Ages in Chaos II: Ramses II and His Time

In his book "Ramses II and His Time", Immanuel Velikovsky continues his reconstruction of ancient history. This volume covers the best-known of old Egypt's pharaohs, Ramses II. Velikovsky points out how little we know about this famous ruler. His revised chronology places Ramses II firmly into the 7th century B.C. and not, as we have been led to believe, hundreds of years earlier in the 13th century B.C.. Ramses II's adversary was thus none other than Nebuchadnezzar. We are made privy to fascinating personal details about this great Chaldean ruler, whose autobiography Velikovsky was able to locate. As in the first part of the series "Ages in Chaos", this volume unearths a string of erroneous theories and dismisses as pure fantasy several other aspects of the traditional written history concerning the ancient world. We learn, for example, that the so-called Hittite Empire is an historical invention and, in another critical paragraph, Velikovsky leads us the to the proper understanding of the Bronze- and Iron Ages. In the extensive supplement, Velikovsky deals with the age-calculating method of radiocarbon dating and its surprising connections to his own theories.

Doing research for a planned book project about Freud's dream interpretation and about a new view of Freud's heros Oedipus and Akhnaton, Velikovsky needed access to numerous literary sources. For this reason in 1939 he travelled to New York together with his family. Shortly afterwards World War II began and he had to extend his stay for an indefinite period, finally staying in the US for good due to his unexpected discoveries.

The next 10 years he spent with intensive research about the geological and historical facts he had discovered, and presented them to the public in 1949 in his book Worlds in Collision. By its contents, as well as by the scandalous reaction of the representatives of the scientific establishment, this book initiated such a far-reaching and revolutionary development in many areas of science and society that until today its actuality and importance have even increased.

Velikovsky himself, however, even after the publication of four more books, was confronted with a heavy up and down of overwhelming acceptance and devastating - unfortunately mostly very unserious - rejection, resulting in a grave psychological burden for him.

After moving to Princeton in the fifties he had a close and friendly relationship with Albert Einstein, discussing his theories with him. After Einstein's death Velikovsky's Worlds in Collision was found open on his desk.

Inspite of more and more recent research in geology and planetology supporting his theories, Velikovsky remained the victim of a discrediting campaign until his death, which is neither in proportion with his exact scientific methodology nor with the contents and importance of his works.

He died in Princeton in 1979.