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

• compelling and well researched

  
  By A3B2DFMVEIT8TS on 1999-09-24
  When I first saw this book at a bookstore, I figured it was another one of those goofy conspiracy-theory books. This time the bad guy was academia and they were conspiring to keep us from the truth about the Sphinx.

  Thank goodness I actually gave the book a try. It's incredibly well written, full of well-documented facts and packed with footnotes and pictures. Hancock and Bauval turn out not to be conspiracy cranks at all; they have found amazing evidence about the age and orientation of the Sphinx and the pyramids. The problem is that the evidence flies in the face of everything that Egyptologists want to believe.

  I went on to read source material on the Sphinx and am now reading Hancock's "Fingerprints of the Gods" and am now more convinced than ever that Hancock and Bauval speak the truth.

  Pseduo-scientists? Well, only if you think that you have to be a PhD to do painstaking research. Sometimes all it takes is a dediction to discovering the truth.
  
  

• The missing Link in Ancient History

  
  By A2T1VQFDNXGMAU on 2003-06-02
  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.
  
  

• Extraordinary, fascinating

  
  By on 1999-03-18
  I am an avid reader of Scientific American--and this is an extraordinarily interesting book. Intelligently written, well-researched, each chapter presents new discoveries and surprises--some of which are astonishing for their implications.

  Here, perhaps for the first time in a single reference, is a recounting of all the remarkable achievements of the pyramid builders with ample evidence to document just how fantastic those achievements were. The scientific community's notion of people putting 200 ton blocks of stone in place with precision by sliding them up long ramps of mud is preposterous--now here is the engineering to prove it.

  The book argues that the pyramids were built by a much older civilization of great wisdom and practical knowledge.

  The book also provides an intelligent account of the importance of eastern (Vedic) astrology in the spiritual journey of mankind, at least as accepted by the ancients.

  One caveat: The book is an easy read--an exciting book--and I sent it to five friends, four of whom couldn't get through it. The fifth loved it. You will need to have an interest in the subject manner and scientific detail. This is not a book that replaces scientific reasoning with easily rebuked, flaky theories so popular with the Atlantis/Aliens crowd.
  
  

• The Sphinx for people who don't care about the Sphinx

  
  By A2P6PVWZS4NGV0 on 1999-06-05
  After I first read this book, I was inclined to give Hancock and Bauval at least some benefit of the doubt. I believed that at minimum they had succeeded in raising some interesting questions that _might_ suggest an origin for the Great Sphinx some 3000-8000 years before most historians and archaeologists believe it was carved (about 2500 BCE). Hancock and Bauval tell an interesting yarn, with hints of lost civilizations of startling technological and scientific prowess, and of hidden chambers waiting beneath the sands of Giza for a daring Indiana Jones to unearth.

  As I read more on the subject of the Sphinx, the pyramids and other great structures of antiquity, however, I am less inclined to view Hancock and Bauval as anything more than incompetent cranks. Their yarn is just that, a yarn and nothing more. Their edifice of "archaeo-astronomical" reasoning is built on extremely shaky grounds, and in arriving at 10,500 BCE as the date of the Sphinx's origin, and as the apex of some great lost civilization, they must ignore a truly enormous amount of careful scientific reasoning. The reader of this book will not be provided with any real feeling for the rationale behind the "conventional" Egyptological views, for if he/she was to have such an understanding, Hancock and Bauval would be revealed for the sad pseudoscientists they are. In point of fact, the polemic of "Message of the Sphinx" is less about a rational basis for reevaluating everything we know of ancient Egypt than it is a retrospective justification for the pre-formed idea that there must be a lost, highly advanced Atlantis-like civilization in the distant past. To Hancock and his ilk, the ends justify the means.

  If read by itself, this book will doubtlessly persuade you that what the authors claim has some basis in fact, since it is written so one-sidedly and so deceptively. If you read this book, then, you owe it to yourself and to anyone you foist it on to also read Paul Jordan's recent "Riddles of the Sphinx," which provides a well-written counterpoint to the wild claims of Hancock and Bauval. If all you read is this book, and others by these authors, then you really aren't interested in the Sphinx at all.
  
  

• Controversial and thought-provoking

  
  By A1XXNGN9COYL8Y on 2000-02-09
  This is a controversial yet thought-provoking book in which the authors put forward a theory, based primarily on archeo-astronomy, which suggests that certain man-made structures at the Giza necropolis (e.g. the Pyramids, the Sphinx and the temples nearby) may have had their origin traced back to around 10,500BC, making them vastly more ancient than most orthodox Egyptologists would have us believe.

