History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

The New Testament Code: The Cup of the Lord, the Damascus Covenant, and the Blood of Christ

Average customer rating:

Landmark Work on Early Christianity
Eight years in the making and partly reads like a draft...
New Testament Code
An Excellent Sequel to James Brother of Jesus
The Definitive Work on the Implications of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The New Testament Code: The Cup of the Lord, the Damascus Covenant, and the Blood of Christ
Robert Eisenman
Manufacturer: Watkins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1842931865

Book Description

It’s finally here – world-renowned scholar and best-selling author Robert Eisenman’s long-awaited sequel to James the Brother of Jesus. Is there an interconnecting code behind the New Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls? 1,000 pages of new research shows that there is. There are many ‘Code’s and ‘Code’ Books – some imaginary, some products of wishful thinking, and some even fraudulent; but ‘the Code’ in Professor Eisenman’s new book The New Testament Code: The Cup of the Lord, the Damascus Covenant, and the Blood of Christ really exists.

In identifying the Scrolls as the literature of “the Messianic Movement in Palestine,” Robert Eisenman – who broke the monopoly over the Dead Sea Scrolls and was the first to identify “the James Ossuary” as a fraud – demonstrates the integral relationship of James the brother of Jesus to the Righteous Teacher of the Dead Sea Scrolls, ‘decoding’ many famous and beloved sayings in the Gospels, such as “Every Plant which My Heavenly Father has not planted shall be uprooted,” “Do not throw Holy Things to dogs,” “A man shall not be known by what goes into his mouth but, rather, by what comes out of it,” “Even the dogs eat the crumbs under the table,” and “These are the signs that the Lord did in Cana of Galilee.”

In doing so, he deciphers the way the picture of “Jesus” was put together in the Gospels, in the process clarifying the real history of Palestine in the First Century and, as a consequence, what can be known about the real “Jesus” of that time. At the same time he unravels the real code behind a pivotal New Testament allusion like “This is the Cup of the New Covenant in my Blood,” connecting it to “the New Covenant in the Land of Damascus” and “drinking the Cup of the Wrath of God” in the Dead Sea Scrolls; and uncovers the Truth about what really happened in Palestine at that time, not what the enemies of those making war against Rome wanted people to think happened.

Offering a thorough point-by-point analysis of James’ relationship to the Dead Sea Scrolls, he illumines such subjects as the “Pella Flight,” “the Wilderness Camps,” and Paul as “Herodian,” exposing Peter’s true historical role as “a prototypical Essene” who was used in the Gospels and the Book of Acts as a mouthpiece for aboriginal Anti-Semitism. In making these arguments and exposing these overwrites, a crucial new point that emerges is his identification of the Dead Sea Scrolls document known as the MMT as a ‘Jamesian’ Letter to the person the Early Church Fathers identify as “the Great King of the Peoples beyond the Euphrates.”

The crowning point of his arguments is his final exposition of the relationship of “the New Covenant in the Land of Damascus” of the Dead Sea Scrolls to “the Last Supper” in the Gospels and “the Cup” connected to both. Did Paul know the meaning of the famous Damascus Document (discovered in a Synagogue Repository in Old Cairo in 1897), “to set the Holy Things up according to their precise specifications” – or the reverse of it, as Peter was presented as discovering in the Books of Acts – “to make no distinctions between Holy and profane”? The final mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls as they relate to Peter, Paul, and James will be elucidated. Eisenman’s many readers will not be disappointed.

Customer Reviews:

Landmark Work on Early Christianity .......2007-08-21

Professor Eisenmen has produced a landmark work that will be referred to for decades to come. This book is for readers who are serious about understanding the first fifty years after the crucifixion and how traditional Christianity has avoided the message of the Dea Sea Scrolls (DSS). Only a professional and dedicated researcher like Profesor Eisenman could hold his readers by the hand and lead them through the maze of the traditional Christian spin of the past two thousand years. The traditional Christian movement will attack the evidence so artfully consolidated by Eisenmen. Their only other choice is to open their closed minds to the first century evidence provided by the Dea Sea Scrolls and many other collaborating first century records.

