''The Exodus Decoded'' is a 2006 documentary film by "investigative archaeologist" and filmmaker

Simcha Jacobovici Simcha Jacobovici (; born April 4, 1953) is an Israeli-Canadian journalist and documentary film maker. Biography Simcha Jacobovici's parents were Holocaust survivors from Iași, Romania. He was born April 4, 1953, in Petah Tikva, Israel. In ...

and producer/director

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post-New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability w ...

. It aired April 16 on

The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

. The documentary proposes naturalistic origins for the

plagues of Egypt The Plagues of Egypt, in the account of the book of Exodus, are ten disasters inflicted on Biblical Egypt by the God of Israel in order to convince the Pharaoh to emancipate the enslaved Israelites, each of them confronting Pharaoh and one of hi ...

as described in the

Book of Exodus The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through t ...

Premise

The documentary deals with

The Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew language, Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four books of the Torah (or Pentateuch, corresponding to the first five books of the ...

, the

founding myth An origin myth is a myth that describes the origin of some feature of the natural or social world. One type of origin myth is the creation or cosmogonic myth, a story that describes the creation of the world. However, many cultures have sto ...

of the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

. While few mainstream historians would consider the

as a reliable narrative, Cameron and Jacobovici present a speculative question as to whether the events as described, particularly relating to the

, could be explained naturalistically. Central to its thesis is the

volcanic eruption Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra (ash, lapilli, volcanic bombs and volcanic blocks), and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often ...

of Thera/Santorini. A suggested date of 1500 BC is made for the Exodus, during the reign of pharaoh

Ahmose I Ahmose I ( egy, jꜥḥ ms(j .w), reconstructed /ʔaʕaħ'maːsjə/ ( MK), Egyptological pronunciation ''Ahmose'', sometimes written as ''Amosis'' or ''Aahmes'', meaning "Iah (the Moon) is born") was a pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: ...

. The "palpable darkness" described as the 9th plague, is hypothetically attributed to the cloud of volcanic ash caused by the Minoan eruption, which is identified as the events described in the

Tempest Stele The Tempest Stele (alt. Storm Stele) was erected by pharaoh Ahmose I early in the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, . The stele describes a great storm striking Egypt during this time, destroying tombs, temples and pyramids in the Theban region and the wor ...

. A conjectural

limnic eruption A limnic eruption, also known as a lake overturn, is a very rare type of natural disaster in which dissolved carbon dioxide () suddenly erupts from deep lake waters, forming a gas cloud capable of suffocating wildlife, livestock, and humans. A lim ...

in the Nile Delta, similar to that of the

Lake Nyos disaster On 21 August 1986, a limnic eruption at Lake Nyos in northwestern Cameroon killed 1,746 people and 3,500 livestock. The eruption triggered the sudden release of about 100,000–300,000 tons (1.6 million tons, according to some sources) of ca ...

in 1986, is explored as a further source of mass death. The documentary first aired on

Discovery Channel Canada Discovery Channel (often referred to as simply Discovery) is a Canadian specialty television channel owned by CTV Speciality Television Inc. (a joint venture between Bell Media/ESPN Inc. (80%) and Warner Bros. Discovery (which owns the remaining ...

on April 16, 2006.

Reception

As a popular history documentary, ''The Exodus Decoded'' attracted few critiques from mainstream scholars. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' described the use of CGI as "stunning", a view shared by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', which placed the documentary's content firmly in the realms of conspiracy theory. A review in ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...

'' noted that none of the arguments made in the film were accepted by mainstream archaeology and that film-maker Jacobovici freely admitted his lack of academic credentials.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Exodus Decoded 2006 films 2006 television films 2006 computer-animated films 2006 documentary films Canadian documentary television films Documentary films about the Bible Films with live action and animation History (American TV channel) original programming Films about the ten plagues of Egypt Historical theories and materials on the Exodus Pseudoscience documentary films Films based on the Book of Exodus Films directed by Simcha Jacobovici 2000s Canadian films

Premise

Reception

See also

References

External links