Of all the volcanic eruptions that shook the earth, two of the volcano on the Aegean island Thera, modern Santorini, are more important to the modern world than any other. Not only did they lead to the formation of the people known as the Israelites, but indirectly also gave birth to the god of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The biblical Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is closely linked to these two eruptions, the second which occurred ca. 1450-1410 BCE during the reign of Amenhotep III, Egypt's golden pharaoh. The fallout of the eruption caused a deadly plague to break out in Egypt and to appease the perceived anger of the gods, Amenhotep ordered all firstborn in Egypt to be sacrificed in fires. His firstborn son, Crown Prince Tuthmosis, was first in line to be sacrificed, but was saved from the fire in the nick of time, an event recorded as the 'burning bush' episode in the Bible. Prince Tuthmosis became the biblical Moses and the events of that followed are now finally revealed. ,

For more than four decades, biblical experts have tried to place the story of Exodus into historical context--without success. What could explain the Nile turning to blood, insects swarming the land, and the sky falling to darkness? Integrating biblical accounts with substantive archaeological evidence, The Parting of the Sea looks at how natural phenomena shaped the stories of Exodus, the Sojourn in the Wilderness, and the Israelite conquest of Canaan. Barbara Sivertsen demonstrates that the Exodus was in fact two separate exoduses both triggered by volcanic eruptions--and provides scientific explanations for the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. Over time, Israelite oral tradition combined these events into the Exodus narrative known today. Skillfully unifying textual and archaeological records with details of ancient geological events, Sivertsen shows how the first exodus followed a 1628 B.C.E Minoan eruption that produced all but one of the first nine plagues. The second exodus followed an eruption of a volcano off the Aegean island of Yali almost two centuries later, creating the tenth plague of darkness and a series of tsunamis that "parted the sea" and drowned the pursuing Egyptian army. Sivertsen's brilliant account explains inconsistencies in the biblical story, fits chronologically with the conquest of Jericho, and confirms that the Israelites were in Canaan before the end of the sixteenth century B.C.E. In examining oral traditions and how these practices absorb and process geological details through storytelling, The Parting of the Sea reveals how powerful historical narratives are transformed into myth.

The great mid-second millennium BC eruption of the Thera (Santorini) volcano in the Aegean Sea, has been the subject of intense popular and scholarly interest. The effects of the eruption have been linked with the destruction of the Minoan palace civilization of Crete, the legend of Atlantis and even the events described in the Biblical account of the Exodus. Scientists have studied the remains of the volcano, traced eruption products across the east Mediterranean, and sought evidence for a climatic impact in ice-cores and tree-rings. At Akrotiri, archaeologists have unearthed a major prehistoric town which was buried by the eruption, finding multi-storey houses decorated with wonderful frescoes, and full of ceramics and other finds linking this site with the contemporary civilisations of Crete, Greece, Anatolia, Cyprus, the Levant and Egypt.

This book is about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, taking seriously the current scientific arguments and its implications for religion.

This book is a brief, popular (but informed and up-to-date) introduction to the relationship between the Bible and archaeology. Material culture (i.e., artifacts) and the biblical text illuminate each other in various ways, but many of us find it difficult to reach a nuanced understanding of how this process works and how archaeological discoveries should be interpreted. This book provides an irenic and balanced perspective on these issues, showing how texts and artifacts are in a fascinating “dialogue” with one another that sheds light on the meaning and importance of both. What emerges is a rich and complex picture that enlivens our understanding of the Bible’s message, increases our appreciation for the historical and cultural contexts in which it was written, and helps us be realistic about the limits of our knowledge.

Shows how a desecrated tomb in the Valley of the Kings holds the key to the true history of the destruction of Atlantis • Reveals that Tomb 55 in the Valley of the Kings was designed not to keep intruders out, but to trap something inside • Provides forensic evidence proving that the mask believed to be the face of Tutankhamun is actually that of his elder brother Smenkhkare In Atlantis and the Ten Plagues of Egypt, Graham Phillips explores the excavation of a mysterious and ritually desecrated tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Tomb 55, which he contends holds the key to the true history of the destruction of Atlantis. Unlike other Egyptian tombs designed to keep intruders out, Tomb 55 was constructed to keep something imprisoned within, specifically Smenkhkare, the older brother of Tutankhamun who was deemed responsible for the ten plagues in Egyptian history, to prevent such tragedies from ever happening again. The forensic findings from this tomb coupled with compelling new evidence from the polar ice caps provide sensational evidence that the parting of the Red Sea, the deaths of the first born, and the other plagues that afflicted Egypt were all actual historical events. Core samples from the polar ice caps indicate that a gigantic volcanic eruption took place in the eastern Mediterranean around the time of Amonhotep’s reign. Other research suggests this to have been the time of the eruption that destroyed the Greek island of Thera, one of the likely locations of Atlantis, and that the subsequent cataclysm may explain the unusual lack of resistance to the new religion installed by Amonhotep’s son, Akhenaten, when he took power several years later.

