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Genesis of the Grail Kings
From beneath the windswept sands of ancient Mesopotarnia comes the documented legacy of the creation chamber of the heavenly Anunnaki. Here is the story of the clinical cloning of Adam and Eve, which predates Bible scripture by more than 2,000 years.From cuneiform texts, cylinder seals, and suppressed archives, best-selling historian and distinguished genealogist Laurence Gardner tells the ultimate story of the alchemical bloodline of the Holy Grail, including:
-Hidden secrets of the Tables of Testimony
-Anti-gravitational science of the pyramid pharaohs
-A history of God and the lords of eternity
-Disclosures of the Phoenix and the Philosophers' Stone
-The superconductive powers of monatomic gold
-A genetic key to the evolutionary Missing Link
-Active longevity and the Star Fire magic of Eden
-Hidden secrets of the Tables of Testimony
-Anti-gravitational science of the pyramid pharaohs
-A history of God and the lords of eternity
-Disclosures of the Phoenix and the Philosophers' Stone
-The superconductive powers of monatomic gold
-A genetic key to the evolutionary Missing Link
-Active longevity and the Star Fire magic of Eden
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
About the author
Laurence Gardner
33 books59 followersLaurence Gardner was a prominent author and speaker in the alternative history genre of research and writing.
--from the author's website
--from the author's website
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
September 27, 2016
The blurb for this book promised a lot of interesting things--Ancient aliens! Alchemical secrets! Antigravity pyramids!--but the book itself was a slog. It tries to synthesize ancient Near Eastern history and archaeology with many of different strands of secret-history mythologizing--the Grail Bloodline, pyramid mysticism, alchemy and freemasonry, the Babylonian/Nephilim ancient alien theories of Zecharia Sitchin--but then doesn't do much of anything with them. It has no real thesis or argument. Mostly it's just a series of genealogical lists--Gardner is a professional genealogist--and this obsession with genealogies is the one area where Gardner actually does have some real thematic connection to the ancient texts he's writing about.
Like many such texts, this book draws on a mix of reputable, though often outdated, sources, articles from popular and semi-popular magazines, and the elaborate body of conspiracy pseudoscholarship. As an academic literary critic/historian, the poor organization and careless use of sources made me cringe.
But my main objection to all this is aesthetic. After all, as someone who's heavily into Weird fiction, comics and Doctor Who, I can appreciate a good conspiracy. But a lot of Biblically-based conspiracy theories are just dull. They show many of the same limitations as fundamentalist ways of reading the Bible they are superficially reacting against, such as overliteral reading of texts, treating the entire Bible as a historical account rather than a seires of literary genres, and imposing modern ideas rather than reading texts according to the spirit they were written in. There's also the gender essentialism--in this case, associating "female" magic with chalices and menstrual blood and so on, a reductive way of looking at femininity which excludes trans and nonbinary people.
And finally, there's the worship of power that forms a central part of the "Grail Bloodline" myth, which claims that Jesus was the ancestor of various European royal lines--becuase the whole point of the legacy of the man who said "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven" was to create an aristocracy, right? The supposedly "radical" myth of the Grail Bloodline often erases the elements of tradition that are really radical, fitting the Gospels to heteronormative ideas of the present--the shocking secret of Jesus is that he was a heterosexual man with a nuclear family!
Conspiracy-based "radical reinterpretations" of the Bible and fundamentalism define themselves against each other, but beyond these superifcial details of "radical" and "orthodox" interpretations they have a lot in common. They are both based on avoiding the really interesting and challenging parts of the Gospels, and they both inspire writing (Left Behind, The Da Vinci Code) which drains all the life out of potentially compelling ideas. Don't bother with this book, read this blog instead.
Like many such texts, this book draws on a mix of reputable, though often outdated, sources, articles from popular and semi-popular magazines, and the elaborate body of conspiracy pseudoscholarship. As an academic literary critic/historian, the poor organization and careless use of sources made me cringe.
But my main objection to all this is aesthetic. After all, as someone who's heavily into Weird fiction, comics and Doctor Who, I can appreciate a good conspiracy. But a lot of Biblically-based conspiracy theories are just dull. They show many of the same limitations as fundamentalist ways of reading the Bible they are superficially reacting against, such as overliteral reading of texts, treating the entire Bible as a historical account rather than a seires of literary genres, and imposing modern ideas rather than reading texts according to the spirit they were written in. There's also the gender essentialism--in this case, associating "female" magic with chalices and menstrual blood and so on, a reductive way of looking at femininity which excludes trans and nonbinary people.
