The Message of the Sphinx: A Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind

Here is a revolution in Egyptology. The reviews I've read of this book, the ones who have dismissed it only prove how narrow-minded people can be, after being spoon-fed a certain history for all their lives. Hancock and Bauval capture, in comprehensive detail many of the riddles of the origin of the Sphinx and solve many of them. From other recent books, we know that the pyramids mirror the exact position of the constellation Orion in the skies as it was in about 10,500 b.c.,that they are aligned exactly north, and we also know that the Sphinx and the pyramids show signs of water damage in an area that has been arid according to scientists for at least 8,000 years. The question is this, what if the pyramids, and the Sphinx, were built by a civilization far older than Egypt, not 2500 b.c., but in 10,500 b.c.? Egyptologists and the narrow minded scoff at this, of course, because it would mean a radical rewriting of Egyptology, not to mention human history, but consider this: even the best archeology is just guesswork, no matter how educated the academic, no matter how logical the theory sounds. The bottom line is no one really knows why or when the pyramids were truly built, carbon-dating is inaccurate, and the Pyramids of Giza were built with more advanced design methods than any other pyramids in Egypt, not only the ones that came before, but after. In fact, some that came after are mere piles of rubble now on the sands. None of the bodies of the three pharoahs the pyramids were supposedly built for were ever found in any of them and Khufe himself, supposedly the builder of the Great Pyramid, said in his records that he only did repair work on it, was not the one to build it. History attributes the Pyramids to Khufe and his descendents, the pharoahs themselves do not. The three smaller pyramids to the side of the monument were the tombs Khufe actually built for himself and his family. In fact, Egyptian myths themselves attribute the Great Pyramid, not to any of their Pharoahs, but to the more advanced methods of their "Gods of Old." No other pyramids in Egypt, before and after, were built with the same design methods and scale of these three,and Egyptologists have long been baffled as to why the pyramid progression happened as it did. Who built them then? Frankly, I don't think it was aliens, but I don't agree with the traditional historical assumption either. Egyptian chronologies attribute the Age of the Gods, to about 10,500 b.c., the same time frame that Plato places for Atlantis in his dialogues. Now, before critics harp on any mention of Atlantis, accept that humanity has been around as we know it, for at least one hundred thousand years, and that civilization has only risen to it's current status in the last five thousand, and you can see we are missing more than a little of our history. Humanity has risen and fallen many times throughout the ages, with little that the generations before us built remaining. Accept that, and also that the whole of Egyptian civilization, it's pyramids and it's gods, are simply a copy of an earlier civilization, one with far more advanced methods, and all the mysteries, the inconsistencies of the other pyramids, all seem to fall neatly in place. Hancock's and Bauval's theories are as good as any of the others that have been accepted over the last two thousand years. And actually, no one can even say that they are really right or wrong, mostly because none of us were really there, and no one can say for sure.

When the Orion alignment of the pyramids at Giza was first suggested decades ago, it was ignored as some fringe idea. Now it is widely accepted and archaeoastronomy has matured as a respected discipline. This is one of the books that really explained it all. I had read some of this years ago in Hancock's  Fingerprints Of The Gods , but I still wondered what I would encounter here. While Hancock/Buval have uncovered many fascinating things in their books, sometimes they do go over the deep end (like Hancock's book on supposed structures on Mars. One of the few blatant oddities in this book is when they imply there is no reason to believe Eden was real, a "hard-to-find, never-never land," apparently not noticing that the Bible gives a precise geographic location for it). Nevertheless, this is a fairly orthodox look at alignments of Giza, dating issues with the Sphinx, the challenges of building the pyramids and so forth. The most important question is this: Why were the pyramids aligned to star patterns that were overhead thousands of years before they were built? 10,500 BC was a time of turmoil for mankind. Few now dispute that some worldwide catastrophe caused havoc to man and put a final end to the ice ages. The causes are debated (see  The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes  and  Forgotten Civilization ), but the actual event is not. Were the pyramids simply marking this date? What are we to make of the empty tombs inside? Are the chambers all there is, or is much more hidden within and underneath these monuments? Students of history will be troubled that so many roadblocks are often put up against bringing modern science's best tech to explore these sites. The potential new chambers and caverns that have been found over the past 3 decades should be sufficient cause for a new era an Egyptian archaeological study.

I have read numerous books dealing with ancient puzzles and mysteries. All of those books and including this one, raises more questions than it answers. If you cannot rely on traditional scientist to tell you the whole truth, without distortion, how can you trust these authors ?To cross check many of the statements of fact put forward by the authors would be beyond the ability of 99% of the readers of this book (myself included) and other books of similar genre, hence the alleged statements of fact or theories raised will remain a unproven or uncorroborated unless the authors do more than footnote and cross reference to prove their allegations.However, Hanncock, I think, has debunked all of the theories put forward by egyptologists regarding the building of the pyramids. That in itself raises the very disturbing questions of how the pyramids were built.I enjoy Hanncock's books, whether they be read as scientic research or "X files " type novels. Regardless, many of the "facts " we believe to day will be disproved in the future. Who knows ? Maybe Hannock and Co are right.

I just started this book. It is as expected a precise well writes book. Graham Hancock is one of my favorite Authors, Writes really interesting books. Thanks for the good things.

I order through Glenthebookseller frequently. Last purchase arrived in 4 days, the book in excellent condition. If he has what I'm looking for, he's always my first choice.

I’ve enjoyed many of Hancock’s books and this one as well. He gives the “fair and balanced” view in my opinion. His observations always seem to me to have sound common sense as well as logic behind them. His research is extensive.

The Message of the Sphinx is a brilliant, detailed and highly intelligent book.

Very good book but read it with an open mind gives a lot of food for though.

Fascinating and unusual research, but too much religious and astronomical mumbo jumbo to be unputdownable. I havnt finished reading it yet but I don't expect any earth shattering discoveries before the end, Were the Pyramids and the Sphinx built by Martians?

Met expectations.

Brilliant