Eisenman meticulous presentation mirrors the complexity of the subject matter. In this regard, the significance of several sections of the book may remain partially unappreciated, unless the reader is well versed with the large diversity of early Christian records. The bottom line is that Eiseneman proves that Pauline Christianity as we know it today is largely a convoluted blend of the authentic teachings of the enlightened Jesus and the flawed beliefs of the historical figure know as the Apostle Paul. It will come as a shock to most readers that Eisenman proves that Paul was adversary of the inner circle of Jesus; an adversary who never met the living Jesus. Paul's version of Christianty is based primarily on his alleged psychic visions and was in opposition to the views of the real Apostles and the family of the enlightend Jesus. The underlying message of Eisenman is as follows: Who do you want to agree with, the inner circle of Master Jesus or some Greek named Paul, who never the enlightened Jesus?

Many, including the most respected members of Christian acedamia, will quickly dismiss the comprehensive case presented by Eisenman. This is unfortunate but expected given the brain washing that has been perpetrated by the traditional Christian movement for the past two thousand years. The foundation of the traditional Christian movement is largely based on the flawed Pauline perspective that dominates the New Testament. How can someone who never met the enlightened Jesus and who obtained the title of apostle only by self appointment, author 13 of the 27 documents that comprise the foundation of Christianity, New Testament? In addition, it is commonly accepted that Paul wrote his flawed epistles well before the balance of the other documents that comprise the New Testament. Thus, Paul's flawed perspective had a polluitng and conditioning effect on most of the documents within the New Testament. Paul was an expert at placing his primitive religious beleifs into the mouth of the enlightened Jesus. This erroneous practiced was unfortunately copied by most of the other authors of the New Testament.

Ever since the Catholic Church lost its control on the Christian movement, approximately 400 years ago, couragous researchers have searched for the authentic Jesus; the enlightend Jesus that is camoflaged by the primitive beleifs of Pauline Christianity. Professor Eisenman has not found all of the authentic teachings of the enlightened Jesus. However, he has proved via the DSS that the traditioanl Pauline based version of Christianity is a primitive hoax. Professor Eisenmen has shown the world that it is time to seperate the Pauline Christian foundation, along with the spin of the past two thousand years, from the authentic teachings of the enlightened Jesus. For this the entire Christian movement owes Professor Eisenman its gratitude and thanks.

The author of this review has been looking for the authentic Jesus, or more accurately called Joshua ben Joseph, for many years. As odd as this may sound, the enlightened Jesus was never called Jesus while He was alive. Jesus is Greek name used by Paul, who was a product of the primitive Greek culture. Everyone who knew the living Jesus called Him by His Judaic name, "Joshua". In any case, hundreds of books later its very disturbing to learn that the historical records are not consistent with the message of traditional Pauline Chriatinity. "All" of our Christian leaders have access to a considerable amount of information that proves that their Pauline version of Christianity is seriously flawed, and yet they continue to regurgitate tradtional Christian spin. This is very unfortunate and a dis-service to their Christian congregations. One day new Christian leaders will arrive and demonstrate the maturity and courage to emphasize what we know about Master Joshua, as opposed to the primitive teachings of Paul.

I would like to exprees my sincere thanks to Professor Eisenmam for his many books and years of research. He has endured decades of immature criticism and reidicule from the traditioanl Christian movement. It is time for our Christian leaders to open their minds, their hearts and their souls to the evidence contained within the Dead Sea Scrolls. In doing so they will recognize the mistakes of the past two thouusand years. This is the path to the authentic teachings of the enlightened Joshua ben Joseh.

Eight years in the making and partly reads like a draft..........2007-03-02

While the publisher may have thought the title a good way to cash in on a current buzz word, "The New Testament Code (NTC) is anything but an entertaining read. This is an exercise in "Form- und Redaktiongeschichte" - that is, a formal analysis of the New Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls and other ancient texts, broken down into snippets and compared, in the search for interdependencies.

