Pharaohs And Kings: A Biblical Quest

This is mi third copy and looks like I bought it brand new from a book store. I gave my last two copies away and realized the information in here is too valuable to be without. David Rohl makes Indiana Jones look Boring

When I first begin my study of the Bible, I had purchased another book on archaeology and the first thing I realized is that nothing fit. The time of Solomon was impoverishment in Israel. When you read the Bible Solomon was the richest king ever. David Rohl's book Pharaohs and Kings changed all that. He persuasively shows where the chronology is wrong and when corrected things fall into place. What is commonly called the old testament comes to life. It is the greatest book on Biblical Archaeology ever written. Thank you David !!!

In "Pharoahs And Kings", author David Rohl offers the reader a stunning new interpretation of the events of the ancient world in Egypt and the Levant. In doing so, he ties in Biblical events to their proper place in history. This is a stunning reordering of events and personalities and brings both Egyptian and Biblical history to a much closer synchronization.The book begins in Egypt where Rohl lays out his evidence for condensing the chronology of Egypt. Though we use AD/BC as a method of numbering our years, the ancients did not do so and used regnal dates ("In the third year of Pharoah So-And-So's reign, something happened."). By counting all Pharoahs and their reign lengths, historians felt they had a handle on when, according to our dating system, things happened. When they did so, they discovered the events portrayed in the Bible didn't match. When they date Solomon's reign in Israel to the Iron Age, for example, they find economic development to be poor - a far cry from the Biblical accounts of Solomon's reign as a flowering of culture and rich in trade. Likewise, Jericho's walls did not fall in the time period most historians would place the Exodus and entrance into the Levant of the Hebrews. Therefore, the Biblical accounts are simply myth, nothing more.David Rohl is a historian, not a religious believer and his point of view is as a historian. His focus is to find a more accurate timeline for the events in the ancient Middle East. He begins in Egypt because that is his area of expertise and he gives convincing arguements for re-ordering the events of Egypt. The clincher, for me, was the tombs of Tanis (among other inconsistencies in the conventional dating such as the number of Apis Bulls) in which the tomb of Psusennes I cuts into the tomb of King Oskoron II and was obviously built after the tomb of Oskoron II. The problem? Oskoron II was from the 22nd dynasty while Psusennes was from the 21st! It is quite obviously reversed! Rohl's conclusion is that two dynasties were contemporary and that about 140 years needs to be removed from the timeline of Egypt.When this is done, events in the Levant match the events in the Old Testament very closely. In the New Chronology, Jericho falls just when the Hebrews are entering Canaan according to the Bible. Solomon's Israel is now placed in the Late Bronze Age where there is evidence of prosperous cities and flourishing trade. There is evidence of mentions of both Saul and David in the Amarna Letters.This was a page turner and Rohl's work, although controversial, is backed up by fact and evidence. There is less evidence for some of his conclusions than others (in my mind), but it is well researched and never strays from a scholarly interpretation of the evidence written and on the ground.I actually enjoyed this book! David Rohl writes in a very engaging fashion, often using humor. His writing skill keeps subjects that may seem dull very frsh and exciting. He often uses humor and engages the reader, challenges the reader and forces the reader to think. This is not the usual dry tome on archeology that puts you to sleep! He assists the reader with many and high quality photos and drawings of the evidence and includes "side bars" with definitions and explanations in the margins to help the layman navigate the technical aspects of history and archeology without getting bogged down and overwhelmed.This is a fine book and more than deserving of five stars. It's a very eye-opening and interesting read that doesn't seem like a college textbook. Instead, he challenges the reader while entertaining at the same time. I recommend this book with five stars!

A friend loaned me his copy and I couldn't put it down. Very well written and extremely informative. Why conventional Egyptology doesen't attempt to adhere to the obvious evidences I will never understand. After returning my friends copy to him I not only bought one for myself but have purchased others for friends and family. This book is especially helpful for one who is interested in understanding which Old Testament persons are being referenced in various accounts.Moses did not deal with Raamses the Great

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.

Excellent book, scolarly and truthful. If you are open minded to an earlier timeline, it is fascinating .Those who are critical have the right to be so, but those who attack and berate the author should be ashamed of themselves, because they are not open minded .

I feel privileged to have this excellent book in my hands. David Rohl is a respected archaeologist, who is taking the Biblical Texts seriously, and proposing a new Chronology, authentic and scientifically based, which gives a basis for the timing of Joseph in Egypt, and the Exodus, to name but two. His work has been covered in a series of television programmes, some years ago. A book to value.

wow . Challenging interesting read.

ok

good