout the book.

Add to this the author's blatant hostility towards anything pagan (not to mention modern scholars with actual academic credentials, who seem to be quite threatening to him). For example he cannot just make a passing reference to Socrates, it has to be "the supposedly great philosopher, Socrates" ... And so on, and so on. This book is basically designed to be read by Christians with low standards of critical thinking who want to be able to totally dismiss (if not demonize) an alternative cultural tradition.

I give it 2 stars only because if you can manage to wade through the book, you might find SOME of the comparisons interesting, if only in a "Wish I could read a REAL book about this" sort of way. Also it had a decent selection of pictures.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Genuine Ancient Artists' Code Deciphered, April 15, 2005

By 

Kallikrates - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Parthenon Code: Mankind's History in Marble (Hardcover)

The Greeks summarized who they were, where they came from, and what they believed on the east pediment of the Parthenon. In the last hundred pages of the book, Mr. Johnson takes the reader through the computer reconstruction of the figures there based on the physical evidence, one extant sculpture at a time. Holmes Bryant's computer reconstructions are magnificent (Click on "Search Inside" "Back Cover" to see his reconstruction of the Three Fates from the left side of the pediment, and click on "Front Cover" to see the Hesperides from the right side).
Reading those hundred pages gave me the same feeling as putting together a jigsaw puzzle. The author supplies all the pieces of the puzzle so you can evaluate his reconstruction for yourself. When you have finished THE PARTHENON CODE, you will understand what the Greeks were telling us in their myth/art, and on the sculptures of Athena's magnificent temple. Mr. Johnson has deciphered a genuine ancient artists' code.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Below my expectactions, February 1, 2010

By 

G. Alcala "Jonah's Net" (Manchukuo, CHINA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Parthenon Code: Mankind's History in Marble (Hardcover)

When I found this book, I thought, "Finally! A scholar who found similarities between the Greco-Roman myths and the Judeo-Christian events mentioned in the Bible!" But after reading the book, I was disappointed. When the author mentioned something about the counterpart of Noah in Greek myth, he talked about some other god-figure -- BUT not DEUCALION who built a big boat to save himself and his family from a flood sent by Zeus. The author also didn't mention the striking similarities between Eve and Pandora (the archetypal troublemaking female) or between Samson and Hercules (the archetypal strongman).
I was hoping that a discussion of these similarities would even promote the truth of Christianity (rather than discredit it, which some overzealous anti-Christian pseudo-intellectuals are obsessed on doing: "See, Christianity just borrowed its stories from pagan myths, so it is just as false as the other pagan religions which preceded it"). CS Lewis had pointed out that the center of the Christian faith is a "myth come true" -- that the people living in the era Before Christ were not "totally in the dark" about God's saving plan. The myths which they created were a sign of their putting hope on something true. Or also a sign that they remembered a truth in the distant past but they had gotten the details different via oral tradition.
So if the story of Deucalion (whose name is not once mentioned in the Parthenon Code) is so similar to the story of Noah, then it could be a record of the Greeks' ancestor's memory of having gone on that legendary ark -- an evidence in favor of the Biblical story. Or if the story of Hercules predates the story of Samson, then it could be a record of God making reality from a myth -- also an evidence in favor of the Judeo-Christian faith and God's Hand in history.
The author didn't even mention Plato's alleged prophecy about the coming Messiah. The non-Jewish/Christian Plato once said that if there came man who would speak the whole truth (and nothing but), he would be beaten even unto death.
The glass is half-full: That the events mentioned in the Bible parallel Greek myths doesn't make Christianity a copycat. On the contrary, Christianity could come out as the FACT among numerous fictions. People often ignore the other meaning of the story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." Revise it by having three shepherd boys. The first shepherd and the second shepherd cry "Wolf!" and fool the villagers twice. Then a real wolf comes, the third shepherd cries "Wolf!" but then is ignored by the villagers. Not so dissimilar to people who adhere to pre-Christian religions. The real wolf came but people couldn't believe that it's really here.
P.S.: While I am trying to be open-minded to the author's claims, I find it difficult to agree with him that Ares, the bad god of war, is the counterpart of a Biblical protagonist (no spoilers here; read the book to find out who this person is).