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& REVIEWS THE HOUSE OF WISDOM THE SPHINX MYSTERY by Jonathan Lyons by Robert Temple w. Olivia Temple Bloomsbury Publishing, London & Inner Traditions, Vermont, USA, 2009 New York, 2009 ISBN 978-1-59477-271-9 (565pp tpb) ISBN 978-I-4088-0031-7 (248pp tpb) Available: www.deep-books.co.uk; Available: www.allenandunwin.com; www.|lnner Traditions.com www.bloomsbury.com ie the revised edition of his best- estern civilisation owes a huge selling book The Sirius Mystery (1998; debt of gratitude to Arab and 5/04), Robert Temple gave clues to a Islamic philosophers, physicians, completely different interpretation of scientists and scholars. Following the Great Sphinx. Here, he expands the fall of the Roman Empire, much upon these amazing assertions. of what we know of as the West was Chief among them is that, contrary in the grip of the Dark Ages while to long-time consensus belief, the Arab culture was nurturing a body of the Sphinx does not portray a powerhouse of intellectual lion at all; it's a crouching wild dog, exploration. Yet word was filtering or at least a jackal, and it represents out to adventurous Western thinkers, the god Anubis (or Anpu). Anubis Jonathan Lyons, a former foreign guarded the dead and thus had an correspondent for Reuters and nowa___ important role on the Giza Plateau PhD candidate in the sociology of necropolis as part of a pharaonic religion at Monash University, resurrection cult. Furthermore, Melbourne, reveals the extent of Arab during the Old Kingdom, the Anubis thinkers’ influence on the West and monument was surrounded by a eventually on what we call the moat filled with water that formed Renaissance which ultimately led to what the ancient Pyramid Texts called the scientific revolution. Jackal Lake. While it's accepted that Starting out with Peter the Hermit's _ the disproportionately small head of reprehensible pre-Crusades the Sphinx was recarved into human barbarism across Europe and into form, it did not portray Cheops or Constantinople, Lyons goes on to Chephren but a much later pharaoh, describe how the Muslims inevitably © Amenemhet Il of the Twelfth Dynasty. responded in kind with a return to Temple analyses ancient texts, fundamentalist values. But not commentaries, later eyewitness before they gave the world the accounts and early photographs, mathematical techniques of algebra Uncovering overlooked details. He and trigonometry, geographical discusses now-sealed secret advances such as the ability to chambers and his exploration of a measure the Earth's circumference tunnel at the rear of the structure and map its lands (at a time when (see www.sphinxmystery.info). This is westerners regarded the Earth as indeed a monumental work! being flat), breakthroughs in 2 : medicine and pharmacology, THE SPHINX translations of important classical MYSTERY Greek texts, useful technologies in na paper and lenses, and a real F y understanding of the magical world minus the superstition. Lyons acknowledges the importance of Islam in the development of Arab science, and one can't help but conclude that the so-called "war on terror" which demonises Muslim "infidels" today is as much a mistake as were the Crusades. ROBERT TEMPLE with OLIVIA TEMPLE THE HOUSE OF WISDOM by Jonathan Lyons Bloomsbury Publishing, London & New York, 2009 ISBN 978-I-4088-0031-7 (248pp tpb) Available: www.allenandunwin.com; www.bloomsbury.com estern civilisation owes a huge debt of gratitude to Arab and Islamic philosophers, physicians, scientists and scholars. Following the fall of the Roman Empire, much of what we know of as the West was in the grip of the Dark Ages while Arab culture was nurturing a powerhouse of intellectual exploration. Yet word was filtering out to adventurous Western thinkers. Jonathan Lyons, a former foreign correspondent for Reuters and now a PhD candidate in the sociology of religion at Monash University, Melbourne, reveals the extent of Arab thinkers’ influence on the West and eventually on what we call the Renaissance which ultimately led to the scientific revolution. Starting out with Peter the Hermit's reprehensible pre-Crusades barbarism across Europe and into Constantinople, Lyons goes on to describe how the Muslims inevitably responded in kind with a return to fundamentalist values. But not before they gave the world the mathematical techniques of algebra and trigonometry, geographical advances such as the ability to measure the Earth's circumference and map its lands (at a time when westerners regarded the Earth as being flat), breakthroughs in medicine and pharmacology, translations of important classical Greek texts, useful technologies in paper and lenses, and a real understanding of the magical world minus the superstition. Lyons acknowledges the importance of Islam in the development of Arab science, and one can't help but conclude that the so-called "war on terror" which demonises Muslim "infidels" today is as much a mistake as were the Crusades. THE SPHINX MYSTERY a it, ot ROBERT TEMPLE with OLIVIA TEMPLE NEXUS ¢ 75 APRIL - MAY 2009 www.nexusmagazine.com