Customer Reviews

Pharaohs And Kings: A Biblical Quest

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To say the very least, this book is an enlightening read. The author attempts to design a new chronology of Egypt based on a number of archaeological observations he made which pointed to certain anomolies in the standard chronology of the Third Intermediate Period of Egyptian history. The TIP is one of those points in history where information is scanty and there is much room for error in interpreting existing archaeological evidence. Rohl posits that the 21st and 22nd pharaonic dynasties were at least partly contemprary in a period of balkanization of Egypt, contrary to the conventional chronology's view that they were successive. He therefore shifts the entire preceding dynastic histories downward from 200 to 300 years. That is, what we previously though to occur at 1250 BC actually happened at 1000 BC according to Rohl. In so doing Rohl has done much to synchronize Egyptian chronology with the chronology of the bible.

Rohl claims that the Amarna letters were not to be compared to Joshua's conquest of Canaan, a period where they clearly do not fit, but rather tell the tale of Saul's and David's claiming of Israel from Phillistine Egyptian vassals. He synchonizes Ramesses II's conquests of Asia Minor with the biblical invasion of Shishak. Also, he identifies the Egyptian 'Hyksos' with the Amalekites of the book of Exodus. There are many other enlightening points of connection with the bible that Rohl makes, but my point here is not to explain them all.

The true value of this book for any egyptologist, student of biblical history, or any student of the ancient world at all, is this book's popular presentation of the field of archaeology and ancient history. So rare are books that actually connect a lay reader with the methodologies and evidence upon which researchers base their works. In order to show a need for a revision of Egyptian chronology, Rohl shows how the entirety of Egyptian chronology depends on all but of a handful of archaeological finds, many of them of dubious reliability. Even if Rohl's opponents find more pieces of evidence supporting the standard chronology, the number will still be very small and they will quite likely be as subject to interpretation, as are the ones that Rohl has pointed out. Rohl goes to great lengths to show the history of the observations that scholarship has made, thereby showing us where they may have gone wrong. (As a popular book, I must confess that parts of Rohl's historical narratives depict events in which one expects to find Indiana Jones) Next, when building his own chronology, Rohl puts us close to the texts and archaeological evidence upon which he bases his theories. Rohl's conclusions are in many cases impressive, but in some cases I had to shake my head and come to the conclusion that he was grasping at straws. For instance, I believe that his work in astronomical retrocalulations to find the dates of eclipses recorded in ancient texts is pretty shaky. I even doubt that the text that he is talking about is even mentioning an eclipse. This information has proved to be incredibly valuable to me, however, as I now know that astronomy based chronology, something I though would give absolute and undisputable dates, is as foggy an area of research as any.

I do not know if I will eventually embrace Rohl's ideas or not, or if partially. I do know that reading this book has shown me the types of reasoning and observations that old world historians make, and can now make an informed decision about how firm our grip on dating events of the past is. My conclusion: if somebody tells you some biblical event did not happen because the dates don't line up with scientific knowledge, don't be disheartened. We have a LONG way to go before we can truly be confident about such statements, if indeed we will ever arrive at that sort of knowledge. This uncertainty that I have gained from Rohl's book is corroberated by the "Oxford History of Ancient Egypt" which provides wonderful information on Egyptian chronology.

Everyone who wants to study ancient history, whether it be Egyptian, biblical, Middle Eastern, or even Chinese for that matter, should read this book, so the next time they read somewhere that 'such and such happened at 3200 BC', they will know to take that statement with a grain of salt. Whether Rohl is right or not, I am forever indebted to him for showing me how chronologists operate.

Lastly, I would like to say, after all this talk about archaeology and methodology of Egyptologists, that this book is very readable and comprehensible to the lay reader. Though a smattering of knowledge of biblical and/or Egyptian history will make the book more interesting to the reader, no such knowledge is required in order to understand the book or find value in it. It is truly a popular book intended for the average interested person. I recommend it to all.

David Rohl's "Pharaohs and Kings" (released in some countries it would seem as "A Test of Time") has to be one of the most interesting and readable archaeology/history books around.

Stunningly illustrated with excellent diagrams, colour photographs and maps, this book catalogues the chronological problems Egyptgologists have created by sticking to three somewhat tenuous biblical synchronisms made with Egypt during the last century.

