Henriette Mertz
Encyclopedia
Henriette Mertz was an American
patent attorney and ancient history researcher from Chicago
. During World War II
, she worked as a code-breaker for the U.S. government's cryptography
department. She published multiple controversial works during the 1960s and 1970s. She died in 1985, at the age of 89.
had been published upside down. Later Cyrus H. Gordon
suggested that the inscriptions were derived from a Hebrew alphabet from the 1st century AD but today main-stream archaeologists consider it to be a fraud.
sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the North Atlantic. Moreover, Mertz believed that Odysseus faced Scylla
and Charybdis
when he arrived at the Bay of Fundy
in Nova Scotia
. Mertz also proposed that the Argonauts
travelled across the Atlantic Ocean
, down the east coast of South America
, past the mouth of the Amazon
and Rio de Janeiro
to the Rio Plata of Argentina
. From Rio Plata, Jason went to the altiplano of Bolivia
and to Tihuanaco where the Golden Fleece
was located.
—one found in the Shan Hai Jing
(which Mertz dates to 2250 BC) and the other by Buddhist
missionary Hui Shen in 499 AD—describe visits to the American continent. As supporting evidence she proposed that the Milk River
inscriptions were Chinese
glyphs made by one of the exploration parties. According to David Hatcher Childress
, Mertz also interpreted Fusang as meaning "fir trees" in Chinese, and ruminated that they might refer to the fir trees of British Columbia
. The hypothesis had long been rejected by academic sinologists having been first advocated in English by Charles Godfrey Leland
in 1875, but apparently Mertz was unaware of these facts. In her book, Mertz also proposed that Quetzalcoatl
was Hui Shen, the 5th century Buddhist traveler to Fusang. About Mertz's hypotheses, Joseph Needham
writes in a footnote that "the proposed identities in general require a heroic suspension of disbelief".
and Ohio river
) was where Atlantis
was located as described in Greek mythology
. Mertz used as proof a 1436 map belonging to Andrea Bianco that showed the Atlantic island of Antilla
. However, her theory was ultimately rejected on account of Plato
's dates, the fact that Atlantis sank, and the fact that "Antilla" was most likely a cartographic depiction of either Hispaniola
or Cuba
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
patent attorney and ancient history researcher from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, she worked as a code-breaker for the U.S. government's cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
department. She published multiple controversial works during the 1960s and 1970s. She died in 1985, at the age of 89.
Bat Creek Stone
In 1964, Mertz suggested that a photograph of the Bat Creek inscriptionBat Creek inscription
The Bat Creek inscription is an inscription carved on a stone allegedly found in a Native American burial mound in Loudon County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee, in 1889...
had been published upside down. Later Cyrus H. Gordon
Cyrus H. Gordon
Cyrus Herzl Gordon , was an American scholar of Near Eastern cultures and ancient languages.-Biography:Gordon was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Lithuanian emigrant and physician Benjamin Gordon...
suggested that the inscriptions were derived from a Hebrew alphabet from the 1st century AD but today main-stream archaeologists consider it to be a fraud.
Greek voyages
In her work entitled The Wine Dark Sea, Mertz argued that OdysseusOdysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar and into the North Atlantic. Moreover, Mertz believed that Odysseus faced Scylla
Scylla
In Greek mythology, Scylla was a monster that lived on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite its counterpart Charybdis. The two sides of the strait were within an arrow's range of each other—so close that sailors attempting to avoid Charybdis would pass too close to Scylla and vice...
and Charybdis
Charybdis
Charybdis or Kharybdis was a sea monster, later rationalised as a whirlpool and considered a shipping hazard in the Strait of Messina.-The mythological background:...
when he arrived at the Bay of Fundy
Bay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine...
in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
. Mertz also proposed that the Argonauts
Argonauts
The Argonauts ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means...
travelled across the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, down the east coast of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, past the mouth of the Amazon
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
and Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
to the Rio Plata of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. From Rio Plata, Jason went to the altiplano of Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
and to Tihuanaco where the Golden Fleece
Golden Fleece
In Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram, which can be procured in Colchis. It figures in the tale of Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest by order of King Pelias for the fleece in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus...
was located.
Chinese voyages
In her work entitled Pale Ink (self-published c. 1958), Mertz proposed that two accounts of Chinese travels to FusangFusang
Fusang or Fousang refers to several different entities in ancient Chinese literature, often either a mythological tree or a mysterious land to the East....
