Act of God

by Graham Phillips

The excavation of a mysterious Egyptian tomb in the early twentieth century holds the key to one of the greatest disasters to strike humankind. Strangely sealed, this was a tomb constructed to keep someone - or something - out. Acclaimed writer-detective Graham Phillips uncovers the evidence that links a chain of extraordinary events. The findings in this cursed Pharoah's tomb, new evidence from the polar icecaps which overturns ancient chronology, together with the eruption of a volcano more powerful than the Nagasaki bomb, proves that the biblical parting of the Red Sea and plagues of Egypt could be accurate accounts of real events. As a result there could be a real, and totally believable, explanation for the perennial myth of Atlantis.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Religion, Historical, Egypt, Ancient History, Spirituality

368 pages, Paperback

First published February 6, 1998

About the author

Graham Phillips is a British author.
Phillips has a background working as a reporter for BBC radio and as a magazine editor.

Wikipedia - Graham Phillips

Reviews

[Katri · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an interesting theory put together, but the writing was just atrocious. I don't mind non-fiction style, as long as it's fluent. This wasn't. I don't mind scientific writing, I would actually prefer it, but this kind of in between style with much too much annoying repetition just doesn't do it for me. It took me a loong time to read this, I put it down for months at times. Eventually I struggled through chapter by chapter just to see what conclusions he makes, but it wasn't really worth it.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conspiracy theory of sorts. The investigation of the development of monotheism and the cross fertilizations of Judaism and the worship of the Aten during a short two decades in Middle Egypt. It was argued cogently and I found the whole uncovering of the mystery of the long hidden tomb quite fascinating. Moses, Atlantis and Tutankhamun all rolled up into one flavoursome literary pannini. As I was reading it, it all seemed to hang together so beautifully but out in the cold light of 21st Century scepticism I find myself wavering. Fun to read though and I had great fun trying to pronounce the differnet names. Once my two cats, Pericles and Lysander have popped their clogs my next cat has got to be called Ankhesenpaaten

