Customer Reviews

The Parthenon Code: Mankind's History in Marble

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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).

I finished reading this book this week, liked the way the material was presented and particularly appreciated the use of many original sources. I found Johnson's thesis generated many connections for me. For instance, his original reference to Cain as the lame god Hephaistos, cast down from Olympus made me think how, in a very real sense, Cain was crippled by the mark placed upon him by God, concerning which he was surely downcast. Further, it particularly made me appreciate the correlative work of Christ in making the lame to walk.
I thought this work plausible and obvious in that forehead slapping way and regretted that classical mythology has no place in evangelical academia.
In the end, one is left wondering why, if the Hesperides' Garden/Eden was the idyllic original habitat of man, but the actions of Hera/Eve resulted in its forfeiture and estrangement from Deity, how then, was the Enlightening a boon to man?
It interests me that all of mankind, by hook or by Shepherd's crook, seeks a return to Paradise, but must content itself with knowledge, since the natural man is very far from Eden indeed. As Robert Johnson rightly said, on the journey home one must pass through a bloody field east of Eden.
This is a wonderful and provocative book and I would be very interested to read anything else he writes.

The Greeks traced their ancestry back to a first couple in an ancient paradise they called the Garden of the Hesperides, always depicted on vases with a serpent-entwined apple tree. Sound familiar? This first couple, Zeus and Hera, were brother and sister, and husband and wife, just like Adam and Eve. They also had two sons who had offspring, just like Adam and Eve. Their sons, Hephaistos and Ares, correspond to Kain (the author uses the Greek spelling for reasons he makes clear) and Abel. It's so amazing and so simple once you see it. Greek artists tell the same story as Genesis except from the opposite standpoint that the serpent enlightened the first couple, rather than deluding them, in paradise.

Nereus of Greek "myth" (whose name means the "Wet One") is Noah. There's no doubt about it. You can check the author's overwhelming evidence for yourself. Herakles is Nimrod transplanted to Greek soil. Hermes is Cush. Chiron is Ham.

I commend the author for shining light on truth that's been there in the dark all along. THE PARTHENON CODE is a very well-written book with great depth, and many ancient illustrations confirming the author's thesis. He has cracked a genuine ancient artists' code. The big question in my mind is, Why have the academics for so long been so blind to the obvious?

Kari Joys, Author of "Choosing Light-Heartedness"

I can see why the academic world would have trouble accepting this book. It's an embarrassment to them. Mr. Johnson's writing style exemplifies clarity and simplicity, and the evidence is overwhelming. If the Garden of the Hesperides with its serpent-entwined apple tree isn't the Greek counterpart of Eden, what is it? The Jefferson and Lincoln memorials do not portray myth, but rather, history. In the same way, Athena's great temple, the Parthenon, did not portray myth, but history. The Parthenon sculptures tell the same basic story as the Book of Genesis except from the opposite viewpoint: mankind exalted as the measure of all things, instead of the Creator. It's humanism made into a religion of ancestor worship.

I also recommend Mr. Johnson's latest book, NOAH IN ANCIENT GREEK ARTNoah in Ancient Greek Art. In it, he explains in some detail the reason for the mainstream's blindness to our true origins. Greek art was meant to be understood by us. Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for seeing through the shallow, pretentious, and mostly nonsensical "interpretations" of Greek art the academics foist upon each other in their insulated little worlds.

In The Parthenon Code: Mankind's History In Marble, author Robert Bowie Johnson Jr. draws upon his own unique approach to combine elements of mythology, religion, spirituality, art, antiquarian classics, and world history to craft one of the most original, engaging, thoughtful and thought-provoking works advocating a kind of "alternative history" explanation for a post-Biblical Deluge association of Greek pagan themes and symbolism with the Hebrew biblical account of Noah's flood and its aftermath. The revelation that the Greeks knew Noah as Nereus and referred to him as the "Wet One" and built the Parthenon to celebrate a "victory" over Noah and his God, and in honor of the serpent-worshiping Eve of Genesis, makes The Parthenon Code an iconoclastic, mind-stimulating, and strongly recommended read for students of religion and Hellenic history!

Finally some information about mythology that makes good sense. For the first time I understand what the artists of that time period were so desperatley trying to convey. I recomend this book first over any other book written pertaining to Greek Mythology and/or art.

I found "The Parthenon Code" to be well researched, logically presented and generally explaining many mysteries of both the Genesis story and Greek mythology. As a person who grew up on Old Testament doctrine, it was easy to see the parallels presented, however non-biblical readers may find the idea insulting that the Greeks knew about history at that time. It would be a dead-scratcher as to why.

Mr. Bowie's thesis really boils down to one polarized concept... that of absolute versus relative morality. Biblical social ethics were all determined by an external authority (theocracy), while Greek culture glorified internal authority (democracy). This dialectic is still manifested today as the dilemma of transcendentalism versus humanism, nature versus nurture. Male versus female.

"The Parthenon Code" understands the ancient semites (descendants of Seth) to be inherently "transcendental", while everyone else (descendants of Cain) were inherently "humanists". This is the drama that ancient civilizations entertained themselves with. Just like today most of entertainment is all about moral dilemmas, likewise the history of mankind is fraught with clashes over morality and loyalties. Good versus evil. Self-preservation versus sacrifice.

It is a relief that the author at no time makes value judgements of the various parties to the conflict. Many biblical/mythical situations are represented in orthodox terms, but it is explained in the first chapter that one extreme cannot exist without the other. The story needs polar opposites to be transmitted through history, and that is the role played by both Greek mythology and The Bible.

There are over 600 flood legends...almost every culture/civilization on the globe has passed down an oral and/or written history about a global flood. Indeed, the only way to fossilize anything is rapid burial underneath sediment and water (how else can one explain millions of fossils around the world) and what of seashells on tops of mountains...etc.

A Christian should not sneer at the idea of others in his faith who accept the authenticity of the very first book of the Bible. Scientific evidence points towards a young earth, as opposed to an old earth, and basic mathematics limits man's existence to a few thousand years, not millions. Indeed, even secular scientists affirm that all of manking descends from ONE woman (mitochondrial DNA). Could that woman be Eve? I think so, but others are welcome to draw their own conclusions.

As for the Book itself, it is a very interesting read. Like the author, however, I wish there were more primary sources fully delineating the meaning and the origins of the Parthenon. I think that Mr. Johnson has made a huge contribution to the study of the ancient world, in that he has posited a unique thesis regarding ancient Greece's greatest monument. While I am disposed to embrace his interpretations--due to my own literal interpretation of Genesis, I fear that the lack of primary sources (from ancient Athenians) may limit his book's influence.

Nevertheless, my imagination was very much excited by this writing, and plan to visit Nashville's Parthenon in March 2007.