The Templars and the Ark of the Covenant: The Discovery of the Treasure of Solomon [Paperback]

Graham Phillips (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2004

Offers compelling evidence that the Knights Templar may have taken the Ark of the Covenant to the British Isles

• Presents scientific evidence affirming the powers attributed to the Ark

• Traces the Ark and the Stones of Fire from Jerusalem to Jordan and finally to central England, where the Knights Templar hid them in the 14th century

According to legend the Ark of the Covenant was an ornate golden chest that was both a means of communicating with God and a terrible weapon used against the enemies of the ancient Israelites. In order to use it the high priest had to wear a breastplate containing twelve sacred gemstones called the Stones of Fire. These objects were kept in the Great Temple of Jerusalem until they vanished following the Babylonian invasion in 597 B.C.E.

At the ancient ruins of Petra in southern Jordan, Graham Phillips uncovered evidence that 13th-century Templars found the Ark and the Stones of Fire, and that they brought these treasures back to central England when they fled the persecution of French king Philip the Fair a century later. The author followed ciphered messages left by the Templars in church paintings, inscriptions, and stained glass windows to what may well be three of the Stones of Fire. When examined by Oxford University scientists these stones were found to possess odd physical properties that interfered with electronic equipment and produced a sphere of floating light similar to ball lightning.

The Bible asserts that the Ark had the power to destroy armies and bring down the walls of cities. Now Graham Phillips provides scientific evidence that these claims may be true and offers compelling documentation that the Ark may be located in the English countryside, not far from the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Like all Graham Phillips’ works, this book is well-researched, challenging, and a real page-turner. A must-have for readers with inquiring minds who love a quest.”
(Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince, authors of The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ )

“In this extraordinary historical quest Graham Phillips reveals powerful new evidence not only for the existence of the lost Ark, but also its final fate and last resting place. His incredible research blows away existing myths while at the same time painting an entirely new picture of an enigma that has baffled the world for over 3,000 years.”
(Andrew Collins, author of From the Ashes of Angels and Twenty-First Century Grail )

"Laced with Biblical quotations, filled with adventures that rival those of Indiana Jones, this book provides 'scientific evidence' that the Ark of the Covenant had the power to destroy armies and bring down the walls of cities, and that these claims may be true. . . . To this one, we can just say, 'Wow.'"
(

Ann LaFarge, Taconic Press, January, 2005

)

“. . . readers will not have to look further than Templars and the Ark of the Covenant for a briskly narrated series of credible speculations supported by physical evidence for perhaps the greatest discovery of its kind.”
(Frank Joseph, Fate, June 2005 )

". . . Phillips makes a very credible case, and his long and winding search for the truth makes for a gripping narative. Definitely a cut above many other books relating to the Templar mysteries. Quite fascinating."
(W. Ritchie Benedict, New Dawn, Nov-Dec 2005 )

From the Back Cover

HISTORY / ANCIENT MYSTERIES

“Like all Graham Phillips’ works, this book is well-researched, challenging, and a real page-turner. A must-have for readers with inquiring minds who love a quest.”
--Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince, authors of The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ

“In this extraordinary historical quest Graham Phillips reveals powerful new evidence not only for the existence of the lost Ark, but also its final fate and last resting place. His incredible research blows away existing myths while at the same time painting an entirely new picture of an enigma that has baffled the world for over 3,000 years.”
--Andrew Collins, author of From the Ashes of Angels and Twenty-First Century Grail

According to legend, the Ark of the Covenant was an ornate golden chest that was both a means of communicating with God and a terrible weapon used against the enemies of the ancient Israelites. In order to use it the high priest had to wear a breastplate containing twelve sacred gemstones called the Stones of Fire. These objects were kept in the Great Temple of Jerusalem until they vanished following the Babylonian invasion in 597 B.C.

At the ancient ruins of Petra in southern Jordan, Graham Phillips uncovered evidence that thirteenth-century Templars found the Ark and the Stones of Fire, and that they brought these treasures back to central England when they fled the persecution of French king Philip the Fair a century later. The author followed ciphered messages left by the Templars in church paintings, inscriptions, and stained glass windows to what may well be three of the Stones of Fire. When examined by Oxford University scientists these stones were found to possess odd physical properties that interfered with electronic equipment and produced a sphere of floating light similar to ball lightning.

