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The Copper Scroll Decoded: One Man's Search for the Fabulous Treasure of Ancient Egypt
At last a lone metallurgist has successfully decoded the mysterious Copper Scroll that has baffled scholars since its discovery in 1952.
In his extraordinary research of the Copper Scroll, Robert Feather has made two amazing but interlinked
Part of the Dead Sea Scrolls, The Copper Scroll is an elaborate treasure map, listing 64 coded locations were gold, silver, beautifully crafted jewellery and ritual clothing were hidden over 2,000 years ago. This news will cause great excitement amongst archaeologists throughout the world. In 1959 & 1960 John Allegro of Manchester University led unsuccessul trips to find the treasure. His following translation of the Scroll. Robert Feather has now filled in the missing pieces of the puzzle.
The accumulation of significant new research to back the old but neglected theory that the origins of the world’s three great monotheistic religions can all be traced to Ancient Egypt and in particular to the Pharoah Akhenaten. The book will show why it makes such sense that Moses was in fact an Egyptian and answer many other historical anomalies & puzzles.
Professor George Brooke of Manchester University who recently organised the Copper Scroll exhibition in Manchester supports Robert Feather’s findings and has written the foreword.
400 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
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September 26, 2016
In a cave by the Dead Sea in the former area of the Qumran Essenes some scrolls are found. One of them is engraved in copper. A material which was not used in the area and treated with a technique that should not be known. That is because the material and the technique are Egyptian! This conclusion leads amateur archaeologist and metallurgist Robert Feather to a completely different interpretation of the influence of Egypt on the origins of Judaism and thus Christianity and Islam.
The message, in short, is that Abraham is not the source of the monotheistic faith, but he found it in Egypt and only passed it on. The hypothesis posed in this book is as follows: Patriarch Abraham came to Egypt to talk to Pharaoh Amenhotep I, who tended to monotheism while the rest of the world was lost among multiple gods. Abraham then took this monotheistic seed with him to present-day Israel. Years later, his grandson Joseph was brought to Egypt as a slave. He came into the favor of Pharaoh Echnaton. His dad Jacob went after him together with his family and chatted a little with the pharaoh himself. The belief system Jacob and his family found in Egypt seemed very familiar to them, since its source was the same as theirs, namely the faith of Amenhotep I. Echnaton, his faith strengthened by his talks to Jacob, takes monotheism to the next level and develops a form of monotheism around Aten, an abstract god symbolized by a sun disc. He declares this belief the state religion. After his early death, Egypt quickly falls back to polytheism. All of Egypt? No, Jacob's family, the Hebrews, flee the polytheistic regime in the capital city Akhetaten and form small settlements bringing with them the monotheistic religion of Aten, some Aten priests and some of the treasures of the temple of Aten. Many years later we find Moses in Egypt. Moses was not a little foundling as the bible states, but a real pharaoh prince. He was quite rebellious and tended to monotheism at a time when polytheism was the norm. After spending time in the aforementioned monotheistic strongholds of the Hebrews, who had by then been enslaved by the pharaoh, he encounters God in a burning bush. After this vision he tried to free the Hebrews from the pharaoh because they had so much in common. As a prince, he had lots of money and the remaining Aton priests in the strongholds also had treasures. They could not bring everything on the 40-year-old walk to Israel, so they have buried a lot of the treasures before they left. So were did they hide all that stuff? How could they ever find it again? Well, this is exactly why the copper scroll was created. This scroll contained a detailed description of all the locations where treasures were hidden. So how come this scroll ended up with Qumran Essenes? The Qumran Essenes are the direct descendants of the Egyptian priests who settled at the shores of the Dead Sea after the exodus. That is why an Egyptian scroll ended up in Israel and that is why most of its treasures have never been found: most of the locations described in the scroll are not found in Israel, but in Egypt around Echnatons capital: Akhetaten, the current Amarna.
The whole story is rather speculative and based almost completely on assumptions. The sporadic statistical calculations are flawed (when two numbers differ by 1% it does not mean there is a 99% change they are equal!). At certain times in the story he takes the Torah literally, but if the writings in the Torah do not fit his argument, he prefers to point to historical works from the same period that contradict the Torah. He chooses his sources so they best fit the hypothesis that he has already formulated. But it must be said, the author also states contradictory arguments. He does not exclusively see 'facts' that fit into his idea. However, when different views on a certain point are stated, his conclusion usually is in the form of "I believe this is the most plausible", and then state a few pages on "As I have proved earlier ...". No, you have not proven it, you just believe it to be true! Perhaps the best example of this pseudo-science is found in chapter 7 where the author tries to determine the actual time period of the lives of the patriarchs. The used arithmetic to show that the ages of the patriarchs stated in the bible were not their actual ages (175, 180 really!) is hilarious. He pinpoints the lives of the patriarch to a period with a margin of perhaps a hundred years, but still manages to name the single pharaohs the patriarchs met with absolute certainty.