  While it is difficult at this stage to prove conclusively whether or not such a provocative theory is correct (although, as this work has become a best-seller, it would hopefully lead to more transparency in future excavation work at Giza, which, after all, houses one of the greatest heritage of human civilisation), the arguments put forward in support of the authors' views are very interesting and, at times, even enlightening. In particular, with the aid of well-produced diagrams, the authors have successfully led the reader step by step through a historical and astronomical minefield towards the startling revelation that the heaven (as represented by the stars) and the earth (as represented by the mega-structures at Giza) actually mirrored each other to an astonishing extent in that mysterious early epoch and that such heaven-earth symmetry appears to be consistent with the ideas apparently expressed in certain ancient Egyptian texts, leaving the reader wondering whether it is all mere coincidence or whether there has indeed been some clever planning by our forebears which is now lost in the mist of time.

  It is evident that the authors have put in much effort in explaining their propositions clearly from basic principles and thus knowledge in astronomy or Egyptololgy is not a prerequisite before one can follow their train of reasoning. Nevertheless, this is bascially a one-sided analysis where those who have opposed to the theory and some others in the orthodox academia are often portrayed as narrow-minded bigots or are having a secret agenda of their own. The style of writing is not that remarkable and there is a fair amount of repetition and some not too judiciously considered section divisions, which sometimes impede the flow of argument. Nevertheless, this is one of the books which have opened up an entirely new dimension in a much debated and researched field and those who like subject matters relating to mysteries of ancient civilisation will certainly find it indispensible. Personally, I would hope that, whatever the merits of the arguments contained therein, it will encourage everybody, including orthodox archeologists, to examine the Giza necropolis more thoroughly so that one day, we can unravel all the mysteries (if any) which the Sphinx has been guarding throughout the ages.
  
  

• The Riddle of the Sphinx Hearkens Back to Plato's Atlantis
  By A240CJW1VJPXAV on 1999-10-05
  The argument that the Sphinx and the three pyramids at Giza are much
  older than Egyptologists and academic archaeologists have admitted
  goes back to Rene Aor Schwaller de Lubicz and to John Anthony
  West. Both recognized that the weathering of these megalithic
  structures was the result of vertical rainfall thousands of years
  before dynastic Egypt, not floods nor wind erosion. Using the newly
  founded science of archaeoastronomy Bauval has wound the clock back
  and has successfully argued that the lion body of the Sphinx once
  faced the constellation Leo with a similar face, a stone fulfillment
  of man's repeated urge to re-create the heavens on Earth, but at a
  time when Leo was the rising constellation -- 12,000 years ago. In
  doing so they have helped open the door to marvelous discoveries about
  all the great star-oriented megaliths on Earth. These discoveries
  hearken back to a rediscovery of Plato's Atlantis, and the description
  of a civilization destroyed at about the same time as the construction
  of the megaliths of ancient Egypt, on a true island-continent.
  
  
• Interesting but overstated
  By on 1998-10-07
  I was pleased, upon finishing this book, to note that it omitted the dippier elements (earth crust displacement, lost civilizations in Antarctica, etc.) of Hancock's "Fingerprints of the Gods." I was dismayed, however, to note that once again a bestselling book supposedly concerned with history and archaeology had been penned by authors with little real experience in either field. Hancock's "research" involves reading and incorporating speculations made by others while roundly ignoring (or ridiculing) those that do not easily agree with his own predilections. Bauval's contribution as an engineer is perhaps notable, but not convincing. While soundly criticizing Egyptologists and other scientists, it seems that neither of these men ever bothered to learn to read hieroglyphics, to seriously study Egyptian history beyond a few basic texts, or to otherwise gain real expertise in the fields that apply to their arguments regarding the Sphinx. For example, the claim that the Sphinx exhibits extensive signs of water erosion is interesting, and borne out by a cursory examination of the photos available, but one wonders if the supposed consensus on this point among geologists really exists. Are there other ways to produce the erosion patterns seen today on the Sphinx? One would never know from reading this book, but a brief search on the web gave me a good hypothesis for one. From reading this book, one might also come away with the impression that most research on the Sphinx over the past 30 years has been performed under the auspices of Edgar Cayce's organization; don't modern archaeologists do anything? In the end, I find the notion that the Sphinx, and the ground plan of the monuments at Giza, predates the supposed origin of Egyptian civilization to be provocative and worth a closer look. I just wish someone more diligent, more even-handed, and more informed would take that closer look.
  
  
• A Quest for the Hidden Truth
  By A195390L6RGMP6 on 2001-02-08
  You would better start with "The Orion Mystery: Unlocking the Secrets of the Pyramids" by Robert Bauval. Graham Hancock did so at his time, and - ended up with their common work beautifully named "The Message of the Sphynx". There is no wonder: the subject of the Bauval's book was so fascinating that attracted the attention of many, and probably that inspired both of them to go on, and give a closer look at the most intriguing mystery of the civilization.

