David Rohl is a British Egyptologist and Ancient Historian who established a keen interest in Egypt at the tender age of ten. This is when he traveled up the Nile, from Cairo to the Temples of Abu Simbel in Nubia. He did so on King Farouk’s paddle-steamer, the Kased Kheir. This trip sparked an interest that would continue through childhood and into adulthood.
Although Rohl has spent most of his life involved in Egyptology, his first career was in the music industry. He has done work in many different areas of music. He has been a rock musician, a recording engineer, producer, and musical composer for award-winning television programs. During this time he had already started his work on his new chronology and eventually decided to pursue Egyptology full-time. In 1987 he started his study of Egypt and Ancient History at University College in London. He received his degree in 1990 and is currently working on his doctoral thesis entitled “A re-examination of the Chronology of the Third Intermediate Period in Egypt”.
Rohl is most famous for his proposed new chronology of ancient Egypt, which he laid out in his 1995 book called, A TEST OF TIME: The Bible- From Myth to History. This book explains the close relationship between ancient Egyptian history and accounts depicted in the bible. Rohl believes that traditional chronologies of Egypt show many contradictions, mainly in the Third Intermediate Period. He believed that the chronologies are plagued by incomplete and inaccurate data. Rohl started to study neighboring cultures and compared their historical records with that of Egypt’s.
From there he turned to Hebrew scriptures for another comparison. He concluded that the Third Intermediate Period was over extended and that it should be shortened by 141 years. The information that Rohl obtained leads to the confirmation for many of the great events and personalities that are depicted in the Old Testament.
In 1995 Rohl also documented his work on film in a widely acclaimed three-part television series and book called PHARAOHS AND KINGS: A Biblical Quest. It later aired in the U.S. on The Learning Channel in 1996. The follow-up to his first book is LEGEND: The Genesis of Civilization. In this book Rohl reveals what he believes to be the location of the Garden of Eden that is described in the book of Genesis, the true site of Noah’s Ark, the origins of the pharaohs, and many other events and characters identified in the book of Genesis. The information for this book was put together after several expeditions and archeological missions into Egypt’s Eastern Desert.
Rohl is involved with many organizations such as the Institute for the Study of Interdisciplinary Sciences (ISIS), for which he is the Chairman. He is also the Archeology Correspondent for The Express newspaper and President of the Sussex Egyptology Society. He has recently been appointed Field Director of The Dead Sea Underwater Survey Expedition and serves as a guide for Ancient World Tours where he personally takes travelers on a tour of Egypt. Along with articles that he has published in The Express, he has also published numerous papers and has been the Editor of The Journal of the Ancient Chronology Forum since 1986. Rohl is currently working on an upcoming television special. Rohl and his Legend Film Production colleagues have recently returned from Iran, where they recorded over fifteen hours of film footage from their expeditions.
References:
David Rohl’s Homepage, http://www.nunki.net/
Anthony’s Egyptology Discussion Group, http://www.osirisweb.com
History, The Heretics-David Rohl http://www.tekline.co.uk/h_rohl.htm
Craig’s World; Pharaohs and Kings: A Biblical Quest, http://craigr.com/books/pharaohs.htm
Written By Jeff Hertaus
Edited by Marcy L. Voelker, 2007