The Bible asserts that the Ark had the power to destroy armies and bring down the walls of cities. Now Graham Phillips provides scientific evidence that these claims may be true and offers compelling documentation of where the Ark is located.

GRAHAM PHILLIPS is the author of Atlantis and the Ten Plagues of Egypt, The Chalice of Magdalene, and The Moses Legacy. He lives in Coventry, England.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Bear & Company (September 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591430399
• ISBN-13: 978-1591430391
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #520,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshingly different relic, February 3, 2005

By 

Jed Masey (Bozeman, Montana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Templars and the Ark of the Covenant: The Discovery of the Treasure of Solomon (Paperback)

With so many books being written about the Holy Grail at the moment, with the Da Vinci Code making the subject popular, it is refreshing to find one about another sacred artifact. Interestingly, although the Ark of the Covenant is clearly the most important relic mentioned in the Bible, it has been the Grail, or the cup of the Last Supper, which has attracted the most interest by historians and other researchers. In this book, Phillips examines the Ark - the gold chest that was supposed to perform miracles - and proposes some interesting ideas about how it might have worked. He also follows the trail of a group of twelfth-century Crusader knights who claim to have found it and re-hid it when they were persecuted by the Church. Personally, I am not sure that this was the right trail for the author to follow as there are a number of other possible scenarios for what may have happened to the Ark after it disappeared from the Temple of Solomon in Old Testament times. Nevertheless, Phillips does examine most of the other theories in his book, although not in as much detail as I would have liked. In particular: the theory that the Ark was taken to Ethiopia where it is still thought to reside. All the same, this is a well-written, easy to follow investigation, told in the first person with some remarkable adventures along the way.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History, mystery and the unexplained, February 1, 2005

By 

Dana (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Templars and the Ark of the Covenant: The Discovery of the Treasure of Solomon (Paperback)

Being an historian myself, I found this book interesting to say the least. The author does a great deal of original research tracing the various Ark of the Covenant legends. The trail he finally decides to follow takes him to Great Britain where the Knights Templars are rumored to have brought the Ark after discovering it at Mount Sinai (at least one mountain that may have been Mount Sinai) in the twelfth century. Once again, there is a great deal of new material here that the author has done much legwork uncovering. The book ends with an extraordinary quest to unravel a series of secret codes left by the Templars and their successors, and a series of what can only be termed supernatural events. I recently visited England and went to the sites involved and have to admit that everything is just as Graham Phillips describes. I'm not too sure what to make of the author and his companion's claims to have seen strange, floating balls of light in the area where the Templars are supposed to have hidden the Ark, but there do seem to be a lot of witnesses the phenomena. I actually spoke to some of them myself while there. This book takes a certain suspension of disbelief, but it is well worth the read. I found it a most enjoyable and well written historical mystery. It all sounds far more exciting than the kind of research I do.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish history had been like this at school, December 19, 2004

By 

darren coad (LA, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Templars and the Ark of the Covenant: The Discovery of the Treasure of Solomon (Paperback)

There has never been a book like this before. Archaeology and history are usually stuffy subjects which don't make exciting reading. Well, now that has all changed. This is a genuinely thrilling, first-hand account of the author's quest to discover the Ark of the Covenant and the other treasures that were once kept in the Temple of Solomon. Staring in Jerusalem, Phillips questions archaeologists and biblical scholars to piece together a trail of clues that lead to an ancient book kept in an underground shrine at the birthplace of Christ in Bethlehem. A passage in this sacred text then leads him to a mountain at Petra in Jordan where he discovers Arab accounts of a treasure found centuries ago by the Knights Templars. These crusader knights, he discovers, took these precious artifacts back to Britain where they built a chapel to house them - relics that were said to have included the Lost Ark and gemstones from the biblical breastplate of Aaron. Together with two American researchers, Phillips discovers a mysterious code left in a church stained-glass window, thought to reveal where the Templars eventually hid what they had brought back from the Middle East.

I won't give too much away, as the story is so exciting that it would be a shame to ruin the plot, but in the end a treasure is finally found - and under the most amazing circumstances. Although it reads like a Da Vinci code, this book is a true story, involving real protagonists and the places and clues involved in the quest are all there to be seen. Considering that there is supposed to be more of the treasure still to be found, I imagine that many others will soon be following the trail. This seems to be the buzz book in Europe at the moment. Don't let that put off American readers. There are Americans involved with the search - and it is an American girl who finally discovers the treasure.