Magicians of the Gods

by Graham Hancock

  68. Henri Frankfort, Kingship and the Gods, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1948, 1978, p. 148.

  69. William Matthew Flinders Petrie, Memphis I, The Palace of Apries (Memphis II), Meydum and Memphis III, Cambridge University Press, 2013, p. 43.

  70. Selim Hassan, The Sphinx, op. cit., pp. 222–4.

  71. Ibid., pp. 224–5.

  72. Ibid., p. 223.

  73. Ibid.

  74. For example, Tibet. Tibetan Thotchkas are made from meteoritic iron: “The word thokcha is composed of two words, thog meaning above, first or thunderbolt and lcags meaning iron or metal. The meaning of thokcha can thus be given as ‘first or original iron’ or ‘thunderbolt iron’” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thokcha.)

  75. E.A.E. Reymond, The Mythical Origin of the Egyptian Temple, op. cit., p. 10.

  76. Ibid., pp. 8–10, 18.

  Chapter 11

  1. Plato, Timaeus and Critias, Penguin Classics, op. cit., pp. 35–6.

  2. E.A.E. Reymond, The Mythical Origin of the Egyptian Temple, op. cit., p. 285.

  3. This notion is already accepted by some Egyptologists who have “proposed that Predynastic and/or early dynastic material was cleared away in creating the pyramid platforms.” See Serena Love, “Stones, ancestors and pyramids: investigating the pre-pyramid landscape of Memphis,” in Miroslav Barta (Ed), The Old Kingdom Art and Archaeology, Proceedings of the Conference held in Prague, 31 May–4 June 2004, Czech Institute of Egyptology, Prague, 2006, p. 216.

  4. E.A.E. Reymond, The Mythical Origin of the Egyptian Temple, op. cit., p. 327.

  5. Letter to Robert Bauval dated 27 January 1993, cited in Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock, Keeper of Genesis, op. cit., p. 200 and note 11, p. 333.

  6. E.A.E. Reymond, The Mythical Origin of the Egyptian Temple, op. cit., p. 59.

  7. Ibid., p. 9.

  8. E.A. Wallis Budge, Egyptian Magic, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., London, 1901, reprinted by Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1971, p. 143.

  9. Cited in John Greaves, Pyramidographia: Or a Description of the Pyramids in Egypt, George Badger, London, 1646, reprinted by Robert Lienhardt, Baltimore, p. 96.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Ibid.

  12. Ibid.

  13. I.E.S. Edwards, The Pyramids of Egypt, 1947 edition op. cit., p. 134.

  14. Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol. I, op. cit., pp. 218–19.

  15. I.E.S. Edwards, The Pyramids of Egypt, 1993 edition, op. cit., p. 286.

  16. F.W. Green, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. XVI, 1930, p. 33.

  17. Alan H. Gardiner, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. XI, 1925, pp. 2–5.

  18. E.A.E. Reymond, The Mythical Origin of the Egyptian Temple, op. cit., p. 77.

  19. Ibid., p. 112.

  20. See discussion in Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock, Keeper of Genesis, op. cit., pp. 13, 108, 192, 193–6.

  21. R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz, Sacred Science, Inner Traditions, Rochester, Vermont, 1988, p. 104.

  22. Ibid., p. 111.

  23. Sir Walter Scott (Ed. and Trans.), Hermetica, Shambhala, Boston, 1993, p. 343.

  24. See discussion in Sylvia Cranston (Ed.), Reincarnation: The Phoenix Fire Mystery, Theosophical University Press, Pasadena, 1998, p. 114ff.

  25. R.T. Rundle Clark, The Origin of the Phoenix, University of Birmingham Historical Journal (1949–1950), p. 17: “The Benben stone and the Bennu bird must have names derived from the same root bn or wbn. Both words are derivative, so we cannot say that one is an attribute of the other. The bird and the stone—if stone it is—are linked together.”

