Breaking the Mirror of Heaven: The Conspiracy to Suppress the Voice of Ancient Egypt

There are a number of brilliant authors that I envy, emulate, and wish I had the intellect of; among them are Carl Sagan, Ben Carson, Stephen Hawking, Robert Schoch, Graham Hancock, Michael Savage, and of course, Robert Bauval, just to name a few that I have encountered only through books I’ve read. Robert Bauval is brilliant, a historian, scholar, and intellectual, with guts. I was introduced to Bauval when I read “The Orion Mystery” and “Secret Chamber: The Quest for the Hall of Records” and have read all of his other excellent works.In “Breaking the Mirror of Heaven” Mr. Bauval and his coauthor Ahmed Osman, who are by no means friends of the overexposed Zahi Hawass, former Director General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, detail how Hawass was able to commandeer Egypt’s historical soul, hold it hostage, and incrementally sell it for his own professional, political and financial advancement for years. It’s a story about the history of Egypt, Egypt’s various leaders and governments, and the destruction of historically significant treasures caused by various regimes, political upheaval, Islam and Zahi Hawass (a traitor to his supporters) himself.Promoting himself as the Carl Sagan of Egyptology and the Egyptian Indiana Jones, Hawass fought and stopped most legitimate and scientific research into Egypt’s ancient history, rewrote history to support his own theories and conclusions, did not adequately protect ancient Egyptian treasures in storage and in museums, and possibly even stole and disposed of ancient Egyptian artifacts for his own financial gains, and in the process, not only became famous and untouchable, but likely filthy rich.Ancient Egypt has a story to tell, extensive archeological field work needs to be done and many theories to be considered and rigorously investigated, Bauval, Schoch and John Anthony West’s included. Hawass has blocked most scientific archeological exploration and investigation, and cast off all theories that do not support his theories or mainstream Egyptology as armature or preposterous, unless of course he could benefit from them.Egypt, is often described as the cradle of civilization and once had priceless monuments, tombs, and artifacts that might provide invaluable insight into the remote past, but Bauval and Osman tell the story of how all of this irreplaceable knowledge has been misused over the years, and is now lost for eternity, due to religion, governments, corruption and man’s greed.I commend Robert Bauval and Ahmed Osman. These two men have done an excellent job of rigorous investigation, documentation, and presentation. And these two guys have guts. Both born in Egypt they may never be welcome in Egypt again.Islam’s attempt to erase Egypt’s history by the theft and destruction of ancient artifacts because they conflict with the religion is particularly troubling. Egypt’s ancient treasures must somehow be protected for perpetuity from government, Islam or any other religion that intends to destroy them. This will have to be an international effort because Egypt’s past indicates Egypt isn’t capable of doing it. Perhaps this should be a job for the United Nations instead of worrying so much about global warming.While “Breaking the Mirror of Heaven” was published in 2012, and the Muslim Brotherhood is no longer in power, I fear that the future of Egypt is no different than Egypt’s past, and the story of Egypt’s antiquities does not have a happy ending.The chapters on the political history of Egypt are a tedious read at best, but necessary for a thorough understanding of how Egypt got where it is today. There are so many names and titles that the reader is unable to grasp the family relationships and political hierarchy without drawing some kind of graphic representation, like a family tree, mind map, or organization chart. So including graphics of this sort, if there is a future edition of this book, would be very helpful.While parts of this book are not the easiest to read, it is a powerful book and it is worth the effort for those of us with a keen interest in Egyptian history and politics, and how easy it is for one person or one religion to wreak havoc on the history of a whole civilization.All the time I was reading this book I kept thinking is Egypt’s recent history a harbinger for the USA, or is Egypt a lesson for the USA? Will liberalism, government corruption, the bias and corrupt mainstream media, greed, and radical Islam result in the destruction of the USA like Egypt? I can see a mob of religious radicals sacking Washington and the Smithsonian like Cairo and the Cairo Museum and the rest of Egypt, with liberals and the media cheering, if we don’t seriously look at Egypt and wake up.