Rohl disects the currently accepted chronology, demonstrates its flaws and then reconstructs an alternative using only the physical archaeological record.

The results are startling. Far from breaking the synchronisms between the Bible and Ancient Egypt, Rohl finishes up confirming that many of the Biblcial stories are based on real events. These are backed up with physical objects excavated from sites such as Tell el-Amarna and Tanis.

Rohl's own position, an essentially atheistic one, makes his discoveries all the more exicting as there is no religious angle to his work - just clear conclusions drawn from well presented evidence.

Seemingly, he has received widespread support from the younger members of the accademic community for his work while the 'old brigade', who have been teaching the flawed conventional chronology for years, can't bring themselves to re-examine the facts.

Rohl's style is unusual for a serious accademic - the book is written with humour and humanity, and easily readable. The whole layout, text, notations and illustrations make this a very attractive book. By the end of the book, you are amazed at how much you have understood and how obvious the conclusions are.

A five star read - NOT TO BE MISSED - and a fabulous Christmas present.

David M. Rohl would have us believe that several hundred years have been mistakenly added to the conventional chronology of our established history. He claims this mistake has prevented archaeology from finding any clues as to the existance of Old Testament characters. I have had this book three years, and have re-read it five (I think) times. Such is the wealth of data contained in this book that I defy anyone (save those who make this subject their career) to read it once, and come to a reasonable conclusion. Rohl presents arguments backed by data that, in the absence of alternate theories - many of which he provides - are hard to refute. Classical Egyptology has poured scorn on this work. I urge readers to tackle traditionalist treatments of the same data (e.g by the respected English scholar Kenneth Kitchen), and then draw their own conclusions. For myself, I feel David Rohl has made an argument at least as convincing for his thesis, as those made by mainstream Egyptologists.

Originally published as "A Test of Time" and subsequently made into a two-tape video called "Pharoah and Kings", now the title of the book due for release in July 1997. [This review is based on "A Test of Time"] This scholarly work is extremely interesting and absorbing to anyone with and interest in Egyptology or the history embodied in the Old Testament in the Bible. The book is well laid out with numerous notations and references in the margins. It is copiously illustrated with monochrome and colour photographs. Tables of chronology abound, and my only cavil is there is a somewhat erratic definition of their chronological era. A final table showing the complete concurrent chronology of Egyptian and Biblical history in the "New Chronolgy" would not be amiss. The books is a detective thriller, with a multitude of clues, each of which is carefully teased out (often under a microscope) and a conclusion drawn. David Rohl's conclusions are not dogmatic and are usually stated as a balance of probability. There are many other Egyptologists who support his thesis: that the Old Testament is an historical document, backed up by archaeological finds. David Rohl puts forward a thesis in his book that far from being "non-existant", there are independantly datable archaeological remains which support the events described in the Old Testament. He carefully explains how re-interpretations of Biblical names and archaeological finds of Israel and Egypt cast new light on their true historical identities and chronology. Archaeological finds examined in a new light, such as letters written in Akkadian cuneiform to Akenhaten, and found at Tell el Amarna, mention the Hebrew leader David. Some of the other startling facts that emerge are the find and identification of the residence of Joseph, vizier of Egypt and son of Jacob, at Avaris on the Nile Delta. Pharoah Dudimose caused the Israelite to flee Egypt after 215 years in the land of Goshen. Tutankamen was a contemporary of King David. Solomon succeeded David and married the daughter of Pharoah Harembeb. Solomon's Temple was built with all the skills available to him from Phoenicia in the time of the late bronze age. Finally Ramesses II sacks the temple of Jerusalem in about 925BC. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am now reading it for the second time! Robin Scott, Somerset West, South Africa, the Rainbow Nation

Rohl takes us on a fascinating journey through the worlds of biblical and egyptian archeology and chronology.

As good as the entire book is, it does not compare to the clarity of evidence demonstrated in the middle sections on Saul, David and Solomon.

This book is for everyone. But for anyone that knows their Bible pretty well you will be shocked at the absolutely undeniable existence of numerous (about a dozen) Saul and David stories recounted in letters between egyptian and Cananite Kings including Saul himself. We can read extra-Biblical accounts in Saul's own words!

If you know your Sunday school stories of that period you can read these diplomatic letters quoted in the book and identify the well known Saul/David events yourself.

