Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings: Evidence of Advanced Civilization in the Ice Age

Rating:
Summary: A credible map of Antartica in the 16th Century
Review: "Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings", Hapgood. I read this book when it was first published...must have been 30 years ago. What I remember most was an ancient map of tne continent of Antartica, published in 1509, but with an outline amazingly close to what the continent was recently shown to be late in the 20th Century. The map was published by a French cartographer who had no notion of Antartica. In addition to its inexplicable similarity to the Antartica that we know, the margins of the continent are shown to be free of ice, and across this landscape rivers flowing from the frozen center down to the sea. It has always been assumed, I imagine, that Antartica has been covered with its two mile thick ice sheet for millions of years. But last year Discovery magazine reported that a scientist, working in Antartica claimed to have evidence that the southernmost continent had been partially ice free in recent times, recent meaning sometime in the Pleistocene. There is also in this unusual book a strange map of Europe as it might have been seen during the last Ice Age from a vantage point somewhere in space. In this map, also produced in the early 16th Century, the sun is shown glinting off the ice cap that covers all the northern European countries. Since the 16th Century knew nothing of ice ages, you can't help but wonder who was around, say twenty five thousand years ago with the technology and the desire to make maps whose accuracy would not be duplicated again until our own age. Along this line, who was around, a few years ago an English engineer wrote a book called, "The history of Metrology", which is the study of measuring things. In his research through the old world, he discovered that some of these ancient peoples, the Greeks, the Romans, the Assyrians, for instance, used a measure of length that was a geo-physical reality, like our nautical mile. In other words, these ancient units of length were a segment of a mean circumference of the earth, or a segment of a "! ;greater circle" and not an arbitrary measure "from the king's nose to the king's finger". Since all these people had to be unaware that their unit of length had a special geographical significance, the author of the book assumed that they had inherited their systems from some unknown culture in the distant past. Again, who? It's a thought provoking book, "Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings". Were there some technologically sophisticated people around at a time when other men were painting horses on cave walls?

Rating:
Summary: A credible map of Antartica in the 16th Century
Review: "Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings", Hapgood. I read this book when it was first published...must have been 30 years ago. What I remember most was an ancient map of tne continent of Antartica, published in 1509, but with an outline amazingly close to what the continent was recently shown to be late in the 20th Century. The map was published by a French cartographer who had no notion of Antartica. In addition to its inexplicable similarity to the Antartica that we know, the margins of the continent are shown to be free of ice, and across this landscape rivers flowing from the frozen center down to the sea. It has always been assumed, I imagine, that Antartica has been covered with its two mile thick ice sheet for millions of years. But last year Discovery magazine reported that a scientist, working in Antartica claimed to have evidence that the southernmost continent had been partially ice free in recent times, recent meaning sometime in the Pleistocene. There is also in this unusual book a strange map of Europe as it might have been seen during the last Ice Age from a vantage point somewhere in space. In this map, also produced in the early 16th Century, the sun is shown glinting off the ice cap that covers all the northern European countries. Since the 16th Century knew nothing of ice ages, you can't help but wonder who was around, say twenty five thousand years ago with the technology and the desire to make maps whose accuracy would not be duplicated again until our own age. Along this line, who was around, a few years ago an English engineer wrote a book called, "The history of Metrology", which is the study of measuring things. In his research through the old world, he discovered that some of these ancient peoples, the Greeks, the Romans, the Assyrians, for instance, used a measure of length that was a geo-physical reality, like our nautical mile. In other words, these ancient units of length were a segment of a mean circumference of the earth, or a segment of a "! ;greater circle" and not an arbitrary measure "from the king's nose to the king's finger". Since all these people had to be unaware that their unit of length had a special geographical significance, the author of the book assumed that they had inherited their systems from some unknown culture in the distant past. Again, who? It's a thought provoking book, "Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings". Were there some technologically sophisticated people around at a time when other men were painting horses on cave walls?

Rating:
Summary: COULD NOT HAVE A CLEARER EVIDENCE OF THE ATLANTIS THEORY
Review: Absolutely fascinating book . I was first brought toits attention when I was reading some of Graham Hancock's works. It is very useful in my private research work as well.

Rating:
Summary: Some good and some bad
Review: All too often, people who write about alternate theories about history advance fanciful theories, and use any evidence, no matter how flimsy, to support their beliefs. Hapgood flirts with this, but does not go as far as some.

