THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Chapter 37 Khonsu is the glorification of the piston: the piston-float of a water clock, the one used by butchers or the Great Pyramid’s impactor
Publié par Bruno Coursol dans The Pyramids of the Cold Le
21/09/2025 à 06:34
A water clock ‘clepsydra’ needs two things to be operated efficiently: the production of dripping water in a close container and a float in that container to be able to read time. Ancient Egyptians not only used the clepsydra, they also glorified it through two Moon gods: when the baboon god of the Moon Thoth was the glorification of the dripping water, the other Moon god Khonsu was about the piston-like float of the clock because Khonsu is the glorification of the piston-like impactor of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. “Stele dedicated to the god Khonsou by the cartoonist of the god Amon in the Place of Truth Nêbré and his son Aménémopé. Dier-el-Médina, 19th dynasty. Painted limestone, height about 40 cm. Egyptian Museum of Turin. Photograph by Margaret Lucy Patterson on her website: https://talesfromthetwolands.org/2020/06/11/khonsu/
THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Study written by Bruno COURSOL (January 2021 to September 2025)
Section F • The central wooden Djed caisson of the Great Pyramid of Giza
The compression of the air and the pressurization of the waters that were trapped inside the central wooden Djed caisson were made possible by the fall of a composite and weighted impactor that rammed into both the aerial part in the Grand Gallery and the flooded part in the inclined well of the Djed caisson. Many Egyptian gods like Horus, Ra, Osiris, Sobek are about that piston-like impactor.
Chapter 37 • Khonsu is the glorification of the piston: whether it was about the piston-float of a water clock, the one used by butchers or the Great Pyramid’s impactor itself
In summary: what is striking with Khonsu is how close he looks like Ptah; they look so much alike that it is sometimes almost impossible to tell them apart, and of course it is a key element for the deciphering of Khonsu. What we know about Ptah is that he is the glorification that Egyptians have made of the very simple though revolutionary wooden frame that allowed their civilization to make mud bricks (Ptah was known to have invented masonry), metal sand casting molds (the Pharaonic era coincides with the beginning of the Bronze Age) and this is why Ptah was known since the very first Dynasty: “Ptah seems to be one of the oldest deities in the Egyptian pantheon and is attested as early as the 1st Dynasty. However, the great god of Memphis was originally only a local deity, his importance grew over time and he came to play extremely important tasks .” https://egypt-museum.com/cult-image-statuette-of-the-god-ptah/
But of course Egyptians also used the wooden frame to create the central wooden Djed caisson of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, without which the removal of the air at 100% humidity would not have been possible between each cooling cycle: they simply couldn’t have pressurized water to create the fog of microdroplets that would trigger flash-evaporative cold, they also had to pressurize air and use it to flash moist air out of the Pyramid after each cycle. The fact that Khonsu is resembling so much to Ptah is the key for his understanding, and because Khonsu only appears with the Pyramids Texts of the Fifth Dynasty, we can assume Khonsu isn’t about a mold used to make mud bricks or metal objects, but about the Djed caisson of the Pyramid. In this chapter we’ll see that Khonsu is another glorification of the impactor, and that it is precisely about its relation with the caisson: we’ll see that Khonsu is the deification of the impactor seen as some kind of reciprocating piston.
We’ll see that Egyptians did we Khonsu the exact same thing that they did with Ptah by worshiping these gods for their many manifestations in both the Great Pyramid and in daily life: Khonsu was mainly worshiped because of its manifestation in the Great Pyramid as the piston-like impactor, but it also manifested himself to every Egyptian in the water clocks and the meat filler used to make sausages which both use some kind of reciprocating piston to work. This duality that consists of worshiping technological accomplishments in both the daily life of every Egyptian and its perfect outcome and sacred manifestation in the Great Pyramid is the chore of what truly was the ‘Egyptian religion’.
Draw of Ptah by Jeff Dahl: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptah#/media/Fichier:Ptah_standing.svg
Draw of Khonsu by Jeff Dahl. “Khonsu, an ancient Egyptian god depicted as a mummiform child with a moon disk on his head. In this form, he is distinguished from Ptah by presence of a necklace and the shape of its keyhole-shaped pendent, the curved false beard rather than a square one, the presence of the moon-disk on his head, the sidelock of youth, and the crook and flail he holds. Khonsu could also be depicted as a hawk-headed man wearing the same moon-disk.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khonsu#/media/File:Khonsu.svg
“In his mummiform aspect he [Khonsu] looks so similar to Ptah that the only way to tell them apart is to check his necklace, as the counterpoise worn by Ptah is a different shape.” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/khonsu/
Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, showing the crucial role of the composite impactor, whose role was very similar to that of a modern piston. In some ways, the piston-like composite impactor was more or less operated inside the central wooden Djed caisson like the piston of a gigantic bicycle pump, or the float of a basic water clock.
37.01 Because Khonsu is the glorification of the piston, he also has been associated with the impactor that functioned just like a piston
We’ll see in this chapter how ancient Egyptians had glorified one of the most important technological advancements of their early civilization that was the piston, whether it was the piston-float used in the real design of Egyptian water clocks or the piston used by butchers to make sausages from ground meat.
But what makes us certain that Khonsu, one of the earliest gods to appear in the Egyptian religion, as early as the First Dynasty, has also been directly associated with the impactor of the Great Pyramid built near the end of the Fourth Dynasty, is the fact that Khonsu and Ptah could have been represented in an almost identical manner; and that is because Ptah (the glorification of the central wooden Djed caisson) was the realm of Khonsu (the piston-like impactor that kept going up and down the caisson). Another way of seeing these two gods is as the two parts of a pump: the cylinder and the piston.
37.02 Khonsu and the 'flail': the speeding piston-like impactor created a lot of water droplets behind its path, indeed
We've already discussed the fact that the so-called 'flail' is nothing but the representation of projection of water droplets, created in the path of a speeding object inside wet guide rails, like the impactor did; so this is not a surprise to see Khonsu with that flail (see the index for more on the flail and the Apis bull itself).
Operating diagram of the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid, showing the piston-like impactor Khonsu speeding into the aerial part of the central wooden Djed caisson Ptah and already pressurizing the air that is trapped in the caisson. The whole thing, at this stage almost looked like a gigantic bicycle pump.
37.03 The Great Pyramid's impactor functioned like a piston inside Ptah, and it had been glorified into Khonsu
If I’ve been using the term ‘impactor’ since 2021, the more I got to realize that the pressurization of the air of the central wooden Djed caisson was just as important as the pressurization of the waters of the inclined well, the more I tend today in 2025 to use the composite term ‘piston-like impactor’, because indeed the Great Pyramid functioned pretty much like a motor running on water. In this chapter, we'll see that ancient Egyptians had themselves seen the impactor also, or essentially as a piston-like impactor, and that they've created the god Khonsu to glorify this aspect of the impactor.
37.04 The heart is a pump and Khonsu was about a pump as well
The following excerpts are illustrating another metaphor that ancient Egyptians loved to use: the assimilation of the pressurization of the waters of the inclined well with the pressurization of the blood in the heart; remember that the impactor could be compared today to the operation of a bicycle pump, and that the heart precisely is a pump itself. Of course, the end of someone’s life is when their heart stops beating.
“He was also known as “Khonsu pa-ir-sekher” (“Khonsu the provider” -Chespisichis to the Greeks) and “Khonsu heseb-ahau” (“Khonsu, decider of the life span”). […] the Coffin Texts describe him as “Khonsu who lives on hearts””: https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/khonsu/
Diagram of the human heart: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diagram_of_the_human_heart.svg
Ptah is the glorification that Egyptians have made of the wooden frame that can be used alone to make mud bricks (Ptah was known to have invented masonry), in pairs (Ptah along with Ptah-Patek was known as the patron of metal workers because of the two parts of a sand casting mold), or in much larger numbers to create the central wooden Djed caisson of the Great Pyramid (Section F, chapters 63 and 64). That Djed caisson was the realm of Khonsu.