The Bible's grand narrative about Israel's Exodus from Egypt is central to Biblical religion, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim identity and the formation of the academic disciplines studying the ancient Near East. It has also been a pervasive theme in artistic and popular imagination. Israel's Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective is a pioneering work surveying this tradition in unprecedented breadth, combining archaeological discovery, quantitative methodology and close literary reading. Archaeologists, Egyptologists, Biblical Scholars, Computer Scientists, Geoscientists and other experts contribute their diverse approaches in a novel, transdisciplinary consideration of ancient topography, Egyptian and Near Eastern parallels to the Exodus story, the historicity of the Exodus, the interface of the Exodus question with archaeological fieldwork on emergent Israel, the formation of biblical literature, and the cultural memory of the Exodus in ancient Israel and beyond. This edited volume contains research presented at the groundbreaking symposium "Out of Egypt: Israel’s Exodus Between Text and Memory, History and Imagination" held in 2013 at the Qualcomm Institute of the University of California, San Diego. The combination of 44 contributions by an international group of scholars from diverse disciplines makes this the first such transdisciplinary study of ancient text and history. In the original conference and with this new volume, revolutionary media, such as a 3D immersive virtual reality environment, impart innovative, Exodus-based research to a wider audience. Out of archaeology, ancient texts, science and technology emerge an up-to-date picture of the Exodus for the 21st Century and a new standard for collaborative research.

Set in Jerusalem, the novel opens just after archeologist Ella Miller asks her husband, her former mentor, to leave. When her decision is met with condemnation by friends and family, she plunges into depression and anxiety over how their six-year-old son will cope. With dense, beautiful prose, Shalev chips away at Ella's past, digging up resentments and disappointments, and presenting them sliver by sliver. Although Ella observes her son with touching detail, her focus is ultimately inward, making her a hard character to like. When she becomes involved with a lover, for instance, her self-absorption keeps her from recognizing the patterns she's repeating. Ella is known for drawing unsubstantiated parallels between the Israelites' exodus from Egypt and the flight from a major volcanic eruption on the Greek island of Thera (now Santorini); she believes societies glorify their histories, creating art and myth from disaster, leaving the reader to hope that this lovely, troubled woman will someday be able to do the same for herself.

According to Stanley Rosenbaum, the Bible resembles what a family would retrieve after a tornado hits a trailer park -- some of the family's own possessions mixed with those of others, overlapping, contradicting, and disordered. Understanding Israelite History is a revolutionary attempt to fill in the many gaps left in the historical record. Rosenbaum begins by demonstrating that Israel's religion was not a clean, divinely inspired break with humanity's past, but derives from the long sweep of events that began when Homo sapiens first acquired language. Strata of earlier religions are still visible beneath the surface of Israelite monotheism. Early Israel was not "one man's family", however dysfunctional. It was a collection of individuals and groups, mainly outcasts or lower social elements, who coalesced into a nation and developed -- though they did not always follow -- a religion of ethical monotheism and principles of democratic government and social justice that still today move and inspire more than half the world's population. Like all religions, Israel's was shaped by the language, in this case Hebrew, in which it is expressed. Expressing monotheism in a language that is essentially dualistic conduced to the suppression of the female elements of earlier religions which had nurtured Israel's religion, and consequently, to a lack of appreciation for the part played by women in Israel's religious life. This skewed view of Israel's religion and its history that the Bible contains is a result of its having been collected, edited and in part written by Judeans, southern survivors, and heirs of David's kingdom who were moved to record it in the wake of the destruction ofJerusalem in 586 BCE.

Two of the best-known stories in the Bible are those of Moses leading his people out of Egypt and Joshua's conquest of the Promised Land. Indeed, they form one of the cornerstones of the Judeo-Christian tradition. But is the Bible a reliable source of information for Israel's early history? Are the Exodus and Conquest actual historical events? And if they are, when and where did they occur? Out of the Desert? rigorously examines accounts of these historic events and traces the authenticity, dates, and explanations for the Israelites' departure from Egypt and subsequent conquest of Canaan. Clarifying these events in a straightforward, informative manner, Out of the Desert? includes a generous number of charts and illustrations. William H. Stiebing, Jr. places the Exodus within its cultural context during the beginning of the Iron Age (1200-1100 B.C.), a time of drought, famine and collapse of social order, which gave way to the emergence and dominance of the tribes that joined forces to become the confederation of Israel. Many conventional ideas concerning the Exodus and Conquest are radically challenged in Out of the Desert?. Stiebing's accounts of archaeological digs and rival theories make the narrative lively and engrossing; his unique insight into the field of modern archaeology provides a rare glimpse into the wonders of man's history.