About book The Message Of The Sphinx: A Quest For The Hidden Legacy Of Mankind (1997)
I'm giving this five stars, not because I agree with Hancock's theory, but because I find his stuff fascinating. He points to some intriguing anomalies and interesting correspondences which don't seem to fit with orthodox Egyptology, and his explanation of precession is masterful.However, it then breaks down as soon as he pretends to be scientific. He collects a lot of data, but the leap from that to his conclusions is a travesty of science.His favourite trick is to use repeated assertion as proof. He comes up with an idea, then asks "it is merely a coincidence that...", follows it with "we have previously seen that..." and by the end of the chapter, he's claiming to have proved his hypothesis. He's also guilty of deliberately confusing correlation with causation. This structure is aligned at such-and-such and angle, that structure is aligned at ninety degrees to that angle, therefore there must be a link between them. Where I start to get suspicious is that some of his data isn't believable. He gives us the length of the sides of the Great Pyramid to four decimal places - in inches. That's less than a tenth of the thickness of a human hair. If you've ever seen a Pyramid stone, you can see that they're worn, rounded and chipped. They're not perfect. You simply can't measure them that accurately. The degree of accuracy to which the pyramids are made is incredible, but he doesn't need to make them out to be more amazing than they are. Then, when you read on, you realize that he's estimated the measurements based on missing stones - and then uses his estimates to justify his hypothesis.He also loads his books with irrelevant detail and opinion which would not belong in a scientific book. He rambles on about things that are not germane to his subject just to demonstrate his knowledge, and he frequently mixes in polemics against other scholars and writers with his own research.Like von Daniken, his work has some great information and he raises some interesting questions, but it's hard to take his conclusions seriously.
This is the second book on Egypt that I have read by Robert Bauval. I would recommend reading the first, The Orion Mystery, before starting this as it occassionally references back to topics written there, and I found it very helpful to have the background on the pyramids discussed in The Orion Mystry.The Message of the Sphinx moves away from the Great Pyramids a bit and centers on the meaning, purpose and age of the Great Sphinx. Newer theories (1996) suggest that the Sphinx is much older than originally thought and also suggest a new purpose for the anciet monument. These discoveries are based in science and lead to a very compelling argument for the writers' theories.If you are interested in Egyptology, this book should be on your must read book. Even if we choose not to believe the authors' theories, it shows a new picture of the ancients that helps piece together how and when they lived, specifically their religion and funeral rites. The writing gets a littel overly scientific for easy reading so I've been picking it up on and off all year.4/5
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My visit to Michael in the fall of 1997 had him recommending and me reading some alternative theories of ancient history, two of the books being by Graham Hancock. One, Fingerprints of the Gods, was about the evidence for an inhabited continent under the Antarctic ice cap in remote antiquity. The second, Message of the Sphinx, was about the evidences suggesting a pre-Egyptian civilization. These evidences were primarily astronomical and geological.Should anyone who reads this know about the status of current professional opinion about the weathering of the flanks of the Sphinx, I should appreciate an explanatory update.
—Erik Graff
These archaeological explorers go to every end of the world to examine ancient civilizations and dispel the dogma associated with ancient cultures such as Egypt, the Mayan civilization, Easter Island, Stonehenge, Atlantis. They have some amazing theories that examine archaeo-astronomical alignments, consciousness-altering drugs of Shamanistic origin, and mysteries of ancient knowledge. You will be absolutely surprised at the findings and it will totally open your world-view to a whole new array of possibilities. Both authors do their homework to a high degree of professionalism and offer more than adequate facts and sources to back up their claims. The best part about their work is that they are so adept at coming up with amazing theories that ring of truths untold and really are quite effective at jolting the reader's imagination.
—Kevin
This was an interesting read. Bauval looks at the Sphinx though a number of different lenses -- historical documents, astronomy, science, archaeology, and more traditional Egyptologist view points. Bauval assumes his readers have some background in ancient Egypt history, making this not ideal as an introductory text. Additionally, Bavaul frequently references his earlier work The Orion Mystery. Having not read this earlier work I found this referencing a bit frustrating.Overall, Bauval presents a number of interesting theories about the origin, purpose, and intent of the creation of the Sphinx. I'm not sure I buy into all of them, but he does present a number of interesting approaches to the topic.
—Krista McCracken