I've done my share of reading dry, scholarly works. I believe those addressed to a wider audience should stand on their own feet. Nonetheless I had to pull out Hans Jonas' "The Gnostic Religion," for the first time in 25 years to get a decent idea of that Hidden Adam terminology mentioned by Eisenman innumerable times in both his more recent books but always hardly doing more than stating, over and over, the existence of this "word form" (and idea) Hidden Adam in various ancient Near East sources. While reading Jonas' crystal clear description of what was this Adamite "Christology" (based on the surviving remnant stemming from John the Baptist), I was reminded of how distillation of facts into lucid wisdom should be mastered by every scholar before attempting to communicate outside the specialists' journals.

Now that the material is out - and for this important dirty work and for grasping much of the Big Picture Eisenman deserves full credit - could someone with some dramaturgical talent please sum up his previous work, "James, the brother of Jesus", and NTC in one handy and readable volume? My patience was a bit tested by "James" but NTC plunges headlong into pedantic word for word exegesis for pages on end. This is deep stuff for specialists, not for even an interested layman. Just as with "James" 300 pages could have told the same story to much, much better effect.

I also object to a certain shallowness while hunting down the literary "forms", that is, the individual words or phrases, needed by the author to connect one text with another and so prove the fabricated, unhistorical nature of the New Testament. There are spectacular hits but too often these are offset by unconvincing parallels, weakening the author's overall argument. A case in point, beginning with "James," is the form "standing." What sundry items the author has grouped under the theme "stand up!" Resurrection of the dead, a "standing" which denotes no more than "hanging out with other people," not to mention uses referring to standing up from one's sleeping quarters! Can one build a case from such a mixed bag?

Luckily, in a sufficient number of cases Eisenman does zoom out far enough to establish validity relative to context, thereby revealing significant and interesting patterns, for example when comparing the sequencing of several events described in the Talmud, and how they appear in the same order in one of the Gospels.

Arguing (correctly, I think) for a common provenance of all the Dead Sea scriptures, I found it telling that Eisenman, wishing to vindicate the men of Qumran for all the wrongs done them by Paul, the personified villain of this historical reconstruction (and Christianity at large), did not see it fit to include the Dead Sea horoscopes in his picture, how this movement eugenically ranked individuals in ways seemingly not so dissimilar from the Nazi view on race! Not only were the blind and maimed excluded (because of the presence of angels in the community), but against Eisenman's assertion that God put into Man the two spirits of Light and Darkness into "equal parts" (p. 860), the horoscopes (written in cipher since this was personal and sensitive materials) says something else. Some members were ranked very low, consisting as they did of mostly the satanic spirit, this poor inner condition also reflected in physical shortcomings! Remember Paul's being self-conscious about having some sort a physical handicap? This is eminently understandably in the light of the Essenes peculiar methods of admitting and grading new members.

Twenty years from now on, Eisenman's exaggerated picture of the bad guy Paul and the good people at Qumran, thrilling and undoubtedly largely correct as it is, will have given way to a broadened picture which takes account of more materials than those key passages so badly overused by Eisenman for this first (and important) draft of the true story. Perhaps then we will better realize why Jesus DID socialize with drunkards and the physically less than perfect. Ultimately Eisenman's reconstruction may turn out to be a bit simplistic.

The writing style is uneven (sometimes flowing, sometimes totally stuck in an indigestible mess of textual references) and the aforementioned repetitiousness mind-numbing. One can clearly make out the stages in the creation of the book, the first 170 or so pages entirely dispensable if you've read "James." If anything, this recapitulation messes up some of the more eloquent passages and muddies some points of the first 1000 page tome. A study on Talmudic parallels to New Testament character Nicodemus follows, as does much but inconclusive talk on sundry dog symbolism. This is obvious filler to create a sequel as fat as the first volume, because in the foreword Eisenman makes clear he had about 500 pages prepared already back in 1998 and these we find beginning at page 551. This book was eight years in the making and large portions read like a draft. Where were the editors?

Perhaps if I had not belatedly read "James" only months before I would have given this four stars, but the story was pretty much told already in the prequel even though the detailed analysis of some Dead Sea Scrolls, central to the thesis, appear only in NTC. Truth is, what should have been the grand final (for those unacquainted with the previous volume), was given away beforehand, in a piecemeal fashion, in this book too. The final 200 pages were not worth the close reading ultra-compact text of this kind necessitates.