How he flirts with this is glossing over the inaccuracies in maps that support his views. However, even in doing this, he does show some interesting maps - accurate maps of the African coast before Europeans explored them, maps showing Antarctica before it's "discovery", maps of the Mediterranean that show a greater degree of map-making skill than what was available to Europeans at the time.

He does convince me that somebody in ancient times had good map-making skills, but on other points, he does not convince. He does not show the Chinese maps could not have been made by them. I have seen some very good debunking of the accuracy of the Antarctic maps.

Several of the maps show a lower water level leading to his theory the maps were made in the Ice Age. But several of the same maps he shows also show higher water levels. It's far easier to believe they were simply inaccurate, than to believe they were spliced together from maps made with two different sea levels.

He raises some good questions, but ultimately does not prove all his ideas. However, the book seems more aimed at showing a lack in our knowledge of the ancient world and their map-making. At this, the book does succeed.

Rating:
Summary: Some good and some bad
Review: All too often, people who write about alternate theories about history advance fanciful theories, and use any evidence, no matter how flimsy, to support their beliefs. Hapgood flirts with this, but does not go as far as some.

How he flirts with this is glossing over the inaccuracies in maps that support his views. However, even in doing this, he does show some interesting maps - accurate maps of the African coast before Europeans explored them, maps showing Antarctica before it's "discovery", maps of the Mediterranean that show a greater degree of map-making skill than what was available to Europeans at the time.

He does convince me that somebody in ancient times had good map-making skills, but on other points, he does not convince. He does not show the Chinese maps could not have been made by them. I have seen some very good debunking of the accuracy of the Antarctic maps.

Several of the maps show a lower water level leading to his theory the maps were made in the Ice Age. But several of the same maps he shows also show higher water levels. It's far easier to believe they were simply inaccurate, than to believe they were spliced together from maps made with two different sea levels.

He raises some good questions, but ultimately does not prove all his ideas. However, the book seems more aimed at showing a lack in our knowledge of the ancient world and their map-making. At this, the book does succeed.

Rating:
Summary: Well Worth the Read
Review: At first reading Charles Hapgood makes a good argument for a crustal shift theory 10,000 years ago. Certainly, something must have happened at that time, to cause such a sudden end to the, so called, ice age. This book is well written and well thought out, if one does not accept geologist findings concerning the Antarctica, although it would not be the first time science was wrong.

The most interesting aspect, to me, about these, so called, ancient maps, is the idea that they were reported to be drawn up before Columbus sailed to the Western Hemisphere. This would seem to point toward a more advanced civilization in the past than we thought existed, and a civilization that had ventured out to the Western Hemisphere long before Columbus.

The fact that the oldest and largest stone megalith constructions are in South America (Peru), seems odd, considering mankind, it is believed, crossed into North America 10,000 years ago, and, according to archaeological thinking, waited till they reached Peru, around 1,000 AD, to move 300 plus ton stones around. Hapgood's theory about ancient maps could be a possible explanation for how a civilization arrived in South America well before Columbus, perhaps 10,000 years ago. The megaliths of the Western World seem to be a thorn in the side of scientific theories, but by placing them in the civilizations which they were found, most megalith structures are explained away, which I find more convenient than scientific, but, with free thinkers, such as, Charles Hapgood, Graham Hancock, Robert Schoch, Eric Von Danyken (yes even Danyken) and many others on the sleuth, maybe an explanation is near. The search for past advanced civilizations is very exciting, and those engaged in that search should be commended not condemned. After all, anyone willing to believe the Egyptian people of 2500 BC built the Great Pyramids, albeit, on the slimmest of evidence, should be willing to accept a past advanced civilization theory, even if that idea is also on the slimmest of evidence, if it is, it is only because such evidence has greatly been ignored at the university and scientific levels.

Placing such theories, as Hapgood's and Graham's, and the many others, in our school's textbooks, could make our educational institutions a more exciting and competitive atmosphere. It could launch the next generations on a great scientific quest. God forbid, they might even be induced to learn more.