  The main point of the book is the considerably greater antiquity of the Sphynx, the Giza pyramids, and some other monuments that can be found at Giza. Luckily some geologists, after providing the in-field research, have supported the hypothesis of the older Sphynx. What is more important, however, is that the monuments at the time of their construction were porobably correlated with some astronomical bodies. And the picture logically built by the authors shows that there much likely existed an ancient civilization, which is much older than the Egyptian one, that possessed a great deal of astronomical and mathematical knowledge that even perhaps helped them millenia ago understand what a star precession is, how it works, and how it may help them with leaving a message for future generations. One may find it difficult to believe in such a wisdom of an ancient people, the most common question that arises is "Where is the hard evidence?". "Right at Giza. Just have look at the Sphynx and the three pyramids", the authors would probably reply. One still may be left in doubt, but the fact remains: the pyramids were build with an incredible precision, the one that seem to be hardly possible even for the modern day construction industry, and there was very likely a definite plan of locating those pyramids, the meaning of which is though never yet clear.

  These days more theories on constructing the pyramids and linking them to some astronomical knowledge emerge, some of them readily support the conservative points of view of the mainstream Egyptology and Archaeology. The hypothesis of Bauval and Hancock, however, has no less rights for existing than any conservative one, since it is very strong logically, it is scientifically supported, it is very thought-provoking, and - it may be true, since no one has ever proved the opposite.

  The truth is still somewhere out there, and we would only hope it will be revealed one day, though those stories of holding some secret investigations inside the Great Pyramid, hidden investigating the unnumbered underground chambers at Giza, keeping secrets of the hidden chamber in the Khufu Pyramid discovered by Gantenbrink, and not letting the scientists supporting the alternative theories continue their researches at Giza, those stories leave us with less optimism and less hope for a soon breakthrough in gathering knowledge about the ancient civilizations that existed in the territory of Egypt millenia ago.
  
  

• Wrong... but still thought-provoking.
  By A1OSU5MW5GH0RI on 2003-01-15
  The Message of the Sphinx is an interesting read to say the least, but it is important that it not be taken as gospel by those wishing to learn more about Egypt's true history. Hancock does provide compelling arguments and superb diagrams to suport his theories. If I had not been educated in the field and had not researched it myself (both here and in Egypt), I must say that I could fall for it personally. Maybe.

  When reading "The Message of the Sphinx", it is important to realize what made this work a best-seller. It appeals to the populace. It is NOT a scholarly masterpiece by any means, but it does present an argument that compels anyone interested in ancient Egypt to read more. The merits of this work are twofold: 1. It inspires individuals with little knowledge of ancient Egypt to want to learn more about the magnificent ancient civilization, and 2. It does keep us Egyptologists from getting too comfortable in our ways. It never hurt anyone to look at something in a different way, no matter how far-fetched it may be.

  The problem with this work is that nothing is explained in full. The highpoints of his argument are explained repeatedly in an attempt to draw attention away from the holes, and he raises more questions than answers. Some of the holes are more massive than the celestial bodies he uses to back his claims. When he does attempt to provide a viable alternative to the mainstream view, it fails miserably because of a lack of evidence. This should not be taken in any way as fact, but it is a fun read nonetheless. Remember: History is made by those who write it. When serious contradictions occur, seek the hard evidence out yourself. Then you can decide. Who knows? Maybe you will agree with Hancock and prove him right. It would be magnificent if his claims were correct. I just don't buy it.
  
  

• A FASCINATING NEW ANGLE ON EGYPTOLOGY
  By on 1996-10-05
  How old is the Sphinx? The question, and it's paradigm-busting potential for Egyptology, and history as a whole, is the subject of this compelling book. € Robert Bauval, a Belgian engineer, and Graham Hancock, former East Africa correspondent for the Observer, have authored previous bestsellers on archaeological mysteries of the ancient world. Here they combine forces to question the conventional wisdom regarding Ancient Egypt, and step bravely into the academic no-man's land that lies between history and prehistory. € It was Bauval who made the discovery that the Great Pyramids are exact likenesses, in position and scale, of the three stars in the belt of Orion. Hancock, for his part, claims that the precisely engineered structures of the Gizeh plateau are repositories of complex astronomical data. In The Message of The Sphinx the authors conclude that the Ancient Egyptians were heir to a civilization much greater and older than their own. € The most compelling evidence in this regard was announced in 1993, when evidence was presented at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science that the Sphinx is thousands of years older than previously thought. € This haunting monument, the authors assert, with its refashioned, possibly once-leonine head, was created in 10,500 BC. The creators of the Sphinx were survivors of a primordial catastrophe that wiped out most of their civilization. € Hancock and Bauval point to the "followers of Horus" in ancient texts as dim memories of these survivors, and suggest the ancient Egyptians were inheritors -- not originators -- of their complex cosmology. The pyramids were completed at a later date than the Sphinx, and the authors present the extraordinary possibility that these enormous stuctures (particularly the great pyramid of Khufu, with its complex galleys and passages) were not meant as tombs at all, but as architectural maps of a region of the heavens known as the "duat", centered in Orion: the cosmogenic realm where souls are spawned and return upon death. The pyramids were used, they theorize, for ritualistic reenactments of astronomical events. € The author's labours have made for a mind-bending read, though Hancock and Bauval's ultimate vindication awaits the archaeologist's spade.
  