As one anonymous commentator of the Chinese Classic of Changes (I Ching) said in late antiquity:

"The words of a man who plans revolt are confused... excited men use many words. The words of men of good fortune are few."
(Ta Chuan, The Great Exposition, XII, 7, the Wilhem/Baynes translation)

New Testament Code.......2007-02-11

This book was a nice work of fiction, but it is by no means an accurate portrayal of early Judaism and Christianity. Any Jewish or Christian scholar understands this. But, Eisenmann, a scholar? Such an autobiography could make even greater fiction!

An Excellent Sequel to James Brother of Jesus.......2007-02-07

This book starts where James Brother of Jesus left off. Excellent analysis and documentation. The only flaw in this book is its analysis of Islam. This just shows that a scholar could excel in a particular field and be deficient in another. Dr. Eisenman is definitely an expert on Jewish Christian origins but not Islam

The Definitive Work on the Implications of the Dead Sea Scrolls.......2006-12-21

The New Testament Code is the continuation (conclusion?) of Robert Eisenman's thesis of the ambience of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The patience of Eisenman's adherents, who have long waited for the release of the present volume, will be rewarded with the extraordinary scholarship, research, interpretations, and perspicaciousness which continually characterize his endeavors. His thesis is at variance with the majority who are determined to construct their exegesis of the Scrolls in the Maccabean era-- beginning in the mid-2nd Century BC. That upon which these results are based is not in harmony with this time period. He explores assumptions that others have not pursued nor considered. The notion that the movement of those associated with the Scrolls was one of passivity, tranquility, and isolation is dismissed.

The Scrolls are representative of the theological mindset of the Messianic Movement that developed in Palestine before it became usurped and amalgamated into one that conveyed a Hellenistic god-tale and allegorical mythologizing under the name of Christianity. Eisenman identifies many who appear to have been the originators of the Gentile version of the Messianic Movement as having affiliation with the Herodians who were granted rule over Palestine by the Romans. There were four cities that bore the name Antioch which increased the potential for not only expanding the geographical sphere of the New Testament narrative, but by also increasing the number of individuals who might be involved in it. The faction of those who represented the Scrolls, as well as those responsible for the theology of the New Testament, were not only aware of one another, but were also in opposition. This is astutely documented from the scroll Peshers (commentaries) and texts in the New Testament.

Far too many writers and commentators of the Scrolls are simply content to analyze the content, and comment on the "uniqueness." The impression is that from the Palestinian Jewish matrix of ideas, phrases and terminologies that developed, they found their way into the New Testament. The dominant impression is that most of what was associated with Qumran developed in a geographical Petri dish, despite its close proximity to Jerusalem and other Palestinian locales. Eisenman presents a movement whose effects reached the regions from the Levant to southern Iraq. More importantly it was a movement that flourished contemporaneously with the events depicted in the New Testament--the 1st Century C.E. The "internal data" presented by Eisenman, as implements to assist in the dating of the Scrolls, is in opposition with the 2nd Century B.C. renderings of Carbon-14 tests and paleography. The accuracy of Eisenman's data brings into question the scientific impartiality involved. This internal data includes allusions to the New Covenant, pollution of the temple, the House of Judgment, the fallen tabernacle of David, doing according to the precise letter of the Law, the last generation, the righteous living by faith (salvation by faith), the delay of Parousia, the house of his exile, the Cup of Blood/Damascus, and references to fornication and niece marriage, soldiers venerating their standards and worshiping their weapons of war, and a scroll fragment that seems to contain the name of a High Priest who held his position 46-47 C.E. Eisenman also conveys various circumstances described in the Habakkuk Pesher as being consistent with events surrounding the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. All of which revolve around the 1st Century.

The "code" employed in the New Testament was disinformation, overwrite, and even name changes. It disqualified Jews from its eschatological allusions and enfranchised Gentile believers. Its "history" was sanitized and even distorted. The plethora of names that abound in the New Testament of individuals, incidents, and locations, are scrutinized with similar names and instances in the works of Josephus, the Talmud, and the early Christian Church writers to elicit the significance. The homophonic transfers of names from one language to another reveal that with which other Scroll writers have not dealt. Pentecost was of significance to the covenanters of the Scrolls as well as in the New Testament. The enigmatic personages of the Teacher of Righteousness, the Wicked Priest, and the Spouter of Lies are identified. The Cup of the Lord represents far more than Divine vengeance. Elements associated with the Teacher of Righteousness appear to have been absorbed into descriptions pertaining to Jesus. The paradigm for all traitors, Judas Iscariot, becomes less of a betrayer and one more identifiable with a faction within a movement.