And finally, there's the worship of power that forms a central part of the "Grail Bloodline" myth, which claims that Jesus was the ancestor of various European royal lines--becuase the whole point of the legacy of the man who said "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter heaven" was to create an aristocracy, right? The supposedly "radical" myth of the Grail Bloodline often erases the elements of tradition that are really radical, fitting the Gospels to heteronormative ideas of the present--the shocking secret of Jesus is that he was a heterosexual man with a nuclear family!
Conspiracy-based "radical reinterpretations" of the Bible and fundamentalism define themselves against each other, but beyond these superifcial details of "radical" and "orthodox" interpretations they have a lot in common. They are both based on avoiding the really interesting and challenging parts of the Gospels, and they both inspire writing (Left Behind, The Da Vinci Code) which drains all the life out of potentially compelling ideas. Don't bother with this book, read this blog instead.
November 8, 2011
Reading Laurence Gardner's "Genesis of the Grail Kings" prompted me to read up on the Sumerians (Ancient Iraqis) who propagated Mesopotamia with cities, irrigation and writings dating back to 5,000 B.C.E. I was surprised how advanced the Sumerians were so far ahead of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Gardner's first several chapters are well-presented.
However, I am still not sure why we need the supernatural "gods" aspect. Huge leaps are involved. Doesn't the natural evolution of Homo Sapiens suffice? Also, just because the Sumerians recorded something does not mean that it happened. They could have recorded myths, or written fiction. I was a little disappointed when Gardner broke into recording as fact his postulates and suppositions re. alchemy and the "gods." Gardner is too into proving the supposed actual history of events in the Old Testament when most free thinking people consider the bulk of the Old & New Testaments to be myth at best.
I have never been a fan of conspiracy theories. Things tend to be what they appear to be. Gardner plays to a New Age audience seeking a bit of escapism wrapped up as non-fiction. At least "The DaVinci Code" was just good fun fiction.
However, I am still not sure why we need the supernatural "gods" aspect. Huge leaps are involved. Doesn't the natural evolution of Homo Sapiens suffice? Also, just because the Sumerians recorded something does not mean that it happened. They could have recorded myths, or written fiction. I was a little disappointed when Gardner broke into recording as fact his postulates and suppositions re. alchemy and the "gods." Gardner is too into proving the supposed actual history of events in the Old Testament when most free thinking people consider the bulk of the Old & New Testaments to be myth at best.
I have never been a fan of conspiracy theories. Things tend to be what they appear to be. Gardner plays to a New Age audience seeking a bit of escapism wrapped up as non-fiction. At least "The DaVinci Code" was just good fun fiction.
October 8, 2008
This is one of my favorite books because it offers a fantastic alternative theory to the Old Testament, and really forced me to rethink everything I thought I "knew" up to the moment that I opened the cover. After reading this book I felt like my entire scope of knowledge was up for reevaluation using more-critical thought and a closer look at potential alternatives to what I knew as fact up to that point.
Currently reading
January 29, 2010I'm actually re-reading this one. It has some interesting points, combining the study of biblical text with study of other ancient texts and archaeological record to try and decipher some of the cryptic meanings in the Bible. If you believe the Bible shouldn't be questioned or that questions shouldn't be asked period, then this is not the book for you. If, on the other hand, you want to read alternative interpretations and viewpoints and you have a curious mind, pick it up and give it a shot.
May 9, 2013
If you every wondered where homo sapiens sapiens originated, and want to move along a timeline of shattering discoveries, no, not with unanswered questions – such a, oh ! we are the only intelligent beings on earth; then The Grail Kings will enthrone the questions and pronounce different monarch’s, creating us, us yes, the human being – with the descendent blood lines of intelligence – past down through the ages. Brilliant notes and references - the Antediluvian Kings of Sumer from the Sumerian King List and, my favourite reference, the genealogy chart of the Grand Assembly of the Anunnaki – and most exciting of all the origin of the schizophrenic God in the Bible, being the voices of Enlil and Enki. Where did Gilgamesh get his copy and paste? GOGK, excited me so much that I have researched the Sumer tablets, in their pieces and found that there – Adama and Eva were created – described in cuneform- the oldest surviving reference to Adam – sorry transliterated – as though it were a myth, but there it is, the mistakes, and references to the Nephalim and the giant people – oh, boy, and guess what? Unearthed are - these giant people – thank you – thank you Laurence Gardner – and not wanting to end this listing of amazement – there is transmuted gold into white powder – for longevity – do I want you to read Laurence’s books – yes. I don’t read this – I study it – I follow it – I check it out – you check it out, but be warned, ones conscious principles become challenged. What is the reality of the reality we have created – or are led to believe?
