John Anthony West is a writer, scholar and Pythagorean, born in New York City. He is the author of The Traveler's Key to Ancient Egypt, and consulting editor for the Traveler's Key series. His previous book, Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt is an exhaustive study of the revolutionary Egyptological work of the French mathematician and Orientalist, the late R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz.
Author/Artist: John Anthony West
ISBN: 0835606910
Publisher: Quest Books
First published: 1979
John Anthony West explains in this richly illustrated book the unity and purpose of ancient Egyptian culture. The Serpent symbolized choice: the lower or the higher path. West brings to life the world of a people for whom higher truth was a living reality and ultimate goal.
The revised edition of Serpent in the Sky includes an update on West's redating of the Sphinx. Available from The Sphinx Project at 1-800-508-0558, or write to The Sphinx Project, P.O. Box 22 Athens, NY 12015, USA. Price:US $19.95 (softcover) plus $4.95 shipping & handling. Please make checks or money orders payable to John Anthony West. Sorry, at this time credit card orders cannot be processed.
Reviews
This question can be answered in two ways. The standard answer is: it is just as old as I got to know when I went to school. I studied a two volume book published by J.A. Hammerton and translated into Finnish by Ilmari Jäämaa and Mika Waltari (later known as the author of 'Sinuhe, The Egyptian'). This book said that the age of the Sphinx is unknown, but usually it is thought to be from the time of Khefren (Greek version of the name), who lived 2558-2532 B.C.
John Anthony West starts with the fact that we don't know how old the Sphinx is and has made a study of its age arriving at the conclusion that it is not 4500 years old, but much older. Time will show if he is right or wrong with his theory. Meanwhile he has written a truly amazing book, which has so much more than the above theory: a deep study of Symbolism just to name one thing.
An example of this is the discovery that the Egypt as we know it was born at once, without any prior development; it was a legacy from a preceeding culture that we do not know anything about. What was that culture? Where did it disappear?
Perhaps it is time "to try to re-examine Egypt as a whole" in the light of Schwaller de Lubicz's discoveries, which are not few. This is exactly what John Anthony West has done for the past 30 years.
A book that is certainly worth reading more than once and an inspiration for further studies!
Reijo Elsner, Finland
http://www.elsners.com/
added 2003-07-01