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.

Empire of Thebes is the starting point of Ã??'Ages in Alignment,Ã??'� an originally researched reconstruction of ancient history. Ã??'Ages in AlignmentÃ??'� identifies the problems Velikovsky could not solve, and brings...

Empire of Thebes is the starting point of Ã??'Ages in Alignment,Ã??'� an originally researched reconstruction of ancient history. Ã??'Ages in AlignmentÃ??'� identifies the problems Velikovsky could not solve, and brings forward a great body of evidence not even mentioned by Velikovsky which supports his identification of Hatshepsut with the Queen of Sheba. Velikovsky was rejected by the academic establishment because of a number of contradictions in the chronology he outlined. Yet Sweeney shows that despite some gaps and incompletions, his books were brilliant works of scholarship with much to recommend them. For decades now various scholars have attempted to solve the enigma. Yet the answer was stunningly simple, and in front of us all the time. Empire of Thebes provides the solution and provides us, finally, with the possibility of a complete and satisfactory reconstruction of ancient history. 1. Hatshepsut, as the Queen of Sheba (Theba) really did visit Solomon in Jerusalem, but the journey occurred around 680 BC, not 930 BC, as Velikovsky believed. 2. Velikovsky believed that the heretic pharaoh Akhnaton was a contemporary of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, and dated the Amarna Letters to the time of the biblical kings Jehoshaphat and Ahab. He was very nearly right, here, but he was out by one generation. Akhnaton was a contemporary not of Jehoshaphat but of his predecessor Asa. Once again, critics used this error as an excuse to jettison all his theories. 3. Finally, the end of the 18th Dynasty was the focus of one of VelikovskyÃ??'s most fascinating books but he left the story of the demise of Akhnaton's line unfinished. This period is examined in detail in Empire of Thebes, and the author shows which foreign power it was who came to the assistance of Tutankhamun's brother Smenkhare, after the latter had been expelled from Egypt. These other periods are covered in three other volumes, first of which is "The Genesis of Israel and Egypt", which traces the histories of Israel and Egypt back to their beginnings and makes some dramatic identifications. Imhotep, for example, who designed the first pyramid, is shown to be one and the same as Joseph of the coat of many colors. It is followed by "The Pyramid Age" and "Ramessides, Medes and Persians". However, although itÃ??'s not first in line chronologically, Empire of Thebes is where this telling of the story begins.

INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1. AN IMPERIAL AGE 7 Rise Of The Thebans 7 The Land Of Mitanni 10 15th Century Or 7th Century? 12 Hittites And Lydians 15 Egypt And The Bible 17 The

INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1. AN IMPERIAL AGE 7 Rise Of The Thebans 7 The Land Of Mitanni 10 15th Century Or 7th Century? 12 Hittites And Lydians 15 Egypt And The Bible 17 The Ã??'Centuries Of DarknessÃ??'� 19 CHAPTER 2. HATSHEPSUT, THE QUEEN OF THEBA 25 A New Perspective 25 A Most Unusual Ruler 28 The Terms Ã??'Queen Of ShebaÃ??'� And Ã??'Queen Of The SouthÃ??'� 30 Sheba, City Of The Sphinx 33 GodÃ??'s Land, The Country Of Byblos 34 Punt In Lebanon 37 Thutmose IIIÃ??'s List Of Conquered Lands 41 Punt As A Ã??'SouthernÃ??'� Boundary? 44 The Flora And Fauna Of Punt 47 Ethnic Identity Of The Puntites 53 Was The King Of Israel Shown On The Punt Reliefs? 54 Eritrea And Somalia In HatshepsutÃ??'s Time: A Primitive Land 56 Recapitulation 58 CHAPTER 3. IMPERIAL EGYPT 61 Thutmose III And Shishak 61 Thutmose III Destroys HatshepsutÃ??'s Legacy 62 The People Of Palestine Fall Into Disagreement 64 The Road To Kadesh 65 The Conquest Of GodÃ??'s Land 69 The People, Flora And Fauna Of GodÃ??'s Land 70 Shishak And Sesostris 72 CHAPTER 4. THE AMARNA LETTERS 75 Historical Setting 75 Jerusalem And Botrys 77 The Time Of The Letters 79 Abdi-Ashirta, Grandson Of Hiram 81 Labayu Of Shechem 82 Aziru: Hadadezer Of Syria 84 The Captains Of The King Of Jerusalem 85 Aftermath 87 Ugarit 89 The City Of Samaria 92 The King Of Israel Becomes A Vassal Of Syria 95 CHAPTER 5. THE FALL OF THEBES 99 Oedipus And Akhnaton 99 The Heretic Pharaoh 100 Wars Of The Ã??'Polluted WretchesÃ??'� 104 TutankhamunÃ??'s Reign 108 The Wily Vizier 111 Horemheb 113 An Asiatic Interlude 116 Chronological Considerations 118 CHAPTER 6. THE PEOPLES AND KINGS OF ASIA 121 Medes And Ã??'Middle AssyriansÃ??'� 121 The Strategic Land Of Northern Syria 126 The Kings Of Carchemish 128 Sardanapalus And The Battle Of The Nations 130 The Kingdom Of Urartu 132 The Chaldean Empire 135 Shamshi-Adad Iv (Arbaces The Mede) 140 Adad-Nirari III (Astyages The Mede) 142 Arame 145 CHAPTER 7. IN THE DAYS OF SETI I AND RAMSES II 149 An Egyptian Ã??'RenaissanceÃ??'� 149 Hebrew Terms In The Egyptian Language 150 The King Of Byblos 152 The Art Of War 155 Seti IÃ??'s Asiatic Wars 156 The Ã??'Wretched FoeÃ??'� 160 Ramses II Secures The Borders Of Israel And Judah 162 Ramses II And The Battle For Assyria 166 The Princess Of Bactria 169 Alyattes And Hattusilis 171 Croesus And His Time 173 EPILOGUE 177 BIBLIOGRAPHY 181 INDEX 187

Part 3 in the Series "Ages in Alignment" Inspired by Velikovsky's "Ages in Chaos," the series "Ages in Alignment" seeks to complete the work of reconstruction of ancient history which he commenced in 1952. The author calls for a much more radical shortening of ancient chronology and asserts that Velikovsky ran into a dead end because he placed too much reliance on the Bible as a chronological measuring rod. This is a far-reaching reconstruction which begins...

Part 3 in the Series "Ages in Alignment" Inspired by Velikovsky's "Ages in Chaos," the series "Ages in Alignment" seeks to complete the work of reconstruction of ancient history which he commenced in 1952. The author calls for a much more radical shortening of ancient chronology and asserts that Velikovsky ran into a dead end because he placed too much reliance on the Bible as a chronological measuring rod. This is a far-reaching reconstruction which begins with the start of literate civilization (actually introduced to the Nile Valley from Mesopotamia by the Abraham tribe) and ends with the conquest of Alexander. Other titles in the series: The Pyramid Age: Riddles of Time and Technology Ramessides, Medes and Persians