May 23, 2010
Meh. A high 2.5 stars.
The first few chapters are a history of the Bible, translation, geography, etc.; the next few chapters deal with human evolution and how that's related to the Bible; then it goes in to alternative history/religions/thought; then eventually returns to Bible history. However, somewhere in there, his theories tend to get a little out there (aliens, the philosopher's stone, alchemy). I'm no theology scholar, but it seems like the conclusions he draws and his logic are fuzzy. But the redeeming qualities are his history of the Bible and how the Bible compares to Sumerian and Egyptian history/religion.
The first few chapters are a history of the Bible, translation, geography, etc.; the next few chapters deal with human evolution and how that's related to the Bible; then it goes in to alternative history/religions/thought; then eventually returns to Bible history. However, somewhere in there, his theories tend to get a little out there (aliens, the philosopher's stone, alchemy). I'm no theology scholar, but it seems like the conclusions he draws and his logic are fuzzy. But the redeeming qualities are his history of the Bible and how the Bible compares to Sumerian and Egyptian history/religion.
Read
October 14, 2009The book is sometimes quite far-fetched, and often into such scientific detail that I have no clue what it's trying to say, but aside from those drawbacks it also offers an interesting alternative view upon Bible history and - more importantly - compares it to Sumerian and Egyptian mythology.
May 12, 2011
I've studied several ancient languages, but the
arguments are often too complicated to understand.
But it gave me some interesting insights into Old
Testament history and a different way of looking at
the principle characters in the O.T. The charts at
the end help some.
arguments are often too complicated to understand.
But it gave me some interesting insights into Old
Testament history and a different way of looking at
the principle characters in the O.T. The charts at
the end help some.
April 12, 2010
Think about it...it's a book
May 8, 2015
Excellent book of ideas and great illustrations. I loved it and hope to re-read it sometime.
April 28, 2018
Couldn’t finish this book. Got about a quarter of the way through. Seems to spend a similar amount of time bemoaning those in power for trying to slant science and history to retain power as he does trying to ‘prove’ that Biblical accounts are based on some truth. Ie the editing/revision of Biblical stories over the last 4000 years to create a narrative to suit those in power. Or the Church only funding archeological and scientific studies that will support pre-supposed results.
Couldn’t even keep his narrative coherent, on who did what when and how stories changed over time and retellings
Couldn’t even keep his narrative coherent, on who did what when and how stories changed over time and retellings
July 23, 2018
The cover copy of this book makes it seem like the worst ancient aliens episode on the History Channel, but it is really about placing Biblical texts within the greater context of Sumerian, Babylonian and Egyptian writings. Although I would not have read this book if I hadn't been assigned it, I gained some insights on the divine feminine in the Jewish and Near Eastern traditions.
September 25, 2019
Companion to "Bloodline of the Holy Grail" which examines the New Testament, this book is an excellent discussion of the Old. Very thought provoking and interesting!
June 18, 2021
Fantastic information but a little hard to sort all the geneologies. Fortunately plenty of genograms and lists in the appendices!
December 4, 2022
Oh dear... The further into this kind of work the more earthshattering things get., wait... is that a light at the end of the tunnel, oh no, its some Pharaoh..
September 17, 2012
Ciento cincuenta páginas de cuatrocientas. Aburrido, ladino y un poco manipulador. Tiene un prólogo de un tal príncipe Nicolás de Vere de la Corte y Orden Imperial y Real del Dragón (¡toma ya!) que asegura que sin los documentos que él proporcionó jamás se hubiera llegado a la conclusión a la que llegó Laurence Gardner. No sé cuál es ni me interesa porque con el planteamiento ya he tenido suficiente.
Es la misma historia de siempre: Jesús se casó con María Magdalena y su descendencia gobernó Europa durante siglos. Pero como esa parte ya nos la sabemos, este señor se remonta al principio de los tiempos estableciendo una comparación entre la mala traducción que se ha hecho toda la vida del Pentateuco y los textos sumerios y babilonios para dejar claro que la estirpe divina se remonta a cuando el mundo era una gran bola de fuego (o casi). Y mientras establece argumentos que a un historiador le harían llorar, al profano, como yo, no le incomodan demasiado… hasta que menciona a Darwin, a su eslabón perdido del origen de las especies, y primero con timidez y luego con descaro, asegura que lo que falta para completar la teoría de la evolución son varios extraterrestres (y que cómo es posible que nadie se haya dado cuenta con lo claro que está el asunto). Tampoco hay que ser muy listo para darse cuenta de que los no terrícolas que se apiadaron de los humanos a medio hacer son los mismos que engendraron a Jesús y bla, bla, bla por mil hasta llegar al siglo XXI y a las élites que lo controlan todo.