  
• The Sphinx in alignment with the Stars
  By A2R0BYR93VI59T on 2000-09-07
  This book, like others of it's kind, stretch the imagination beyond what we know today or have assumed to be true. This book claims that the Sphinx goes back in history even further than the oldest proposed dates of the Pyramids at Giza. Through computer animation, the Sphinx has been shown to point directly at the Leo star constellation as far back a 10,500 b.c. If you examine the neck of the Sphinx, you will see water damage that was either caused by a great flood or torrential rains that were not known to exist, prior to 8000 b.c.

  Stones that were used to build the Sphinx are said to weigh over 200 tons. Currently, there are only 3 or 4 cranes in the world that can lift this amount of weight. It is estimated that it would take 1800 men to move blocks this size and it is still unknown how the blocks would have been cut with such accuracy.

  The organization of the stars in alignment with the Pyramids at Giza and even in the surrounding areas is astonishing. This book is an excellent and detailed view of the star configuration theory, but you should also read "The Orion Mystery" as a follow-up resource. These books compliment each other wonderfully and will make you question the real origins of mankind and our relationship to the heavens.

  The easy way out is to view ancient technologies as having been developed by an alien civilization...but a more thought provoking challenge, is to examine these civilizations as having been built by our own ancestors, by as yet undiscovered technology.
  
  

• A selectively documented, pseudo-scientifical account.
  By A10P3YSF645K6W on 1998-01-16
  In this book, the thesis is defended that the Sphinx and Pyramids of Giza in connection with certain star constellations contain a coded message from and advanced civilisation more than 12,000 years ago. It would point to a "Hall of Records" from that age, situated under the Sphinx. Consequently, the Giza monuments should be much older than conventionally assumed. One of the central points in the body of evidence brought forward by the authors is the corresponding relative position of the three Giza pyramids to the three stars in the so-called "Belt" of the Orion constellation. They claim that there are at least two more nearby pyramids of the same period (the Egyptian 4th Dynasty) which correspond with other Orion stars. However, when the Orion star map is projected on the "earth" map the mutual distances between the alledgedly compatible pyramids and stars do not match. Apart from that, there are quite a number of stars for which there is no matching pyramid at all. Not really a solid foundation for a theory like that, I should say. But there is more.

  According to their theories, the pyramids were built according to a "master plan". The fact, that all the pyramids in question are clearly attributable to individual pharaohs of the 4th Dynasty might contradict that. The authors, who claim that the names discovered in the pyramids themselves are forgeries, deny this fact. However, they conveniently ignore the undisputed appearance of these names in the building complexes belonging to each of the pyramids. Furthermore, pyramids did not turn up "out of the blue", but are the culmination of hundreds of years of gradual development; exactly as the accomplished culture of the Old Kingdom, for that matter. Their claim, that the Sphinx is not a representation of Pharaoh Khephren is a.o. substantiated by the fact, that a forensic expert could see no resemblance with undisputed images of this king. However, one of the basics of Ancient Egyptian iconography is the fact that you can hardly speak of individual portraits, even for kings; any image is identified by inscriptions rather than by facial features.

  In the first part of the book, the authors spare no pains to stress their scientifical approach to the matter. The fact, that they accept the visions of the clairvoyant Edgar Cayce as one of the proofs for the existence of the alleged "Hall of Records", supposedly situated under the Sphinx, transports their argumentation from the scientifical to the metaphysical: this, of course, effectively ends all discussion on this matter.

  It is true that the Egyptian authorities are very reluctant to allow destructive research techniques on the Giza plateau, especially when implemented by foreigners. This is not due to some worldwide conspiracy, but simply because the Egyptians do not like their vulnerable national symbols tampered with.
  
