The Stairway to Heaven (Book II)

I. IN SEARCH OF PARADISE

II. THE IMMORTAL ANCESTORS

III. THE PHARAOH'S JOURNEY TO THE AFTERLIFE

IV. THE STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

V. THE GODS WHO CAME TO PLANET EARTH

VI. IN THE DAYS BEFORE THE DELUGE

VII. GILGAMESH: THE KING WHO REFUSED TO DIE

VIII. RIDERS OF THE CLOUDS

IX. THE LANDING PLACE

X. TILMUN: LAND OF THE ROCKETSHIPS

XI. THE ELUSIVE MOUNT

XII. THE PYRAMIDS OF GODS AND KINGS

XIII. FORGING THE PHARAOH'S NAME

XIV. THE GAZE OF THE SPHINX


SOURCES

INDEX

Zecharia Sitchin (1920-2010) was born in Russia and raised in Palestine, where he acquired a profound knowledge of modern and ancient Hebrew, other Semitic and European languages, the Old Testament, and the history and archaeology of the Near East. He was distinguished by his ability to translate and interpret ancient Sumerian and other ancient texts. A graduate of the University of London, he worked as a journalist and editor in Israel for many years before making his home in New York City.

"Exciting . . . credible . . . most provocative and compelling."
Library Journal

"Sitchin is a zealous investigator into man's origins . . . a dazzling performance."
Kirkus Reviews

"Sitchin's works are outstandingly different from all others that present this central theme. His linguistic skills in the languages of antiquity and his pursuit of the earliest available texts and artifacts make possible the wealth of photographs and line drawings appearing in his books from tablets, monuments, murals, pottery, and seals."
Rosemary Decker, historian and researcher

ARCHAEOLOGY / HISTORY

Special large-format edition, lavishly illustrated with maps, diagrams, and photographs. Mythic memory has long held that somewhere on Earth there is a place where we can transcend death and join the gods. In The Stairway to Heaven, Zecharia Sitchin deepens his fascinating explorations into Earth history by looking at this longing for a return to the divine.

Combining the enigma of the Pyramids with legends of human attempts to ascend like gods to Heaven in search of immortality, he delves into the lives of the pharaohs of Egypt, who taught how to travel the Route of the Gods to the "eternal afterlife"; the Sumerian king Gilgamesh, who journeyed to distant lands in his quest to "scale heaven" and ward off his mortal fate; Alexander the Great, who believed he was actually the son of a god; and Ponce de Leon, who explored Florida in search of the legendary Fountain of Youth. Finally, he leads us along the gaze of the Sphinx, the "Sacred Guide," for remarkable insight into the archetypal search for eternal life.

“Well researched and persuasive ... Sitchin brings to this book' the logic and scholarship so often lacking. . . . He demonstrates the flaws in established theories about pyramid builders and exposes a few ancient hoaxes.”
--Library Journal

“Impressive.”
--United Press International

“Compelling.”
--Booklist