In addition there is no room for contemplation of the bigger picture. I feel the author focuses too much on the idea of Egypt as the single source of monotheism. I believe a parallel shift from a nomadic to an urban culture in Egypt and Israel might have resulted in a parallel development of religion from a polytheistic religion with gods for every problem encountered in normal nomadic life to an easily centrally-controlled, abstract monotheistic religion.
Well, having said all this, the line of argument seems quite plausible. The similarities between Egyptian texts and the Torah, Psalms and the New Testament are too many to be coincidence. His hypothesis also explains the presence of some sort of paleo-Jewish peoples in southern Egypt and Ethiopia. As the author himself concludes his story: "The similarities [between monotheism according to Pharaoh Echnaton and the biblical scriptures], however, have, I think, undoubtedly colored the biblical stories since their creation, and they are far too numerous to be attributed to chance. The deductions that follow solve many of the older puzzles in the Bible. For these combined reasons, the points of similarity form a pointillist painting as by Seurat, a general feeling of truthfulness, which convinces more in totality than as the sum of the individual dots". Cannot argue with this.
The message, in short, is that Abraham is not the source of the monotheistic faith, but he found it in Egypt and only passed it on. The hypothesis posed in this book is as follows: Patriarch Abraham came to Egypt to talk to Pharaoh Amenhotep I, who tended to monotheism while the rest of the world was lost among multiple gods. Abraham then took this monotheistic seed with him to present-day Israel. Years later, his grandson Joseph was brought to Egypt as a slave. He came into the favor of Pharaoh Echnaton. His dad Jacob went after him together with his family and chatted a little with the pharaoh himself. The belief system Jacob and his family found in Egypt seemed very familiar to them, since its source was the same as theirs, namely the faith of Amenhotep I. Echnaton, his faith strengthened by his talks to Jacob, takes monotheism to the next level and develops a form of monotheism around Aten, an abstract god symbolized by a sun disc. He declares this belief the state religion. After his early death, Egypt quickly falls back to polytheism. All of Egypt? No, Jacob's family, the Hebrews, flee the polytheistic regime in the capital city Akhetaten and form small settlements bringing with them the monotheistic religion of Aten, some Aten priests and some of the treasures of the temple of Aten. Many years later we find Moses in Egypt. Moses was not a little foundling as the bible states, but a real pharaoh prince. He was quite rebellious and tended to monotheism at a time when polytheism was the norm. After spending time in the aforementioned monotheistic strongholds of the Hebrews, who had by then been enslaved by the pharaoh, he encounters God in a burning bush. After this vision he tried to free the Hebrews from the pharaoh because they had so much in common. As a prince, he had lots of money and the remaining Aton priests in the strongholds also had treasures. They could not bring everything on the 40-year-old walk to Israel, so they have buried a lot of the treasures before they left. So were did they hide all that stuff? How could they ever find it again? Well, this is exactly why the copper scroll was created. This scroll contained a detailed description of all the locations where treasures were hidden. So how come this scroll ended up with Qumran Essenes? The Qumran Essenes are the direct descendants of the Egyptian priests who settled at the shores of the Dead Sea after the exodus. That is why an Egyptian scroll ended up in Israel and that is why most of its treasures have never been found: most of the locations described in the scroll are not found in Israel, but in Egypt around Echnatons capital: Akhetaten, the current Amarna.
The whole story is rather speculative and based almost completely on assumptions. The sporadic statistical calculations are flawed (when two numbers differ by 1% it does not mean there is a 99% change they are equal!). At certain times in the story he takes the Torah literally, but if the writings in the Torah do not fit his argument, he prefers to point to historical works from the same period that contradict the Torah. He chooses his sources so they best fit the hypothesis that he has already formulated. But it must be said, the author also states contradictory arguments. He does not exclusively see 'facts' that fit into his idea. However, when different views on a certain point are stated, his conclusion usually is in the form of "I believe this is the most plausible", and then state a few pages on "As I have proved earlier ...". No, you have not proven it, you just believe it to be true! Perhaps the best example of this pseudo-science is found in chapter 7 where the author tries to determine the actual time period of the lives of the patriarchs. The used arithmetic to show that the ages of the patriarchs stated in the bible were not their actual ages (175, 180 really!) is hilarious. He pinpoints the lives of the patriarch to a period with a margin of perhaps a hundred years, but still manages to name the single pharaohs the patriarchs met with absolute certainty.