  26. Henri Frankfort, Kingship and the Gods, The University of Chicago Press, 1978, pp. 153–4.

  27. See, for example, E.A. Wallis Budge, An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, John Murray, London, 1920, reprinted by Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1978, Vol. I, p. 217.

  28. Robert Bauval, Discussions in Egyptology, Vol. 14, 1989.

  29. PT 1652, cited in R.T. Rundle Clark, The Origin of the Phoenix, op. cit., p. 14.

  30. E.A. Wallis Budge, An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary, op. cit., Vol. I, p. 217.

  31. R.T. Rundle Clark, The Origin of the Phoenix, op. cit., p. 15.

  32. Ibid., p. 18.

  33. Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal: A Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant, William Heinemann Ltd., London, 1992, pp. 67–9.

  34. Menahem Haran, Temples and Temple Service in Ancient Israel, Clarendon Press, Oxford, reprinted by Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana, 1985, p. 246.

  35. For a discussion see Emma Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz, The Grail Legend, Coventure, London, 1986, p. 148, footnote 28.

  36. Jennifer Westwood (Ed.), The Atlas of Mysterious Places, Guild Publishing, London, 1987, p. 74.

  37. Ibid.

  38. W.H. Roscher, Lexicon der griechischen und romischen Mythologie, 1884, cited in Emma Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz, The Grail Legend, op. cit., p. 148.

  39. See ibid., p. 14–16.

  40. R.T. Rundle Clark, Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, Thames and Hudson, London, 1991, pp 246–7.

  41. Ibid.

  42. Summary of Lactantius from Elmer G. Suhr, “The Phoenix,” Folklore, Vol. 87, No. 1 (1976), p. 30.

  43. E.V.H. Kenealy cited in Sylvia Cranston (Ed.), The Phoenix Fire Mystery, op. cit., p. 18.

  44. R.T. Rundle Clark, The Origin of the Phoenix, op. cit., p. 1; Elmer G. Suhr, “The Phoenix,” op. cit., p. 31; R. Van den Broek, The Myth of the Phoenix According to Classical and Early Christian Traditions, E.J. Brill, 1972, pp. 68–72.

  45. R.T. Rundle Clark, The Origin of the Phoenix, op. cit., p. 1; Gerald Massey, The Natural Genesis, Vol. 2, Black Classic Press, Baltimore, 1998 (Reprint Edition) p. 340.

  46. M.R. Niehoff, “The Phoenix in Rabbinic Literature,” The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 89, No. 3 (Jul 1996), p. 252.

  47. R. Van den Broek, The Myth of the Phoenix According to Classical and Early Christian Traditions, op. cit., p. 73.

  48. See Graham Hancock, Fingerprints of the Gods, op. cit., Chapters 28 to 32.

  49. Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend, Hamlet’s Mill, op. cit., p. 132.

  50. R. Van den Broek, The Myth of the Phoenix, op. cit., pp. 73–4.

  Chapter 12

  1. Exactly who was responsible for the murders has still not, at time of writing, been satisfactorily established. Five senior members of Hezbollah, the Shia militant and political group, have been indicted by a UN tribunal. Hezbollah itself blames Israel for the assassination. In addition there are suspicions that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria was directly involved. See for example http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13972350 and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25749185 and http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Special-Lebanon-Court-permits-prosecutor-to-bring-evidence-against-Assad-in-Hariri-case-381986 and http://www.thenational.ae/world/lebanon/probe-into-hariris-assassination-to-focus-on-al-assad.

  2. Including a raid by Israeli commandos in 2006—see: http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/08/02/israeli-commandos-raid-hezbollah-hideout-in-baalbek-hospital/. And see also: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/26/us-syria-crisis-hezbollah-idUSBRE93P09720130426. For the missile strike on Baalbek in June 2013 see: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4386949,00.html and http://www.arabtoday.net/home/also-in-the-news/syrian-missiles-reach-lebanons-baalbek.html.