There is a measure of redundancy which appears aimed more toward the reinforcement of the concepts and ideas involved as the reader can easily become overwhelmed by the multitude of imagery, metaphors and transformations that exist between the Scrolls and the New Testament. The relegation of footnotes to an online site is disconcerting to those who regularly examine the sources involved and additional commentary. It should be noted that any such criticism is to be born by the publisher. The paramount importance of this dissertation is that it presents evidence that the movement portrayed in the New Testament no longer was one that could claim the exclusive rights to originality, but had as its antecedent a Messianic faction that flourished at the same time period and in the same vicinity. The content of the Dead Sea Scrolls not only supported the precedent for a Christ, but it also anticipated many of the texts in which the historical Jesus existed, and it helped provide the theological matter from which the Messiah of the New Testament was developed. Evidence is presented of a New Testament that distorted history to vilify those who were the impetus for the Messianic movement in Palestine of First Century.

This is the definitive opus on the Dead Sea Scrolls and their affect on those from which Christianity originated. It is a departure from the "scholarly consensus," which has been more concerned with propriety than implication. The Scrolls were said to be the greatest historical discovery of the Twentieth Century. The New Testament Code is the personification of that declaration.

Average customer rating:

damascus for serious people

Damascus
Gerard Degeorge
Manufacturer: Flammarion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Reference | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

Syria | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 2080304569
Release Date: 2005-03-01

Book Description

With over 300 original photographs, as well as charts, architectural plans, and reproductions of engravings and ancient watercolors, Damascus provides a rich and thorough introduction to the architectural and archeological history of one of the world's great cities. Weaving together aspects of history, sociology, religion, and law, Degeorge presents a unique perspective on the sights and monuments, allowing the reader a global view and a tangible sense of the successive civilizations in order to understand their mysteries.

In the introduction, the natural history and geography of the region are explored— elements crucial for a deeper understanding of Damascus's place on the world map and its situation on the major commercial routes. Relations with the West (the Greek and Roman empires, the Crusades, and French Imperialism) are broadly addressed, both in the acts and deeds of the people, as well as the perspective of Western travelers, businessmen, and political figures. Degeorge also includes the impressions and observations of nearby residents of the Mahgreb, Syria, and other members of the Orient, departing from the uniquely ethnocentric point of view that often dominates studies of the region.

Customer Reviews:

damascus for serious people.......2006-11-15

Serious in depth review of Damascus ,Syria. Excellent pictuers for a price.The book is expensive but worth the money if you like hard cover.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

Average customer rating:

Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Medieval | World | History | Subjects | Books

German | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Russian | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Spanish | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Chinese | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Mythology & Folklore | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Controversial Knowledge | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

History | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Celtic | Earth-Based Religions | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Magic & Wizards | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

History | Fashion | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

The New Damascus Document: The Midrash On The Eschatological Torah Of The Dead Sea Scrolls: Reconstruction, Translation And Commentary (Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah)

Average customer rating:

The New Damascus Document: The Midrash On The Eschatological Torah Of The Dead Sea Scrolls: Reconstruction, Translation And Commentary (Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah)
Ben Zion Wacholder
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Judaism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

History | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Bible & Other Sacred Texts | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 9004141081

Book Description

This volume examines twelve ancient and medieval manuscripts, ten from the caves at Qumran and the two so called Damascus Documents from the Cairo Geniza, presenting a new organization and understanding of these texts. The twelve manuscripts are in a composite form under the title Midrash haTorah haAcharon (MTA), the Midrash of the Eschatological Torah, a title which opens a new window into the understanding of the Jewish literary tradition during the period of the Second Temple, prior to the development of the Talmud and Christianity. Following the composite Hebrew text are a full translation, notes and commentary elucidating the MTA in light of the new evidence provided by these texts and retranslation.