  

• Very educational with excellent engineering explanations
  By A5WMBIOGE8Q6N on 2004-03-30
  The pyramid is an 1:43,000 scale model of the earth, the height and base measurements are geometries based on PI and calculus used 4,000 to 15,000 years ago. Inside the pyramid are the King Chamber, Queens Chamber, and Terrestial Chamber mapped out against a siliquotte it produces an image of a throne with a seated God-king, whose feet are horizonal with the terrestial chamber, symbolizing a reigning God-King over the earth: 8.5 million tons of rock, 2.3 million blocks, one pyramid the stone weighted in over 200 tonnes. About 2500 BC Khufu built the first pyramid of Giza, followed by Kharfe, and last by Menekura. These pyramids formed a project of Orions belt and a map to milky, 12 constellations and their movements, and the path of the sun through the constellations. The suns path eventually intersect with the paws of Leo and when the earths poles flip, the order through the constellations will reverse.

  The sphinx faces the east, it aligns with Leo constellation and is orthogonal with the Orion constellation. These building map to constellation projections and represent projections of constellation positions, as they existed 10,000 years ago. Four star chambers point to various constellations. Winter and Summer solace deviate 28 degrees off due east which is the direction the sphinx faces. The walkways between the structures form angles pointing to Leo, the Vernal Point, and the Sun; as of about ten thousands years ago.

  There is a lot of proof that alignment with the stars means a lot. Alignment has an observable effect on gravitional pull. Stone Hendge is aligned. The pyramids are aligned, the Sphinx is aligned, etc.

  The Nile represents a projection of the milk way. The layout proves the designers saw and understood the coordinate system and location of the earth in relationship to the universe and how the milkway moves in relationship to the other constellations: Aquarius, Pices, Aries, Tarus, Cancer, Gemni, and Leo.

  The Pyramid is thought to be a cosmic clock or perhaps a monument. The pyramid demonstrates orientation and the power of the cosmos and mans relationship to the cosmos.

  How do we gain True understanding? Why did the designers use pyramids to prove the power of creation?

  Why did the pyramid designers build the pyramid as an universal clock? The pyramid is a constellation clock mapping out the sun's path as it overlays various constellations. Each one degree of movement represents 72 years. So, using these constants, the sun path through the twelve constellations completes its cycle every 25 thousand years. The Khufu pyramid is positioned perfected to the earth's center of mass. The meridian lines South to North with Orion and East with Leo off center of the vernal point. The path of Orion is moving from South to North along the Meridian.

  The three pyramids are orthogonal projections of the three stars on Orion's belt. The red pyramid is a projection of Sirus.

  How come the length of a day is so standard in our solar system? That couldn't have happened by chance.

  Who built the pyramids? The slave theory is very weak. Slaves could not have build such a percise architecture. To suggest such an idea is like suggesting a clock maker could build an atomic clock. Some think, man did not come into the pyramid picture until 2500 BC. Egyptian myth says the Gods themselves designed, dictated measurements; and in the first 15 thousand years engaged directly with the people. The last 11 thousand years, the Horus Kings ruled and built pyramids with 33 dynasties of power.

  The pyramid is a compass orientating the earth observer with the milkway and the milkway to other constellations. The end result is the sun path demonstrated in relationship to other constellations, as a measurement of time.
  
  

• Fantastic! A must for everyone who love mysterious Egypt!
  By on 1996-06-15
  This book contains an old treasure map which the mankind can't use until the authors have done their part, namely to write the next book(s) about this subject. It is absolutely incredible the way they are unravelling the mysteries of prehistoric Egypt. It makes you believe that some thousands of years BC there has been another high civilization with the knowledge and technology to plan and build this magnificient pyramids and especially "The Sphinx". The title of the book is "Keeper of Genesis:A Quest for the Hidden Legacy of Mankind". The Sphinx is still the Keeper of Genesis, and I look forward to the next book(s)!! If you haven't read this book, you have missed this years main event!
  
  
• The Message of the Sphinx
  By A1SWF19F8MMBP7 on 2003-04-30
  Guardian of the ancient mysteries, the keeper of secrets... For thousands of years the Great Sphinx of Egypt has gazed toward the east, its eyes focused on eternity, reading a message in the stars that mankind has long forgotten. And today, as our civilization stands poised at the end of a great cycle, it is a message that beckons insistently to be understood.
  All the clues are in place. Geology and archeo-astronomy have already indicated that the lion-bodied Sphinx may be vastly older than Egyptologists currently believe, dating not from 2500 B.C., but from 10,500 B.C.-- the beginning of the astrological Age of Leo. And we now know that the three pyramids of Giza, standing on high ground half a mile to the west of the Sphinx, are in fact a precise map of the three stars of Orion's belt, formed in 15 million tons of solid stone. Are these monuments trying to tell us something? And, if so, what? In The Message of the Sphinx, Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock present a tour de force of historical and scientific detective work that unravels the millennial code embodied in these structures. Using sophisticated computer simulations of ancient skies, they unravel the riddle of the Sphinx, and they present a startling new theory concerning the enigmatic Pyramid Texts and other archaic Egyptian scriptures. Their discoveries lead the authors to this question: Does mankind have a rendezvous with destiny -- a rendezvous not in the future, but in the distant past, at a precise place and time?
  
