Hello,
First of all, I would like to say that I have read nearly all the postings on
this list and many were very interesting. Thanks to those who have written them.
I would like to address a topic which has not been discussed so far on this list
I believe, that of the falsification of ancient history (antiquity, middle ages
and renaissance). It is directly related to Evola in so far his writings are
largely based on various historical accounts and I do not think he ever
discussed the topic of systematic falsification of ancient history. I believe it
may be strongly related to the struggle between the ghibelline faction and the
guelph faction, as you will see as you read my post.
It seems that the topic of the falsification of ancient history has become more
« mainstream » over the last few decades as several authors have started
investigating and publishing articles and books. It should be noted that there
is not one school of thought, though. However, as early as the seventeeth
century there were people who claimed that history had been largely falsified.
For example, Isaac Newton (1642-1727) wrote a lot about it, which was published
against his will in a book in French called « Abrégé de la chronologie » (1725),
published in its full version in 1729 (both are available online in google
books). Basing himself on astronomical calculations and the dates of the Greek
olympiads, Newton's theory is that about 300 years had to be removed from the
chronology. He then rewrote and reinterpreted each event of the antiquity.
Jean Hardouin (1646-1729), a French Jesuit opposed Newton's theory but agreed
that history had been largely falsified. A man of considerable learning,
Hardouin was librarian at the Collège de Paris. He also worked during 5 years on
publishing an excellent edition of Pliny's Natural History, which is still
regarded today as the reference edition. He also published an edition of the
Catholic councils. It is said that his numerous and lengthy notes in these works
contain his revisionist ideas.
Hardouin said that he started scenting fraud in Augustine and his contemporaries
in August 1690 and that he discovered the whole extent of the fraud only in May
1692 as he was writing down long extracts from ancient authors. According to
him, a gang of forgers (the « impious cabal » as he calls them) started writing
most of Christian patristic literature as well as most Greek and Roman books in
the thirteenth century. This « impious design », whose utlimate goal was to
falsify and « utterly ruin » the Christian religion, was carried out until
around the end of the fifteenth century. The first leader of the forgers was
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (who was nicknamed « Severus Archontius ») and
Benedictines were heavily involved in the forgery, still according to him.
Basing himself on his examination of old coins, Hardouin argued that the Church
did not any temporal power before the tenth century. He also argued that pretty
much the whole history, as told by Christian sources, of the late and decadent
Roman empire was an invention.
Hardouin was ridiculed and persecuted by the temporal power, the Church and the
various religious orders including the Jesuits. Most said that he was a madman.
His books were banned and he had to find a publisher in Holland. His «
Prolegomena to the censorship of ancient authors » were published in the end of
his life. A short book of around 180 pages, it sums up his whole theory and
contains insightful remarks. I have read it in English and I have translated it
into French. I do not know yet if I will simply put it online or publish it. In
any case, I will be glad to provide further information on it. A lengthy
biography in French written by a fellow Jesuit, Father Marteret, can be found in
« Eloges de quelques auteurs françois » (1742) (Available on gallica.fr).
Hardouin wrote also on Dante and said that his book « The Divine Comedy » could
not have been written in the fourteenth century (available on
http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Doutes_propos%C3%A9s_sur_l_age_du_Dante_pa\
r.html?id=shtLAAAAcAAJ). An exhaustive bibliography can be found in
Sommervogel's book, « Bibliothèque des écrivains de la Compagne de Jésus »
(available on google books). Academic papers were recently written by scholar
Anthony Grafton on Hardouin, who also wrote an interesting book on forgery
called « Forgers and critics creativity duplicity in Western scholarship ».
Interesting documents on Hardouin can be found on www.persee.fr also. Finally, I
know that Hardouin disseminated his revisionist ideas in all his works even if
they were out of topic. Unfortunately, most of his works are in Latin, including
his big book on chronology, and I cannot read them. Other priests (the
Benedictine Jean Mabillon and his excellent book on diplomatics, the Fathers
Henschen, Paperbroch, etc.) wrote also in Latin and participated in the
controversy. From what I understand they went not as far as Hardouin but
acknowledged that many documents had been falsified. As far as I know, nobody
wrote a detailed study of this controversy which lasted for years. More
information on Hardouin here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Hardouin
It was English historian Edwin Johnson (1842-1901) who translated Hardouin's
prolegomena into English. Johnson wrote a lot also on the falsification of
history. I have read his books and according to him the history of Christianity
as we know it is entirely made up. He claimed that Christianity sprung up in
Italy and that the Bible texts of the New Testament were written first in Latin.
