However, I myself am persuaded by some of his ideas, and I think that had The Kolbrin been published while Velikovsky was alive (he died in 1979), its older books might well have intrigued him. His ideas concerning the cataclysmic history of our planet and his maverick suggestion that Venus was once a comet ( Worlds in Collision, Earth in Upheaval), his attempt to shorten Egyptian chronology ( Ages in Chaos), his uncomfortable perception that human beings effectually blot out their traumatic ancestral experiences ( Mankind in Amnesia), and his use of comparative mythology to arrive at his conclusions, have all put him well beyond the academic pale for many decades. Velikovsky has been given a hard time by scholars. Anyone familiar with Immanuel Velikovsky’s book Ages in Chaos will know that he used the Papyrus Ipuwer to support his claim that the Exodus was a real historical event. The papyrus, also called the ‘Lament of Ipuwer’ or ‘Admonitions of Ipuwer’ dates from around 1250 BC and has been copied from a much older text. The Papyrus Ipuwer (Leiden I 344 recto) is a single-sheet papyrus held in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, Netherlands. (Incidentally, pictures in this article have been chosen purely for illustrative effect and not for what their source text may have to say.) Wherever a phrase or passage occurs that is echoed in a specific papyrus or inscription, I have quoted it in square brackets in red. I’d be intrigued to know how these similarities strike other readers, so set out below is the text of ‘The Dark Days’ in its entirety (courtesy of The Culdian Trust / ). Over several years, whenever I have gone back to it, I’ve been struck by passages which not only echo parts of the Old Testament Book of Exodus – much as you’d expect ̶ but also match parts of Ancient Egyptian documents and inscriptions still surviving today. Like the rest of The Kolbrin, ‘The Dark Days’ is a translation with no certain provenance, contains no dates and the names are skewed – but nevertheless, there it is – and it’s an amazing read. It takes the form of a chapter somewhat gloomily entitled ‘The Dark Days’ in the Book of Manuscripts, one of six Egyptian books in a volume entitled The Kolbrin, published in 1994 (for more on The Kolbrin, see my earlier article, ‘Guide to The Kolbrin’ on this website). Well, this will sound much too good to be true, but a record does exist. How many books or articles of ancient history contain the complaint, ‘If only … we had the story of Exodus from an Ancient Egyptian point of view, we could work out who the Pharaoh was, date the Exodus, adjust Egyptian chronology, and use it to date other ancient Mediterranean civilisations.’ After all, it’s pure fantasy – isn’t it?įusty old academia is still scratching its head over the Old Testament Book of Exodus. Charlton Heston coming face to face with Rameses II and booming, ‘Let my people go!’ Fast forward twenty years, to me interviewing a well-known actress in a London film studio over coffee – when who should walk in and sit at the next table but her co-star and my childhood hero, Charlton Heston – and of course I was dumbstruck.Įveryone has been wowed at some time by the story of the Exodus, from the artist Joseph Turner to the director Ridley Scott – but we’re continually reminded that we shouldn’t take the event too seriously. DeMille’s blockbuster The Ten Commandments.

Memories, memories: flashback to me sitting wide-eyed with my big brother in Edgware Odeon cinema in the late 1950s, glued to technicolour scenes of magic, locusts, boils and the parting of the waters courtesy of Cecil B. Yvonne Whiteman compares the Kolbrin version with five other ancient accounts that reinforce its long-forgotten record, explores what the Kolbrin has to say about one of history’s most astounding events – and comes to some surprising conclusions. What most people don’t know is that the Ancient Egyptians wrote an account of the Exodus which has survived, and it’s there in the Kolbrin. Everyone knows the Bible story of the Israelite Exodus.

Tony wilkinson ipuwer papyrus