Shakespeare's Secret Messiah Paperback – April 7, 2014

If you have not already read Mr. Atwill's first book in its expanded second edition, Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus: Flavian Signature Edition, I recommend that thee get thyself that book and read of it before you tackle this book, else you will have great difficulty in not only understanding the premise and logic behind this book, or even beginning to consider the possibility that Shakespeare may have been a crypto-Jewish, dark complexioned woman. That said, Jerry Russell's introduction provides an excellent summary of "Caesar's Messiah".In order to appreciate Atwill's work you have to not only be able to think logically, but you must also accept a couple of ideas as axiomatic. By thinking logically I mean that you must be able to suspend, at least hypothetically, any non-evidence based, or faith-based belief systems you may hold. These include beliefs in Judaism, Christianity and, in the case of this book, belief in William Shagspere (a.k.a. "Shakespeare") as the One True Author of the Shakespearian works.The required axiomatic bases are acceptance of typologies as valid and a willingness to accept that people 2,000 years ago were basically as intellectually developed as we are today. If you believe that mathematically impossible lists of parallels can only occur by coincidence, particularly if the parallels violate one of your faith based beliefs, then Atwill's work is not for you. If you believe that an oligarchical power elite could not possibly have acted in a Machiavellian manner prior to Machiavelli, then Atwill's work is also not for you.The key to understanding Atwill's work is the concept of typology. This concept is explained in this book and in more detail in "Caesar's Messiah". There are certain quasi-historical (or 100% mythical) personae who appear from time to time with certain characteristics intact and others changed to suit their respective historical period. (Think "movie remakes" as a modern example of this.) Once you have successfully wrapped your head around that concept in Caesar's Messiah, Atwill throws a curve ball in Shakespeare's Secret Messiah, forcing the reader to comprehend typological characters who are either reverses of their types heretofore, or at least act in ways that are switched around from their behaviour in the New Testament and/or the works of Josephus, Suetonius and other authors of that age.The authoress along with other collaborators of the Shakespeare plays had a specific reason for creating these reverse typologies, which Atwill develops fully. To state it baldly and briefly might put some people off, so I won't go into it here.The discovery and proof of the validity of a typological coupling of different characters can be compared to the study of fingerprints. In regard to chapter 10, "DOMITIAN'S TRINITY IN ACTS", I make the analogy of the discovery of several partial fingerprints at a crime scene that must be assembled to form a complete print which can only then be used to identify the person who left the partial fingerprints. To solve a puzzle that has mathematical elements involving the numbers three, 153, and the other three-digit numbers that appear in the New Testament, Atwill compares passages from the Gospel of John, the Book of Acts, works of Josephus, and the mathematician Pythagoras's fishing story to explain the appearance of these numbers and the likely reason for The Vesica Piscis as an early Christian symbol.Rather than commenting further I will summarize the basic contents, which go far beyond a re-evaluation of Shakespeare. Perhaps a more descriptive but unwieldy title could have been "Caesar's Messiah, Part 2, featuring a lengthy discussion of the fact that other people knew all about it in the 16th Century, but couldn't discuss it openly for fear of severe punishment, including death, plus some other interesting and related information."The first, section of this book is the thorough "INTRODUCTION: A REVIEW OF CAESAR'S MESSIAH" by Jerry Russell. This introduction could be called a Reader's Digest version of "Caesar's Messiah", with excellent commentary, some of which is not in full agreement with Atwill.Atwill discusses the Shakespearean works Titus Andronicus, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice and a few of the Sonnets. He dissects Christopher Marlow's "The Jew of Malta", and discusses Marlow's certain knowledge of Christianity as an invention of the Flavian Caesars and the apparently fatal result of his being indiscreet about his knowledge. Atwill introduces the Dark Lady herself, Emilia (a.k.a. Amelia) Bassano, her history and the published works attributed to her.In the previously mentioned Chapter 10, Atwill discusses the influence of the third and last Flavian emperor, Domitian, as well as the Roman authors who worked on Domitian's behalf. Perhaps the second tour de force of this book after the Shakespeare discussion is a line by line analysis of the Book of Revelation in Chapter 11, "REVELATION AND DOMITIAN'S IMPERIAL CULT". If you have puzzled over the "meaning" of the Book of Revelation, read this chapter and puzzle no more. There are separate chapters devoted to "The Seven Seals and the Pauline letters" and the "Ass-headed Christ".But wait, there's more! Chapter 14 is "THE SCOPE OF ROMAN PLANNING: RABBINICAL JUDAISM". Atwill does a thorough but concise job of showing that the Romans were the guiding, supporting and mentoring force in turning Judaism from its militaristic, Messianic core into the more pacific religion of Talmudism. I suspect that Joe will not be as welcome on Rodeph Emet TV as he once was, but I hope I'm wrong. The Romans covered their bases not only with Christianity, marketed to pacify both Jews and Gentiles, but also with Talmudism to pacify Jews through the re-training and re-focusing of their religious leaders.Speaking of Rodeph Emet TV, there are dozens of interviews featuring Joe Atwill on Youtube and elsewhere, as well with other scholars, including Jerry Russell, John Hudson and Robert Eisenman, who discuss Atwill's concepts. Have a look around if you are not certain about buying this book or Caesar's Messiah. I predict you will soon be looking for more information direct from the source! Atwill and Russell have also begun a project called "postflaviana" (q.v.) to explore other connections with the Flavian legacy. The idea is to build upon the new-found, or at least newly exposed, knowledge of the Flavian literature, and use it to deconstruct the stultifying effect that the Flavians have had on human progress.I also recommend The Dark Lady: The Woman Who Wrote Shakespeare's Plays as complementary to SSM. It's a beautiful book with several pages of illustrations. The author, Shakespearian scholar and producer of Shakespeare plays, John Hudson, goes even farther than Atwill in showing that Ms. Bassano was a chief author of the Shakespearian canon. Hudson credits Joe Atwill for the original idea of pursuing the line of research that led to this remarkable book.