Bauval and Osmon both occupy, among others on Egyptian history and sources, a growing space on my book shelves, but this book is quite different than most. Breaking the Mirror of Heaven is about the treasure that was once the land of Egypt, a land by all accounts rich in the most beautiful temples, towns and palaces that once existed in the ancient world or virtually anywhere. According passages in one of the Nag Hammadi manuscripts Egypt was once a literal vision of Heaven on earth. What we have today, as documented in this penetrating book is a history of the pillaging and destruction of that once beautiful mirror, much like a fabulouse jewelry case with the rightful owners and keepers helplessly bound by their own indifference, ignorance, profiteering, and religious intolerance as others made off with the treasure, most to be lost forever.Tragically, the modern overseers installed in office to protect and preserve this national heritage continue to demonstrate continuing theft, destruction, and a myopic understanding of their global contract to protect these priceles monuments, a tyrant among tyrants who has fostered both ineptitude and deliberate removal of priceless ancient materials & monuments under the supervisory direction Mr. Ahi Hawass. After being forcefully ejected and unseating from his post during the recent Egyptian rebellion against Mubarik, Hawass now sits restored in an equal or even more autoritarian position to bring further loss and depredation to the archeology and preservation of ancient Egypt, insidiously thinking he is its greatest presevationist. Tragically, he is only one of many in a long history who have exploited Egypt including most other nations of the world--Egyptians themselves, the anti-Pagan iconoclasm of both Christians and Islamists, but especially imperial France and United Kingdom, both of which can claim ironically that their co-opting of Egyptian art and monuments also set the foundations for a scientific archeology. For anyone attempting to understand the violence suffered to the art, architecture, and social fabric of this ancient civilization over the last 5-7,000 years, this book is a must. It is a must read for any social scientist, archelogist, historian of art, or anyone interested in the human condition and its penchant for fateful deeds and misdeeds. An excellent summary that stays on target.

The subject matter of this book should have been fascinating - it deals with the way in which certain Egyptologists have tried to prevent an alternative picture of the ancient history of Egypt from being developed. The reputation of Zahi Hawass in particular is systematically trashed; he appears as an incompetent, bombastic bully who is more interested in lining his own pockets and defending the "birthright" of modern Egyptians as the descendants of ancient Egypt than in doing any serious archaeology. Any suggestion that monuments like the Sphynx or the Osirion may be much older than previously thought, meaning that instead of being built by the ancient Egyptians they may have been constructed by a much older civilisation, is taken by Hawass as an insult to the Egyptian people. He is accused of preventing any dissenting voices from having access to archaeological sites which might allow them to gather the evidence which could confirm their heretical ideas. Even those archaeologists who are allowed to dig have to share their discoveries with Hawass and may find that he takes the credit for them. The authors paint a fascinating and disturbing picture of a megalomaniac who has managed to climb to the top of the archaeological tree, making friends with the rich and influential despite a minimal talent for archaeology and a complete inability to entertain any ideas other than his own.So why do I give this apparently fascinating book a two-star review? Because of the enormous amount of padding in the book, consisting of an interminable history of modern Egypt which I am afraid I found unreadable and simply skipped over. And because of the repeated references to Hawass in the "Indiana Jones hat". This was fair enough once or twice but after the first twenty times I began to wonder if the authors thought their book was so boring that the only way they could spice it up was by invoking the spirit of Indy.

I loved this book so full of interesting and very detailed information which was summarised quite a lot so it was easy to process and understand. I have been interested in Ancient Egypt for over 40 years and have read and studied the subject extensively. When Hawas started appearing on every film, documentary and article I never trusted the information he was delivering and thought it suspect. He came across to me as egoistical,self serving and bombastic. His theories put forward as facts with no scientific backing or real evidence. It was all just because he says so. Egypt has produced a wealth of evidence and it can be interpreted in many ways and unfortunately we cannot go back in time and see what actually happened to prove which theory is correct so perhaps should be open minded to all possibilities. This book has been well researched and provided me with a lot of more recent historical information about Egypt in recent times, over last 500 years or so. I was left very concerned about her future and that of the treasures you can find there.

Both Bauval and Osman are well established and expert scholars in their fieldsThat they should strive to further enlighten their readers is a compliment and a credit. In many instances, what the world knows about Egypt and its history is to a large part due to their love and dedication. This publication is masterpiece evidence. We hear them. Loud and clear.

If you love the history and land of Egypt and wondered why it has all gone wrong then read this book. By the time you finished you will see its the same old things- greed, arrogance, corruption and cronyism, and if those in power didn't like the answers to awkward questions then supress them. By the time you finish reading this book you will be asking yourself what happens now to Egypts monuments, history and future.

A great revelation of the secret Egyptian cover up perpetrated by head of antiquities Hawass!