He also claimed that English history was entirely fictional (see his book « The
Rise of English Culture »). His books can be found online :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Johnson_(historian). Forster Fitzgerald
Arbuthnot, an English orientalist
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forster_Fitzgerald_Arbuthnot), who was a a friend
of Johnson, published in 1900 a book on English chronology in the same vein as
Johnson's. It is called « Mysteries of chronology » and can be downloaded online
(http://archive.org/details/mysteriesofchron00arbuiala).
Wilhelm Kammeier (1889-1959) was a German law official who wrote several books
including « Die Fälschung der deutschen Geschichte », « Neue Beweise für die
Fälschung der deutschen Geschichte », « Die Warheit über die Geschichte des
Spätmittelalters » and « Die Fälschung der Geschichte des Urchistentums ». The
first book can be found online but I could not read it because I do not speak
German. It would be great if someone untertook the translation of this book.
Kammeier's theory is that the Church launched and coordinated a vast and
systematic rewriting of world history in the late middle ages. According to him,
documents related to the ancient Germanic peoples were destroyed and/or
corrupted by the Church. That is why little is known on ancient Germanic peoples
today. Germanic peoples, "barbarians", were given a lesser role in history,
contrary to Rome, which was given the limelight. I have read, in Fomenko's books
I believe, that it was only in national-socialist Germany, in 1934, that he
managed to have his books published. He was a soldier in the war and became a
teacher in East Germany, after 1945. He thought his findings would be of
interest to the East German communist authorities but to no avail, interestingly
(because his findings undermined the Catholic Church and communists did not like
the Catholic Church to say the least). He was actually persecuted and died in
1959 in misery, ill and with little to eat.
Many more authors, more or less contemporary, have written on the falsification
of ancient history. Here is a list :
http://www.ilya.it/chrono/pages/framautorfr.htm
Several works from these authors can be accessed online, so I suggest that you
look for their works on the internet. The whole website should be browsed as it
contains interesting articles.
Hermann Detering, a contemporary German pastor who is not mentioned on the
website given above, maintains a site which contains many resources in several
languages : http://www.radikalkritik.de/
As far as I know, he concentrates his studies on early christianism and has read
Johnson's books.
François de Sarre, a French zoologist, also has a website :
http://initial.bipedalism.pagesperso-orange.fr/. He has written a very
interesting book called « Où est donc passé le Moyen-Âge ? » in which he
develops his own theory using the findings of other researchers. Also of
interest, Pierre Dortiguier, a French professor of philosophy, has given a
conference this month on the falsification of ancient history :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqw2aa_pierre-dortiguier-le-recentisme_news?sta\
rt=1
A personal note on Anatoly Fomenko, perhaps the most « extremist » theoretician
of the falsification of ancient history. I think that he may have interesting
thoughts but his theory is too far-fetched and eccentric. Also, it is important
to understand that authors may be partial. For example, they may be influenced
by nationalist thought and seek to favour their country when doing their
critique of history.
Overall, I think it is impossible to have definite certainties on the matter
given how vast and complicated it is. However, I have become convinced that
ancient history has been falsified, but it is difficult to ascertain to what
extent, and that the Catholic Church was involved in the falsification. I am
also sure that history needs to be shortened and that the Catholic Church is not
as old as it is commonly regarded.
More generally, I find it extremely pretentious of historians to assign very
precise dates to old events given the actual intricacy of chronology and the
extent of falsified documents.
It is important to keep in mind that saying that a text may be falsified does
not eliminate its potential metaphysical value. To be more specific, Guénon,
Evola and others recognized metaphysical contents in certain ancient texts. It
is doubtful that these texts may have been composed by simple forgers. However,
they may come from a different time period to what is generally assumed, among
other things.