Customer Reviews

Peoples of the Sea: Ages in Chaos (The long-awaited fourth volume in his AGES IN CHAOS series, Volume IV)

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I guess Velikovsky can be considered one of the fathers of the alternative history movement and authors like Graham Hancock owe him a debt. Peoples of the Sea is the fourth volume in his Ages In Chaos series. The book can be read independently and it covers the nearly two centuries of Persian domination of Egypt and the early dynasties of the Ptolemies. In it, Velikovsky argues that conventional history's foundations are shaky and that Egyptian historical chronology needs to be revised. Conventional history claims that the Peoples of the Sea were barbarians who nearly destroyed civilisation before they were defeated by Pharao Ramses III in the 12th century B.C. Velikovsky instead believes that there is enough archaeological and documentary evidence to prove that they were Greek mercenaries and that their allies the Pereset weren't ancient Philisines but Persians. He argues that Ramses III was Nectanebo I of the Greek historians who lived 800 years later, and he places these events not in the 12th but in the 4th century B.C. The peoples of the Sea were thus fourth century mercenaries from Asia Minor and Greece, of the time of Plato. He shows that there was a strong Semitic (Hebrew and Assyrian) influence on the language, religion and art of Egypt in the time of Ramses III and provides much other archaeological and documentary evidence. The book includes 16 black & white plates including tiles of Ramses III, bass reliefs of the battles against the Peoples of the Sea, the pylon of the Khonsu Temple and portal of the Ramses III temple at Medinet Habu and artwork from the tomb of Si-Amon at Siwa Oasis. The main text concludes with chronological charts in parallel tables listing Persia, Palestine, the Greek World and Egypt from 550 B.C. to 340 B.C. The supplement on Astronomy and Chronology includes chapters on The Foundations of Egyptian Chronology, Sirius and Venus. With Velikovsky' dazzling erudition, Peoples Of The Sea reads like a detective story. I don't know to what extent Velikovsky's alternative chronology has been accepted or convincingly disproved but all his work is fascinating and stimulating to read, as he had the talent for making history come alive.

I wanted to write a review for worlds in collision but it was too full! However I have read this and it is equally worthy of praise, I studied Archaeology and I have no worries with his extrapolations. What interests me is that in my studies I see time and time again that historical evidence is often accurate and that myths are often rooted in reality. Today we box everything up into history or science or art but Velikovsky combines them eloquently, Why did the scientific establishment feel so abashed by his work that they threatened his intended publishers MacMillan, that they would leave the publishing house if they put him into print?

Suppose you lived in the 14th Century and all around you believe the Earth is the centre of the Universe. Suppose a man comes forward with a heap of proof that it isn't; that Established science is mistaken. And the Establishment descend on him like wolves, threaten him, ridicule him, try to ruin him. In fact succeed in preventing his ever publishing his latest research.

Would you be interested to hear him out ?

Velikovsky has given us not just a theory, but a whole system of theory embracing astronomy, cosmology, egyptology, archaeology, geology, history, religion, politics, even psychology. And it all meshes together like a well-designed gearbox.

'People of the Sea' is one of four books in his series 'Ages in Chaos'. It isn't the Ages though that are in chaos. It's us -- for Establishment Science has led us so far into a mess that its scientists are embarrassed to admit their colossal folly. 'Peoples of the Sea' exposes one of the pillars of modern codswallop science. Read Velikovsky's other 'Ages in Chaos' series to find out about the others. And give this Samson a hand to pull the Temple of Bull, falsely worshipped by bigots, crashing about their ears !

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A necessary part of his chronological reconstruction, this book is probably best read last. Neal Bierling's "Giving Goliath His Due" (see below) is a poor substitute for this book by Velikovsky, but may also be of interest to those researching the Bible, Biblical synchronisms with the conventional pseudochronology, the Philistines, or readers of the magazines Biblical Archaeology Review, Archaeology, Discovering Archaeology, Egypt Revealed, or my personal favorite Archaeology Odyssey (published by BAR).

All of Velikovsky's books are available on the used search engines, and it is generally only a matter of time before they become available again as reprints.

