From Atlantis to the Sphinx

Infobox Book |
name = From Atlantis To The Sphinx
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author = Colin Wilson
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country = United Kingdom
language = English
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subject = History
genre = Non-fiction
publisher = Virgin Books
release_date = 1996
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media_type = Print (Hardback)
pages = x, 294 pp
isbn = ISBN 1-85227-526-X
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"From Atlantis to the Sphinx" is a work of non-fiction by the British author, Colin Wilson, with the subheading "Recovering the Lost Wisdom of the Ancient World". Using The Sphinx as his starting point, Mr Wilson explores the ramifications of an alternate time-line for the development of mankind, arguing that an advanced civilisation or civilisations existed in traditionally pre-historic times: the fabled Atlantis mentioned by Greek philosopher Plato in his work Timaeus.

Overview

The book explores the connection between astronomy and mythology, arguing that ancient man used "Lunar knowledge" (intuition) as opposed to modern man's "Solar knowledge" (logic) to interpret the universe, and therefore possessed an entirely different (but equally valid) mentality from that of modern man, an outlook based on "seeing the big picture" instead of attempting to break down the universe into its constituent parts, as is the wont of logic.

Exploring this point further, Mr Wilson uses this idea of civilisations founded on Lunar Knowledge coupled with exhaustive observation of, and calculations based upon, astronomy to explain the monumental (and seemingly spontaneous) achievements of ancient cultures, such as the Pyramid Complex at Giza in Egypt.

Although mentioning The Golden Bough by James Frazer, he argues that the essential weakness of that work is that Frazer attributes the fundamental mythological systems to the beginnings of the arming cultures, and specifically to fertility. Wilson, agreeing with Hamlet's Mill by Giorgio Santillana, places the genesis of mythology previous to this, linking the fundamental myths to astronomical occurrences, such as the Precession of the Equinoxes.

The main observations drawn by Mr Wilson are that our ancient pre-homo sapiens ancestors have been shown to possess intelligence equal to that of modern man, their apparent lack of technological achievement being explained by the needlessness of it based upon their completely different, intuitive and all-embracing mentality. Over time, a more logical and dissecting mentality evolved, leading to the traits which mark modern civilisations. The evidence of these older advanced cultures, which were probably in existence before 10,000 B.C., challenge the modern perception of our forefathers being backward, lacking intelligence and advanced levels of communication, and generally our inferior.

Contents

1 Egyptian Mysteries

2 The New Race

3 Inside the Pyramid

4 The Forbidden Word

5 The Realm of the White Gods

6 The Antiquity of Man

7 Forbidden Archaeology

8 More Forbidden Archaeology

9 Of Stars and Gods

10 The Third Force