Rating:
Summary: Hapgood's Discoveries Are Remarkable, His Theories Are Less
Review: Charles Hapggod's examinations of old and ancient maps, such as the Piri Reis map which reveals an ice-free coastline on Antartica, provide a window to a reevaluation of the past. However, some of his theories, particularly the doubtful theory of recent and massive crust displacement, seem patchy in light of current knowledge of geology. Hapgood never mentioned Atlantis but many have read his words to say that it existed in Antarctica. Even if Hapggod's improbable belief that Antarctica lay 2,000 miles closer to the equator 11,500 years ago could be proven, Antarctica still could not have supported a climate such as that found in Plato's description of lush Atlantis -- only the central regions of the Americas, Africa, or southern Asia could have provided such riches. Further, there is no evidence of a superior civilization in Antarctica, while at the center of the Americas, a land that creatively connects the great ocean currents, there lie the most enigmatic relics of a great civilization -- the almost perfect stone spheres of Costa Rica. To learn more about these spheres see ATLANTIS IN AMERICA: NAVIGATORS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD.

Rating:
Summary: Worth reading but many unanswered questions
Review: Charles Hapgood has made an excellent job to point out some strange features on Ancient maps. Comparing a set of maps made from Ptolemea (166 AD) to the Middle Ages and the first global maps made by Piri Re'is (A Ottoman admiral), Hadji Ahmed, Oronteaus Finaeus and Mercator, all editing their maps between 1513 and 1560, he (and the reader) notice that Antarctic continent figures almost accuratly on all of them.

Giving the example of a Chinese map from the 12th century accuratly depicting the rivers system of the Chinese Empire, he comes to the conclusion that all those people have used copies of ancient maps probably drawn before the Ice Age by an ancient civilisation.

Despite the research work, there are some inaccuracies. Talking about Mercator's map, he refers to the Greenwich Meridian. Mercator was living in Antwerp, a city that commanded 40% of Western trade between 1501 and 1557. It was Brussels's harbour, capital of a global empire headed by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, which covered 1/4 of Europe, America and outposts in Northern Africa. There are no reasons whatsoever for Mercator to use the meridian of a secondary rate kingdom of the time, England. Plantin Publishing House from Antwerp annual turnover was equal to one third of England's budget. And England was considered an economical dependency of Flanders: Paxton writes in 1480 that no one could find a managerial job on an English estate if he could not speak Flemish. Furthermore dispute between Greenwich and Paris Meridian was not be settled until recently (18-19th century). Antarctica emerges on the maps in the 16th century during the period of Great Discoveries but never figures before on maps drawn by Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Chinese, Indians, civilisations which have written records dating back to the 4th, 3rd and 2nd millennium BC ? Seen the importance of maps for seafaring people like Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks or Romans accurate maps must have been almost magic for them and they would certainly talk about the wonders of those documents, even attribute heavenly origins to them. No ancient world story talks about such items.

Renaissance was born by the careful study of Bibles to recover the original text by removing all addition made by copists during the Middle Ages. They made 'genealogy trees' of bible copies in order to recover the original texts. They knew the method. So they would have documented the path used to rebuild the maps based on copies of more ancient maps. But nowhere is such process documented and nowhere are such ancient maps found: Venice, Constantinople, Lisboa, Sevilla nor Antwerp have records of similar activities.

What is puzzling also is to see Antartica on all those maps, but never Australia. Should Atlantis have been Antarctica, why should people from Atlantis invade Europe, America, Asia and Africa and never set foot in Australia which was much closer than Europe or Asia.

The theory that the crust moved thousand miles is not convincing either. Hapgood wrote his book a few years before the tectonic plate theory was published (early seventies). Since Colombus discovered America, both continents (Europe and America) moved the distance of a soccer field. One soccer field (110 yards) every half-millennium makes a quick move from Antarctica to the South Pole impossible indeed.

The Sun swicthed magnetic poles on February 15th, 2001. Did you notice something ? Probably no. It happens every 11,5 years and we have never felt bad about it. So it cannot explain dramatic changes on Earth either.

Another fact Hapgood does not talk about is that Columbus was looking for a shortcut to India. When he landed, he baptized the place India. In Sevilla, the organisation in charge of transoceanic shipments was called Casa de Indias. For centuries, Europeans talked about the Indies, separated in West Indies (Carribbean) and East Indies (Asia). When a map shows Cipangu, it was supposed to be Japan as related by Marco Polo and not Cuba. It is only gradually Europeans realized they had discovered another continent they named America after Amerigo Vespucci, an italian explorer.

Question remains: Between 1484 and 1509, did somebody go around the South Pole ? And if not, how could maps have physically survived centuries or millennia to reemerge at that time only in Flanders, Italy and Constantinople. And why does it show Antarctica only and never Australia ?

Rating:
Summary: Worth reading but many unanswered questions
Review: Charles Hapgood has made an excellent job to point out some strange features on Ancient maps. Comparing a set of maps made from Ptolemea (166 AD) to the Middle Ages and the first global maps made by Piri Re'is (A Ottoman admiral), Hadji Ahmed, Oronteaus Finaeus and Mercator, all editing their maps between 1513 and 1560, he (and the reader) notice that Antarctic continent figures almost accuratly on all of them.

Giving the example of a Chinese map from the 12th century accuratly depicting the rivers system of the Chinese Empire, he comes to the conclusion that all those people have used copies of ancient maps probably drawn before the Ice Age by an ancient civilisation.

Despite the research work, there are some inaccuracies. Talking about Mercator's map, he refers to the Greenwich Meridian. Mercator was living in Antwerp, a city that commanded 40% of Western trade between 1501 and 1557. It was Brussels's harbour, capital of a global empire headed by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, which covered 1/4 of Europe, America and outposts in Northern Africa. There are no reasons whatsoever for Mercator to use the meridian of a secondary rate kingdom of the time, England. Plantin Publishing House from Antwerp annual turnover was equal to one third of England's budget. And England was considered an economical dependency of Flanders: Paxton writes in 1480 that no one could find a managerial job on an English estate if he could not speak Flemish. Furthermore dispute between Greenwich and Paris Meridian was not be settled until recently (18-19th century). Antarctica emerges on the maps in the 16th century during the period of Great Discoveries but never figures before on maps drawn by Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Chinese, Indians, civilisations which have written records dating back to the 4th, 3rd and 2nd millennium BC ? Seen the importance of maps for seafaring people like Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks or Romans accurate maps must have been almost magic for them and they would certainly talk about the wonders of those documents, even attribute heavenly origins to them. No ancient world story talks about such items.

Renaissance was born by the careful study of Bibles to recover the original text by removing all addition made by copists during the Middle Ages. They made 'genealogy trees' of bible copies in order to recover the original texts. They knew the method. So they would have documented the path used to rebuild the maps based on copies of more ancient maps. But nowhere is such process documented and nowhere are such ancient maps found: Venice, Constantinople, Lisboa, Sevilla nor Antwerp have records of similar activities.

What is puzzling also is to see Antartica on all those maps, but never Australia. Should Atlantis have been Antarctica, why should people from Atlantis invade Europe, America, Asia and Africa and never set foot in Australia which was much closer than Europe or Asia.

The theory that the crust moved thousand miles is not convincing either. Hapgood wrote his book a few years before the tectonic plate theory was published (early seventies). Since Colombus discovered America, both continents (Europe and America) moved the distance of a soccer field. One soccer field (110 yards) every half-millennium makes a quick move from Antarctica to the South Pole impossible indeed.

The Sun swicthed magnetic poles on February 15th, 2001. Did you notice something ? Probably no. It happens every 11,5 years and we have never felt bad about it. So it cannot explain dramatic changes on Earth either.

Another fact Hapgood does not talk about is that Columbus was looking for a shortcut to India. When he landed, he baptized the place India. In Sevilla, the organisation in charge of transoceanic shipments was called Casa de Indias. For centuries, Europeans talked about the Indies, separated in West Indies (Carribbean) and East Indies (Asia). When a map shows Cipangu, it was supposed to be Japan as related by Marco Polo and not Cuba. It is only gradually Europeans realized they had discovered another continent they named America after Amerigo Vespucci, an italian explorer.

Question remains: Between 1484 and 1509, did somebody go around the South Pole ? And if not, how could maps have physically survived centuries or millennia to reemerge at that time only in Flanders, Italy and Constantinople. And why does it show Antarctica only and never Australia ?

Rating:
Summary: A must have for anyone interested in our past.
Review: Charles Hapgood is an unrecognised genius. It is sad that this is his only book still in print. The extraordinary nature of this book entails the carefull setting out of each step of his discovery and may, therefore, be a bit scientific for many readers. But the chances are, if you are looking this book at all, you will not only understand its contents, but appreciate its thorough approach.