[Albyvintage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pag 17 La tomba 55 era per intrappolare un faraone con una maledizione.
Pag 20 1799 si trova a Rosetta la stele. Stesso scritto in geroglifico e in greco antico. Da Alessandro Magno in poi si può parlare di Documenti storici.
Pag 21 Calendario Egizio civile di 365 gg senza il giorno ogni 4 anni, mentre il calendario religioso legato a solstizi ed equinozi.
Pag 21 Ciclo sotico inizi di luglio Sirio compare se l'anno civile inizia anche lui a luglio.
Pag 26 RA divinità principale ma osiri dio dei cieli huro dio della terra
Pag 27 II periodo intermedio Hyksos "principi del deserto" provenienti dall'attuale Israele. Hyksos usano in battaglia carri e cavalli e ottimi arceri.
Hyksosa rappresentano la prima invasione che l'egitto subisce ad opera di vicini.
Pag 30-31 Il cambio di Dio da Amon-Ra a Aten di Akhenaten impoverisce i sacerdoti e i nobili e i militari.
Pag 33 Aten unico Dio disco solare ma poi abolita la rappresentazione di Aten
Pag 49 Sposta la capitale a El Amarna vicino alla diga di Assuan. Akhenaten rappresentato come ermafrodito.
Pag 50 Aten maschio e femmina allo stesso tempo. I seguaci di Aten poi perseguitati.
MIO ma se in fin dei conti gli Hyksos dopo un primo periodo di supremazia vengono cacciati e schiavizzati, perchè di fronte a un evento naturale come
l'eruzione e a tutte le conseguenze del caso cambio la religione assumendo gli usi di un dio perdente?
Pag 66 La successione dei faraoni passa attraverso la figlia maggiore della grande moglie reale. Per questo i matrimoni sono spesso incestuosi.
Pag 82 Il sarcogafo mediano della tomba di Tut'ankamon in realtà è semenekhkara . Quindi tutti in mente abbiamo un immagine sbagliata.
Pag 103 Harembab successore di Eie cancella radicalmente il culto di Aten cancella Eie e Tut'akmamon dall'elenco dei re ma non profana la tomaba di quest'ultimo ma la protegge, e protegge anche la tomba 55.
Pag 119 Ebrei e Akhentaten hanno un culto in comune "il vitello d'oro" cioè il toro sacro. Sembra che i seguaci di Aten quando ci sono le persecuzioni si uniscono agli ebrei.
Pag 122 La bibbia non ha contesto storico fino al 1000 A.c. I condottieri delle tribù israelitiche si chiamavano giudici (da qui giudei). 1° re Saul non riesce ad unificare paese, succede Davide che ci riesce
poi Salomone il sud si stacca e fa il regno di Giudea.
Pag 123 Filistei nemici degli Ebrei (filisteo in egiziano vuol dire popolo del mare)
Pag 124 Errori di traduzione Bibbia Yamsuph non è mar rosso, ma mare di canne.
Pag 130 Gli Hyksos sono gli Ebrei. Un faraone Hyksos della XVI dinastia si chiama Yakob-amm
Pag 132 Egiziani di Tebe sconfiggono Hyksos e fanno schiavi.
Pag 133 Un popolo che si era distinto tra gli schiavi Hyksos erano gli Apiru (Hapiru o Habiru) un nome arcaico di ebrei.
Pag 148 L'eruzione del vulcano Thera distrugge la civiltà Minoica potrebbe essere Atlantide. Inoltre le ceneri potrebbero aver modificato la luce del sole con sfumature blue e verdi e aver portato a cambiare da Amon-Ra a Aten.
Pag 149 Atlantide arriva a Platone da Solone.
Pag 144 Nagasaki 20 kiloton Mount Saint Helens 50 kiloton Krakatu 1 milione di Kiloton, Thera 5 milioni di Kiloton
Pag 151-152-153 Le prove radiocarbonio, aria ghiaccio groenlandia, gli anelli piante, prove archeologiche dopo poco la civiltà minoica cade in disgrazia per cui tra 1400-1350 a.c.
Pag 154 tante statue erette a Sekhmet perchè quest'evento fa pensare alla fine del mondo che per la mitologia egiziana era già avvenuta per opera di questo dio. Poi su consiglio dei sacerdoti cambia rotta.
Pag 155 Il cielo che si oscura potrebbe sembrare una piaga d'egitto scritta nella Bibbia. Che gli egizi abbiano deciso di incorporare l'ebraismo?
PAg 160-161 Esodo 9,23-26
"Soltanto Gosen dove stavano israeliti fu graziata" strano che il delta del nilo graziato e egitto meridionale e Tebe colpito da lapilli.
Pag 164 L'unico problema è che le piaghe d'Egitto non si sarebbero verificate nell'ordine scritto sulla Bibbia se a generarle è il vulcano Thera.
Pag 166 Piaghe scritte in ordine di gravità crescente.
Pag 170 Il mare di canne è il lago manzala. Ai tempi dei romani era un lago adesso è mare.
Pag 172-175 Ci sono 100 anni che non quadrano.
Pag 178 Bibbia usa toponimi di molto posteriori.
Pag 195 La religione cattolica è molto flessibile. SanGiorgio un tempo divinità solare pagana.
Pag 197 Il culto di Aten aveva un ingenuità non aveva un aspetto maligno qualcosa o qualcuno a cui dare la colpa se qualcosa va male. La tomba 55 è stata sepolta come donna perchè si pensava il corpo posseduto dalla Dea della devastazione.
Tut'ankamon lasciato intatto e sepolto di fronte per tenere a bada una Dea ci vuole tutto il potere di un Faraone.

[Tony Calder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was tossing up whether to give this 2 or 3 stars, but I'm in a generous mood :) The book is not badly written, but it takes a long time to go anywhere. Phillips puts his particular spin on Egyptian history and then goes in search of evidence to support it, rather than drawing his conclusions from all the evidence.

Not all of his suppositions are all that far-fetched, and many of them have support from other Egyptologists. But he seems to trying to make a point of great new revelations, but it's really not. To me, the most interesting sections were his attempts to tie the volcanic explosion of Thera (which likely led to the end of the Minoan civilisation) with the biblical plagues of Egypt described in the Book of Exodus. I am not completely convinced, but he did provide a reasonable amount of evidence, which I found somewhat compelling - but I am not a biblical scholar or Egyptologist.

[Rikki Arundel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another excellent book that asks the right questions about a major biblical story that does not make sense. The Exodus is full of supernatural and magical events that attempts to portray Moses as a superhuman with God. Graham Phillips looks at these stories and asks what natural events might have been behind them. What he reveals is a story as equally amazing but one that is now believable.

