Fomenko Anatoly. History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology 1)

Mithec, 2004. — 624 p. — ISBN10: 2913621058 ISBN13: 978-2913621053"History: Fiction or Science?" crowns 30 years of meticulous and extensive research performed by the eminent mathematician Anatoly Fomenko and his colleagues. This research started in fact as a unbelievable byproduct of russian-american competition in Moon exploration, when famous NASA scientist Robert Newton discovered a very strange phenomenon in lunar mechanics. This book is also the first volume in seven comprising "Chronology", the fundamental oeuvre that exposes and expounds the numerous inveracities of the traditional version of history.
"History: Fiction or Science?" contains data and conclusions that aren’t anything short of revolutionary. The alternatives offered to classical history are stunning, unorthodox to the extent of being labelled heretical by virtually every scholar of history, and daring enough to be considered preposterous at first sight, although this impression never lasts longer than it takes one to read a few pages attentively.In chapter I we are reminded of when the contemporary chronological scale was created and by whom, with the culprits named as the XVI-XVII century clergy that was in charge of all matters historical in that age. We also learn that the consensual model of history had prominent critics ever since its creation – among them such names as Sir Isaac Newton and Jean Hardouin, chief librarian of Louis XIV, the Sun King of France.The author dissects every historical age and analyses the data from every source imaginable – Roman and Egyptian chronology take a good beating, and it goes rapidly downhill from there. Poggio Bracciolini and Petrarch take the blame for creating the legend of a mythical Classical age that never was.The Biblical events are moved a lot closer to us historically, as well as geographically (the Biblical Jerusalem being identified with the mediaeval Constantinople, for instance). The New and the Old Testament swap their positions on the chronological scale, both exposed as referring to mediaeval events. Our perception of history changes dramatically even before we’re through with chapter I.In chapters II, III and IV the author summons astronomy and statistics to provide proof for his theories, which the latter yield gladly and abundantly, and we discover that our amazement resource was by no means used up in the previous chapter. Apparently, there is some vary valid astronomical proof for the author’s theories in the ancient Egyptian zodiacs, Ptolemy’s Almagest, and the Biblical Book of Revelation.Chapters V and VI contain in-depth descriptions of the methods used by the author as well as the most meticulous rendition of the global chronological map with its numerous errors and glitches explained in a very level-headed manner – one doesn’t have to be a mathematician to understand, but a great deal of common sense is required for that purpose.Finally, in chapter VII we learn more about Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and how the division between the two exists in our mind only (which is a hard concept to accept, even though we familiarize ourselves with it at the beginning of the book). If this isn’t enough, the appendices contain all sorts of factual information to appease the sceptics as well as provide fresh New Chronology converts with deadly ammunition for keeping the critics well at bay.Basically, this is the first successful attempt to finally transform history into a rocket science and a must read for everyone who isn’t entirely indifferent to human history,… and possibly also for those who are.