De traca. Pero no solo porque sea una tontería mentirosa creada para vender libros sino por la falta de fe en el ser humano que entraña. Según este señor, todo lo bueno que ha hecho el hombre desde que está en la tierra (creo que las pinturas rupestres las excluye porque no las considera lo suficientemente extraterrestres) lo ha conseguido gracias a seres venidos de otro planeta que se reprodujeron con mujeres más o menos evolucionadas. Ellos nos lo enseñaron todo y, al parecer, lo siguen haciendo. Bueno, todo no, a pensar parece que no porque ya me dirás, lector, en qué narices estaba pensando yo cuando decidí comprar, y leer, este libro. ¿Error evolutivo extraterrestre? Je.
Es la misma historia de siempre: Jesús se casó con María Magdalena y su descendencia gobernó Europa durante siglos. Pero como esa parte ya nos la sabemos, este señor se remonta al principio de los tiempos estableciendo una comparación entre la mala traducción que se ha hecho toda la vida del Pentateuco y los textos sumerios y babilonios para dejar claro que la estirpe divina se remonta a cuando el mundo era una gran bola de fuego (o casi). Y mientras establece argumentos que a un historiador le harían llorar, al profano, como yo, no le incomodan demasiado… hasta que menciona a Darwin, a su eslabón perdido del origen de las especies, y primero con timidez y luego con descaro, asegura que lo que falta para completar la teoría de la evolución son varios extraterrestres (y que cómo es posible que nadie se haya dado cuenta con lo claro que está el asunto). Tampoco hay que ser muy listo para darse cuenta de que los no terrícolas que se apiadaron de los humanos a medio hacer son los mismos que engendraron a Jesús y bla, bla, bla por mil hasta llegar al siglo XXI y a las élites que lo controlan todo.
De traca. Pero no solo porque sea una tontería mentirosa creada para vender libros sino por la falta de fe en el ser humano que entraña. Según este señor, todo lo bueno que ha hecho el hombre desde que está en la tierra (creo que las pinturas rupestres las excluye porque no las considera lo suficientemente extraterrestres) lo ha conseguido gracias a seres venidos de otro planeta que se reprodujeron con mujeres más o menos evolucionadas. Ellos nos lo enseñaron todo y, al parecer, lo siguen haciendo. Bueno, todo no, a pensar parece que no porque ya me dirás, lector, en qué narices estaba pensando yo cuando decidí comprar, y leer, este libro. ¿Error evolutivo extraterrestre? Je.
November 12, 2011
If you are happy to believe that God is in fact married (although Mrs God is currently not to be found anywhere); that Joseph (as in Joseph, Mary and Jesus) was not a carpenter but was a master alchemist; that Moses was really Akhenaten the renegade(?)/rogue(?) Pharaoh who abandoned Egyptian polytheism in favour of the One True God; that homo sapiens-sapiens are really descendants of the Anunnaki who were regularly fed the menstrual blood of these gods; or that "the pyramids were doubtless constructed with the technology of the superconducting highward fire-stone - the sacred antigravitational shem-an-na" (p.256) then this book is for you!
If you find any of these concepts even more fantastical than a story by Terry Pratchett, you will probably appreciate Gardner's work as much as I did.
I finished the book, mainly because I wanted to know which aliens we are related to - and was disappointed that aliens weren't even mentioned! However this one of a series of books, so maybe that information can be found elsewhere - a task I shall not set myself as it took me long enough to finish this 'explosive story'.
I was tempted to sign this review 'amen', however I have just discovered that it does not mean 'so be it' as we all were taught, but it was actually an invocation to the Egyptian god Amun and was mistranslated in the Bible.
If you find any of these concepts even more fantastical than a story by Terry Pratchett, you will probably appreciate Gardner's work as much as I did.
I finished the book, mainly because I wanted to know which aliens we are related to - and was disappointed that aliens weren't even mentioned! However this one of a series of books, so maybe that information can be found elsewhere - a task I shall not set myself as it took me long enough to finish this 'explosive story'.
I was tempted to sign this review 'amen', however I have just discovered that it does not mean 'so be it' as we all were taught, but it was actually an invocation to the Egyptian god Amun and was mistranslated in the Bible.
Want to read
May 15, 2016Great read
February 6, 2018
Very interesting book indeed, which I read in 2003, very informative and reveals much ancient Wisdom and Knowledge :)
Bravo Laurence Gardner, a Child of Wisdom :)
Bravo Laurence Gardner, a Child of Wisdom :)
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews