Why are King David and King Solomon, the most celebrated kings of Judaic history, missing from the historical record? Among cultural and historical mysteries, this has always been among the most perplexing.      This is a problem for both historians and Judaeo-Christian theologians, as the lack of any archaeological remains of the ‘United Monarchy’ of kings David and Solomon can only lead to the awkward conclusion that the Old Testament accounts are fictional.   The biblical King Solomon was famed both for his wisdom and extraordinary wealth, and adventurers have long hunted for his legendary mines – popularised through Victorian adventure writer H. Rider Haggard’s novel of the same name.   However, biblical historian Ralph Ellis believes that he has discovered the ‘intact’ tombs of kings David and Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, and also discovered the true location of King Solomon’s mines.   In his new 360-page book ‘Solomon, Pharaoh of Egypt’, Ellis argues that archaeologists and adventurers have been looking in the wrong location. He reveals that there are significant similarities that suggest the Egyptian and Israelite royal lines in this era were one and the same. So kings David and Solomon were, in fact, Egyptian pharaohs who also ruled over Judaea and Israel.   This may seem like an outlandish suggestion – no less controversial than the author’s claims in Jesus, King of Edessa that Jesus Christ was a first-century warrior king – but Ellis puts forward a strong case that makes a lot of sense.   Ellis starts his enquiry by considering King David’s well known symbology:  the ‘Star of David’ and the ‘City of David’. His meticulous research then finds an Egyptian pharaoh — Pa-Seba-Khaen-nuit or Psusennes — who lived during the same era as David and whose name means “My Star Rises in my City”. The similarity is both striking and compelling.   Ellis then demonstrates that the ancestors, officials and children of Pharaoh Psusennes, share uncanny similarities with the equivalent members of King David’s royal court. Based upon this equivalence, Ellis believes that Psusennes is actually the biblical King David, while King Solomon was Shoshenq.   Psusennes and Shoshenq ruled Lower Egypt and Israel from their capital city at Tanis in the Nile Delta, so the primary capital city of David and Solomon was at Zoan (Tanis) rather than Zion (Jerusalem). And the Temple of Solomon would also have been at Zoan, rather than Zion.   Ellis also believes that this reassessment of history can explain the location of King Solomon’s Mines. At this time Egypt was divided between the kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt, with Upper Egypt paying tribute to Psusennes and Shoshenq to stop them invading.   After many decades, Upper Egypt was running out of resources to pay this tribute. According to Ellis, in desperation they turned to the buried wealth within the Valley of the Kings – the tombs of 18th dynasty pharaohs. This was the source of Solomon’s wealth.   He points out that the historical record shows the Valley tombs were looted at this time, and the mummies relocated. And many tomb treasures did indeed end up in Tanis, and are now proudly displayed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.   That King Solomon’s Mines were merely the tombs in the Valley of the Kings may seem like an anti-climax, but Ellis says it is the most probable explanation. This is the reason why no archaeological excavations have ever uncovered an actual mine.    According to Ellis, the kings of the United Monarchy were pharaohs of the 21st and 22nd dynasties of Egypt. But by the time the Old Testament came to be written down, this Egyptian ancestry had been airbrushed out of the story, for political and cultural reasons.   The Israelites were now completely divorced from their true Egyptian history. But if the truth were known, then the mummies of King David, King Solomon, and the Queen of Sheba were discovered in Tanis, and they now reside in the Cairo museum.   Originally released some years ago, ‘Solomon, Pharaoh of Egypt’ has been fully updated and expanded to take into account recent discoveries.   This book is the fourth in the ‘Egyptian Testament’ series. It is well-written and easy to follow, with Ellis taking readers step by step through his thought-process and providing supporting evidence throughout. As with Ellis’ previous titles, while readers may or may not agree with his controversial conclusions, it is clear that a lot of original research and logical analysis has gone into this thesis.   Ellis’s theory is definitely quite a leap, and if proven it would rewrite history books and contemporary politics alike. But it certainly provides logical and plausible answers to some of the big, unresolved questions associated with this poorly understood biblical era.   Solomon, Pharaoh of Egypt by Ralph Ellis (Edfu Books ISBN- 13: 978-1508498834) is available now, priced £4.78 as a Kindle eBook and £12.18 in paperback. Visit edfu-books.uk