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Merchant Adventurer Kings of Rhoda: The Lost World of the Tucson Artifacts
The Tucson Artifacts document the annals of a forgotten Roman-styled military governorship in Chichimec Toltec Northwest Mexico. Perfectly preserved, complete and unaltered, they are straightforwardly composed in Latin, the official language of records during the Middle Ages. They do not have to be reconstructed, pieced together, deciphered or dated. This illuminating collection of readings translated from Latin, Greek, Arabic, Chinese, Nahuatl, Hebrew and other languages by medievalist Donald N. Yates provides the cultural contexts for understanding these unique witnesses to world history. The finds come from the 1920s and consist of lost-wax, cast-lead ceremonial objects inscribed with medieval Latin historical texts and memorials of leaders with names such as Jacob, Israel, Benjamin, Joseph, Saul, Isaac and Theodore. Some also contain Hebrew phrases like “eight divisions” and “a great nation,” while others display commemorated leaders’ portraits, ships, trademarks in Tang-era seal script, temples, a Mesoamerican glyph, sacrificial fire, an anchor, Romanesque-style angels in glory and other drawings. Their iconography includes the Ten Commandments and cult objects like spice spoons, carpenter’s square, Frankish axes, snakes and trumpets. There are also military anthems and mottos. A series of thick one-sided double crosses, joined like sealed albums present what are clearly records signed by OL (Oliver), with dates ranging from 560 to 900 A.D. The overarching provenance is declared by the makers of the artifacts themselves to be Roman (Romani, monogram R), a term tantamount at this time to European. This claim to nationality is further divided into Levites (L) and Israelites (I). One of the stand-out emblems depicted is a triple tiara, a symbol of Jewish priesthood associated with the Mesoamerican figure of Quetzalcoatl.
344 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 5, 2018
I highly recommend this book. I was captivated from the moment I started reading it.
The author, Donald N. Yates, clearly is an expert on many ancient cultures. I don't remember the last time I learned so much from a single book.
The author, Donald N. Yates, clearly is an expert on many ancient cultures. I don't remember the last time I learned so much from a single book.
June 4, 2018
An excellent book on the "Lost World of the Tucson Artifacts". The Tucson Artifacts, almost 30 inscribed lead crosses and other objects found outside Tucson in the 1920's with meticulous field notes, extraction of artifacts witnessed by multiple archaeologists, and found in undisturbed ground, were nonetheless declared forgeries and hoaxes by the isolationist establishment. Donald Yates gives the Tuscon Artifacts the respect and scholarly treatment they deserve.
"Kings of Rhoda" seeks to "paint the picture" of the world in the relevant period of appx 750-900 AD. This is certainly not a time period I was familiar with, and this book does an excellent job providing historical context for these seemingly out-of-place artifacts. Yates, a Ph.D medievalist, is clearly very knowledgeable, and a number of his excerpts of period documents have never been translated into English before.
The book is roughly a third about the Tucson Artifacts dig (including newspaper reports from the time in full), a third Yates' analysis of the artifacts and their meaning, and a third excerpts of period documents and how they relate. All three aspects were enlightening. This book appears to be the hands-down authoritative book on the Tuscon Artifacts, and I recommend it highly for anyone interested in the artifacts, or the time period in question.
"Kings of Rhoda" has a kind of companion book, "The Tucson Artifacts: An Album of Photography with Transcriptions and Translations of the Medieval Latin", which provides professional photographs on high quality paper of the artifacts themselves, with translations. In my opinion, these two books should be bought together. The beautifully photographed artifacts speak for themselves, and finding equivalent photos of the whole set of artifacts would be difficult, if not impossible, otherwise.
Dr. Yates has done a great service to American pre-history by writing this book. The Tucson Artifacts deserve their place in history, isolationists be damned.
"Kings of Rhoda" seeks to "paint the picture" of the world in the relevant period of appx 750-900 AD. This is certainly not a time period I was familiar with, and this book does an excellent job providing historical context for these seemingly out-of-place artifacts. Yates, a Ph.D medievalist, is clearly very knowledgeable, and a number of his excerpts of period documents have never been translated into English before.
The book is roughly a third about the Tucson Artifacts dig (including newspaper reports from the time in full), a third Yates' analysis of the artifacts and their meaning, and a third excerpts of period documents and how they relate. All three aspects were enlightening. This book appears to be the hands-down authoritative book on the Tuscon Artifacts, and I recommend it highly for anyone interested in the artifacts, or the time period in question.
"Kings of Rhoda" has a kind of companion book, "The Tucson Artifacts: An Album of Photography with Transcriptions and Translations of the Medieval Latin", which provides professional photographs on high quality paper of the artifacts themselves, with translations. In my opinion, these two books should be bought together. The beautifully photographed artifacts speak for themselves, and finding equivalent photos of the whole set of artifacts would be difficult, if not impossible, otherwise.
Dr. Yates has done a great service to American pre-history by writing this book. The Tucson Artifacts deserve their place in history, isolationists be damned.
April 4, 2018
An excellent addition to any diffusionist's library. Professional, modern photos of the Tucson artifacts with Latin translations by academics. Short and sweet, it doesn't say much, but it says a lot.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews