(Algora, 2006)
Empire of Thebes constitutes Volume 3 of Ages in Alignment. Here we revisited much of the territory covered by Immanuel Velikovsky in his ground-breaking Ages in Chaos (1952).
As with Ages in Chaos, Empire of Thebes deals primarily with the period of Egypt’s mighty Eighteenth Dynasty, which is revealed – just as Velikovsky believed – to be contemporary with the time of the Early Monarchy of Israel. Yet Velikovsky made a number of crucial errors in Ages in Chaos, and these are identified and corrected. Furthermore, where he got it right, he missed a great deal of evidence in his favour. This was the case, for example, with his identification of Hatshepsut, the great female “pharaoh” of the Eighteenth Dynasty, with the Queen of Sheba; the mysterious monarch who visited King Solomon in Jerusalem. Empire of Thebes brings forth a great body of new evidence powerfully supporting this pivotal identification. Where Velikovsky got it wrong, as for example with his chapters on the Amarna Letters, we find that he was not far wrong; and that Ages in Chaos needed fine tuning rather than complete rejection, as happened. So, for example, the Amarna Letters were not written during the time (as Velikovsky believed) of Jehoshaphat and Ahab, but a generation earlier, in the time of Asa and Baasha.
(2nd. ed. Algora, 2007. An earlier edition was published in England in 1999)
The Pyramid Age, Volume 2 of Ages in Alignment, takes up the story of Egyptian history where we left off in The Genesis of Israel and Egypt.
The pyramids of Egypt, particularly those at Giza, are among the wonders of the world. How and why these majestic monuments were raised has long intrigued scholars and laymen alike. That they were not designed as tombs is evident from the facts disclosed by excavation and by the testimony of ancient authors such as Herodotus and Diodorus. That they were connected with the cult of the sun-god is evident from the fact that the Pyramid Texts are full of praise for Ra-Atum, the sun god. And we know that the Great Pyramid was originally surmounted by a capstone covered in gold leaf. As the first rays of the sun touched the top of the monument in the morning, rays of light shone from it like a mighty light-house. The Pyramid Texts speak of a terrible battle between Ra-Atum, the light, and the forces of darkness.
(2nd. ed. Algora, 2007. An earlier edition was published in New York in 2000)
Ramessides, Medes and Persians completes Ages in Alignment. Here we find that the mighty Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt belongs in the sixth century BC, and that it came to a close with the Persian Invasion. A detailed examination of the hieroglyphic sources from the period show that Amenmesis, one of the final Nineteenth Dynasty pharaohs, was none other than Amasis, whose reign marked the end of Egyptian independence. A later ruler of that period, Seti II (Ineru-emtawnebu), is revealed to be identical to Inaros, the Egyptian patriot who battled against the Persian kings Xerxes and Artaxerxes I, and eventually suffered impalement at the insistence of Artaxerxes’ mother Amestris.
Ramessides, Medes and Persians also looks in detail at the question of Mesopotamian chronology, and shows how the later Neo-Assyrian kings, beginning with Tiglath-Pileser III, are identical to the Persian Great Kings. Thus Tiglath-Pileser III is an alter-ego of Cyrus the Great, whilst Sargon II is the same person as Darius Hystaspes and Sennacherib is Xerxes. The Egyptian king Sethos, who, according to Herodotus, battled against Sennacherib, is therefore one and the same as Seti II of the late Nineteenth Dynasty.
(Algora, 2009)
Gods, Heroes and Tyrants may be regarded as a supplementary volume to the Ages in Alignment series. Here it is shown, using a wide variety of archaeological and written evidence, that the great age of Mycenae – the time of the Age of Heroes and the Trojan War – rightly belongs in the eighth and seventh centuries BC. The Trojan War itself, the most renowned exploit of the Greek heroes, is revealed to have occurred sometime near 710 BC, and this explains why Homer could mention Phrygians – a nation which did not exist before circa 750 BC – as allies of the Trojans.
Gods, Heroes and Tyrants explores the archaeology of early Greece in some detail; and we find that the culture and artwork commonly called “Mycenaean” was not, originally, Greek at all. The Mycenaean work was produced by Cretan and Cycladic artists imported into mainland Greece by the powerful Achaean warlords of the Peloponnese and Attica during the second half of the eighth and the first half of the seventh centuries BC. This style and culture then existed side by side with the native Greek culture, known as “Geometric,” for about two hundred years.
(2nd. ed. Algora, 2008. An earlier edition was published in England in 1997)
The Genesis of Israel and Egypt, Volume 1 of Ages in Alignment, examines the beginnings of literate civilization in the Near East. It is shown that the early civilizations of the region arose in the wake of a great natural catastrophe, the evidence for which is extensive, though now misinterpreted and ignored. The appearance of temple-building and priest-kingship was intimately connected to this catastrophe, and the impulse to erect high places for sacrifice (“altars”) delivered to mankind the first architecture, mathematics, and record-keeping.
After a detailed examination of these questions, The Genesis of Israel and Egypt goes on to trace the story of the great migration which, following a further natural catastrophe, led groups of early Mesopotamians westwards towards Egypt, where they helped establish Egyptian civilization. This migration, recalled in the biblical story of Abraham, provides the first link between Egyptian and Hebrew histories; and it is shown in detail how Menes, the first pharaoh (who initiates the custom of circumcision) is to be placed alongside Abraham, who also initiates the custom of circumcision. The fact that a thousand years are normally supposed to have separated these characters reveals an enormous error in textbook chronology.
Arthur and Stonehenge, examines the consequences of the Ages in Alignment thesis for British history and prehistory. Stonehenge, the most iconic prehistoric monument of western Europe, is revealed to have been erected during the eighth century BC., when the ruling elite of south-west Britain acquired immense wealth and prestige as a result of the tin trade. It is shown that, just as the ancient historians always maintained, Britain was the major source of the tin used by the early civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean. Indeed, it was almost certainly in Britain, in Cornwall and Devon, that men first learned to produce tin bronze.
Stonehenge occupied a prominent position in British folklore, which claimed that the monument was erected by Merlin. Arthur and Stonehenge shows how the entire Arthurian legend belongs in the same epoch as the myths and legends of Greece, namely the ninth to seventh centuries BC. Arthur himself is revealed to be the primeval Celtic deity Artos, the Bear God, a Hercules-figure who originally wore a bearskin over his head and shoulders and held a club in his hand. Arthur’s Round Table, which tradition insisted was fashioned by Merlin (as was Stonehenge), is revealed to be Stonehenge itself. The monument, as it originally appeared – with all the uprights and lintels in place – would have looked like a great round table with twelve legs. And the Sword in the Stone is a reference to the technique by which the early bronze-smiths of western Britain produced swords. The molten bronze was poured into a stone mould, and the finished weapon was extracted, fully formed, from the stone.
Atlantis: The Evidence of Science looks at one of the most enduring mysteries of ancient history from the point of view of Ages in Alignment. Here we find that, just as Plato insisted, there once existed, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, an archipelago of small islands which acted as “stepping stones” between the Old World and the New. One island of the mid-Atlantic archipelago, centred upon the region of the Azores, was slightly larger than the rest – about the size of Ireland – and this was the “Atlantis” of legend. Both Atlantis itself and the other islands were sunk beneath the waves during the catastrophes of the Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages, when large areas of land were submerged even in non-volcanic regions such as the British isles and Scandinavia.