The Hiram Key
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Authors: Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas
Title: The Hiram Key
Published by: Century Books, 1996
ISBN: 0 7126 8579 0
Main Topics: Freemasonry; Jesus Christ; Egypt; Knights Templar; The Bible; The Dead Sea Scrolls; The Nag Hammadi Library; Sacred Science; Christianity.
Both of the authors are practising Freemasons, and whilst discussing their Masonic experiences it strikes them that a lot of the things that they have learnt from the point of inauguration don't make a whole lot of sense, and trying to work out what these ceremonies mean is the purpose of the book. Or at least, that's what they thought when they started out.
Whilst trying to explore the roots of masonry, they reason that the most likely source is the Templars. The evidence for this is well documented from other sources and is nigh on impossible to dispute (without actually being ultimately provable!) So they start to go back further, to the roots of Templarism, and that's when they begin to investigate the Jesus myth. They look at the parallels between his words and works, and ancient Egyptian teachings. There's a discussion of the bible and it's formation. There's a quick look at Sumer, before starting to concentrate on the events of Hiram Abiff, a figure of great importance to the Masons but without a concrete foundation in real history - until they find it. They look at the Essenes, at Qumran, and the writings and practices there that may or may not have become the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Nag Hammadi codices. And they end by hypothesising where else the scrolls of Jesus may be.
By their own admission they are amateur historians, and at times it shows. But on the other hand, there are some interesting nuggets hidden away. Like the naming of America, wrongly attributed to Amerrigo Vespucci. They show how the Templars knew of a land in the west, a rich and bountiful land underneath a star they knew as L'Amerika. And they ask how a chapel at Rosslyn, Scotland, could have been built in the 1420's and contain carvings of plants indigenous to the North American continent, when conventional knowledge says America was discovered in 1492. And there is also a useful explanation of some of the iconology used, such as the fish symbol and the triple tau.
I've read a lot of books, and I've read books far worse than this, especially considering this is their first book. They've certainly put some effort into it. I liked it anyway, enough to keep my eyes peeled for the sequel and buy it the week it came out...