In addition there is no room for contemplation of the bigger picture. I feel the author focuses too much on the idea of Egypt as the single source of monotheism. I believe a parallel shift from a nomadic to an urban culture in Egypt and Israel might have resulted in a parallel development of religion from a polytheistic religion with gods for every problem encountered in normal nomadic life to an easily centrally-controlled, abstract monotheistic religion.
Well, having said all this, the line of argument seems quite plausible. The similarities between Egyptian texts and the Torah, Psalms and the New Testament are too many to be coincidence. His hypothesis also explains the presence of some sort of paleo-Jewish peoples in southern Egypt and Ethiopia. As the author himself concludes his story: "The similarities [between monotheism according to Pharaoh Echnaton and the biblical scriptures], however, have, I think, undoubtedly colored the biblical stories since their creation, and they are far too numerous to be attributed to chance. The deductions that follow solve many of the older puzzles in the Bible. For these combined reasons, the points of similarity form a pointillist painting as by Seurat, a general feeling of truthfulness, which convinces more in totality than as the sum of the individual dots". Cannot argue with this.
September 6, 2020
Robert Feather is the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the Dead Sea Scrolls research. As a metallurgist, engineer and amateur Egyptologist, he behaves within the bounds of scientific reason. But despite lack of empirical proof, he treats the Biblical narrative and its personalities as historical facts. Feather is at his best when he uses his scientific knowledge of raw material, carbon dating and history to challenge traditional assumptions. Yet he speculates and overreaches when he theorizes on the motives of Biblical personalities. Feather would have us believe that when the nomadic Bedouin Avram (Abraham) visited the all-powerful pharaoh, Amenhotep I, they discussed theology over after dinner drinks and cigars – all the while Amenhotep was impregnating Abraham’s wife, Sarai.
Feather’s underlying thesis is that the Qumran-Essenes were the spiritual heirs to the monotheism promoted by primarily by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) in the 14th Century BCE. They were even the physical heirs to Amenhotep’s priesthood. According to Feather, the religion as practiced by the Essenes had more in common with the worship of Aten, the one God of Egypt, than with traditional Judaism. Therefore, the treasures listed in the Copper Scrolls are primarily to be found in Akhetaten/Armana, Egypt than in and around Jerusalem, as most mainstream scholars suggest. While Feather marshals convincing proofs for his theories, the Dead Sea Scroll scholastic community considers them quite controversial if not outlandish. Unresolved is where these Essenes were hiding for a millennium after the Exodus.
Feather also surmises that Moses was an actual Egyptian prince by blood and that he led a band of Hebrew slave-soldiers south to fight against the Nubians. There he marries his Kushite wife, and the remnant of these Hebrews formed a community on Elephantine Island and later in Abyssinia/Ethiopia as the Falashas.
The author really stretches it in his use of comparative linguistics. He identifies the leader of the Qumran sect, Moreh Tsedek or Teacher of Righteousness, with Meryra, the high priest of Aten. Could the Ethiopian language, Amharic, be identified with the Arabic name, Amarna, for Akhetaten? And does the word amen come from Amenhotep?
But overall, the book reads like a mystery novel. It is well illustrated with maps and pictures. Feather certainly gives us pause to think and question.
Feather’s underlying thesis is that the Qumran-Essenes were the spiritual heirs to the monotheism promoted by primarily by Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) in the 14th Century BCE. They were even the physical heirs to Amenhotep’s priesthood. According to Feather, the religion as practiced by the Essenes had more in common with the worship of Aten, the one God of Egypt, than with traditional Judaism. Therefore, the treasures listed in the Copper Scrolls are primarily to be found in Akhetaten/Armana, Egypt than in and around Jerusalem, as most mainstream scholars suggest. While Feather marshals convincing proofs for his theories, the Dead Sea Scroll scholastic community considers them quite controversial if not outlandish. Unresolved is where these Essenes were hiding for a millennium after the Exodus.
Feather also surmises that Moses was an actual Egyptian prince by blood and that he led a band of Hebrew slave-soldiers south to fight against the Nubians. There he marries his Kushite wife, and the remnant of these Hebrews formed a community on Elephantine Island and later in Abyssinia/Ethiopia as the Falashas.
The author really stretches it in his use of comparative linguistics. He identifies the leader of the Qumran sect, Moreh Tsedek or Teacher of Righteousness, with Meryra, the high priest of Aten. Could the Ethiopian language, Amharic, be identified with the Arabic name, Amarna, for Akhetaten? And does the word amen come from Amenhotep?
But overall, the book reads like a mystery novel. It is well illustrated with maps and pictures. Feather certainly gives us pause to think and question.
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