  3. For the history of Solomon’s Temple and subsequent constructions on the Temple Mount see Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal, op. cit., Chapter 14.

  4. Andreas J.M. Kropp and Daniel Lohmann, “‘Master, look at the size of those stones! Look at the size of those buildings.’ Analogies in Construction Techniques between the Temples of Heliopolis (Baalbek) and Jerusalem,” in Levant, Vol. 43, No. 1 (2011), Council for British Research in the Levant, 2011, p. 42–3.

  5. Dan Bahat, Carta’s Historical Atlas of Jerusalem, Carta, Jerusalem, 1989, p. 30.

  6. For a discussion see Gra
ham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal, op. cit., Chapter Five, pp. 91–2.

  7. Ibid., p. 95.

  8. For video see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCFGjSgTzo0 (from about 1 minute 30 seconds forward). For photographs, see: http://survincity.com/2012/07/megaliths-of-israel-the-foundation-of-the-temple/ and http://earthbeforeflood.com/megalithic_blocks_on_the_temple_mount_in_jerusalem.html.

  9. Andreas J.M. Kropp and Daniel Lohmann, “Master, look at the size of those stones!,” op. cit.

  10. Selim Hassan, The Great Sphinx and its Secrets: Historical Studies in the Light of Recent Excavations (Excavations at Giza 1936–1937, Vol. VIII), Government Press, Cairo, p. 267.

  11. See, for example, ibid., pp. 264–6.

  12. Ibid. p. 49.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Ibid., p. 256.

  15. Ibid.

  16. Christiane Zivie-Coche, “Foreign Deities in Egypt,” in Jacco Dielman, Willeke Wendrich (Eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles, 2011, p. 5. NB: In the quotes passage Zivie-Coche uses Harmachis, the Graecianised form of the Ancient Egyptian Hor-em-Akhet but I have taken the liberty of rendering it simply as Hor-em-Akhet to avoid further confusing multiplication of names!

  17. Ibid., p. 6.

  18. N. Wyatt, Religious Texts from Ugarit, Sheffield Academic Press, 1998, p. 378ff.

  19. Jacobus Van Dijk, “The Canaanite God Hauron and his Cult in Egypt,” GM 107 (1989), p. 61. Paper presented at the Fourth International Congress of Egyptology, Munich, 26 Aug-1 Sept 1985. Pdf available here: http://www.jacobusvandijk.nl/docs/GM_107.pdf.

  20. N. Wyatt, Religious Texts from Ugarit, op. cit., p. 385.

  21. Ibid., p. 386.

  22. Nina Jidejian, Baalbek: Heliopolis, City of the Sun, Dar el-Machreq Publishers, Beirut, 1975, p. 5. See also Michael M. Alouf, History of Baalbek, American Press, Beirut, 1951, p. 38, and Friedrich Ragette, Baalbek, Chatto & Windus, London, 1980, p. 16.

  23. Christiane Zivie-Coche, “Foreign Deities in Egypt,” op. cit., pp. 2–4, and Figure 4. See also Selim Hassan, The Great Sphinx and its Secrets: Historical Studies in the Light of Recent Excavations (Excavations at Giza 1936–1937, Vol. VIII), op. cit., p. 278.

  24. Friedrich Ragette, Baalbek, op. cit., p. 16.

  25. See David Grene (Trans.), Herodotus, The History, Book 2, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1987, p. 132ff.

  26. Friedrich Ragette, Baalbek, op. cit., p. 20.

  27. Ibid.

  28. Ibid., pp. 16–17, 72.

  29. Cited in Michael M. Alouf, History of Baalbek, op. cit., p. 65.

  30. Ibid.

  31. Cited in Ibid., p. 66.

  32. Friedrich Ragette, Baalbek, op. cit., p. 27.

  33. Michael M. Alouf, History of Baalbek, op. cit., pp. 69–70.

  34. Ibid., p. 71.

  35. Ibid.

  36. Ibid., pp. 71–2.

  37. Ibid., p. 73.

  38. Ibid., p. 74.

  39. Dell Upton, “Starting from Baalbek: Noah, Solomon, Saladin, and the Fluidity of Architectural History,” Journal of the American Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 68, No. 4 (December 2009), p. 458.

  40. Michael M. Alouf, History of Baalbek, op. cit., p. 86.

  41. See Dell Upton, “Starting from Baalbek,” op. cit., pp. 459–60: “The sense that Baalbek was profoundly European, a product of the Roman culture upon which ‘the West’ was grounded, moved into the scholarly literature when the German archaeological excavations of the first years of the twentieth century gave us the Baalbek we know today.”

  42. See, for example, Margarete van Ess and Llaus Rheidt (Eds.), Baalbek-Heliopolis 10:000 Jahre Stadtgeschichte [Baalbek-Heliopolis: 10,000 Year History of The City], Zabern Philipp Von GmbH, 2014.

  43. Margaret van Ess, “First Results of the Archaeological Cleaning of the Deep Trench in the Great Courtyard of the Jupiter Sanctuary,” in “Baalbek/Heliopolis: Results of Archaeological and Architectural Research 2002–5,” in Bulletin d’Archaeoligie et d’Architecture Libanaises (BAAL), Hors-Serie IV, Beirut, 2008, p. 113. See also Daniel Lohmann, “Giant Strides Toward Monumentality: The Architecture of the Jupiter Sanctuary in Baalbek/Heliopolis,” Bolletino Di Archeologia On Line, 2010, Volume special/Poster Session 2, p. 29: “Tell Balbek … was continuously inhabited since the pre-pottery Neolithic period.”

  44. Timothy Hogan, Entering the Chain of Union: An Exploration of Esoteric Traditions and What Unites Them, 2012, pp. 238–9, 242–5.

  45. For the cult of Mercury at Baalbek, see Nina Jidejian, Baalbek Heliopolis, op. cit., pp. 28, 29, 30, 33, 36, 37, 45, 54–5. For the Thoth-Hermes connection see Garth Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes, Cambridge University Press, 1987, and Patrick Boylan, Thoth: Hermes of Egypt, Ares Publishers, Chicago, 1987.

  46. Nina Jidejian, Baalbek Heliopolis, op. cit., p. 54.

  47. Hartoune Kalayan, “Notes on the Heritage of Baalbek and the Beka’a,” op. cit., p. 53.

  48. Nina Jidejian, Baalbek Heliopolis, p. 30.

  49. A piece identified as a fragment from the north corner of the pediment of the Temple of Jupiter. I have seen the piece and do not dispute the weight of 360 tons given in Christian and Barbara Joy O’Brien, The Shining Ones, Dianthus Publishing Ltd., Cirencester, 2001, p. 272.

  50. Michael M. Alouf, History of Baalbek, op. cit., pp. 85–6.

  51. Ibid., p. 85.

  52. Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend, Hamlet’s Mill, op. cit., p. 162.

  53. Dimensions for length and height given by Daniel Lohmann in our later personal correspondence (email dated 8 Feb 2015) and see also Michael M. Alouf, History of Baalbek, op. cit., pp. 86–7 who gives the width and very slightly different dimensions for length and height.

  54. I am grateful to architect and archaeologist Daniel Lohmann for explaining these details to me in our later personal correspondence (email dated 8 February 2015).

  55. Dell Upton, “Starting from Baalbek,” op. cit: “Ancient written documentation is almost nonexistent, and most of what has survived was written centuries after the construction of these buildings. There is absolutely no evidence, for example, to tell us who commissioned, paid for, or designed any portion of the complex.”

  56. Daniel Lohmann describes the design and construction of the wall as “megalomaniac” in “Giant Strides Toward Monumentality,” op. cit., p. 28.