  
• The Sphinx - a mystery of mysteries.
  By A37XJAA18Y3WMQ on 2005-02-10
  OK there are things going on with the Sphinx. Things that are unexplained. This book opens the door to the thought process related to the dating of the Sphinx and the stellar alignment of it. I found it a general good read. Slow in some parts, and Graham hancock spent a bit of time going over and over on some basic points. But after reading the book, you should find yourself in agreement that the actual age of the Sphinx is much older than what is conventially established. If you are looking for the details of the hidden passages and other such cult inforation, then this book would disappoint you. It spends much of it's content on the dating of this object.
  
  
• An unavoidable foundation course in Egyptology.
  By A36T6UZBDEIJ2F on 2005-02-25
  Hancock and company have completed one of the foundation works in the study of the pyramids and the Sphinx. This book is absolutely textbook quality. The technology of the structures is beautifully described.
  
  I would highly recommend getting a complete picture. The Sphinx, the pyramids, and the unfathomable energy and engineering it took to build them were expended for a reason. If you want to know where Hancock's book fits into the grand scheme of things, you need to read "The Ark of Millons of Years."
  
  Who built them? Why? What was their real purpose? Do they contain the ancient Hall of Records? Ah, for those answers you'll need to read Clark & Agnew's book. The Union of the Polarity, revealed for the first time in over 6 thousands years in their book, puts all the pieces into place.
  
  Once you finish Hancock's work, you must complete your journey by reading "The Ark of Millions of Years."
  
  
• The Truth is Out There...
  By on 1998-08-07
  What a fascinating book! It explores (in a very scientific way) the possibilities surrounding the origin of the Giza necropolis. What saddens me is the apparent disinterest shown by the world's so-called "experts" on Egyptology. Science is about discovery-and Egyptologists seem to want to remain in the Dark Ages. The simple facts show that there is enough evidence of the Giza necropolis being used as a center for astronomical observation and worship to at least warrant an investigation into the possibility. But Egyptologists stubbornly cling to their "set in stone" ideas, despite the surprising lack of evidence to support them. One point the book brought out that I simply have to share is as follows: Egyptologists assert that the Egyptians were poor astronomers. Yet they also claim that the Pyramids were built by these same people. The degree of accuracy of the monuments (their corners set at right angles to less than 9 arc seconds from true, their f! aces locked into the four cardinal directions with similar accuracy, etc.) rivals the accuracy of modern day structures. (As the book mentions, the Great Pyramid is actually a more accurate meridian instrument than the Meridian Building in London.) The only way to achieve such "atomic clock" accuracy is by using the stars. So how did the Egyptians (poor astronomers as they supposedly were) manage to construct such massive structures so accurately that even today it would take a master astronomer to accomplish the task? Luck? Anyway, I think this book is a wonderful tool to explore our history with, as it teaches us not to except blindly what we're taught without proving it to ourselves.
  
  
• The "Father Of Terrors" ~ The Greatest Story Never Told
  By A141HP4LYPWMSR on 2006-05-25
  When it comes to the field of speculative/alternative world history there's nothing more fascinating to speculate about than the true age and origin of the two most impressive, awe inspiring monuments on the face of the Earth, the great Pyramid of Cheops and the Sphinx. When you add to the discussion ancient mystery schools, occult considerations and the transmission of arcane knowledge you've got my undivided attention!
  
  I've been fascinated by the image of the Sphinx for as long as I can remember. That calm, unconcerned limestone effigy has puzzled mankind since the beginning of recorded time and it still sustains its grip on the human psyche like no other image in history, except maybe the Devil. Was the Sphinx built in approximately 2500 BCE as conventional historians tell us? Was it constructed to honor a Pharoah of Egypt, the face of that Pharoah carved into onto the body of a lion as a symbol of his power?
  
  Or is it older and much more ancient than any of us have yet to fathom? Does this monument reach further back into antiquity, maybe as far as 10,000 to 9,000 BCE? Is it a symbol from an almost mythic time known as Zep Tepi, meaning the "First Time?" If it does reach back to a time preceding the Pharoah's than what was the purpose for its construction and who or what does the figure signify? Ahh......., the question of the ages!
  
  I'm not a scientist or an astronomer. I'm not particularily strong in mathematics in general for that matter. So advanced mathematics and astronomical calculations concerning star alignment, planetary rotations and the procession of the equinox that Hancock and Bauval use as evidence for their conclusions is something I cannot substantiate. I can only read and ponder the implications and conclusions if the authors are indeed correct in their analysis.
  
  FACT? FABLE? FABRICATION? FASCINATING!!!
  
  
• A great read for those already familiar with this subject!
  By on 1999-05-15
  The authors are devoted and committed researchers who have sacrificed years of their lives to bring this story to us.

  Because the mysteries of Giza are in such a state of flux, as new discoveries are being made daily, this book, which attempts to bring this subject up to the minute, may seem to the uninitiated to have no beginning and no end. In reality, the authors have been very generous by not rehashing pages of material covered in previous books. They assume that the reader has been following this subject for some time, but thoughtfully point out where the reader can look for more background if needed.

  For those of us who believe this subject is one of the most important of our lifetimes, this book achieves it's purpose masterfully by addressing the latest discoveries and further unravelling astronomical clues left by the Giza builders.

  I, for one, devoured the book greedily, and look forward, as always, with great anticipation to the next "chapter" in this saga...one the authors seem to hint may blow the lid off established doctrine concerning world history and Egyptology.

  Signed: a grateful reader in Southern California!
  
  

• The new "Chariot of the Gods?"
  By A1XJKQ9XQVL5BG on 2003-05-13
  After a couple of decades it appears that two new hucksters have appeared to claim Erick Von Daniken's mantle as the top purveyors of nonsense dressed up as serious intellectual inquiry into the past. All in the name of making a buck on the ignorant, of course.

  This book is so laughably ridiculous that its amazing to me that anyone takes it seriously. Of course, the authors base their entire case on their readers NOT knowing much of anything about their subject matter. If they did then they'd see this stuff for the tripe it is.

  If you want to read a good book on early Egypt go get Toby Wilkinson's "Early Dynastic Egypt" or something by Mark Lehner.

  This book is just garbage with a distinctly New Age odor to it.
  
  

• good Fiction
  By A3O6XIG6D648GG on 2005-06-20
  Just like the old Chariots of Gods, his books are very interesting and and entertaining. But please dont think that you are reading a scientific work. Real historical works are not as sexy and entertaining as these books just as real archeologists are not Indiana Joneses.
  
  
• A review of the audiobook by a history teacher
  By A1GARI2JT6EAWA on 2007-02-08
  I picked this one up on a whim. Having already read and reviewed Hancock's "Heaven's Mirror" several years ago, I knew what I was getting myself into - lots of alternative, well-researched ideas that cause you to think, "Well...maybe..."
  
  The first half of the audiobook was just that. Questions about the weathering on the Sphinx. Unexplained unwillingness to research into what lies below the Sphinx (is it a cavern? a room? a geologic anomaly?), challenges to the orthodox Egyptology's interpretions.
  
  Lots of good fun and as a history teacher I encourage challenges to Orthodoxy - for example, until fairly recently the Maya were considered to be wise sages of the rain forest who abhorred violence (turns out they readily engaged in human sacrfices all of the time), the Assyrians of Ninevah were considered to be a fantasy of the Bible and the city of Troy? - a figment of Homer's imagination. So, putting pinholes in orthodoxy has its place.
  
  However, Hancock and Bauval lost me when they began to use Edgar Cayce's psychic readings from the 1930s and 1940s as a legitimate source. Star charts and weathering are legitimate sources. Not mediums. Come on!
  
  To make it worse, Hancock and Bauval launch into an extended discourse on the movement of stars across the sky over the cenutires (called procession). While this had a legitimate point, one that Hancock fleshes out even more in his book "Heaven's Mirror," he goes on and on with it to the point where I couldn't hardly stand to listen to it any longer. The reader, Nick Ullett, did a superb job with the material he was asked to read, but there is no way that listening to nearly an hour of facts and figures about star charts and mathematical equations will be anything but mind-numbingly, eye-crossingly, stupifyingly boring. I listen to audiobooks to perk up my long daily commute. I actually had to turn off the relentless march of the equations just to stay awake! Hancock's points were made in the first 15 minutes - yet he continued on and on and on and on and on...
  
  So, this is really two books - the first half is interesting and full of legitimate points. The second half is butressed by facts from the mouth of a psychic and then becomes an endless lecture on procession that should have been edited.
  
  Final grade: D+
  
  
• Ancient Civilisations revealed
  By on 1999-07-30
  This is a fantasic and incredible treatise on the mystery of the Sphinx. It provides solid evidence for the case that the Sphinx was built in 10,500 B.C., the historical implications of which are staggering. I had to read a chapter for an anthropology paper, wound up reading the whole book, and have read several more books on the subject since. And isn't that the best review, that it makes you want to learn more?

