Return to Sodom & Gomorrah by Charles Pellegrino

[gilda_elise]

Unlock doors to the lost worlds of the Bible -- from the Garden of Eden to the ruins of Babylon

Did a volcano part the Red Sea? Have scientists found Eve? Was the pharaoh of the Oppression a woman? Did the Jordan River really cease flowing the day Jericho fell?

A brilliant author, scientist, and adventurer who has been called "the real Indiana Jones," Dr. Charles Pellegrino takes us on a remarkable journey from the Nile to the Tigris-Euphrates rivers -- crossing time, legend, and ancient lands to explore the unsolved mysteries of the Old Testament. Return to Sodom and Gomorrah is an epic saga of discovery that interweaves science, history, and suspense --the first book ever to bring archaeologists, scientists and theologians together to examine the same evidence. In this enthralling revelatory adventure, Pellegrino introduces us to dedicated pioneers like Benjamin Mazar, Leonard Woolley, and T. E. Lawrence, who retraced the steps of Moses to demystify the Exodus and the Flood. In the process, he enables us to view ancient relics in an extraordinary new light -- as both fascinating windows on the past and vivid signposts to the future.

I read Pellegrino’s Unearthing Atlantis years ago, and was completely enthralled. So much so, that, over the years, I’ve read as many of his books as I could. Finally picking this one up, I was surprised to read how much of the Bible’s stories interconnect with the events of that first book, though I suppose I shouldn’t have been, as they share a time and place.

But there’s much more to this book, which reads as part detective story, part history lesson. Archaeology, anthropology, geology, are only some of the tools used to uncover and put forth rational explanations for the mythologies that have sprung from the land known as the Fertile Crescent (even that is found to be a popular misconception.) To say that this book did not disappoint, would be a huge understatement.




Mount TBR 2016 Book Links

Links are to more information regarding each book, not to the review.

1. Alexander's Lovers
2. The Border
3. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
4. Green Darkness
5. The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone
6. Rise to Rebellion
7. Return to Sodom and Gomorrah

Comments

[fansee.livejournal.com]

About twelve years ago, I took a class in the classical epics: The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, Gilgamesh, and The Mahabharata. When we got to Gilgamesh, our professor explained that all sorts of trade routes crossed in what is now Turkey and Iran, and there was a lot of cross-fertilization of myths as a result. Thus Gilgamesh includes, for instance, a Great Flood as well as other events that figure in our Bible. Who now knows what culture was the originator and what culture the adopter? Yo, it was a melting pot. FanSee

P.S. Haven't read any of your books. Tsk, tsk.

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

The author comments on many of those epics, but pretty much settles on Babylon as being the originators, at least as far as the Flood myth goes, as there is evidence that the land between the Euphrates and the Tigris was completely flooded in the far past.

I haven't read most of the books whose reviews I've seen posted either. So I'll let my icon speak for me on that. *g*

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool, I shall look for this one. It's exactly the sort of topic I'd enjoy--putting both my History and Anthropology majors to work. *g* Thank you!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

So it's right up your alley! Cool, indeed. I think you'll really enjoy it. It's a fascinating book.