  57. Andreas J.M. Kropp and Daniel Lohmann, “Master look at the size of those stones!” op. cit., p. 38.

  58. Ibid., p. 39.

  59. Ibid.

  60. Ibid, p. 38.

  61. Ibid, p. 44.

  62. Daniel Lohmann, “Giant Strides Toward Monumentality,” op.cit., p. 29.

  63. Daniel Lohmann, “Master, look at the size of those stones!” op. cit., p. 39.

  64. Personal correspondence with Daniel Lohmann, email of 8 February 2015.

  65. Jean-Pierre Adam, “A propos du trilithon de Baalbek: Le transport et le mise en oeuvre des megaliths,” Syria, T. 54 Fasc 1.2 (1977) p. 52.

  Chapter 13

  1. H. Kalayan, “The Engraved Drawing on the Trilithon and the Related Problems About the Constructional History of the Baalbek Temples,” Bulletin du Musee de Beyrouth, XXII (1969), p. 151.

  2. Daniel Lohmann, “Drafting and Designing: Roman Architectural Drawings and their Meaning for the Construction of Heliopolis/Baalbek, Lebanon,” Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Construction History, Cottbus, May 2009.

  3. Daniel Lohmann, “Giant Strides Toward Monumentality: The Architecture of the Jupiter Sanctuary in Baalbek/Heliopolis,” Bolletino Di Archeologia On Line, 2010, Volume special/Poster Session 2, p. 28.

  4. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/podium?s=t.

  5. Ibid.

  6. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stereobate?s=t.

  7. Ibid.

  8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepidoma.

  9. Personal correspondence with Daniel Lohmann, email of 9 February 2015: “the Romans were rather pragmatic…” />
  10. H. Kalayan, “The Engraved Drawing on the Trilithon and the Related Problems,” op. cit., pp. 151–2.

  11. http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/ancient-astronauts-at-baalbek. For his claim to be a debunker of fringe science and revisionist history see Jason Colavito’s biography, here: http://www.jasoncolavito.com/biography.html.

  12. https://gilgamesh42.wordpress.com/about/.

  13. https://gilgamesh42.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/moving-the-stones-of-baalbek-the-wonders-of-roman-engineering/. Adair’s whole argument is that below the three great stones of the Trilithon: “are other impressive stones that act as a base for the Trilithon. While not as massive as the Trilithon stones these base structures each have a considerable mass. However below them was discovered a part of a drum to a column. The size of the drum corresponds to the columns used for the Jupiter temple, so this was likely a leftover or no longer useful piece of one of those columns. Because it is underneath the base stones, this drum must have been placed there before the Trilithon was put into place. Also, on top of one of the Trilithon stones there is a drawing of the plans for the Temple of Jupiter, which was built over by the Romans when it was no longer needed. By having pieces of the Jupiter temple below the Trilithon and these drawings on top we can be reasonably certain that the Trilithon stones were put into place contemporaneously with the construction of the Temple of Jupiter. So already, by having the Trilithon stones contemporaneous with the temple we have established the Roman provenance of the structure.”

  14. Michael Alouf refers to this exact section of wall in his History of Baalbek, op. cit., originally published in July 1890, and reprinted multiple times until 1951. On p. 98 where he describes the Trilithon (“No description will give an exact idea of the bewildering and stupefying effect of these tremendous blocks on the spectator”) and then notes: “Above these blocks are the Arab fortifications built, as has already been said, of bases of columns, sculptured friezes and fallen fragments, still bearing an inscription dating to the time of Bahram Shah.”

  15. Friedrich Ragette, Baalbek, Chatto & Windus, London, 1980, pp. 32–3.

  16. E.g. as well as the above detailed in note 8, see Michael Alouf, History of Baalbek, op. cit., p. 85, and Nine Jidejian, Baalbek Heliopolis, p. 36.