37.05 The first purpose of the piston-like impactor speeding in the central wooden Djed caisson was to generate pressurized air: that's what the 'bag' of Khonsu is all about...
“One of the two proposed etymologies for Khonsu’s name does fit in well with his being a moon god, however – which is that it derives from the verb khenes which means “to cross over or traverse”. Khonsu therefore means “the wanderer” or “he who traverses [the sky]”. The other possible etymology is dismissed by Richard Wilkinson as outdated, although at least one author I read prefers it – this explanation splits the name into kh (meaning placenta) and nesu (meaning king), and sees Khonsu as also being a personification of the king’s placenta. In his book “Early Dynastic Egypt” Toby Wilkinson prefers this explanation as it makes sense of a piece of kingly regalia – early depictions of the king show him accompanied by standards topped by various objects which are perhaps each an aspect of kingship. One of these is a bag-like object later associated with Khonsu. There are a few suggestions for what this might be but Toby Wilkinson’s preferred explanation is that it represents a placenta.” https://talesfromthetwolands.org/2020/06/11/khonsu/
37.06 The piston-like float of the water clock
The above diagram represents a type of water clock used by ancient Egyptians and Greeks, officially dating from around 300 BCE (Before Current Era); but when historians are giving this information, they only based themselves on what people from the ancient times wanted to show to everybody; so what really corresponds this 300 BCE mention from historians is really more like a mirage: it only is a misinterpretation to think that ancient Egyptians didn’t used this kind of water clock before 300 BCE. It’s just that like everything else; Egyptians wanted to show but to hide their real technological accomplishments, all at the same time. So instead of representing technical diagrams just like we do today, Egyptians glorified and deified every single part of what they’ve done and what they’ve used. Every single religious construction is only the result of this dual thinking, and could be seen as simple ‘glorifying reminders’ of the original true artifact, and the so-called ‘water clocks’ presented by egyptologists are the perfect illustration of this misunderstanding: in what universe these ‘water clocks’ come close to what is described by Egyptians as ‘the chronographer’ Khonsu. Where is the part you are supposed to read in these artifacts? And why are they so small by the way?
"This water clock or clepsydra is based on an Egyptian clock made in the 3rd century BC. Water is supplied to the funnel (1) and passes to the cylinder in which the float (2) rises. This is connected to a rack-and-pinion that actuates the hour hand. The rate of water flow is regulated by the graduated stopper (3) and the water is kept at a constant level by means of an overflow tube.” https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia_of_history/C/clepsydra.html
“The clepsydra was an ancient forerunner of the clock, used by the Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans to measure time. The clepsydra measured the controlled flow of water, mercury, or other liquid through a narrow opening. "Clepsydra" is Greek for "water thief." https://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia_of_history/C/clepsydra.html
37.07 The so-called 'water clocks' are nothing but very sophisticated metaphoric representations of what really was the functioning instrument: what you see (the cylinder and the baboon) only is a glorifying decoy
What we know for certain is that Egyptians were so advanced in the fields of science and technology that they already had since the very first Dynasties medical treaties and mathematical treaties, and you want me to believe they didn’t have more sophisticated water clocks than the artifacts that are today in museums all other the world? How long are we collectively still be that fool? Because lets be honest: how the hell do you want to tell time with those things? Where is the reading device? Why are these things so small and without any trace of use?
What’s amazing is to see how easy it is to make people believe almost anything, like when egyptologists claim that the granite box of the Great Pyramid was the sarcophagus of Khufu, implying that Khufu accepted to be buried incognito, without any mention of his name or any decoration anywhere in the Pyramid: not one single cartouche of Khufu on the sarcophagus, in the King’s chamber or in any other part of the Pyramid; not one single decoration and not one single mention of Khufu’s name anywhere in his so-called tomb.
