Simmans, Graham 1919-2005

PERSONAL:

Born 1919; died 2005.

CAREER:

Archaeologist and historian. Military service: British Royal Air Force officer and squadron leader.

WRITINGS:

(With Mary Hopkins, Tim Wallace-Murphy, and Marilyn Hopkins) Rex Deus: The True Mystery of Rennes-le-Château, Element Books, 2000.

Jesus after the Crucifixion: From Jerusalem to Rennes-le-Château, Bear (Rochester, VT), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Graham Simmans was born in 1919. During his life Simmans traveled around the world, working with security and intelligence agencies. During World War II he served with the British Royal Air Force as an officer and squadron leader. He later went into marketing and archaeology, combining the two professions while in Egypt, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. He was a thirty-year member of the Egyptian Exploration Society. Among his archaeological accomplishments, he helped uncover an early Christian settlement at Wadi Natrum in Egypt's western desert. Simmans also lived for fifteen years in Rennes-le-Château, the village and castle where a number of ancient mysteries and rumors abound, particularly those about the Priory of Sion and the Knights Templar. Simmans discussed the location in his book, called Rex Deus: The True Mystery of Rennes-le-Château in 2000. He passed away five years after the book came out.

In 2007, Jesus after the Crucifixion: From Jerusalem to Rennes-le-Château was published posthumously. The book combines Simmans's experiences in Egypt and France by suggesting that Jesus did not die from his crucifixion, but instead, fled to Egypt. With his wife, Mary Magdalene, he fled to southern France and they lived out their lives spreading Christianity in the area. Reviews were positive for a book on such a controversial topic. A contributor to the Midwest Book Review called the book's premise a ‘thought-provoking idea.’ While John Jaeger, writing in Library Journal, noted that ‘his book will attract those who enjoy speculating about religious matters."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, March 1, 2007, John Jaeger, review of Jesus after the Crucifixion: From Jerusalem to Rennes-le-Château, p. 89.

Midwest Book Review, May, 2007, review of Jesus after the Crucifixion.