Ages in Alignment

With 36 illustrations and detailed timelines, this book presents groundbreaking research that reshapes our understanding of how the great civilizations of Egypt and Persia interacted and evolved. Readers are invited on a journey that rewrites history as we know it. The author challenges traditional timelines and interpretations, arguing for a radical revision of the chronology of events, suggesting that many historical figures and events have been misdated or misunderstood due to a reliance on flawed sources and methodologies. Emmet Sweeney demonstrates that the histories of the Ramesside period in Egypt, the fall of imperial Egypt, and the subsequent Persian conquests are interconnected in ways that have been overlooked. He sets out to reconcile archaeological evidence with historical texts, including those from ancient historians like Manetho and Herodotus, to create a more accurate historical narrative and ultimately suggesting that many events of ancient history occurred much more recently than traditionally believed. The book discusses the impact of various civilizations, the significance of names and titles used by rulers, and the importance of understanding the cultural contexts of the time. Revising Egypt's Chronology: Sweeney begins by addressing the commonly accepted chronology that places Egypt's Seti I and Ramses II around 700 years before the Medes and Persians rose to power. Using archeological evidence, linguistic analysis, and cultural comparisons, he demonstrates that the timeline is flawed. This bold claim is supported by matching biographies, cultural artifacts, and historical events that draw a striking connection between Egypt's last Ramesside rulers and the Persian kings who dominated the Near East. Sweeney studies the record of Seti II, finding similarities between the warrior and hero with Inaros, an Egyptian patriot who famously waged war against Xerxes, the king of Persia, only to be executed by his successor, Artaxerxes I. This identification is just one of many examples Sweeney uses to show how characters and events from ancient Egyptian and Persian history overlap in surprising ways. By aligning Seti II's exploits with those of Inaros, the book reconstructs a more coherent and interconnected history of the ancient Near East. The author draws on a wealth of evidence, including ancient texts and the evolution of military technology, to examine Ramses II and Cyrus the Great, known for usurping the Median throne and conquering much of the Near East, the Assyrian figure Tukulti-apil-esharra (Tiglath-Pileser), and events including the conquests of Lydia, Babylon, and Palestine. Biblical and Classical Figures Reinterpreted: Sweeney's analysis also reinterprets well-known biblical figures such as Sargon and Nebuchadrezzar in the context of the exploits of figures like Darius I and Artaxerxes I from classical history. Military Technology and Timelines: A fascinating aspect of Sweeney's research is his focus on the evolution of military technology, particularly the design of chariots. By studying artistic depictions from the time, he argues that these technological advancements can help accurately date the reigns of various kings. This attention to detail adds a layer of depth to the book. Egypt's Ramesside Pharaohs and the Persians presents a daring reexamination of ancient chronology that will challenge historians, scholars, and general readers alike. With three dozen illustrations and detailed timelines, Emmet Sweeney paints a vivid picture of a world where Ramses II and Cyrus the Great were contemporaries, and where historical events once thought to be centuries apart are shown to be intertwined. For anyone interested in ancient Egypt, Persia, or the broader history of the Near East, this book offers a fresh perspective that may forever change how we view the past.

The Theban Empire is the starting point of "Ages in Alignment," an originally researched reconstruction of ancient history. Inspired by Velikovsky's work, Emmet Sweeney demonstrates that an even more radical shift makes perfect sense. He identifies the problems Velikovsky could not solve and brings forward a great body of further evidence which supports his identification of Hatshepsut with the Queen of Sheba. Decades of original research have contributed to reconstructing this history. Archaeological evidence, the Amarna Letters, and records from the Mitanni, the Midians, the Hittites, from Egypt, Samaria, Jerusalem and elsewhere, depict matching events, matching biographies, and matching cultural artifacts that demand we accept reality and revise our invented model of antiquity. This volume clarifies mysteries centered on Thebes, which is the starting point of the series "Ages in Alignment," and illustrates how the history of Egypt aligns with Hebrew historiography. The text examines the rise and fall of Thebes, the Mitanni conquest of Syrian territories, and the relationships between the Hyksos, Assyrians, Hittites, and Lydians. The book examines Hatshepsut and compares the mysterious land of Punt with descriptions of Eritrea and Somalia during Hatshepsut's time. The book also explores why Thutmose III destroyed Hatshepsut's legacy. The chapters explore additional historical contexts including the kings of Syria, Jerusalem, and Phoenicia; Egypt and the Zoroastrian Fire Cult; Tutankhamun, the Neo-Assyrians, the Medes, Hittites, Hurrians, Lydians, and Urartians, and Northern Syria. By synthesizing this information, we can better understand how Old Testament chronology corresponds with classical history.     "David's Kingdom of Israel cannot be kept in the history books if the date of the Theban Dynasty of Egypt is not corrected in a scholarly manner as attempted by Emmet Sweeney."    - Prof. Gunnar Heinsohn     "A Herculean task [of historical research]," and "A worthy successor and expansion to Immanuel Velikovsky's 'Ages in Chaos'."    - Prof. Lewis Greenberg The other periods are covered in three separate volumes, the first of which is The Genesis of Israel and Egypt, which traces the histories of Israel and Egypt back to their beginnings and makes some dramatic identifications. It is followed by The Pyramid Age and Ramessides, Medes and Persians. However, although it's not first in line chronologically, The Theban Empire is where this telling of the story begins.

This volume unearths surprising evidence from the earliest phase of historical consciousness in the ancient Near East, in particular shining a light on the mysterious origins of Egypt's civilization and its links with Mesopotamia and the early Hebrews. Here, we look at the archaeological evidence for the Flood, evidence now misinterpreted and ignored. After the rise of the first literate cultures in the wake of the catastrophe, we trace the story of the great migration which led groups of early Mesopotamians westward toward Egypt, where they helped to establish Egyptian civilization. This migration, recalled in the biblical story of Abraham, provides the first link between Egyptian and Hebrew histories. The next link comes a few generations later with Imhotep, the great seer who solved the crisis of a seven-year famine by interpreting pharaoh Djoser's dream. Imhotep is shown to be the same person as Joseph, son of Jacob. This well-researched book takes a radically alternative view of the rise of high civilization in the Near East and the forces which propelled it. Emmet Sweeney finds that the early civilizations developed amidst a background of massive and repeated natural catastrophes, events which had a profound effect upon the ancient peoples and left its mark upon their myths, legends, customs and religions. The author's series Ages in Alignment (of which this is Volume 1), takes a radically alternative view of the rise of high civilization in the Near East and the forces which propelled it. Emmet Sweeney finds that the early civilizations developed amidst a background of massive and repeated natural catastrophes, events which had a profound effect upon the ancient peoples and left its mark upon their myths, legends, customs and religions. Ideas found in all corners of the globe, concepts such as dragon-worship, pyramid-building, and human sacrifice, are shown by Sweeney to have a common origin in the cataclysmic events of the period termed the "eruptive age" by legendary English explorer Percy Fawcett. Terrified and traumatized by the forces of nature, people all over the world began to keep an obsessive watch on the heavens and to offer blood sacrifices to the angry sky gods. These events, which are fundamental to any understanding of the first literate cultures, have nonetheless been completely effaced from the history books and an official "history" of mankind, which is little more than an elaborate fiction, now graces the bookshelves of the world's great libraries. Starting with clues unearthed by history sleuth Immanuel Velikovsky and others, Sweeney takes the investigation further. While the Near Eastern civilizations are generally considered to have taken shape around 3300 BC - about 2,000 years before those of China and the New World - Ages in Alignment demonstrates that they had no 2,000-year head start. Sweeney suggests that all the ancient civilizations arose simultaneously around 1300 BC, in the wake of a terrible natural catastrophe recalled in legend as the Flood or Deluge. He points out that the presently accepted chronology of Egypt is not based on science but on venerated literary tradition, established by the third century BC when Jewish historians (utilizing the History of Egypt by the Hellenistic author Manetho) sought to tie in Egypt's history with that of the Bible. Apparent gaps and weird repetitions resulted. Improbable feats like the construction of major cut-stone engineering projects before the advent of steel tools or Pythagorean geometry point to the weaknesses of the traditional view. Taking a more rigorous approach and pointing to solid evidence, Emmet Sweeney shows where names overlap, and where one and the same group is mistaken for different peoples in different times.