Emmet Sweeney is a high school teacher with many years' experience in the classroom. He holds a Masters Degree in Early Modern History from the University of Ulster and has had numerous articles published in historical journals such as the "Society for Interdisciplinary Studies Review" and "Ancient Warfare."

His interest in ancient history was kindled by his father who told him, at an early age, of the daring exploits of Percy Fawcett and Hiram Bingham as they searched for the "Lost Cities" of South America. This interest was rekindled as a student in Belfast, where he discovered the works of Immanuel Velikovsky. Since then, Sweeney has travelled extensively in pursuit of his researches, including journeys to Egypt, Greece, and other locations in the Near East.

Sweeney is the author of a series of books entitled "Ages in Alignment," which seeks to rewrite pre-classical history in its entirety. He describes the salient features of each volume in his "Ages in Alignment" series and points out the important consequences of the skewed historical record as it is usually taught in his website at Emmet Sweeney.net.

In parallel, following the research of German historian Heribert Illig, Sweeney pursues the astonishing theory that Europe never experienced a Dark Age. He demonstrates through archaeological, literary, and architectural evidence that the record actually supports this hypothesis which is fueling lively debates across Europe.

For over 35 years he has researched the questions raised by Velikovsky’s attempted reconstruction of Egyptian history. If what Sweeney and those scholars who agree with him say proves to be correct, all the textbooks will need to be rewritten.

Egypt's Ramesside Pharaohs and the Persians represents the final volume in the reconstruction of Near Eastern antiquity, bringing us from the start of the 6th century down to the early 3rd. The history presented here will appear at the...

Egypt's Ramesside Pharaohs and the Persians represents the final volume in the reconstruction of Near Eastern antiquity, bringing us from the start of the 6th century down to the early 3rd. The history presented here will appear at the same time both familiar and startlingly new.

Readers will see how Ramses II, normally believed to have reigned during the 14th/13th century BC, was actually a contemporary of Cyrus the Great, founder of the mighty Persian Empire. They shall find how during the latter years of Ramses II, Cyrus usurped the Median throne and, under the Assyrian title of Tukulti-apil-esharra (Tiglath-Pileser), conquered Lydia, Babylon, and all of Palestine as far as the borders of Egypt.

Names well-known from biblical history, such as Sargon and Nebuchadrezzar, will be shown to be identical to characters equally well-known from classical history including Darius I, Artaxerxes I and others. All these and other identifications are argued in some detail.

Analyzing events like the Persian War against Greece, and Alexander’s conquest of Persia, Emmet Sweeney goes far beyond studying the monuments of each land. He has consulted ancient authors such as Manetho and Herodotus, as well as the hieroglyphic documents of Egypt, but in addition, Sweeney discusses how the design of chariots, for example, went through a very definite evolution, an evolution accurately depicted by the artists of the time. Close study of such evidence may help to date the reign of a king with a high degree of accuracy.

Three dozen illustrations and a variety of timelines help bring the startling picture into sharp focus.

...By 1989, as I looked into Mesopotamian history and archaeology in greater depth, I became aware that Sargon of Akkad could not possibly be the same person as Sargon II. At that time I corresponded with Heinsohn primarily through the intermediary of Englishman Derek Shelley Pearce, and I wrote to him that, if Sargon of Akkad were to be Sargon of Assyria, then the Neo-Assyrian Sargon II — along with the entire Neo-Assyrian epoch — would need to be brought forward into the Persian period. But, as I said to Derek, I didn’t see how that was possible. Shortly thereafter, Gunnar Heinsohn announced that the entire Neo-Assyrian epoch did indeed belong in the Persian Age.

My reaction to Heinsohn’s announcement was what it had been earlier: The Neo-Assyrians couldn’t possibly be Persians because Herodotus, who lived and wrote during the Persian epoch, clearly placed the Neo-Assyrian king Sennacherib before the time of the Persian Empire. (Only later did I realize that Herodotus’ Egyptian informants had themselves been confused by the Persians, who used Assyrian as well as Persian throne-names, thus presenting Herodotus with a distorted image of their own past)....

?End of the Nineteenth Dynasty

Chapter 2. The Fall of Imperial Egypt

? The “Israel Stele� of Merneptah

? Persians and “Libyans�

? Ethiopian Rule

? Queen Tewosret and the Three Brothers

? Seti II

? Esarhaddon at the Gates of “Sethosville�

? Wenamon

? Ethiopia Defeated

? Psamtek and the ‘Saite’ Dynasty

? Egypt Regains Her Freedom

Chapter 3. Peoples of the Sea Revisited

? Ramses III Repulses the Persians

? The Dynasty of Priests

? The Deir El-Medina Genealogies

? Tomb Robbers and Craftsmen of Deir el-Medina

Chapter 4. Archaeology’s “Centuries of Darkness� Duplicating and Triplicating History