[Solomon MacArthur · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book and its companion, The Moses Legacy, endeavor to explore the real history behind the Exodus. I applaud books such as these because they reinforce the principle that Christianity and Judaism are "fact based" religions. Our faith is predicated on real people, actual geography, past cultures, and historical events. Our faith is both natural and supernatural because our God is active in both realms. Both these books do an exceptional job of showing how a confluence of actual events gave rise to the Exodus story as explained in the Bible. Reading these two books will strengthen your faith, not diminish it.

[Simon Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are numerous books out there promising to solve the age-old mystery of something or other while linking it with this and that. I can't say I've read many, but enough to know that this is one of the better ones. Phillips presents in an academic style that at times gets a little bogged down in archaeological detail but ultimately puts forward some logical, well-informed arguments effectively. Though he obviously knows his stuff, he never comes across like he's trying to be the leading authority. And, when the inevitably thorny issue of religion versus historical evidence comes up, both faith and research are given plenty of space to co-exist. An informative and thought a provoking read.

[Peter Parslow · Rating 3 out of 5]

He seems well informed about ancient Egypt, although on this occasion he writes it down in a way that (for me at least) is pretty confusing. Still, he makes a good case for what he presents on Egypt's experiment with monotheism.

But in the last chapter, where he covers ground I have studies, he is very shaky. He falls into the common Euro-centric trap of equating dark ages Roman Catholicism with "early Christianity". Surely the key difference between Christian monotheism and what he describes of Egyptian monotheism is that early Christians proclaimed that each of us can pray directly to God (perhaps "through Jesus") - that we don't need priests? While Akhenaten apparently set up a monotheistic religion where his people had to pray to him to interceded on their behalf. Yes, centuries later, European Christianity had people tending to pray to saints, but that wasn't (isn't) the original teaching.

So the problem is that if he's mistaken where I have other knowledge to check him against, should I believe him where I don't?

[Pali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still have a very old signed copy of this paperback, so maybe I’m rating it generously out of nostalgia. I liked how Graham Phillips took a realist’s approach (rather than an outright cynic’s) to examining events and if anything, reinforced why a great deal of Biblical history could in fact be true. The writing style is rather simplistic and not particularly engaging, but that aside, it’s decent travel reading.

[Gurpreet Dhariwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfectly researched with facts about the reality of tombs in Egypt. I loved the story narrating part as if everything was happening in real (though it has happened in real). Amazing book to be read on ancient history. World is a magical place to live in, so many things yet to be explored and known.

[Christine Pilcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy Graham Phillips books, they are intriguing and make you think. His books ask questions and follows a trail of known facts to show a possible or even a probable answer

[Veerle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting theories, I enjoyed getting more info about the Aten religion and the historical circumstances. Some things are a bit stretched I think, but interesting to read nonetheless

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not mind a good conspiracy or alternative view of history book. I like that someone has taken the time to challenge the conventional views. It is not a bad thing to challenge but the problem for Phillips is that he lacks a lot of hard evidence to make his hypothesis stick.
Phillips has used the 'mysterious tomb 55' found in the Valley of Kings as starting point to unlock a series of mysteries. Being why an Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, who later took the name Akhenaten decided to worship a single deity, what the eruption at Thera had to do with Exodus and how Atlantis fits in. In some areas Phillips puts forward plausible scenarios but other times you are left scratching your head as huge assumptions are made.
It was an interesting read but I was not wholly convinced by his end arguement

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

the excavations of a mysterious tomb Early this century holds the key to one of the greatest disasters to strike humankind (strangely-sealed).. this was a tomb constructed to keep some one -or something in...
now in paper back.. this book acclaimed that the evidence links to a chain of extraordinary
events, and also the finding of the cursed Pharaohs tomb.. new evidence.. from the polar ice-caps...
which overturns ancient volcano's 3000, times more powerful than the Nagasaki bomb
and that the parting of the red sea.. & the plagues of Egypt could be accurate accounts of actual events

as a result there could also be a real and totally believable explanation for the myth of
Atlantis

[Lindsay Winter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting theories they made perfect sense to me. Fascinating Read!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am partial. I love reading these books. Phillips uses a great blend of history, genealogy, archeology in his works that make the uncovering of his truths fascinating.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating research which sheds immense light on ancient Egyptian history and its impact on the origins of the Jewish exodus.

[Micheal · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT work by Graham Phillips revealing mysteries one by one..
the greatest of them all is the life and revolution of Akhenaten.
The way Graham presented this book is laudable.

[Lia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, was slightly heavy to read but once you got into it, it blew my mind. Highly recommend for anyone over the age of 13. Loved it.

[Mavis Hewitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but heavy going