Another great book by Joe Atwill. There is a lot of interesting information in this book and reading Caesars Messiah -Flavian Signature Edition is in my opinion required to fully understand what Mr. Atwill is presenting . Chapter 12 - Revelation and Domitian's Imperial Cult is worth the price of the book and probably could have been a book on its own - this is by far the best explanation of Revelation ever presented and how it parallels with Suetonius-The Twelve Caesars. Although reading The Twelve Caesars is not required it does help to put some of what the author is presenting into perspective. The only negative thing to say is Chapter 12 dealing with the Pauline Epistles is very confusing and there are still details I don't quite understand, I don't know if it is me or the way the material is presented other than that a great book.

Atwill is amazing. He has the brilliance to decipher long held mysteries with the concrete logic and insight of an adept of the mysteries. Easy to comprehend and endlessly fascinating I have been an absolute fan for over 15 years. Joe is the man and an absolute treasure. Look for his writings online and pick up his books. He will open many doors of insight and inspiration.

Atwill is an intelligent writer with a keen sense of code breaking. However, his theory that Shakespeare was aparticular female is spotty at best and fatal due to a number of unsupported assumptions. What killed histheory for me was his absurd refusal to discuss or mention Francis Bacon especially when the King James Bible wasspecifically supervised by Bacon who worked on it for many years. Atwill further ignores Francis Bacon's journeys toItaly and ability to read and write in Italian as well as numerous other languages. While I appreciate the fact thatAtwill can imagine that a woman would have the ability to write the Shakespearian works, it is disappointing thatAtwill would knowingly fail to support the very assumptions on which his theory rests. It is further interesting thatAtwill jumped from the woman's brief romantic association with the Baron Hunsdon and some of the musicians atcourt to the kind of knowledge that would come from a Francis Bacon or Earl of Oxford. Disappointing.

As with Caesar's Messiah I can only recommend it.Some interesting theories and awesome nuggets. It does present a convincing enough case that what Atwill is theorising is true, yet again as with Caesar's Messiah I think Atwill tries to draw in more than is necessary. The 7 Seals part was the weakest and most disconcerting section, and Atwill admits that himself, yet the bones he's trying to flesh out are pretty solid, imo.The Domitian info was great and really fits this new take on Revelation. Revelation is a book I've pondered for decades and never thought I'd make sense of - as I never thought we'd find the true identities of the gospel authors - but yet again Atwill has shed new light that revolutionises my understanding.(I'd been wondering how Domitilla would be exiled for being Christian by Domitian who would seem to be on the same side, but this makes sense now too...)Overall I'm more convinced than ever of the Flavian thesis for the Gospel's origins, and it seems obvious to me that in the days of England breaking from Catholicism there was a desire to reveal this secret, which was then suppressed by the new church, yet referenced, for posterity, by the author(s) of Shakespeare's plays...