Legend

by David Rohl

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 009979991X
• ISBN13: 9780099799917
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Arrow
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Rediscovering Genesis and and the roots of Ancient Civilizations

In this volume David Rohl explores the veracity of the Book of Genesis with Sumerian and Ancient Egyptian history and legend, and comes up with a variety of answers. Despite some unorthodox standpoints, the author is more respectful of the authenticity of the bible than many modern 'scholars'. Rohl locates the four rivers of Eden. He locates the Garden of Eden in the Adji Chay Valley in Iranian occupied Azerbaijan, at the heart of which is the regional capital of Tabriz. He also locates the Land of Nod in Iranian occupied East Azerbaijan in the plain west of the Elburz mountains around the city of Ardabil. The author has travelled extensively and traces the journey of Adam's descendants from what is today Iranian occupied Azerbaijan/Kurdistan to Shinar in what is today Iraq. He gives forth the hypothesis that the Sumerians are the ancestors of the Hebrews and the other semitic peoples. The Sumerians being the only people in the Middle East no mentioned in the Bible. The author locates the landing of Noah's Ark at JUdi Dagh in Iranian occupied Kurdistan. As he puts the pieces of the Genesis jigsaw puzzle together he also traces Egyptian culture to Ancient Sumer, giving the hypothesis that Ancient Egyptian civilization was the product of a people from Mesopotamia who colonized Egypt, drawing up cultural parallels between the two civilizations,and demonstrating how Sumeria is the older of the two, with the use of old legends, archaeology, historical evidence and linguistics. Some may challenge the veracity of Rohl's findings and they are indeed controversial but much of what he writes is given a watertight and incontrovertible account. I would however digress from the author in that I believe that the Biblical incidents gave rise to the legends of the other civilizations and not vice versa (the author seems to suggest it could be either way).

a good piece of research

I bought this book in 1999 after watching BBC documentary "A Test of Time' featuring David Rohl's theory on the link between biblical Joseph and the history of Egypt. I was impressed with David Rohl's thoroughness in his research and conclusions. Although not a Christian, Jew or Muslim, I always believe that there is some truth in the Old Testament from a historical perspective. The events might have actually happened but the interpretation might be shrouded with religious overtures. Rohl's book on the genesis of civilisation takes us a step further than his earlier research. He takes us beyond Joseph into the earlier history recounted in the book of Genesis. Rohl paid much attention to the names and linked to to already known historical figures in ancient Middle East. You will be amazed with what Rohl had done. The book is also well written. If you read Andrew Colin's book, you will find that both of them talked about almost the same thing with regard to a lost civilisation that once flourished in the Zagros Mountains.

Good second volume

Egyptologist David Rohl challenged long held beliefs about ancient Egyptian history and its timeline in his first book, A Test of Time (a.k.a. Pharaohs and Kings in its American incarnation). In so doing, he backed into demonstrating that early Hebrew tradition and history correlates with the records of Egypt and other regional nations of the time, from the Patriarch Joseph to the initial Israelite kings. This book continues that re-evaluation of history by adding a fresh look at the earlier Biblical legends to see if he can make historical sense out of them. He mostly succeeds.This book delves into an examination of people and events from Genesis that many exegetes regard as legendary at best. Among those covered include Adam and Eve along with identification of the probable physical location of a real Garden of Eden, and their descendents as the early leaders of what became the Sumerian civilization. He explains the linguistic correlation between Scriptural names and Sumerian ones to make his case. He then adds an intriguing explanation for the long mysterious origin of the Egyptian ruling class of their Dynasties Zero and One to tie together a solid thesis about the origins and migrations of many of the peoples of the Near East, such as the Canaanites and the Phoenicians.His conclusions are not without minor errors, which accounts for a rating of four stars instead of five. He mistranslates Elohim, as do many modern scholars, to mean 'Lords of the mountain,' when it actually means 'Lord of the mountains.' He also backs into an estimation of a date for the occurrence of the Great Flood by using literary sources exclusively, ignoring the physical evidence that places it about 8,000 years earlier. To recognize this would necessitate a further reworking of his timeline but he has already demonstrated thoroughly the openness to follow the evidence to wherever it leads.Unlike the sensationalistic books lately extant from many other irresponsible writers, Dr. Rohl's research is sound and responsible scholarship. It is well worth reading.