Damas: Des origines aux Mamluks (Comprendre le Moyen-Orient)

Average customer rating:

Damas: Des origines aux Mamluks (Comprendre le Moyen-Orient)
Gerard Degeorge
Manufacturer: L'Harmattan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

Syria | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

French | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

History | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

Nonfiction | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 2738452337

The Damascus Affair: 'Ritual Murder', Politics, and the Jews in 1840

Average customer rating:

The Damascus Affair: 'Ritual Murder,'...

The Damascus Affair: 'Ritual Murder', Politics, and the Jews in 1840
Jonathan Frankel
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Syria | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0521483964

Book Description

In February of 1840, an Italian monk and his servant disappeared in Damascus. Many Jews in that city were charged with ritual murder and tortured until they confessed. The case turned into a cause célèbre across much of the Western world and produced an explosion of polemics, fantastic theories, and strange projects. This book, the first since 1840, assesses the affair as a factor in European and Jewish politics of the time, a chapter in Jewish history and historiography, and the stuff of radically conflicting myths that eventually led to the Holocaust and the establishment of the Israeli state.

Customer Reviews:

The Damascus Affair: 'Ritual Murder,'..........2001-07-29

Frankel, professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has rescued a small but key event of modern history from ill-deserved obscurity. In a very impressive and well-written account, he tells what happened in Damascus after an Italian monk and his servant disappeared in February 1840. The newly-arrived but powerful French consul, Ratti-Menton, developed an ýentirely manufacturedý thesis of Jewish ritual murder that the local government in large part accepted, leading to the imprisonment, torture, and death of many Damascene Jews, followed by similar tribulations throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

But the real impact of the Damascus Affair, Frankel shows, lay in Europe, where it led to a formidable backlash against Jews, the greatest in years. Jews found themselves completely unprepared for the tribulations they suffered but learned from this tragedy to organize and lobby, and from it came the first stirrings of modern Jewish solidarity, the basis of the formidable institutions that followed. Frankel provides a particularly impressive review of the reactions to the far-away and long-ago events of his study, showing just how the to-and-froing between the Middle East and Europe on the matter of Jews became a major issue for all concerned. In many ways, he shows, the grounds for the Westýs involvement today in the Middle East were set in the terrible events of 1840.

Middle East Quarterly, September 1998

Average customer rating:

Courage, personified

Our Man in Damascus : Elie Cohn

Manufacturer: Steimatzsky
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Israel | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000B3C0S6

Product Description

Trade paperback by Steimatzsky, 1969. Printed in Israel. Elie Cohn was hanged from a hook in Martyr's Square, Damascus. The execution was carried live by the Syrian tv network. He had been Israel's greatest spy - a man who had penetrated the highest eschelons of the Syrian government, and its President, El-Hafez, considered him an intimate friend. True story. Photo of the hanging on the front cover. 143 pp

Customer Reviews:

Courage, personified.......2007-02-17

Elie Cohn was an extraordinary man, willing to sacrifice his life for the welfare of Israel and the Jewish people. His journey into a double life, as Kamel Amin Tabet, began innocently enough in spring, 1960, when a gentleman from the Israeli defense department visited him in his accounting office at Central Distributors.

Born and raised in Egypt, Cohn had suffered his share of hardships, including his forced 1955 flight from the country--with nothing. Two of his friends had been hanged. Now, however, he embarked upon a trip to Argentina, where he played the role of an expatriate Syrian businessman, and soon ingratiated himself with a series of Arab emissaries, including Amin Al-Hafez, who later became Syria's Ba'athist president.

By 1964, Elie Cohn was in Syria, where he worked his way up into the elite, and nearly became a Syrian government minister.

Thus, Cohn learned of that Syria entertained many grave military plans to attack Israel, which it had sworn to destroy. Always ready with wine, women and funds for the greedy Syrian leadership cliques, Cohn obtained visits to secret army installations overlooking Israel's borders, and learned of nefarious plans. In the early mornings, he telegraphed details to Israel on equipment he had smuggled in via baksheesh.

