Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ancient mysteries solved., October 3, 2000
At the beginning of this book Immanuel Velikovsky asks the intriguing, and quite reasonable, question: Why does the Oedipus legend have a sphinx outside of the Greek city of Thebes, when the sphinx is not part of Greek mythology? He then points out that Egypt, which has a very famous sphinx, also has a city named Thebes. Could the Oedipus legend be a Greek retelling of a historical event that took place in Egypt? From these speculations Velikovsky goes on to present an immense body of data and convincing interpretation of such data, to show that events and people surrounding the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, Akhnaton, correspond to the major elements and characters in the Oedipus story. This is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. I realize that many scientists are highly skeptical of Velikovsky's books showing various allegedly mythical stories to have a basis in historical evidence. I am a scientist with 43 years experience at a major research laboratory, and I find many of Velikovsky's positions to be both logical and based on sound historical and archeological evidence. Velikovsky was not a crackpot as some would claim; rather he was one of the most brilliant thinkers of the 20th century.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Velikovsky's Masterpiece, February 24, 2003
This book can be read separately from Velikovsky's other famous and controversial works like Worlds in Collision, Ages in Chaos or Peoples of the Sea as it is not dependent on the chronological sequence of the others. The reign of Akhnaton is considered one of the most interesting periods in the history of ancient Egypt and has inspired many books, but this work by Velikovsky still remains the most fascinating. As far as we know, the religious reform of Akhnaton was abolished, his line died out and his city was abandoned. Velikovsky attempts to elucidate the end of this king, the fate of his two young successors Smenkhare and Tutankhamen, the decline of the kingdom and the fate of Thebes, at the hand of the legends that came down to us from the Greeks. Although his work is controversial, in this book he makes a very strong case for the origin of the Oedipus myth being the true history of Akhnaton and his family. The mysterious relationships, the enigmatic sequence of events and the strange finds in the graves are no longer secret and obscure when illuminated by the legend. The known history in fact ties in perfectly with the details of the legend. Furthermore, the Oedipus legend does not fall into the category of myths that reflect events in nature, because its human character is too obvious. Whatever you think of Velikovsky's alternative history, this book is beautifully written, highly engaging and never less than fascinating in its scope and detail. He even identifies Antigone as Meritaten, the half-sister and wife of Smenkhare, partly based on a beautiful poem inscribed in gold foil that was found under the feet of a mummy in an undisturbed tomb. This moving prayer or word of parting ends with the lines: "Give me thy hands that hold thy soul/I shall embrace and live by it/Call me by name again, again, forever/And never will it sound without response." The text is illumined with 40 black & white plates, including limestone heads of Nefertete and Meritaten, gold coffins and masks of Tutankhamen, the sphinx and the Memmon colossi. "Oedipus and Akhnaton" is a must for those interested in ancient Egypt, in alternative history or in the origin of ancient myths and legends.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Word To Your Mother, December 29, 2000
For almost any other historian this book would be a masterpiece. Various lesser historians who are nonetheless better known generally fail to mention it, or when they do are dismissive and ignorant of its contents. Bob Brier actually refers to it in footnote, saying it should be taken with a grain of salt, as he builds a non-existent case for Tut's murder (see below).It was Velikovsky's work on this topic (actually a paper he was writing on Freud's "Moses and Monotheism") which led him ultimately to his multi-volume chronology revision, to the catastrophism documented in "Worlds In Collision", and the persecution by supposed scholars who have turned out to be -- shall we say -- less correct than Velikovsky. Even models which follow or mimic his works pale by comparison, and ultimately fail where they disagree and of course where they disavow. This book could serve as a sort of introduction to Velikovsky's other books. Once you've read it, you may not be able to read just one. 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", but suffers from the author's reliance on the conventional pseudochronology.
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by Immanuel Velikovsky
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