The Ancients Series | Part IV: Egyptians, page 1

The Ancients Series for AboveTopSecret.com
Authored by serbsta

Part I: The Sumerians
Part II: The Indians
Part III: The Chinese (Status: Pending)
Part IV: The Egyptians
Part V: The Maya

Welcome to the Part IV of the Ancients series. There has been a lot of recent news regarding new archaeological discoveries which continually make us question conventional history. In this series I will aim to explore 5 ancient civilizations which all heavily dispute our currently accepted history through their recorded literature and technological feats. The main focus will be on any areas of interest in regards to these civilizations, whether these be technological, mythological, etc. In doing so I hope to cement a strong case that will at least allow for credible discretion against current accepted theory ; further, to have a guide here for those who are new to this area and are interested in getting the basics and exploring the main areas of interest for each civilization.

Disclaimer: I subscribe to no ideas or theories presented below, they serve only for the purpose of discussion and/or education.

PART IV | THE EGYPTIANS

Egypt is a topic that many like to call their favorite. This topic also holds the fascination of a lot of fanatics who consider themselves experts. I am not an expert, nor am I qualified to make any formal judgments with confidence, yet. With such a large fascination, a lot of the ‘general’ information in regards to Egypt is already known, a lot of the controversies are already well explored, some a lot more than others, but persistent mysteries still remain. Part IV will aim to focus on the areas of Egypt’s history that have been shunned by orthodox Egyptologists, areas that provoke revision and a rethinking.

“Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.”
-Mark Twain

Chapter I: When the God’s Ruled

Zep Tepi was the Golden Age, when the god’s were said to have ruled the lands of Egypt. These god’s, like most ‘mythological’ figures were held in high reverence, as they taught the people the secrets of the world; the sciences, the arts, the technologies all necessary for a functional society and in doing so, laid a foundation block for the spiritual development of the people. So who were these God-Kings who ruled the ‘first age’? They were the Ennead, the nine prime ‘gods’ of ancient Egyptian mythology. It would be easier to depict this in a flowchart, to emphasize that this was indeed a lineage.



Ancient historians such as Manetho speak of this time, as well as the time when the ‘demigods’ ruled, following the above Golden Age. Later, spirits ruled and a series of king’s. It’s really unnecessary to go into detail about the specifics of this lineage, and the truth surrounding the supposed ‘spirit kings’. The writing’s of Eusebius are usually seen as the direct copies of the works of Manetho and his king list. Let’s examine the timeline for this kingship:

* The God’s: Ptah and the Great Ennead above ruled for 13,900 years.

* The Demigods: Horus (son of Osiris) and the Shemshu Hor (followers of Horus) ruled for 1,255 years.

* A race of descendants from the God’s then ruled for just under 10,900 years.

After this period of what is no less than 26,000 years the dynastic period began with the legendary pharaoh Menes taking reign and uniting Egypt in B.C. 3100. The writings of Manethos were considered heathen endeavors against the Catholic church during the times of Champollion; they went against the conventional history that was described in the Bible. Manetho even went further as to claim that the ancient Egyptian civilization was upwards of 34, 000 years old. Naturally we cannot trust Manethos’ word alone, even if all his information was derived from the priests at Heliopolis (the city of the Great Ennead).

Surely there are other sources of information which can support that there was indeed a period of time where the Gods ruled Egypt. Diodorus Sicilus, a 1st century Greek historian also had questioned priests about the history of Egypt. The following is a translation of his original work by C.H. Odfather:

“At first gods and heroes ruled Egypt for a little less than 18,000 years, the last of the gods to rule being Horus, the son of Isis / Mortals have been kings of their country, they say, for a little less than 5000 years...”

What of physical evidence, possibly left by the Egyptians themselves in recording the history of their nation and Zep Tepi? The Turin Papyrus contains what is called the Turin King List which lists all the royal lineages of Egypt, from Zep Tepi (the Golden Age of the Gods), to the dynasties that followed. The damaged papyrus was found by the famous explorer Drovetti and is thought to date to the time of Ramses II. It is divided into 11 columns and hieroglyphically depicts the following:

- Column 1 — Gods of Ancient Egypt
- Column 2 — Rows 1-10 Spirits and mythical kings (Shemshu Hor, etc.)
- Column 2 — Rows 11-25 (Dynasties 1-2)
- Column 3 — Rows 1-25 (Dynasties 2-5)

… up until the 17th dynasty.

Was there indeed a period in the distant past where these believed to be ‘God’s’ actually ruled the lands? Were these the human Gods that taught them the knowledge of architecture, agriculture, religion, astrology and even passed on their own language, the hieroglyphs? Could the currently unaccepted timeframe which puts the origins of the Egyptians prior to 25,000 B.C. serve as an explanation to the sudden expanse of the Egyptian civilization, fully equipped with a complex set of religious beliefs?

The current conclusion is simple, yet so ignorant. The Turin King List is seen as recorded history, but the ‘age of the God’s’ is placed under that petty little word, myth. Why?

Chapter II: Call of Osiris

The Egyptian God of the dead is by far one of the most well known Egyptian deities and was worshiped right up until the Christian era in which this ancient cult was suppressed. He was the father of Horus and was also known by the name Khenti-Amentiu which means ‘Lord of the Westerners’. Now, there is much debate as to whether the ‘west’ is referring to the Underworld itself, or to the infamous founding land of the Egyptian civilization, the land where the God’s came from. Naturally, with such a powerful figure, one would expect to find some form of monument to his accomplishments. One does, but one finds what is quiet easily one of the most perplexing buildings in Egypt, alongside the Giza complex itself. It is called, the Osirieon.


Fig. 1: Osirieon, view #1.


Fig. 2: Osirieon, view #2.

It seems out of place, and besides the hieroglyphs which were inscribed by Seti I, there are no ornaments or depictions whatsoever. Seti I, who’s temple was built in front of the Osirieon, probably inscribed the outer walls of the Osirieon (which were probably built alongside the construction of Seti’s temple) to further advance his case for immortality alongside Osiris. One item was found in the entrance of the temple that supports this theory, besides the architectural differences themselves. A piece of broken pottery was found, with the inscriptions; ‘Seti, serviceable to Osiris’.

CONTINUED

CONTINUED

Fig. 3: Osirieon/Seti Temple floor plans highlighting differentials between the structures.

The floor plan makes evident that these are two separate buildings, built with different material, with differing architectural styles; quite possibly meaning that they were built during completely different times. Another interesting characteristic of the Osirieon is that it sits below water level, becoming almost an artificial pool. The purpose of the temple, whether or not it only served as a place for worship, may never be known, but we can at least attempt to gain a better understanding of it, by questioning its age. So how old is it?

London Times, March 17, 1914; Professor Naville on the Osirieon:

“This monument raises several important questions. As to its date, its great similarity with the Temple of the Sphinx shows it to be of the same epoch when building was made with enormous stones without any ornament. This is characteristic of the oldest architecture in Egypt. I should even say that we may call it the most ancient stone building in Egypt.”

Prominent British anthropologist and Egyptologist, Margaret Murray, supports Naville:

“It was made for the celebration of the mysteries of Osiris, and so far is unique among all the surviving buildings of Egypt. It is clearly early, for the great blocks of which it is built are of the style of the Old Kingdom; the simplicity of the actual building also points to it being of that early date. The decoration was added by Seti I, who in that way laid claim to the building, but seeing how often a Pharaoh claimed the work of his predecessors by putting his name on it, this fact does not carry much weight. It is the style of the building, the type of the masonry, the tooling of the stone, and not the name of a king, which date a building in Egypt.”

So who built it? Could the Osirieon indeed date back much further than the time of Seti I, quite possibly to a date much closer to the ‘mythical’ golden age?

Chapter III: The Forgotten Pharaoh

You will have to excuse the recycling in this chapter from an earlier thread of mine. I will try to minimize it, but I believe the content in that thread is best presented in the way it was originally written.

Extracts from thread: Secret’s of the King’s Chamber; Hawass’ Revelation

I just had time to sit and watch a National Geographic program tonight titled Naked Science: The Pyramids. In it, there was an exploration of the pyramids at Giza, but what really caught me off guard occurred right towards the end. I failed to find a small clip of the end of this show already online, so i recorded it off a TV using a camera phone. Before I get to the video though, I would like to point out some things in regards to these mysterious shafts that have been so controversial in case anyone isn't familiar with them.


Fig. 4: Schematic of the GP.

The shafts that lead out of the King's (and Queens) chamber do not lead to the outside, they seem to have been "prematurely" cut off. Just to put it into perspective, here is a visual to emphasize the small size of these shafts. It seems obvious that these were not meant for humans to pass through.


Fig. 5: Robot entering shaft.

The video speaks about the shafts that lead from both the King's and Queen's chambers. Hawass made, what is to me at least, a revelation, where he states:

"I still believe that the burial chamber of Khufu is still hidden inside the pyramid. That we are going to go, through, the first door and the second door to find out what is the mystery behind them."



In other words, he still doesn't know if this is the burial place of Khufu, i.e. he is still questioning whether the Great Pyramid is a tomb at all.

This is baffling.

After all, orthodox Egyptology states that the Pyramids of Giza are "tombs and tombs only", with the King's chamber being called the "King's" chamber for a reason, it is believed to have been the resting place of Khufu, a pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, whose mummy was never found. Before we get to any speculations about the purpose of the mysterious shafts and what lies behind their yet unexplored (as far as we have been made aware) shafts I want to focus on the "King's" chamber itself and the ever so mysterious 'sarcophagus' that lies embedded into it's very core.


Fig. 6: Kings Chamber in the GP.

The above is the "King's” Chamber. Let's note a few things:

- The Great Pyramid is the greatest standing monument in Egypt and the ancient world. Why such a bland and bleak design for such a mighty ruler?

- Where are the lavish hieroglyphs and tools/treasures needed for the pharaohs in the afterlife?

- Where is the lid of this supposed 'sarcophagus' and the remains?

- Why is this the only Egyptian 'tomb' to have the burial chamber placed above the entrance?

So Hawass (let's not forget, this is the authority of Egyptology) does not believe that the current "King's" chamber is the burial place of Khufu and that the real chamber may still lie in the pyramid behind the unexplored shafts. It beckons one almighty question, the greatest enigma...

What is the purpose of the Kings chamber and its almost haunting attempt at a sarcophagus? What becomes of this mystery when NO tomb/mummy of Khufu is found behind the unexplored areas?

Is it possible that we will be left with a monument which serves no purpose? Or one whose purpose has been long forgotten, before any pharaoh walked those sands.

CONTINUED

CONTINUED

Chapter V: Underworld Revisited

The ancient Egyptian underworld was referred to as the ‘Duat’ or ‘Amenti’, sometimes even ‘Akert’. This was the place where the sun god Ra would start his journey every night, as he travelled from West to East, battling Apep (refer to Unity of Myth thread for more) along the way in order to bring back the light. We must not forget Osiris, the head God of the afterlife, of Amenti, ‘Lord of the Westerners’. Amenti itself can be most closely resembled to Scandinavian Valhalla, a place of pleasure and delight, where the God’s resided. In fact, some words used in reference to the place that is Amenti, translate to the ‘fields of peace’. But where is this place? Amenti itself was the word used by the ancients in reference to the ‘Silent Land of the West’.


Fig. 7: Osiris, traversing the heavens on a boat, heading to Amenti.

One can then easily associate Osiris, the Lord of the West, and his land, Amenti, which obviously lay somewhere westward from Egypt. As we begin to question this fascination with the West, we realize that it played an important part in ancient Egyptian architecture as tombs and temples all faced the West. This realization forced many Egyptologists to conclude that the West could only be associated with death, and therefore Amenti was the place in the West that was the house of the dead. Further manipulation of this harmful misunderstanding is seen with the ‘Book of the Dead’ which made many references to this ‘land in the west’. But the problem lies with Western interpretation, the ancient Egyptians themselves did not call it the Book of the Dead, but rather the Book of Destiny and at times even the Book of Life. So one can naturally see how Amenti progressively became associated with death, when in fact it could have been a very real location. One can further understand the association when you examine the rituals performed by the priests, all mainly involving boats, a mechanism for reaching Amenti. This was of course a symbolic gesture, but was it always this way? Was this at one time required in order to reach the land in the west, to traverse the seas? So we naturally must question if the Egyptians believed this land in the west was only the place of the dead or much more.

Could Amenti be the land in the west where the ‘God’s’ resided?

Could Amenti really be the house of Osiris?

And finally, can the land in the West, the land of Amenti, be considered a candidate for the infamous Atlantis?

END OF PART IV - PART III(CHINESE) AND PART V(MAYA) WILL BE PUBLISHED AT A LATER DATE

Sources and further reading:

+ Egyptian Myths (The Legendary Past) by George Hart

+ Gods and Pharaohs from Egyptian Mythology (The World Mythology Series) by Geraldine Harris

+ Osiris: Death and Afterlife of a God by Bojana Mojsov

+ Serpent in the Sky: The High Wisdom of Ancient Egypt by John Anthony West

+ Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock

Feel free to contradict, question, add or clarify further any of the above.



[edit on 9/1/2010 by serbsta]

Just wanted to link this:

E-Books of Interest

It has some books which may or may not interest members after reading some of the info in this thread.

With that I wish you good night!

reply to post by serbsta

---

Nice thread. I like them illustrated and well-laid out. I'll have to have a look back at the others in the series.

As I read it, I noticed a couple of things. The 'Westerners' and 'Land of the West' is generally accepted as being a symbolic region of death. We all know they had a lot of time for death and the afterlife. The sun sets in the West and was equated with the end of life...land of the West is therefore 'Land of the Dead, rather than a place name. Khentiamentiu was a God of the West/dead. You're right to point out the Egyptians had a fascination for the 'West.' Arguably, their society was defined by death. The Necropolis at Luxor is on the West Bank and the Valley of the Kings?...West Bank.

- The Great Pyramid is the greatest standing monument in Egypt and the ancient world. Why such a bland and bleak design for such a mighty ruler? - Where are the lavish hieroglyphs and tools/treasures needed for the pharaohs in the afterlife?
- Where is the lid of this supposed 'sarcophagus' and the remains?
- Why is this the only Egyptian 'tomb' to have the burial chamber placed above the entrance?

* The 'bland and bleak' design is clearly a subjective opinion! The Egyptians held the pyramid form in high esteem...even the tops of obelisks are pyramidal. The design was developed from the earlier mastabas and amount to well over a hundred across Egypt and more in Sudan.

* The lack of decoration in the pyramids is found across the board. It doesn't imply a mystery of the Great Pyramid...it indicates that it was standard procedure throughout the Dynasties. That the pyramids are or represent tombs is the natural conclusion. The lack of grave goods or remains can be attributed to 3000 years of conquest, political change, religious change, neglect and grave robbers.

* The sarcophagus isn't considered to be the intended final coffin. The workmanship is poor, it's unfinished and it's also too small to contain an average-sized adult corpse IIRC. It remains a mystery as to its poor quality etc. Personally, I'd say never underestimate the potential for poor workmanship! It happens today and happened back then too!

* Location of burial tomb? No idea. I imagine it's a reflection of evolving design ambitions.

The question of the mysterious shafts remains very interesting. There's a cool thread that goes into a lot of discussion about them...The Secret Pyramid Shafts Being Explored Now.

Did you know that Hawass is in his final year as Director of Antiquities? The recent exploration of the shafts were either disappointing or he's saving the results for a last bugle-call of publicity this year. His ideas that Khufu may well be buried inside the GP somewhere flies in the face of conventional Egyptology. I hope he's right!

The main thing is however, that when/if the shafts' purpose is confirmed...that purpose will be fascinating and mundane. It won't be blueprints for spacecraft or the bones of a 'lost race.' Even discovering the burial chamber of Khufu will be exciting as all hell, but well within plausible expectations.

Everything we know about Ancient Egyptian society shows that they were single-mindedly religious and political. With that in mind, it's inevitable that any discoveries won't be 'revelations,' they'll just be more reflections of religion or politics....

reply to post by Dagar

---

Yeah, the shafts *might* lead to a stargate that's set to 'Atlantis?' Ooooh wait! Could it be the steering wheel they used to land that bad boy?!

Maybe you should read a little more history? It might help you to write a constructive post

reply to post by Parta

---

But if it's to the north, then why is it so strongly associated with the west?

reply to post by Kandinsky

---

Originally posted by Kandinsky

Did you know that Hawass is in his final year as Director of Antiquities? The recent exploration of the shafts were either disappointing or he's saving the results for a last bugle-call of publicity this year. His ideas that Khufu may well be buried inside the GP somewhere flies in the face of conventional Egyptology. I hope he's right!

Yes, I'm well aware that Hawass' reign is almost at an end. Let's hope he's saved some things for us to be released before he officialy resigns. Thanks for the points in regards to mastaba's (plural?) and their development but ofcourse I am offering an alternative viewpoint to the 'trial and error' theory. I still believe the contrary is quite plausible though.

Originally posted by Kandinsky

* The sarcophagus isn't considered to be the intended final coffin. The workmanship is poor, it's unfinished and it's also too small to contain an average-sized adult corpse IIRC.

The inner length measures 78.06 inches or 198.3 centimeters. I think this would adequately house the body of an averaged size human.

Great post.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by serbsta

---

Nice thread. I like them illustrated and well-laid out. I'll have to have a look back at the others in the series.

As I read it, I noticed a couple of things. The 'Westerners' and 'Land of the West' is generally accepted as being a symbolic region of death. We all know they had a lot of time for death and the afterlife.

I think that, when the Egyptians referred to "the Land of the West," they really were speaking of the lands they originated from; It's possible that the "lands of the dead" may have literally meant that, considering the hostile nature of the deserts, it may mean more than just the spiritual context we know of today; Quite literally, they could have been referring to the west as physical death as well as spiritual. The Egyptians Dynasties weren't organized from the people indigenous to the Nile Valley, but nomadic tribes that came from the western deserts. Yes, it may be true that the Black Lands of Egypt might have a "mythology" far predating the Dynasty Periods, because the indigenous population originally came from the north-eastern areas beyond the Red Sea. These were the people who founded the earliest known villages, such as Buto & Bubasti in the Delta area.

From the western deserts came those who would eventually "conquer" & unify Egypt as a single geo-political unit (the first unified nation in history!). These are the people who have left evidence of the basic large-stone construction that became so highly developed under the Dynastic government. I've got a post over here that recounts the pre-Dynasty periods of Egyptian history, which explains how the currently-known Egyptian society developed. I don't re-post it here, because it's pretty long, but I also give credit to my resources in that post. Also in that post, I referred to pictures that I'd uploaded & posted...I had trouble with the picture-posting commands at that time, but got the links to the pictures straightened out in a later post. The whole thread is pretty much devoted to the Giza Pyramids & it's a long read...But it's also possible to pick up more info than what I posted personally.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
* The 'bland and bleak' design is clearly a subjective opinion! The Egyptians held the pyramid form in high esteem...even the tops of obelisks are pyramidal. The design was developed from the earlier mastabas and amount to well over a hundred across Egypt and more in Sudan.

As far as the lack of decorations go in the Great Pyramid, it was common at that time. Pharaohs didn't really start using in-tomb decorations until the 5th Dynasty, with many of the most elaborate decorations appearing in the 6th Dynasty.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
The main thing is however, that when/if the shafts' purpose is confirmed...that purpose will be fascinating and mundane.

I would tend to think so, also. After all, when prehistory Egyptians were getting buried in the sand, the alkaloid sand, coupled with the heat & dry atmosphere, would desiccate corpses naturally. But when they started making stone-lined tombs & such, the corpses would be more apt to rot, since being removed from the very same conditions that produce "natural mummification." This is perhaps the reason why they created highly-developed methods of artificial mummification. It may also explain the presence of the "air shafts." They may indeed be literal air shafts to prevent humidity from accumulating in cold, dark tombs chambers...After a certain time (once the mummies are already desiccated), closing blocks may be put in position, sealing off the air shafts.

[edit on 10-1-2010 by MidnightDStroyer]

reply to post by MidnightDStroyer

---

Nice post and I read your link too. It's cool to see someone posting on A&LC who's read orthodox and fringe Egyptian history. Too many members have only read the 'forbidden archaeology' sites and repeat the same mistakes.

I still disagree with your interpretation of 'land of the West,' but can see the logic in your conclusion. Khentiamentiu was 'Lord/chief/foremost of the Westerners.' He was formerly associated with the Oseirion and the Necropolis...both defined by death and afterlife. He was portrayed much like Anubis...jackal-headed and presiding over the formalities of death. The whole substance of the form and function of 'lord of the westerners' revolves around matters of death and afterlife.

Of course, I'm referring to the accepted accounts of the definition. It's not impossible that Egyptians had a number of concepts defined by one term. In our world west is a direction, location, surname, brand-name and slang term for AWOL.

Originally posted by serbsta
reply to post by Parta

But if it's to the north, then why is it so strongly associated with the west?

it actually wasn't associated with the west as it was flinders petrie who said it was in the north and after that it was the majority opinion for years. budge didn't agree but since petrie was very famous and since the various texts do say north, everyone sided with petrie causing budge alot of greif at the museum.

but petrie went on to add a nasty racial component and it didn't make it past world war II as nothing that had any racial component did. i suppose it didn't help either that he settled on the caucasus. people as varied as thomas edisons chief scientist jumped on board and searched for the god pen and the hidden circles but they were not there.

black topped pottery [etc from 6000bce] and the god pen can be found not to the north but the north-west and that location had real problems

"At the exhibition preview, Roger S. Bagnall, director of the institute, confessed that until now “a great many archaeologists had not heard of these Old Europe cultures.” Admiring the colorful ceramics, Dr. Bagnall, a specialist in Egyptian archaeology, remarked that at the time “Egyptians were certainly not making pottery like this.

.... Even then, confined in cold war isolation behind the Iron Curtain, Bulgarians and Romanians were unable to spread their knowledge to the West."

www.nytimes.com...

a good read of the textx gives a person a really good description of the place as they should since they are a road map [or itinerary] to get there.

edit to add pic



[edit on 10-1-2010 by Parta]

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by Dagar

---

Yeah, the shafts *might* lead to a stargate that's set to 'Atlantis?' Ooooh wait! Could it be the steering wheel they used to land that bad boy?!

Maybe you should read a little more history? It might help you to write a constructive post

First and foremost I never once mentioned Atlantis, Stargates, Bad Boys or any of the presumptions you made. You seem to make a habit of coming to conclusions based on nothing but your preconceptions.

As it happens I tend to agree with your overall assessment of what's happening with the shafts, etc. It is most likely that whatever is discovered will be of interest but pretty mundane. Unlike you, however, I'm willing to leave a small door open to the possibility that what might be discovered could be something totally unexpected.

Maybe you should take your blinkers off ... it might help you open your mind a bit.

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