Cohn was caught only in early 1965, when he was near becoming a Syrian government minister. Now, his erstwhile friend El-Hafez demonstrated his brutal tyranny; he denied all international appeals for clemency. After a kangaroo trial, Asad's government hanged Elie Cohn in a public square, allowing his body to swing for six hours to appease Syrian desires for Jewish blood.

The world community was shocked, and equally horrified by Syria's refusal even to return Cohn's body to his family in Israel.

The outcome is known before one even begins this 140-page real-life thriller. Still, one cannot stop turning the pages. The book is easily read in a single sitting, but the emotional impact is as great as that of many masterwork novels. Readers will not leave this sitting with dry eyes. Here was a man who courageously gave his life to save the lives of others.

I have rarely read so moving or heroic an account. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

--Alyssa A. Lappen

A Wreck on the Road to Damascus: Innocence, Guilt and Conversion in Flannery O'Connor

Average customer rating:

No wrecks here!
Useful, readable, and intriguing.
I don't know....

A Wreck on the Road to Damascus: Innocence, Guilt and Conversion in Flannery O'Connor
Brian Abel Ragen
Manufacturer: Loyola Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

British | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0829406050

Book Description

A ground-breaking study of Flannery O'Connor and her place in American culture, A Wreck on the Road to Damascus weaves together high art and popular culture in a way that makes literary criticism exciting. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Brian Abel Ragen shows not just the depth of O'Connor's religious vision, but also the ferocity of her attack on the literary tradition that at once denied original sin—her favorite doctrine—and shoved women to the margins of American culture. His work will change the way readers think about Flannery O'Connor, automobiles, original sin, and American culture.

Customer Reviews:

No wrecks here!.......2007-08-31

Ragen's study, along with works such as Jon Lance Bacon's *Flannery O'Connor and Cold War Culture*, locates the Georgia author within broad patterns of American cultural history. Ragen grants O'Connor's interpretation of her work as an incarnational art. Through a series of clever close reads of *Wise Blood* and short stories such as "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," Ragen shows how O'Connor inscribes her religious meanings on one of postwar America's defining technologies: the car. Ragen looks to O'Connor's personal library, letters, and reading habits to locate her in a mid-century tradition of Catholic pop culture criticism typified by Marshall McLuhan, whose book *The Mechanical Bride* O'Connor much admired. Writing from the perspective of American Studies, Ragen argues that O'Connor focuses on cars to critique the myth of the American Adam, a pervasive American myth typified by those self-made men that populate not only American literature but also the advertisements and products of American consumer culture as well.

With its combination of original research and detailed critical surveys (and very readable prose), Ragen's book will interest not only O'Connor scholars but also students seeking a good review of the field of American Studies in general. You do not need to be an academic to enjoy Ragen's book either; if you are an O'Connor fan, reading Ragen's study will broaden your mind and give you a new appreciation of O'Connor's fiction. This one-of-a-kind study is highly Recommended for all of O'Connor's admirers.

Doug Davis
Gordon College

Useful, readable, and intriguing........2007-04-10

In 1999 I completed a dissertation on Flannery O'Connor and I found this to be one of about 10 books that were particularly helpful. (I believe that I have read over 50 books on O'Connor). Brian Ragen writes clearly and thoughtfully and sympathetically with O'Connor as an author and O'Connor as a "cradle" Catholic. This is a book for any college graduate as it is blessedly free of the jargon that has swamped the field of literature of late. It is a critical study, and thus demands that the reader follow arguments and have a good knowledge of O'Connor, but for any reader in that category, the book is extremely rewarding. I consider this a sort of "entry-level" critical study, and one that can be read by a non-specialist.

Once you've read O'Connor, this is a good places to enter into the world of O'Connor criticism.

I don't know...........2007-02-05

I ordered this book from Amazon two months ago and have yet to receive it.

