‘Robert Temple is a brave man … it is going to be a difficult job for anyone to shoot him down in flames.’ -The Times
Robert Temple 'is honest with his readers, careful with his sources and writes with zest.' - Daily Telegraph
‘Temple is that rare kind of author who can stir the magic within you’ - Manchester Evening News
‘Robert Temple’s book is scholarly and deeply researched … it is rewarding study for the enquiring and open-minded’ Eastern Daily Press
‘Temple writes very nicely, backed up by copious scientific and historical research’ Guardian
PROFESSOR ROBERT TEMPLE is author of a dozen challenging and provocative books, commencing with the international best-seller, The Sirius Mystery. His books have been translated into a total of 44 foreign languages. He combines solid academic scholarship with an ability to communicate with the mass public.
He is Visiting Professor of the History and Philosophy of Science at
Tsinghua University in Beijing, and previously held a similar position at an
American university. For many years he was a science writer for the Sunday Times,
the Guardian, and a science reporter for Time-Life, as well as a frequent reviewer
for Nature and profile writer for The New Scientist. He is a Fellow of the Royal
Astronomical Society, and has been a member of the Egypt Exploration Society
since the 1970s, as well as a member of numerous other academic societies. He has
produced, written and presented a documentary for Channel Four and National
Geographic Channels on his archaeological discoveries in Greece and Italy, and he
was at one time an arts reviewer on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Kaleidoscope’. In 1993, his
translation of the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh was performed at the Royal
National Theatre in London. With his wife, Olivia, he is co-author and translator of
the first complete English version of Aesop’s Fables, which attracted a great deal of
international press attention at the time of its release, as the earlier translations had
suppressed some of the fables because of Victorian prudery.
Temple was a
colleague of the late Dr. Joseph Needham of Cambridge, in association with whom
he wrote The Genius of China, which has been approved as an official reference
book (in Chinese) for the Chinese secondary school system, and which won five
national awards in the USA. He has done archaeometric dating work and intensive
exploration of closed sites in Egypt with the permission of the Egyptian Supreme
Council of Antiquities. His research into historical accounts of the Sphinx is the
first comprehensive survey ever undertaken.
EGYPTIAN DAWN - HARDBACK PUBLISHED ON
2 September 2010
Century, London, 2010.
A fascinating look into the real history of the ancient civilisations, including revelatory new evidence which challenges accepted truths about the history of Egypt.
The mysteries of Ancient Egypt have proved an endless source of fascination to the world. Here, for the first time, international bestselling author Robert Temple seeks to expose the real history of this ancient civilisation. In this fascinating study, Temple unearths revelatory new evidence which challenges accepted truths about the history of Egypt and questions the evidence which most Egyptologists have relied on since 1910. In so doing he has sought to answer the two big questions which have until now been taken for granted:
Where did Egyptian civilisation come from?
And who built the pyramids, and why?
With unprecedented access to lost portions of the valley temple which have long been closed to archaeologists, Temple presents a sensational, reconstructed story of Egypt which exposes a magnitude of previously unseen evidence, including:
Pinpointing exact locations of unopened royal tombs
Presenting re-datings of key monuments using a revolutionary new dating technique
Exposing faked evidence which has been credulously accepted by the
Egyptological community
Revealing who really built the pyramids
The Great Pyramid could not have been built by King Cheops, nor was it his tomb. But Robert Temple has discovered the precise location of the real tomb of Cheops, which has never been opened since his burial, and is elsewhere at Giza
For more information on Egyptian Dawn visit the dedicated site at www.egyptiandawn.info
The Sphinx Mystery
with Olivia Temple, Inner Traditions, Rochester, 2009.
Revealing that the Sphinx was originally a monumental Anubis, the Egyptian jackal god, and that its face is that of a Middle Kingdom Pharaoh, Amenemhet II, which was a later re-carving. In addition, photographic evidence of ancient sluice gate traces to demonstrate that, during the Old Kingdom, the Sphinx as Anubis sat surrounded by a moat filled with water--called Jackal Lake in the ancient Pyramid Texts--where religious ceremonies were held. Robert Temple provides evidence that the exact size and position of the Sphinx were geometrically determined in relation to the pyramids of Cheops and Chephren and that it was part of a pharaonic resurrection cult.
For more information on The Sphinx Mystery visit the dedicated site at www.sphinxmystery.info
The Genius of China
Andre Deutsch, February 2007.
The new revised and expanded edition of The Genius of China. The book has much additional information and 50 new photographs.
Oracles of the Dead
Destiny Books, 2005.
The book examines ancient methods of foretelling the future and discovering the physical location of the Greek Underworld (Hades), and explores the mysteries associated with Delphi and other oracles of the ancient world. Drawing evidence from a range of sources within orthodox scholarship, physics and biology, Robert Temple shows how the latest developments in science may validate the system of the I Ching. The book also includes a theory of change based upon recent scientific work in a variety of fields.
The Crystal Sun
Century Books, London, 2000.
A German edition is also now available (Die Kristall Sonne). This is a survey of ancient optical and light technology. RT reports on his examination of more than 450 ancient lenses in museums around the world, and explains the accompanying mythological and religious lore and many unusual ancient scientific insights and capabilities. The winter solstice sunrise shadow cast upon the Great Pyramid at Giza is one of the many original discoveries presented in this book. The book has an Introduction by Sir Arthur C. Clarke.
Aesop. The Complete Fables
With Olivia Temple, Penguin Books, London, 1998.
This is the first translation into English of the complete 358 fables of the edition of Professor Émile Chambry, over 100 of which had never been translated before. The fables in this translation have been performed by the Classic Stage Company in New York.
The Sirius Mystery
Originally published by Sidgwick & Jackson, London, and St. Martins Press, New York, 1976. Translated into nearly two dozen languages. Revised edition (expanded by a further 50%) published by Century Books, London, 1998. Click below to see the bestseller list from the Saturday Telegraph, 24th January 1998. The Sirius mystery featured at number 10: Bestseller list (PDF, 0.3MB)
American edition published by Inner Traditions International. Featured favourably in a BBC Television Horizon documentary in 1977 (shown in America as a Nova progam). Reviewed favourably in Nature. Estonian, Bulgarian, and Turkish editions have also been printed.
The Illustrated Golden Bough
by Sir James Frazer, Batsford, London, 1996.
I was originally commissioned to write an introduction for this book but to my dissatisfaction my work was changed without my consent and the book was still published. To read more about this, and to see my introduction as it was oringinally intended, please click here.
Personal
For the few people who have made it down to the bottom of the page and may be interested in things of a more personal nature here is a collection writings, photographs and memories under the following headings: