Peter James (historian)

Peter James is a British author and historian specialising in ancient history and archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean region. He graduated in ancient history and archeology at the University of Birmingham (England) and does postgraduate research at University College London.

James has advanced several controversial theories about the chronology of Mediterranean civilizations, the Middle East, and Egypt. His theories are not generally accepted by mainstream historians or Egyptologists.

In his best known work, "Centuries of Darkness", he challenges the traditional chronology of mainstream archaeology. In particular, he advances the idea that the Greek Dark Ages never occurred, arising solely from a misreading of key elements of Egyptian history. This theory is in part a revision of Immanuel Velikovsky's rejected "Revised Chronology" but is argued from sound archaeological principles. [cite book |author=Morkot, Robert, Peter James, Nikos Kokkinos and Colin Renfrew |title=Centuries of Darkness: A Challenge to the Chronology of Old World Archaeology |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1993 |id=ISBN 0-8135-1950-0] Ongoing criticism and discussion of the evidence is listed on the authors' own website.

James has also hypothesized about the location of Atlantis. By first claiming that references to mythological Tartarus by Plato were in fact meant to identify a Lydian king by the same name, he goes on to identify Atlantis with a hypothetical lost temple city called Tantalis, corresponding to modern-day Manisa in Turkey. [cite book |last=James |first=Peter |title=The Sunken Kingdom. The Atlantis Mystery Solved |publisher=Jonathan Cape |year=1995 |id=ISBN 0-2240-3810-9]

Bibliography

*"Centuries of Darkness: A Challenge to the Conventional Chronology of Old World Archaeology", in collaboration with I.J. Thorpe [et al.] , Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ., 1993, ISBN 0-8135-1950-0 (hardcover), ISBN 0-8135-1951-9 (paperback); originally published by Jonathan Cape, London, 1991, ISBN 0-224-02647-X
*"The Sunken Kingdom. The Atlantis Mystery Solved", Jonathan Cape, London, 1995, ISBN 0-224-03810-9 (hardcover); Pimlico, London, 1996. ISBN 0-7126-7499-3 (paperback)
*"Ancient Inventions", with I.J. Thorpe, Michael O’Mara, London, 1995, ISBN 1-854-79777-8
*"Ancient Mysteries", with I.J. Thorpe, Ballantine, New York, 1999, ISBN 0-345-40195-6

References

External links

* [http://www.centuries.co.uk Centuries of Darkness]
* [http://www.knowledge.co.uk/xxx/cat/james/ The Sunken Kingdom]
* [http://www.egyptology.com/kmt/winter95_96/book.html Book Report: Centuries of Darkness] a review in "KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt", Vol. 6, No. 4, Winter 1995-1996