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REVIEWS REVIEWS @ KING JESUS: From Kam (Egypt) to Camelot by Ralph Ellis Edfu Books, UK, 2008; Adventures Unlimited Press, USA, 2008 ISBN 978-I-905815-00-5 (UK), 978-1-931882-86-6 (USA) (58Ipp tpb) Available: info@edfu-books.com; www.adventuresunlimitedpress.com gain, Ralph Ellis has upturned conventional thinking on the historical Jesus. By extending his research into one character, the ewish historian Flavius Josephus, Ellis discovered a new perspective on esus as a wealthy revolutionary igure with Persian—Syrian—Egyptian royal roots and wisdom to boot. In his 1999 book Jesus, Last of the Pharaohs (see 6/04), Ellis touched on he proposition that Josephus was in act Saul, the St Paul of Christianity. n King Jesus, he delves more deeply into the similarities between the two characters, concluding that Josephus had a dual life as the historian with patronage from the Roman Emperor and as the money-hungry creator of Christianity and a more modern udaism, but he gained a new identity in Britain as Joseph of Arimathea. Having analysed clues overlooked by scholars of religion and history, Ellis deduces that the Jesus timeline is later than depicted and coincides with the Josephus accounts that place him amidst the Jewish rebellion that culminated in the destruction of the Temple. He proposes that Jesus was at one time the High Priest of Jerusalem and probably was exiled around AD 70 to Britain, where he became known as Atur-tii, or King Arthur. The 12 knights of the Round Table have similarities with the 12 apostles at the Last Supper. The "New Jerusalem" extolled by esotericist William Blake in his famous poem has much truth to it, says Ellis in his surprising book. SCIENCE & ISLAM: A HISTORY by Ehsan Masood Icon Books, London, 2009 ISBN 978-184831-040-7 (240pp hc) Available: www.iconbooks.co.uk; wwwaallenandunwin.com Ti: history of Islamic science and its lofty influence on the West are highlighted here by Ehsan Masood, a chief commissioning editor with the journal Nature and a teacher of international science policy at Imperial College, London. Geographically, Islam's cities of science and astronomy, education and medicine spanned from as far west as Seville to as far east as Tashkent during the eighth to the 16th centuries. Far from Islamic 74 ¢ NEXUS learning being stifled by religion, it thrived because of it, he says; indeed, the prophet Muhammad encouraged the pursuit of ideas and knowledge, although some later Islamic religious leaders weren't so happy about the influence of the "polymaths". Masood unveils the contributions that Islamic thinkers have made to civilisation as we know it, with inventions such as the crankshaft, reciprocating piston and micrometer as well as algebra, and their understanding of planetary motions and the spread of disease. He covers the debates about the relationship between science and society and examines why eventually this Islamic scientific flowering went into decline. A fascinating study with lessons that can be learned from history. Science, & fsfeow AH STORY JUNE — JULY 2009 www.nexusmagazine.com