—one found in the Shan Hai Jing
Shan Hai Jing
Shan Hai Jing is a Chinese classic text, and a compilation of early geography and myth. Versions of the text have existed since the 4th century BC, and by the early Han Dynasty it had reached its final form. It is largely a fabled geographical and cultural account of pre-Qin China as well as a...
(which Mertz dates to 2250 BC) and the other by Buddhist
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
missionary Hui Shen in 499 AD—describe visits to the American continent. As supporting evidence she proposed that the Milk River
Milk River
-Rivers:Canada and the United States*The Milk River , a tributary of the upper Fraser River in Canada*The Milk River , United States*The Milk River , a tributary of the Missouri RiverJamaica*The Milk River...
inscriptions were Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
glyphs made by one of the exploration parties. According to David Hatcher Childress
David Hatcher Childress
David Hatcher Childress is an American author and publisher of books on topics on alternative history and historical revisionism. His works cover such subjects as pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, Atlantis, Lemuria, Ancient Astronauts, UFOs, Nikola Tesla, the Knights Templar, lost cities and...
, Mertz also interpreted Fusang as meaning "fir trees" in Chinese, and ruminated that they might refer to the fir trees of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. The hypothesis had long been rejected by academic sinologists having been first advocated in English by Charles Godfrey Leland
Charles Godfrey Leland
Charles Godfrey Leland was an American humorist and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Princeton University and in Europe....
in 1875, but apparently Mertz was unaware of these facts. In her book, Mertz also proposed that Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl is a Mesoamerican deity whose name comes from the Nahuatl language and has the meaning of "feathered serpent". The worship of a feathered serpent deity is first documented in Teotihuacan in the first century BCE or first century CE...
was Hui Shen, the 5th century Buddhist traveler to Fusang. About Mertz's hypotheses, Joseph Needham
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and as a fellow of the British...
writes in a footnote that "the proposed identities in general require a heroic suspension of disbelief".
Atlantis
In her work entitled Atlantis: Dwelling Place of the Gods, Mertz proposed that the eastern section of the United States (i.e. eastward from the Mississippi riverMississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
and Ohio river
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
) was where Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
was located as described in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
. Mertz used as proof a 1436 map belonging to Andrea Bianco that showed the Atlantic island of Antilla
Antilla
Antilla is a municipality and town in Holguín Province of Cuba. It is located on the north-eastern shore of Cuba, on a peninsula between the Gulf of Nipe and Banes Bay....
. However, her theory was ultimately rejected on account of Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's dates, the fact that Atlantis sank, and the fact that "Antilla" was most likely a cartographic depiction of either Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
or Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
.
Published works
- 1986 - The Mystic Symbol: Mark of the Michigan Mound Builders. Global Books, ISBN 0-9617235-0-5.
- 1976 - Atlantis: Dwelling Place of the Gods, ISBN 0-9600952-3-3.
- 1974 - Gods from the Far East: How the Chinese Discovered America. Seattle, Washington: Ballantine Books, ISBN 0-345-23964-4.
- 1964 - The Wine Dark Sea: Homer's Heroic Epic of the North Atlantic, ASINAsínAsín is a municipality located in the Cinco Villas comarca of the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, located a few kilometers west of Orés. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 106 inhabitants....
: B0006CHG68. - 1958, 1972 - Pale Ink: Two Ancient Records of Chinese Exploration in America. Swallow Press, ISBN 0-8040-0599-0.
- 1957 - The Nephtali: One Lost Tribe, ASINAsínAsín is a municipality located in the Cinco Villas comarca of the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, located a few kilometers west of Orés. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 106 inhabitants....
: B0007EYTXS.
Sources
- McNeil, William F. Visitors to Ancient America: The Evidence for European and Asian Presence in America Prior to Columbus. McFarland, 2005. ISBN 0-7864-1917-2
- Childress, David HatcherDavid Hatcher ChildressDavid Hatcher Childress is an American author and publisher of books on topics on alternative history and historical revisionism. His works cover such subjects as pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, Atlantis, Lemuria, Ancient Astronauts, UFOs, Nikola Tesla, the Knights Templar, lost cities and...
. Lost Cities of Atlantis, Ancient Europe & the Mediterranean. Adventures Unlimited Press, 1996. ISBN 0-932813-25-9 - Childress, David Hatcher. Lost Cities of North & Central America. Adventures Unlimited Press, 1992. ISBN 0-932813-09-7