THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Chapter 08 The shower head-like Lotus Seed Head metaphor about the fog nozzle of Nefertem and the harmless Khopesh spanner wrench

In summary: in this chapter, we’ll go deeper into the understanding of the shower head metaphor that has been used by ancient Egyptians to glorify what was maybe the most iconic and magical part of equipment of the whole operating Great Pyramid, and that is the fog nozzle of the flash-evaporative cooling passage, that transformed pressurized water into a fog of tiny little droplets of water, able to almost instantaneous evaporation. We’ll see that the god created to personify this fog nozzle is Nefertem, the god known to be associated with the lotus flower. As we’ve already seen, Egyptians didn’t care at all about the flower of the lotus, or at least they didn’t care to the point of having a god entirely dedicated to the lotus flower; the reason why they’ve glorified the lotus flower is because of what the flower becomes after it had been fertilized, the seed head of the lotus plant, and only because of what it looks like: a shower head.

I don’t know how egyptologists are imagining the every day life in ancient Egypt, but Egyptians certainly didn’t have any trouble to take showers: you simply have to get a water tank on the roof of your home, or on the roof of your palace or temple, to get pressurized water you could use for showering. So yes, Egyptians took showers, whether it was for everybody or for the rulers only. If they took showers, they also had shower heads, and this is why they’ve used the metaphor of the shower head about the Lotus plant to represent and glorify the fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid.

In this chapter, we’ll also see one of the most irritating attempts made by egyptologists to force people into joining their old and dusty vision of ancient Egypt, where everything could only have been about war, agriculture of religious worship: if you have something that looks like a sword, but that clearly hasn’t been made to be sharp at all because it has been flattened down entirely, it simply isn’t a sword or any kind of weapon. If the Khopesh looks like a sword, but has no sharp edge, it is because it only is a tool, and that tool is a very simple spanner wrench that is still used today all over the world to operate connecting fittings in pipe systems.

And a pipe, a metal and perfectly straight pipe, is precisely what the base of what is described by the Louvre Museum as the emblem of the god Nefertem, is all about, because Nefertem is that pipe and he is that fog nozzle as well.

The flash-evaporative cooling passage of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, showing the fog nozzle that transformed pressurized water into a fog of microdroplets that almost instantaneously evaporated and created the magical cold.

08.01  Maybe the most iconic visual metaphor used by the ancient Egyptians to glorify their breathtaking scientific Era, is the lotus flower that is only about the seed head of the plant: Egyptians only cared about the flower of the lotus plant because it looked like the fog nozzle that created flash-evaporative cold in the Great Pyramid

Because the seed head of the lotus plant looks exactly like a shower head, and because it also is positioned at the end of some kind of tube emerging from water, the lotus seed head has been used as a simple metaphor of the fog nozzle that created flash-evaporative cold in the so-called horizontal passage of the Great Pyramid, at the exact location where Egyptians had to implement massive structural adaptations to resist thermal stress such as the vertical and very large joints filled with some kind of elastic material, probably resin or tar, and that run continuously from one course of blocks to the second one on the first 64 feet of the passage.

The fog nozzle has been set right at the entry of the flash-evaporative cooling passage, just after the Bastet and Sekhmet check valve.

Lotus seed head photograph by Zoom Nature: https://www.zoom-nature.fr/les-trois-vies-du-faux-fruit-du-lotus/

Evaporative cooling applications webpage screenshot: AquaFog® from Jaybird Manufacturing Inc (Pennsylvania). The ancient Egyptian god Horus, holding the fog nozzle of the evaporative cooling passage of the Great Pyramid. Horus images: E3752 from the Louvre Museum and figurine of Horus DUT162 also from the Louvre Museum

08.02  The central role of the fog nozzle in the flash-evaporative cooling process

What’s really extremely important to remember, is that Egyptians didn’t create just evaporative cold in the Great Pyramid, it wouldn’t have been very efficient at all; what they did create is flash-evaporative cold where pressurized liquid is transformed into a fog of microdroplets of water; these droplets are actually pretty easy to produce, but they almost instantaneously evaporate by absorbing heat that is around them, and by doing so cold is created. The energy of the heat hasn’t disappeared, but it simply transformed into moisture, that is water in the form of a gas. [illustration] Culer SOLO Flash-Evaporative Air Cooler: https://tiny-project.com/product-review-culer-solo-flash-evaporative-air-cooler/

Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, showing the fog nozzle of the flash-evaporative cooling passage that created the fog of microdroplets of liquid water that produced cold by simply evaporating. To connect and disconnect the different parts of the system, ancient Egyptians needed a specialized tool: the spanner wrench.

08.03  If Nefertem is linked with both Bastet and Sekhmet it only is because it is the Bastet and Sekhmet check valve which supplied the Nefertem fog nozzle with both pressurized air and pressurized water

“Nefertem; possibly "beautiful one who closes" or "one who does not close"; also spelled Nefertum or Nefer-temu) was, in Egyptian mythology, originally a lotus flower at the creation of the world, who had arisen from the primal waters. Nefertem represented both the first sunlight and the delightful smell of the Egyptian blue lotus flower, having arisen from the primal waters within an Egyptian blue water-lily, Nymphaea caerulea. Nefertem was eventually seen as the son of the creator god Ptah, and the goddesses Sekhmet and Bast were sometimes called his mother. In art, Nefertem is usually depicted as a beautiful young man having blue water-lily flowers around his head. As the son of Bastet, he also sometimes has the head of a lion or is a lion or cat reclining. The ancient Egyptians often carried small statuettes of him as good-luck charms. One of the most notable depictions of Nefertem is the Head of Nefertem, a wooden bust depicting a young king Tutankhamun as Nefertem with his head emerging from a lotus flower.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefertem

Figure of Egyptian god Nefertem 10.175.131 at the MET: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551300

Emblem of Egyptian god Nefertem, at the Louvre museum: https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010008518

Relief from the tomb of Hatshepsut. Photograph by Michael Lusk: https://www.flickr.com/photos/killkudzu/5742934365

08.04  The unsetting truth about ancient Egypt: if there is hieroglyphs somewhere, probably everything that is around is only metaphorical

The history of what is called today a Khopesh is particularly interesting, and there is a forum where someone is actually asking the good question:  “Why did no other army in the ancient or medieval world later ever use the khopesh again, at least as a weapon type intended for specific enemies?”

And of course, the reason is actually very simple: the original khopesh simply isn’t a weapon at all; it only is a tool. Probably over time, ancient Egyptians would have done with the khopesh, the exact same thing they’ve already done with the lotus flower and the lotus seed head: they would have transformed the original spanner wrench, little in size and with only dull edges but which looked like some kind of weapon anyway, into a real weapon but that probably had never been used in combat. The lotus flower is nothing but a metaphor, and the khopesh blade isn’t different at all.

Image and excerpt are from: https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/46967/why-has-the-khopesh-never-been-used-since-ancient-egypt

Officially artifact AO 9092 is a ‘harpé’, or a ‘khopesh’, a kind of sword supposedly used for combat, even if the so-called ‘blade’ has been clearly rendered completely flat on its entire length; but of course if there isn’t any sharp cutting part of the ‘blade’, it only is because it isn’t a sword in the first place. The funny thing is that I personally used this kind of tool for years, because I first worked in the winemaking business, and what you have here is a very modern and harmless spanner wrench. In short, the Khepesh Scimitars of the Nefertem amulets were spanner wrenches for pipe connecting fittings. [AO 9092, from the Louvre]: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010169780

Top left photograph: a modern spanner wrench designed to connect or disconnect metal fittings. The tooth at the end of the curved part of the tool is designed to engage onto the protuberances of the fitting. Other pictures are ancient Egyptians Khepesh Scimitars (exact dating is unknown to me).

08.05  If some models of khopesh have only dull edges it simply because they are not weapons but simple tools

According to scholars, ancient Egyptian god Nefertem (also Nefertum, or Nefertemu) was "the god of the lotus blossom who emerged from the primeval waters at the beginning of time". That would explains the huge lotus blossom that Nefertem amulets display on their heads. But most of the time, Nefertem is also having a khopesh-scimitar that is described as a warfare blade with sharpened edges, even if many examples of the khopesh have dull edges that apparently were never intended to be sharp, because the entire length of the 'blade' has been hammered down flat purposely.

According to scholars, again, "it may therefore be possible that some khopesh blades found in high-status graves were ceremonial variants". But in my opinion, the idea that the reason why some khopesh blades weren't sharp at all, would be because they would have been for ceremonial use, couldn't be more wrong. Even today, the ceremonial Japanese katanas are maybe the most sharp of all katanas precisely because they are for ceremonial use. They are the best and the most expansive ones. The only katanas or any other kind of sword, that would be with dull edges, are the ones for kids to play, and they would be in plastic or wood.