  Great for anyone who accepts - and is fascinated by - the possibility that records of great civilizations could have been lost in time.
  
  

• Raises many questions
  By A6Y4TBWHSJC1Y on 2002-04-12
  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.
  
  

• Trace back our origins
  By A2CDUTKAMKXP9R on 2002-06-03
  The authors have done a great work of research here. Based on astronomy and archeology, with some hints at astrology and metaphysic knowledge, Mr Hancock and Mr Bauval take us trhough a journey in time, trying to get back to the origins of the always mystical and eningmatic Pyramids and Sphinx. Although the title lays on the cat-headed monument, they indeed spent a lot of time and pages of this book dealing with the pyramids and their main details.

  Through this book you will be able to learn about the constant attempts they and many other researchers have made to go deeper in the study of the Sphinx, in concrete, to try and find the secret chambers that lie beneath the monument, and how all of those attemps have been met with a burocratical "no" from the different administrators of the site.

  The authors also have managed to come up with a coherent theory about the building of the pyramids. Although they do not affirm that the Giza monuments were built in 10,500 BC, their research and evidence presented in this book leds you to your very own conclusion that they might actually have been built 8000 before what "traditional" egyptologists claim.

  Finally I should say that this book is not an easy read. The first 2 3rds of it are simple and deal with much of astronomy and some politics (they are everywhere, aren't they?)
  The last half of it is about egyptian mythology and how it fits in the context of the pyramids, the constellations and the authors findings, this part requires a very concentrated read.

  In all, a must for all the searchers of the truth out there, very helpful at coming at your own conclusions. Get it now.
  
  

• Get a cup of coffee--you'll want to be up all night
  By A3EW86JQUGKTFT on 2004-03-06
  Message of the Sphinx is just as interesting as watching a program on the Discovery Channel--only with this book you get much more information. Hancock offers theories about the actual age of the Sphinx and the Giza Pyramids. He gives you the evidence to back up his claims. In his book, he gives accounts from noted archaeologists who have dared to think outside the norm, but they later end up changing their minds about their unaccepted theories. It makes the reader wonder if the theories are being kept quiet for some reason.

  This book is not simply by any means, but it is also not packed so full of technical terms that a reader will not be able to understand what he or she is reading. Hancock and Bauval masterfully get their point across without hinderig the reader. This book is well worth the time to any fan of archaeology, Egypt, or Discovery channel show. So, if you are up for the ride brew yourself a pot of coffee or a cup of tea, sit back and get ready to be amazed.
  
  

• Mathematical-Religious-Astronomy
  By A1W5G859U6PYE0 on 2004-11-27
  I have nothing but praise for Graham and Robert on this masterpiece of unorthodox history. Whether they are right or wrong in their hypothesis, this book certainly brings up enough solid data to at least get the reader questioning what we now `know' as history.
  
  I subscribe to the reason that is put forward in regards to why the pyramids were built. But more so, I am fascinated by how the conclusion was made. Bringing mathematics, religion and astronomy all together, pouring over the ancient myths and texts - it was a journey of discovery that you should all be a part of. Do you remember the road to the Duat?
  
  
• Provocative
  By on 1998-12-21
  Thoroughly provocative - challenging the entire model of ancient history and what we think we know about human achievements over the past 6,000 years. Some of his theories could use serious and sober second thought (e.g. the Giza configuation as a mirror of Orions' belt) and a little more science. In fact the whole book requires some rigorous egyptological analysis based on 20th century discovery. But I have to say that the book challenges our models and for that fact alone we need to pay attention to its conclusions. Intellectual challenge is important and throws the ball back at people like Mark Lerner.
  
  
• Pseudo-scientific Hooey
  By on 1998-04-23
  For hundreds of years, scholars have looked desperately for ways to attribute the pyramids and Sphinx to anyone -- as long as they weren't ancient Egyptians. This book is just another attempt to rob this civilization of the credit for these amazing monuments. Geologists from around the globe have dismissed the sloppy handiwork of "researchers" such as these, who fail to take into account the fact that the Sphinx was periodically covered and uncovered with sand throughout its history. This would dramatically affect its weathering, and throw off the calculations of fabulists like the author of this book. I could go on and on about how fact after fact establishes that both Pyramids and Sphinx were built by the ancient Egyptians and no one else, but those facts would have little effect on the woolly thinking of those who choose to believe in this psuedo-science. All the materials and knowledge to build the pyramids and Sphinx existed in Egypt during the Fourth Dynasty. It was these remarkable people who built these amazing monuments. Give credit, at last, where it is due.
  
  

• Fingerprints of the Gods
• The Orion Mystery: Unlocking the Secrets of the Pyramids
• Supernatural: Meetings with the Ancient Teachers of Mankind
• Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization
• Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant