Book Description

The accepted chronology of ancient Egypt, Persia and Babylonia is wrong to a dramatic degree, with some major historical events mis-dated by several centuries. Matching events, matching biographies, and matching cultural artifacts show that many important people whom we are taught lived in different eras were, in fact, contemporaries. Modern Egyptologists tell us that Seti I and Ramses II reigned 700 years before the rise of the Medes and Persians, but Emmet Sweeney marshals archeological and linguistic evidence to show that Ramses II's dynasty was terminated by the Persian Conquest of Egypt (525 BC). Seti II, hailed by the Egyptians as a warrior and hero, turns out to be one and the same as Inaros, the Egyptian patriot who waged war against Xerxes and was eventually impaled on the orders of Artaxerxes I. Egypt's Ramesside Pharaohs and the Persians represents the final volume in the reconstruction of Near Eastern antiquity, bringing us from the start of the 6th century down to the early 3rd. The history presented here will appear at the same time both familiar and startlingly new. Readers will see how Ramses II, normally believed to have reigned during the 14th/13th century BC, was actually a contemporary of Cyrus the Great, founder of the mighty Persian Empire. They shall find how during the latter years of Ramses II, Cyrus usurped the Median throne and, under the Assyrian title of Tukulti-apil-esharra (Tiglath-Pileser), conquered Lydia, Babylon, and all of Palestine as far as the borders of Egypt. Names well-known from biblical history, such as Sargon and Nebuchadrezzar, are shown to be identical to characters equally well-known from classical history including Darius I, Artaxerxes I and others. Analyzing events like the Persian War against Greece, and Alexander’s conquest of Persia, Emmet Sweeney goes far beyond studying the monuments of each land. He has consulted ancient authors such as Manetho and Herodotus, as well as the hieroglyphic documents of Egypt, but in addition, Sweeney discusses how the design of chariots, for example, went through a very definite evolution, an evolution accurately depicted by the artists of the time. Close study of such evidence may help to date the reign of a king with a high degree of accuracy. Three dozen illustrations and a variety of timelines help bring the startling picture into sharp focus.