“The khopesh (also vocalized khepesh) is an Egyptian sickle-shaped sword that developed from battle axes. The sword style originated in Western Asia during the Bronze Age and was introduced in the Second Intermediate Period. The khopesh became more common in the New Kingdom, and is often depicted with kings in statues and murals. The word khopesh may have been derived from "leg", as in "leg of beef", because of their similarity in shape. The hieroglyph for ḫpš ('leg') is found as early as during the time of the Coffin Texts (the First Intermediate Period). However, on the 196 BC Rosetta Stone, it is referenced as the "sword" determinative in a hieroglyph block”. “A typical khopesh is 50–60 cm (20–24 in) in length, though smaller examples also exist. The inside curve of the weapon could be used to trap an opponent's arm, or to pull an opponent's shield out of the way. These weapons changed from bronze to iron in the New Kingdom period. The blade is only sharpened on the outside portion of the curved end. Examples have been found with dull edges, most likely indicating they were of ceremonial purpose.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khopesh

What is remarkable with the khopesh, is that they can probably indicate what was the pipe diameter they were designed for, and we can find out if different diameters were used. But just ask you this: would you go fight anyone with this thing?

The ancient Egyptian Khepesh (Khopesh) is a very simple tool, still used today all over the world: it is a spanner wrench.

08.06  This is the former winemaker talking: the khopesh is nothing but a spanner wrench, and I've used it for years

The real purpose of the khopesh held by Nefertem is radically different from what egyptologists are saying. If the 'blade' doesn't have a sharp edge it only is because it is not a weapon in the first place; and if it isn't a weapon, it is because the khopesh is a simple tool. The funny thing is that I'm a former winemaker, and of course I used to work in the wine cellar, operating pumps and connecting pipes to those pumps or to the wine tanks. In the US, you guys don't need special tools to operate the fittings, but in Europe, and in France in particular we use fittings you have to screw, and for that there is a special tool called a spanner wrench. I used to have such wrench in the back pocket of my jeans for years, so you can believe me: the khopesh is nothing but a very simple and completely harmless spanner wrench.

So, when you know that Nefertem is the glorification of the fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid that had to be connected with the Bastet and Sekhmet check valve, it makes perfect sense that Egyptians used some kind of tool to do the job, and that tool, the khopesh is that spanner wrench.

Left (loose clamp) : EG-ZM2426 (3.2 x 3.8 x 1.3 cm) and : EG-ZM2425 (locked clamp) (3.5 x 3.6 x 1.6 cm) from the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden. Material : faience. Right : Ring, Accession Number: 2008.190.289 (1070 - 712 BCE) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York

08.07  Egyptians used pipes, check valves, fog nozzles, spanner wrenches and they also used clamps which had also been glorified into stone artifacts: here, there are some quick-release clamping rings 

To disconnect and reconnect the fog nozzle or the check valve to the rest of the piping equipment, you need 2 things: high pressure resistant clamping rings and a spanner wrench. We've already seen the spanner wrench, and now we have the clamping rings at the National Museum of Antiquities Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, in Leiden, Netherlands: these rings are nothing but quick-release clamps.

Left : Shen Ring from the LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Egypt, New Kingdom - Ptolemaic Period (1569 - 31 BCE). Diameter: 1 1/4 in. (3.175 cm). Center : Ring figure in faience from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York : Accession Number : 17.194.2307, Diam. 3 cm (1 3/16 in.); Bezel: L. 4.5 cm (1 3/4 in.) Right : modern Mikalor Super Heavy Duty Hose Clamp

08.08  And here are some permanent clamping rings

Additionally to quick-release clamping rings, we can also find representations of more permanent connections, like the two representations on the above photographs. These clamps could have been used to connect different pipe sections together either in the cooling passage itself, or everywhere else in the pyramids, the mastabas or of course in an agricultural context.

08.09  The mysterious counterweights on Nefertem's lotus flower: the hypothesis of the Bastet and Sekhmet check valve with two counterweights

There is one problem I can’t figure out about Nefertem, is the counterweights hanging from the lotus flower. Of course, if you really consider the lotus flower to be simply a lotus flower, there is no point in having these counterweights, but if you know the lotus flower is the fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid, then there might be some way of deciphering them. In the above figure of Nefertem 10665 from the Louvre, there is a detail that might be of the most crucial importance: on the counterweight is goddess Bastet, according to the Louvre, so knowing that Bastet is the glorification of the body of the check valve that was just set next to the fog nozzle, might give us a clue of the reason why are these counterweights here, hanging from the nozzle. I see two possibilities:

1 • the nozzle had, for some reason, two counterweights of its own

2 • the counterweights aren’t directly about the nozzle, but about the check valve, and it would indicate that on both sides of the nozzle, there was two counterweights and that they were the check valve’s counterweights

But at this time, I’m afraid I still don’t have the answer about these counterweights with the representation of cat goddess Bastet.

Nefertem with the two counterweights onto which are the representation of Bastet. Figurine E 10665, from the Louvre: https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010005961

Preface

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Table of contents

Operating diagrams of the Great Pyramid

Timelines

Index