a reply to:
CharlesNPope
23) Egyptian Chronology
There are profound issues with Egyptian Chronology. Previously attempts (e.g., by
Velikovsky, Peter James, David Rohl) to revise the
chronology of pharaonic Egypt have not been fully successful, however they have served to demonstrate that the standard/academic chronology is badly
mistaken. If the chronology of the Old Kingdom is raised or lowered by any significant amount, then this could preclude Khufu as builder of the Great
Pyramid on the basis of chronology alone.
24) Pyramid Town
The place name of "Pyramid Town" indicates that the Giza Pyramids already existed in the time of Khufu. Otherwise, it would have been called
"Pyramid Building Town".
25) Khufu the Dunce
Khufu was not honored by posterity, but disregarded as ignoble. Even if he was a disagreeable figure, he should have still been venerated as
the
genius that built the Great Pyramid. Instead, tradition mocks Khufu for not being able to figure out how to even enter the Great Pyramid, much
less have himself buried within it. The Westcar Papyrus further claims that Khufu gave up and relegated the Great Pyramid project to the following
dynasty.
26) The Sphinx Stela
The Dream Stela of Thutmose IV indicates that the Sphinx and Giza Pyramids were pre-dynastic.
Thutmose IV was only emulating Khafre in
assuming the divine role of
Kheperi, a.k.a. Horus the Elder, the “Sun in Its Rising” as heir of the Gods and favored not only by the gods
but also by the Great Goddess symbolized by the Sphinx. In his book,
Beneath the Pyramids, Andrew Collins notes the close
association of
the Sphinx with Hathor and the proximity of a
fertility cult at Aish el-Ghurob. The mythical (later royal) reproduction cycle was
patterned after “lion society”. A lioness breeds with all of the adult males of her pride. Likewise, a princess mated with all eligible royal
males in a round-robin system. However, this exposed royal women to charges of adultery and polyandry.
The 2nd Giza Pyramid is in the "breeding
position" relative to the Sphinx, and it was necessary to the crown prince clear the sands ("uncover the nakedness") of the Sphinx to symbolically
claim his election.
27) The Giza Pyramids form a Precession Clock, which was calibrated to a date no later than 10,000 BCE, according to
Scott Creighton.
28) The Pillars of Solomon
Solomon’s Temple was a structure with
sacred dimensions and modeled after the 1st (Great) Pyramid. The “Pillars of Solomon” were, then,
inspired by the 2nd and 3rd Pyramid at Giza. The pillar called
Boaz (“in/by strength”) can be associated with the 2nd Pyramid and
Jachin (“he establishes/confirms”) with the 3rd Pyramid. The 1st Pyramid was further associated with the god Ra (Biblical Moses). The 2nd
Pyramid is further associated with the god Horus the Elder (Gershom/Joshua), and the 3rd Pyramid with the god Osiris (Eliezer). A variant/pun of
Jachin is the name Joktan (“diminished”).
The Ark of the Covenant was an even smaller scale model and probably contains parallels with the
Great Pyramid as a "power device".
29) The Giza Pyramids were not aligned to the North Pole in 3rd Century BCE
The North Pole in the 4th Dynasty was likely not where it is now. During the African Humid Period, the North Pole would have been located in Alaska
or the Bering Straight. The African Humid Period ended with a shift of the North Pole toward the Hudson Bay.
30) Akhet-Khufu and Akhet-Aten
The reign of Akhenaten was consciously emulating that of Khufu, and allows us to interpret the reign of Khufu. Khufu called his “pyramid town” by
the name of Akhet-Khufu. Akhenaten called his Akhet-Aten.
Akhenaten chose a location for his city that already had a well-defined Akhet to work with, i.e., a notch for the sun to rise between two peaks in the
landscape behind the Amarna plateau. Similarly, Khufu already had an Akhet he could claim, and a glorious one at that. All he had to do was spruce
up the adjacent pre-existing infrastructure. And, if Akhenaten was a neo-Khufu, then Khufu likely performed his make-over during only a 12-year
window, again making it more doubtful that he did anything other than a rushed "house flipping." Akhenaten was co-regent of Amenhotep III, except for
his final 12 years. This is suggestive of Khufu having been a co-regent of Snefru.
Akhenaten was known for using very small blocks (
talatat) in his construction. Akhenaten’s hurried and cheap construction of
“Akhet-Aten” allows us to interpret Khufu’s new city of “Akhet-Khufu.” Akhenaten made use of an existing feature of the landscape for his
solar alignment. Khufu, by association, made use of the pre-existing Giza Pyramids for his temple alignment and likely spent no more than a few years
refurbishing the Giza Plateau.
The royal family was such a slave to tradition that we can use the history of one dynasty to focus the blurry history of other periods. They
possessed a faded legacy that was still to be honored and especially to be exploited to justify dominance. For example, it has been duly noted that
Khufu reigned first and then Khafre. So why then didn’t Khufu take the choice (central) position on the Giza Plateau? It was not a matter of
construction problems or bad omens. Instead, the typecasting of Khufu (as Ra) and Khafre (as Horus the Elder) determined which pyramid that each
needed to claim.
Akhenaten was called the “do-nothing” pharaoh after his role model Khufu.
Khufu callously suppressed cult centers (other than Ra) and particularly that of Ptah. This was emulated by Akhenaten's suppression of rival cults,
particularly Amun (a later syncretic cult influenced heavily by the cult of Ptah). Competition between the major religions of Egypt became a stock
theme to be deliberately repeated in every major dynasty.
There was an emphasis on nudity and eroticism (associated with Phanes, “sexuality” and Hermes, “phallus”. in the Westcar Papyrus
characterization of Snefru’s court. This was mimicked by Amenhotep III in the New Kingdom and carried over into the reign of Akhenaten, who was
being patterned closely after Khufu.
The reign of Khufu featured the suppression (“diminishing”) of the Osiris figure Menkhaure. The end of Akhenaten’s reign featured the
suppression of S’menkhkare.
The sun-god was more to be feared than loved. Akhenaten tried to emphasize the life-giving qualities of light. As the embodiment of the sun-god,
Akhenaten also tried to portray himself as a loving father. But, it was no secret that the sun was associated with drought, famine, disease and
ultimately death.
Akhenaten may have expressed the desire to be buried at Akhet-aten, but that was only an element of the script. Tradition dictated that he could not
be buried next to his “tinsel-town” any more than Khufu was by his own.
The memory of hated Akhenaten was suppressed and he was referred to by derogatory epithets, such as "rebel, heretic, criminal". Likewise, only one
small object has been found that (possibly) belonged to Khufu and priestly (Amun/Ptah/Osiris) histories of Khufu would have been encouraged to place
him in a negative light (yet, the violent, amoral sun-god could not quite receive this treatment).
edit on 12-2-2022 by CharlesNPope because:
(no reason given)