The Real History of the End of the World

Table of Contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“[An] indispensable companion to current popular works.”

 

“In a series of concise, highly informative chapters, Sharan Newman sets forth the story of the Templars and everything associated with them in a logical, chronological progression. The result is a book that you'll not only understand, but enjoy, no matter how familiar (or unfamiliar) you may be with Templar history.”

—
About.com

 

“
The Real History Behind the Templars
is a useful resource for separating fact from fiction about this controversial medieval order. As the author of a series of medieval mystery novels and someone with an advanced degree in medieval studies Sharan Newman has the skill to take modern scholarship and package it for a popular audience.”

 

“This smart and engaging book will make readers who are familiar with the array of pseudo-histories think twice. Newman writes simply yet eloquently. Her prose is lucid and poised and her observations succinct, which makes this tome difficult to put down. She is unafraid to examine the primary sources anew and has the talent to summarize a stack of convoluted material in a few concise sentences. But the popular historian's real accomplishment is that she is fundamentally exact, bright and interesting.”

“If, like Sam Cooke sang, you ‘don't know much about history,' Newman's encyclopedic, A-to-Z look at the topics ranging from ‘Aprocrypha' to ‘Wren, Christopher' provides perspective and insight.”

 

“Witty and charming, but nonetheless rational in explanation and complete in background research,
The Real History Behind The Da Vinci Code
seeks not so much to refute the novel but to elucidate on the truth, and not so much to disparage the mistakes of Mr. Brown but to make readers realize that the history is bigger than any one person, popular novelists included.”

 

“The book . . . gives the truth about topics used in Brown's fiction . . . well written and precise, it is the work of a woman who writes what she knows.”

—Statesman Journal
(Oregon)

 

“For fans of Dan Brown's popular
The Da Vinci Code
, Sharan Newman's
The Real History Behind The Da Vinci Code
is a must-have companion.”

 

“Newman has arranged her discussion of the people, places, and events in
The Da Vinci Code
in an encyclopedic format, creating a book that is both accessible and fun to read.”

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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright © 2010 Sharan Newman

 

 

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

BERKLEY
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is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley trade paperback edition/ April 2010

 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

 

Newman, Sharan.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

eISBN : 978-1-101-18660-2

1. End of the world—History of doctrines. 2. Prophecies—History. I. Title.

BL503.N49 2010

202′.309—dc22

2009050669

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deborah Adams, for urging me to send in the proposal for this book when I was just going to delete it.

 

Erika Johnson Bayless, for telling me how to put it all together.

 

Jennifer Johnson Bell, for teaching me how to make a table.

 

Dr. Eddie Chan, for finding esoteric groups for me to study.

 

Professor Armin Geertz, Aarhus University, Denmark, for proofing my section on the Hopi.

 

Professor Susan D. Gillespie, University of Florida, for directing me to references on the Mayan calendar.

 

Professor Salima Ikram, American University of Cairo, Professor Aidan Dodson, Bristol University, and Dr. Barbara Mertz for references on ancient Egyptian eschatology and making sure I didn't spell
Osiris
as if he were a Roman.

 

Morgan Kay, for taking time from her dissertation to check my information on Merlin.

 

Steven Lavoie, of the Oakland Library, for sending me references to the Doomsealers.

 

Connie L. F. Terwilliger, for suggesting the proper group to dedicate this book to.

 

As always, any mistakes in this book are mine alone.

 

 

 

 

I
t may seem strange, if not impossible, to write a history of something that hasn't happened yet. I could point out that if I wait until it does, there will be very few readers to benefit from my work. But it makes more sense to explain that this is really a history of how people all over the world and through time have thought about the end of the world and how they have dealt with the concept.

Very few people have actually believed that the whole world will end. But almost every culture has some belief or folk myth that tells how the gods or God renew an earth that has become morally corrupt. It seems that people everywhere have looked around at the chaos caused by nature or humanity and at some point just have thrown up their hands, too overwhelmed with the problem to see a way to fix it.

But how could the world be fixed? Some cultures see time as cyclical; nothing ends, but now and then a new cycle begins. In many cases the birth of the cycle is painful and most of the corrupt world is lost in the transition. In other traditions time is linear. Western society, under the influence of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, tends to view history as moving along a straight track from beginning to end. Whether the start was the Garden of Eden or the Big Bang doesn't matter. The direction is the same.

When I began work on this book, I didn't think I would find much on the end in cultures with cyclical viewpoints. I was mistaken. Just as I could find few traditions that the world would end completely in linear societies, I discovered there were groups within Chinese, Hindu, and other societies with cyclical worldviews that shared endtime ideas that were much the same as the Western picture of the Apocalypse.