? Biblical Synchronisms

? Ramessides and Neo-Assyrians

? The Neo-Hittites of Syria

? The Hittite Cities: Malatya and Karatepe

? Classical Synchronisms: Biblical Chronology versus Classical Chronology

? The Archaeology of Phoenicia

? Cypriot Tombs

? Glassmaking

Chapter 5. Sargonids and Achaemenids

? The Evidence of Art

? Military Technology

? The Cult of Ahura Mazda

? Two Hebrew Prophets

? The Second Sargon

? Xerxes and Sennacherib

? Assassination at the Palace

? Artaxerxes I and His Time

? Two Sons and two Mothers

? Darius II and Ashurbanipal

Chapter 6. The Babylonian Achaeminids

? The Influence of Babylon

? Artaxerxes II

? Artaxerxes III and Nebuchadrezzar

? End of the Empire

? Extent of the Neo-Babylonian Empire

? Nabonasser and Nabonidus

? A Chronology in Chaos

Chapter 7. Questions and Answers

? Absence of the Medes and Persians in Mesopotamia

? Was Assyria a Wasteland after the Mede Conquest?

? Was Babylonia a Wasteland after the Persian Conquest?

? The Judgment of Archaeologists

? Alter-egos and Reign-lengths

? Who Were the Old Babylonians?

Epilogue

Neo-Assyrian and Achaemenid Parallels

Chronology of Major Events of the 19th Dynasty to the End of the Persian Epoch

AGES IN ALIGNMENT

This series of books by Emmet Sweeney argues for a complete reconstruction of ancient chronology. The histories of the Near Eastern civilizations are now believed to have commenced around 3300 BC, about 2,000 years before those of China and the New World. Yet “Ages in Alignment� demonstrates that the Near Eastern cultures had no 2,000-year head start. All the ancient civilizations arose simultaneously around 1100 BC, in the wake of a terrible natural...

AGES IN ALIGNMENT

This series of books by Emmet Sweeney argues for a complete reconstruction of ancient chronology. The histories of the Near Eastern civilizations are now believed to have commenced around 3300 BC, about 2,000 years before those of China and the New World. Yet “Ages in Alignment� demonstrates that the Near Eastern cultures had no 2,000-year head start. All the ancient civilizations arose simultaneously around 1100 BC, in the wake of a terrible natural catastrophe recalled in legend as the Flood, or Deluge.

The four volumes of “Ages in Alignment� reconstruct the histories of the Near Eastern cultures, from the rise of the first monarchies, coincidentally around 1100 BC, until the conquest of Alexander. Volume 1, “The Genesis of Israel and Egypt,� looks at the archaeological evidence for the Flood, evidence now misinterpreted and ignored. This volume examines the rise of the first literate cultures in the wake of the catastrophe and goes on to trace the story of the great migration which led groups of early Mesopotamians westwards toward Egypt, where they helped to establish Egyptian civilization.

This migration, recalled in the biblical story of Abraham, provides the first link between Egyptian and Hebrew histories. The next link comes a few generations later with Imhotep, the great seer who solved the crisis of a seven-year famine by interpreting pharaoh Djoser's dream. Imhotep is shown to be the same person as Joseph, son of Jacob.

Volume 2, “The Pyramid Age,� brings us to the catastrophic end of the Early Dynastic Age. This occurred around 840 BC and corresponds with the Exodus of the Israelite slaves from Egypt. “The Pyramid Age� shows how the Egyptians, in the wake of this catastrophe, began construction of the mighty pyramids of the 4th Dynasty. These were built to celebrate the rebirth of the sun-god Atum after the days of darkness during the recent catastrophe.

Volume 3, “Empire of Thebes,� looks at the rise of the mighty 18th Dynasty which seized power after the expulsion of the Asiatic Hyksos invaders. The Hyksos are revealed to be identical to last pyramid-building dynasty, the 6th, whose kings Pepi I and II are the same as the Hyksos Apepi I and II.

The 18th Dynasty pharaohs interacted with the early kings of Israel, and Thutmose III is shown to be the same person as Shishak, the pharaoh who plundered the Jerusalem temple after the death of Solomon. The great allies of the 18th Dynasty, the Mitanni, are revealed to be the same people as the Medes, and the enemies of the 19th Dynasty, the Hittites, are shown to be the same as the Lydians.

Volume 4, “The Ramessides and Persians,� brings the reconstruction to a close. The 19th Dynasty is shown to have ended in 525 BC with the Persian Conquest, and the last important 19th Dynasty ruler, Seti II, is shown to have never ruled an independent Egypt. He was the same person as Inaros, the Egyptian rebel leader who battled against the Persians in the time of Xerxes and Artaxerxes I.

Ramses III, of the 20th Dynasty, is revealed to be identical to Nectanebo I of the 30th Dynasty, who defeated the Persian Artaxerxes II. “The Ramessides and Persians� also shows that the so-called Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian kings were actually Persians using Semitic names. So, for example, Sargon II was Darius I, Sennacherib was Xerxes, Esarhaddon was Artaxerxes I and Nebuchadrezzar was Artaxerxes III.