Damascus: Hidden Treasures of the Old City

Average customer rating:

Beautiful Book of an Enchanting City, Pursuing a Noble Cause
affordable intresting history
A beautiful must-have book for anyone who loves Damascus
poignant beauty
Will delight students of Islamic culture

Damascus: Hidden Treasures of the Old City
Brigid Keenan , and Tim Beddow
Manufacturer: Thames & Hudson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Reference | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Architectural | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Syria | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Middle East | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0500282994

Book Description

Damascus, reputed to be the world's oldest continually inhabited city, has enjoyed a history of immense grandeur, enormous political and mercantile power, and great cultural and artistic achievement. In addition to some of Islam's most magnificent architecture, such as the Umayyad Mosque, the city boasts a heritage of fairy-tale palaces and sumptuous private houses. Sadly, many of them are in urgent need of restoration. Brigid Keenan and Tim Beddow have set out to record these priceless architectural gems and to reveal them to the world at large. They were given unprecedented access to the inner, "hidden" city, which has resulted in a book that will be of immense importance to all concerned with the heritage of architecture in the Islamic world. The text first sets the historical scene, describing the growth and fortunes of Damascus through the ages. It continues with an account of its architecture and way of life, and concludes with descriptions of individual houses and of the people who built and lived in them. The superb photographs include façades, courtyards, alleyways, and fountains, and the breathtaking interiors that often lie behind the unassuming walls of the old town, with exquisite details in stone, wood, paint, marble, plaster, glass, and mother-of-pearl. The whole forms a convincing and elegiac plea for the preservation of the heart of this historic ancient capital. 214 illustrations, 171 in color.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Book of an Enchanting City, Pursuing a Noble Cause.......2007-01-31

Photos here are exquisite, great text in pursuit of a noble cause--saving the crumbling architectural treasures in Old Damascus. Would be tragic if these are forever lost--the feeling of standing in a mosaic courtyard with trees, a fountain in the middle, where just outside the bustle of the world moves by in the suq...this book brings back memories of the place, if you've ever been there. The one comfort is that if these houses do crumble beyond repair, at least they are preserved in some way in this beautiful book.

Combine Syria's architectural treasures with the warmth of its people, its great food, and you see why it leaves such an impression with visitors.

affordable intresting history.......2006-11-15

Affordable entertaining book if you love Damascus like i do.Excellent pictures .No big lies like some authers who are experts!!!!. buy it you will love it.Give it as gift to any friend.

A beautiful must-have book for anyone who loves Damascus.......2003-11-20

This book is a must for anyone who loves Damascus and is concerned about its deterioration. It's a must for any Damascene expatriate's living room coffee table book collection for sure. The photographs are absolutely stunning and the text is interesting and engaging. One flaw, however is that I would have liked to see the photographs and the text regarding specific houses cross-referenced, (perhaps in the appendix of houses' names in the back of the book) as photographs and texts about specific houses are scattered throughout the book and you have to find all the references yourself--very annoying. Other than that, it is a wonderful book for showing off a unique aspect of our beloved city. Some of these houses are being used as sets for Syrian soap operas-- look closely and you might recognize some!

poignant beauty.......2002-06-27

This book documents a lifestyle that we can only know through writings and recollections, mostly by English expatriates and scholars. The houses themselves are gradually falling into decay, which is shameful, but which appears to be the fate of so many great architectural treasures of the past. I was charmed by the magnificence that one can sense (through the photographs), however dimmed by present squalor, and resolved that if I could, somehow, I would try to recreate the feeling; I know that's quite silly but even so it would be marvelous to have a fountain right by one's door and great trees growing inside one's living quarters. I loved the black, red, and white horizontal stripes and the mother-of-pearl-inlaid furniture, the inlaid Arab designs, the 20' ceilings and the beautiful arches. I also loved the recollections of Isabel and Richard Burton, and Jane Digby, these people were triumphantly confident and strode through life with none of the fright and nerves that we contemporary readers seem to have...and rightly so. I loved this book, and hopefully it will assist in the preservation of the great houses of Old Syria.

Will delight students of Islamic culture.......2001-10-15

Brigid Keenan's informative and highly recommended text comprising Damascus: Hidden Treasures Of The Old City, is enhanced throughout with 214 illustrations and photographs (171 in color) by Tim Beddow. This superb introduction to the architectural grandeur of Damascus incudes descriptions of individual houses and the people who built and lived in them. The amazing photographs reveal the facades, courtyards, alleyways , fountains and amazing interiors behind unassuming walls will delight students of Islamic culture, architecture, history, and lifestyles.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books