Even Rohl gets excited in these sections and I agree when he states:

"It is remarkable that this has not been noticed before - but then I suppose that any comparison was quite out of the question before the New Chronology came along". (end of Ch 10)

Starting with an error made in the earliest days of egyptology - the biblical shishak = the pharoah Shoshenk, Rohl completely rewrites the timeline of the Pharoahs and thier dynasties. In the process, many of the events and periods subject to arguement and controversy are suddenly lined up and validated by the alignment of heiroglyphs, archeology and biblical references. I have read the book cover to cover twice. The first time I read it I was simply astounded by its thoroughness, logic and validity. I now view most of the stories in the bible as statements of history.

The most significant and famous discovery concerns Ramses. According to Rohl (and I believe him) Ramses was not the Pharoah of the Exodus as portrayed in the film The Ten Commandments but he was the only Pharoah to sack Jerusalem, high in the mountains.

In the new timeline, the exodus lines up in time with archeolgical digs that show massive deaths and disease, the plagues of egypt that preceded the exodus. The timeline also lines up the sacking of Jerusalem in the bible and from other ancient texts with Ramses. The astoundingly beautiful depiction of this battle is contained in the Temple at Amen Ra. Rohl also shows that the cartouche that would credit Shoshenk with this victory in his campaign record at his temple is not there.

But the work done by Rohl is further reaching than that. He is able to align Egyptian history with the bible and then the bible with events in the middle East, with Kings Saul and David, and the egyptian princess given as a bride. Letters and other artifacts, and a very important family lineage carved in stone at a quarry all become part of the solution to the puzzle as Rohl covers the country from one end to the other.

A most facinating book and one that first was met with derision and scorn by the old guard, and now accepted as the most important work in egyptology of the 20th century. Rohl has single handedly rewritten history. The Discovery TV series did not do this book justice.

This is 425 pages packed with information, illustrations, charts, B & W photos, and color plates. The layout and typesetting is outstanding, something akin to a layered website. In this book British Egyptologist David Rohl produces convincing evidence that the accepted conventional ancient Egyptian chronology (especially the Third Intermediate Period) is out of sync with Egyptological and Archaeological evidence. The implications of this are immense, as ancient Egyptian chronology is the foundation for dating contemporary Asiatic and Levantine civilizations in a relative sense. Mr. Rohl demonstrates repeatedly that in this revised "New Chronology", Egyptian history and biblical narrative do indeed have common bonds, from the entrance of Jacob into Egypt to the Exodus of the Apiru (Hebrew) people under Moses. This is a fascinating read, but I caution that it gets a bit scholarly and complex at times. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the veracity of the Old Testament narratives vis-a-vis documented ancient Egyptian historicity.

Pharoahs and Kings takes the reader, step by step, through a great deal of research illuminating the "new chronology" which is the main theme of the work. The book is especially valuable to a person who has read through the Old Testament at least once: it presents archaeological evidence that affirms some of the biblical stories, and points out how archaeology may help illuminate some of the details of the Bible.

I am surprised tht Rohl's work has not been advertised much more widely. The book deseves an audience.

I was wondering why the Egyptian calendar, the Hebrew calendar and the Gregorian calendar differ so much. I knew that the Hebrew Calendar and Gregorian calendar differ because the Gregorian starts with the birth of Jesus (Yeshua). But why would the Egyptian and Hebrew differ so much? An acquaintance suggested this book. And was that person right on the money!! This book helps to calibrate the two calendars and poses some significant information about the Pharoahs mentioned in the Bible. This was like finding the Rosetta Stone! A must have!

Being an enthusiast of Biblical archaeology, I cannot recommend this book enough. Mr. Rohl's stunning discoveries and the theories he has developed are sure to keep the reader amazed and glued to this book. He does not set out on his mission to deliberately prove or disprove anything; his theories are well researched and supported by solid evidence. One of the books strongest points is the painstaking detail and research he applies to arriving a his conclusions. It is both a solid scientific work and an entertaining book. I understand it was banned by the British Museum. This is typical of the type of reactionary attitude taken by the scientific clique towards a brilliant researcher who takes a fresh, fair look at a field dominated by stagnant thinking based on the outdated and uniformed conclusions of other scientists who have researched this issue. Congratulations on an excellent work, Mr. Rohl.