The Eighth Day: The Hidden History of the Jewish Contribution to Civilization Hardcover - 1992

From the publisher

Did you know that contrary to common belief, biblical Abraham was not a nomad, that the Jews did not originate as a wandering tribe, and that Joseph managed to irrigate the Egyptian desert and create a vast artificial lake? Did you know that for years museums have been incorrectly labeling ancient glass as 'Roman glass' when in fact it is 'Jewish glass' and that Jewish slaves engineered and built the Colosseum in Rome? The contributions of Jews to the development of human civilization have been neglected, says author Samuel Kurinsky. Many Jewish innovations were appropriated by conquerors. Sophisticated iron implements accredited to the Sicilians were actually forged by Jewish slaves. Many of the 'Roman' architectural structures of its most glorious period were not built by Romans but by Jews. Drawing upon biblical, archaeological, archival, and historiographical material, Samuel Kurinsky examines this hidden history of the Jewish contribution to the evolution of civilization. Exploring the development of technology from Akkadia through Canaan, Egypt, Rome, Persia, China, and the West, The Eighth Day: The Hidden History of the Jewish Contribution to Civilization discusses the fields of architecture, glassmaking, metallurgy, and pyrotechnology, in addition to the impact of Jewish thought and culture on the origins of literacy and 'classical' thought and philosophy. Kurinsky debunks the myth of the 'wandering Jew.' According to his research, even as far back as biblical times, the Jews were artisans, craftsmen, traders, and the builders of cities, not nomadic shepherds. Well-documented evidence, gathered together for the first time in this unique historiography, forces us to look at both the history of human civilization and that of the Jewish people with a fresh eye. Ground-breaking and myth-shattering, The Eighth Day is a valuable source-book for anyone interested in technological or Jewish history.