See also Velikovsky's other works (new and used), David Rohl's "Pharaohs and Kings", Peter James' "Centuries of Darkness", and Bob Brier's "Murder of Tutankhamen". "Giving Goliath His Due" is available at .....

A necessary part of his chronological reconstruction, this book is probably best read last. Neal Bierling's "Giving Goliath His Due" (see below) is a poor substitute for this book by Velikovsky, but may also be of interest to those researching the Bible, Biblical synchronisms with the conventional pseudochronology, the Philistines, or readers of the magazines Biblical Archaeology Review, Archaeology, Discovering Archaeology, Egypt Revealed, or my personal favorite Archaeology Odyssey (published by BAR).

All of Velikovsky's books are available on the used search engines, and it is generally only a matter of time before they become available again as reprints.

Related works:

-:- Pharaohs and Kings by David Rohl

-:- Centuries of Darkness by Peter James

-:- Murder of Tutankhamen by Bob Brier

-:- Giving Goliath His Due by Neal Bierling (suffers from the author's reliance on the conventional pseudochronology, available online)

This book completed Velikovsky's reconstruction of ancient history, bringing the story down to the dawn of the Hellenistic Age. In Peoples of the Sea Velikovsky claimed that Egypt's Twentieth Dynasty, whose most important pharaoh was Ramses III, belonged near the end of the Persian era, and he identified Ramses III with Nectanebo I, the pharaoh who defeated an attempted Persian reconquest of Egypt under Artaxerxes II. He argued that Ramses III's pylon at Medinet Habu, which records his victory over the Pereset and the Sea Peoples, was in fact Nectanebo's record of his victory over the Persians around 375 BC.
Having already rejected the preceding volume of Ages in Chaos, which placed Ramses II and the Nineteenth Dynasty in the sixth century BC - just before the Persian Invasion of Egypt - the scholarly establishment was in no mood to look favourably on this part of Velikovsky's grand reworking of history. However, rather than counter the arguments presented in the book, they chose simply to ignore them; and Peoples of the Sea remains one of the least debated of Velikovsky's works. This is a great pity, for the evidence he musters is impressive and has, I believe, stood the test of time.
The only real counter-argument was presented by Egyptologist Michael Jones and biblical scholar John Bimson. These two claimed that the genealogies of the workmen at Deir el Medina, which spanned the Nineteenth, Twentieth and Twenty-First Dynasties, proved beyond question that there cannot have been a long gap between the end of the Nineteenth Dynasty and the beginning of the Twentieth, as Velikovsky had suggested (he had the Nineteenth Dynasty ending in 525 BC and the Twentieth beginning around 400 BC.) I have examined this evidence myself in one of my own publications, and have shown Jones's and Bimson's reasoning to be spurious. Rather than presenting a problem for Velikovsky, the evidence from Deir el Medina furnishes further valuable support. Velikovsky stands vindicated, and Peoples of the Sea must eventually be recognized for what it is: a masterpiece of historical detective work.

This was the third published volume of Velikovsky's reconstruction of ancient Egyptian history, but it contains an appendix that every scholar or reader interested in the subject ought to be required to read. It is the story of precisely how the conventional history of ancient Egypt was dated.

How did Ramses II end up in the 13th century and does he really belong there? Why is the Hyksos occupation of Egypt limited to about 80 years when ancient historians said it lasted half a millennium? What is the anchor point in time to which all those dynasties are tied? Anyone who reads this appendix will be appalled at the totally vacuous base on which the dating scheme for ancient Egypt rests.

When you consider that the histories of all surrounding ancient kingdoms - including Greece and Israel - were realigned to match Egypt's, you can easily see how the massive lie that is Egyptian dating has compromised our understanding of the Middle East's historical past. I myself followed up on Velikovsky's research on this matter, and he was absolutely correct.

Not only is the rest of this book compelling reading, this appendix is worth the price of the book alone, and thoroughly disproves those scholars who insist that the conventional history of ancient Egypt is established fact.

For more details on Velikovsky, check out:
http://www.knowledge.co.uk/xxx/cat/velikovsky.htm