The Magic Of Obelisks
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Few monuments have captivated the human imagination quite like the obelisk — those soaring stone needles that pierce the sky from Karnak to Central Park — and The Magic of Obelisks by Peter Tompkins is the definitive account of their extraordinary journey through time. Tompkins chronicles the origins of these monolithic pillars in the sun-scorched quarries of ancient Egypt, tracing their sacred role in the religious and cosmological worldview of the pharaohs before detailing their audacious theft, transport, and re-erection by Roman emperors, Renaissance popes, and modern nation-states hungry for a piece of antiquity's grandeur. The narrative spans millennia and continents, presenting the obelisk not merely as an architectural curiosity, but as a potent symbol of political power, divine authority, and occult knowledge that has shaped civilizations. Tompkins, best known for his landmark work Secrets of the Great Pyramid, writes with the same forensic passion and sweeping erudition that made him one of the twentieth century's most compelling investigators of the ancient world. The Magic of Obelisks weaves together Egyptology, astronomy, Freemasonry, and esoteric tradition into a rich tapestry of historical argument, presenting the bold thesis that these ancient monoliths encoded profound astronomical and sacred knowledge far beyond what mainstream scholarship has acknowledged. For any reader who has ever stood at the foot of an obelisk and sensed that its smooth surfaces conceal a deeper secret, this book offers a thrilling and provocative answer.
Author: Peter Tompkins
Format: Hardback
Published: 1981, Harper & Row
Genre: Ancient history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Few monuments have captivated the human imagination quite like the obelisk — those soaring stone needles that pierce the sky from Karnak to Central Park — and The Magic of Obelisks by Peter Tompkins is the definitive account of their extraordinary journey through time. Tompkins chronicles the origins of these monolithic pillars in the sun-scorched quarries of ancient Egypt, tracing their sacred role in the religious and cosmological worldview of the pharaohs before detailing their audacious theft, transport, and re-erection by Roman emperors, Renaissance popes, and modern nation-states hungry for a piece of antiquity's grandeur. The narrative spans millennia and continents, presenting the obelisk not merely as an architectural curiosity, but as a potent symbol of political power, divine authority, and occult knowledge that has shaped civilizations. Tompkins, best known for his landmark work Secrets of the Great Pyramid, writes with the same forensic passion and sweeping erudition that made him one of the twentieth century's most compelling investigators of the ancient world. The Magic of Obelisks weaves together Egyptology, astronomy, Freemasonry, and esoteric tradition into a rich tapestry of historical argument, presenting the bold thesis that these ancient monoliths encoded profound astronomical and sacred knowledge far beyond what mainstream scholarship has acknowledged. For any reader who has ever stood at the foot of an obelisk and sensed that its smooth surfaces conceal a deeper secret, this book offers a thrilling and provocative answer.