The so-called Egyptian ‘water clocks’ are another example of how easy it is to make people think anything, but their deciphering only really started in the very beginning of August 2025 after I started to see the impactor more like a piston-like impactor.
37.08 Thoth and the peeing baboon: how to pee one drop after the other
The truth is that the so-called 'water clocks', are only parts of the real clocks: they are only about the glorification of how the water is used in the clock by producing a very low but steady flow of water, just like a baboon squatting and peeing all at the same time like you can see it in nature.
“Worship of Thoth began in Lower Egypt most likely in the Pre-Dynastic Period (c. 6000-3150 BCE) and continued through the Ptolemaic Period (323-30 BCE), the last dynastic era of Egyptian history, marking Thoth's veneration as among the longest of the Egyptian gods or any deity from any civilization. His name was often taken by the kings of Egypt (example, Tuthmoses - "Born of Thoth"), scribes, and priests. He is most commonly depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a seated baboon with or without a lunar disc above his head. He was the patron god of scribes and it was said that scribes would pour out one drop of their ink in Thoth's honor before they began their daily work.” https://www.worldhistory.org/Thoth/
Hamadryas peeing Baboon in the characteristic seated posture of the animal, at the Prospect Park Zoo. Photograph by Mamoritai: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mamoritai/3336935638
Photograph courtesy of Roland Unger and posted on Wikipedia : "Justice scene: tomb owner Baennentiu conducted by Maat, Anubis and Horus with scales, Thoth [as a baboon, 'peeing' beautiful blue water], right wall in the sarcophagus chamber of the tomb of Baennentiu." https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BawitiSelimBanentiuSanctRight.jpg
37.09 Because Khonsu 'the traveller' is the glorification of the piston he was probably seen in the piston-like float of the water clock and became god of measuring Time, just like the baboon god Thoth who supplied dripping water
This is another perfect illustration of how ancient Egyptians have consistently combined the glorification of the technological prowess developed by pharaohs to achieve very elitist goals like being able to produce 100% pure Sodium Carbonate Natron by the only mean of Science instead of having to get it from the ground full of impurities, with the glorification of the daily use of these same or resembling tools. Of course, the difficulty in deciphering the metaphors made by ancient Egyptians comes first in knowing if they are about something directly related to the scientific and technological fields, or if they are about something which only is about the daily life of the people.
“Khonsu (Khons, Chons, Khensu) was a god of the moon and time. His cult center was at Thebes where he was part of a triad with Amun and Mut. He was one of the companions of Thoth (who was also associated with the moon and the measurement of time).” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/khonsu/
“The Egyptians appreciated the regular cycles of the moon, and made them the base for their calendar of twelve months making up a lunar year. Khonsu was therfore described as the pendulum of heaven and the precise divider of months and had the epithet of “Khonsu, the chronographer”.” https://www.landofpyramids.org/khonsu.htm
“Khonsu (Ancient Egyptian: ḫnsw; also transliterated Chonsu, Khensu, Khons, Chons, Khonshu, or Konshu) is an ancient Egyptian god of the Moon. His name means 'traveller', and this may relate to the perceived nightly travel of the Moon across the sky. Along with Thoth, he marked the passage of time and is associated with baboons. Khonsu was instrumental in the creation of new life in all living creatures. At Thebes, he formed part of a family triad (the "Theban Triad") with Mut his mother and Amun his father.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khonsu
37.10 If Khonsu was known as 'the Son of the Leg' it is for the same reason that we call 'hands' the pointers of the clock face today
If in English, the revolving pointers of the clock face are called ‘hands’, Egyptians may have called their own pointers ‘legs’ instead, has it is clearly suggested with the metaphor of the ‘Osiris leg’, about Khonsu being called ‘the Son of the Leg’; and if Egyptians would have used pointers made of Bronze, it would even reinforce the idea that the Osiris weight itself was also made of Bronze.
“In the Temple of Edfu, the "Complex of Khonsu" contains the "Chamber of the Leg," dedicated to Khonsu. His association with the leg originates from the Osiris myth, in which Osiris' leg was found and preserved in Edfu. Thus, Khonsu is referred to in Edfu as the "Son of the Leg.”” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khonsu
Illustration of the ‘Clock Leg’ challenge (Human clock), by apurvatilwani: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvcqMbtI8oR/
37.11 The association of the water clock with the moon probably comes from the idea of the moon passing through its phases like water filling up a jar and the of course because of the disc used to read time itself
“Khonsu, in ancient Egyptian religion, moon god who was generally depicted as a youth. A deity with astronomical associations named Khenzu is known from the Pyramid Texts (c. 2350 bce) and is possibly the same as Khonsu. In Egyptian mythology, Khonsu was regarded as the son of the god Amon and the goddess Mut.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khonsu
“The relationship between Khonsu and Mut, his divine mother, is a crucial aspect of his mythology. As the mother goddess, Mut represented the primeval waters from which all life originated. She was the sky from which the sun and moon rose and set, making her the natural mother of Khonsu, the moon god. Their relationship wasn't merely one of parent and child; it was deeply symbolic. Mut represented the celestial waters, while Khonsu, the moon god, represented time, tide, and change. Their interaction symbolized the constant interplay between the cosmos and time, a fundamental concept in ancient Egyptian cosmology. The worship of Khonsu and Mut often went hand in hand, with many temples dedicated to the Theban triad of Amun, Mut, and Khonsu. In these sacred spaces, the divine relationship between mother and son was celebrated, further emphasizing its importance in the religious life of the ancient Egyptians.” https://www.ask-aladdin.com/all-destinations/egypt/category/ancient-egyptian-gods/page/khonsu-egyptian-moon-god
Moon water jar: https://www.crystallogicshop.com/products/moon-water-jar-no-charms
35.01 Because Khonsu is the glorification of the float, he is always carried by the water that is Mut, his mother; and so Khonsu can be represented as a child
If some representations of the Eye of Horus really are about Horus himself, Egyptians also used the Eye of Horus when they needed to illustrate the idea of an eye, just like on the above glorification of the magnifying glass: because the glass is meant for an eye, they simply put the Eye of Horus on the glass.
37.12 If both Khonsu and Thoth were gods associated with baboons and measuring time it is because they were both 'parts' of the Egyptian water clock: respectively the piston-like float and the drip feeding of water
“Khonsu (Ancient Egyptian: ḫnsw; also transliterated Chonsu, Khensu, Khons, Chons, Khonshu, or Konshu) is an ancient Egyptian god of the Moon. His name means 'traveller', and this may relate to the perceived nightly travel of the Moon across the sky. Along with Thoth, he [Khonsu] marked the passage of time and is associated with baboons. Khonsu was instrumental in the creation of new life in all living creatures. At Thebes, he formed part of a family triad (the "Theban Triad") with Mut his mother and Amun his father.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khonsu
Thoth-Baboon ID 48.1543 at the Walters Art Museum. “The patron of scribes and deity of wisdom, Thoth was associated with the sun and the moon, traditionally the two "eyes" of the celestial-god Horus. The baboon, identified with Thoth, here holds a sacred Wedjat-eye, the so-called Eye of Horus, which symbolizes legitimate kingship, the structured universe, and life. This carefully formed baboon holds the eye in front of his chest with his left hand below and the right above.”: https://art.thewalters.org/object/48.1543/
“The earliest known mention of the god [Khonsu] appears in the so-called Cannibal Hymn within the Pyramid Texts. As the butcher of other gods, he is said to extract their entrails and offer them to the deceased king in order to absorb their magical powers." [illustration] Manual sausage stuffer, which was for ancient Egyptians the perfect illustration of what Khonsu really was all about: a piston operated inside some kind of close container. Every sausage stuffer comes with filling tubes, and they have been reinterpreted by Greeks in the so-called 'torch' of Selen (Solen being the Greek reinterpretation of Khonsu himself): https://waltons.com/26-lb-sausage-stuffer/
37.13 Why Khonsu was so surprisingly known as the 'butcher' and 'extracting entrails': the piston can indeed be used to make sausages made from ground meat and intestine
So, this is what was said about Khonsu, the Moon god who also was the One to be responsible for measuring time, and known as the ‘chronographer’: “As the butcher of other gods, he is said to extract their entrails”. I’m not sure there is in the entire Egyptian religion such a wonderful example of the fact that gods and goddesses were only metaphoric glorifications of very concrete and tangible things. So, from an ancient Egyptian point of view, there really was no mystery and no contradiction in the many representations or ways of looking at Khonsu: everybody knew at the time that the god was all about the idea of glorifying the invention and the use of the piston, whether that piston was to be used in the daily life of every Egyptian, or in the fancy mastabas or pyramids in which pharaohs tried to understand nature and replicate in their own ways everything they could, like the cold they could experience during winter or the fabrication of their so important mummification salt natron.
Everybody knew that Khonsu was all about the piston, so they didn’t find any trouble in looking at him as the chronographer god who measured time in one hand, and as the piston used by the butcher to make the sausages they certainly loved so much. And because of that, they didn’t have any problem to worship a god who was said to be the butcher of other gods and the one to extract their entrails; but of course there is nothing offending in there, even if this metaphor about Khonsu really is a bloody one.
“The earliest known mention of the god [Khonsu] appears in the so-called Cannibal Hymn within the Pyramid Texts. As the butcher of other gods, he is said to extract their entrails and offer them to the deceased king in order to absorb their magical powers. This process was intended to help the deceased king achieve immortality and regain vitality.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khonsu
“Further connections to Khonsu and the destruction of heart ceremony can be found in Spell 310 of the Coffin Texts, where he is described as the son of the goddess Shezmetet and tasked with burning hearts with his fiery wrath. Spell 311 of the Coffin Texts aims to help the deceased transform into Khonsu to steal the gods' magical powers and defend against hostile forces. In this context, he is referred to as "Khonsu who lives on hearts.”” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khonsu
Detail of Selene from a Roman sarcophagus. Photograph by Marie-Lan Nguyen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selene#/media/File:Clipeus_Selene_Terme.jpg
37.14 If Selen's torch (Selen is the Greek reinterpretation of Khonsu) isn't about a torch at all but truly about a sausage filler then the so mysterious 'velificatio' she has above the head is nothing but the intestine that goes on top of the filler
Look at the actual shape of this velificatio cloak on the above sculpture, and you we'll see that it takes the actual shape of coiled intestines.
[Sculpture of Selene, the Greek reinterpretation of Egyptian god of the Moon, Khonsu and showing Selene's cloak, called velificatio by historians]. “The sculpture, formerly the property of the Count of Montevecchio and kept in the Palace in Fano from the 18th century, was carved from a cylinder of coarse-grained marble, probably Proconnesian, that shows no traces of reworking; it is missing the right hand that perhaps held a torch, while the inscription on the base is most likely from modern times. The figure wears a chiton with short sleeves under a long peplos attached to the shoulders and a double belt around her waist. A loose cloak, supported by her right arm and held by the left hand, passes behind her back and floats up around her head. From her shoulders the lunar crescent is clearly visible, identifying the sculpture as a personification of Selene, the moon goddess and wife of Zeus. The goddess, wearing a traditional hairstyle, her locks gathered and pinned high behind her head with numerous ringlets, has an oval face and simple features, extreme proportions and long and narrow eyes. Her left hand and arm are disproportionate, excessively shaped by the principal perspective that would have been from the right in the direction of the goddess’gaze. The figure depicts the personification of Selene as she descends to earth with her cart to meet Endymion, thus explaining the cloak that halos her head.” https://fondazionesorgentegroup.com/en/art-collection/archaeology/statue-of-selene/
37.15 Just like Khonsu is about all kinds of pistons, so is Selen: she is not all about the piston of the butcher, but she is also about the float of the water clock and her relationship with the funnel that supply a regular flow of water: Selen's 'affair' with the sleepy Endymion is all about the constant amount of water in that funnel
Now, remember that both Khonsu and Selen are about the same thing: the glorification of what ancient Egyptians and Greeks have made of the use of the piston and that many of their attributes and epithets are about the piston-like float of a water clock. If you want to understand this paragraph and Endymion, with whom Selen had an affair, you really need to understand how the clepsydra is actually working, and in particular the essential role of the funnel which is providing a constant flow of water to the cylinder where the piston-float is set. The basic principle is that the funnel receives more water than the part that goes to the cylinder, and the difference is evacuated though a lateral tube. Because of this very ingenious system, the hight of water in the fennel is constant, so is the flow getting to the cylinder.
The beauty of all this is that Greeks, unlike Egyptians, provided us with a very detailed reinterpretation of the so important role of the fennel in the water clock: Greeks created Endymion, the glorification of that fennel and the water in that fennel; this is why Endymion was said to be ‘eternally sleeping’, deathless and ageless.
But the love affair between Selen and Endymion got disturbed by another girl: Muia who fought as well for the love of Endymion; and of course, Muia is nothing but the reinterpretation of that lateral tube. Look again at the diagram, and you will see why Selen (the glorification of the piston-float in the cylinder) and Muia (the lateral tube that maintained the amount of water constant in the fennel), really fought for: the water in the funnel of the water clock. Of course, you would have noted that the very meaning of the name of Endymion is ‘to dive’, and the water in the funnel indeed was meant to dive, one side (the cylinder) or the other (the lateral tube).
“Selene is best known for her affair with the beautiful mortal Endymion. The late 7th-century – early 6th-century BC poet Sappho apparently mentioned Selene and Endymion. However, the first account of the story comes from the third-century BC Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, which tells of Selene's "mad passion" and her visiting the "fair Endymion" in a cave on Mount Latmus: [And the Titanian goddess, the moon, rising from a far land, beheld her [Medea] as she fled distraught, and fiercely exulted over her, and thus spake to her own heart: "Not I alone then stray to the Latmian cave, nor do I alone burn with love for fair Endymion; oft times with thoughts of love have I been driven away by thy crafty spells, in order that in the darkness of night thou mightest work thy sorcery at ease, even the deeds dear to thee. And now thou thyself too hast part in a like mad passion; and some god of affliction has given thee Jason to be thy grievous woe. Well, go on, and steel thy heart, wise though thou be, to take up thy burden of pain, fraught with many sighs."] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selene
[illustration of Endymion] Endymion as hunter (with dog), sitting on rocks in a landscape, holding two spears, looking at Selene who descends to him. Antique fresco from Pompeii. Image by ArchaiOptix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selene#/media/File:Wall_painting_-_Selene_and_Endymion_-_Pompeii_(VI_9_6-7)_-_Napoli_MAN_9240.jpg
"The eternally sleeping Endymion was proverbial, but exactly how this eternal sleep came about and what role, if any, Selene may have had in it is unclear. […] Apollodorus says that because of Endymion's "surpassing beauty, the Moon fell in love with him, and Zeus allowed him to choose what he would, and he chose to sleep for ever, remaining deathless and ageless. Theocritus portrays Endymion's sleep as enviable because (presumably) of Selene's love for him. Cicero seems to make Selene responsible for Endymion's sleep, so that "she might kiss him while sleeping". The Roman playwright Seneca, has Selene abandoned the night sky for Endymion's sake having entrusted her "shining" moon chariot to her brother Helios to drive. The Greek satirist Lucian's dialogue between Selene and the love goddess Aphrodite has the two goddesses commiserate about their love affairs with Endymion and Adonis, and suggests that Selene has fallen in love with Endymion while watching him sleep each night. In his dialogue between Aphrodite and Eros, Lucian also has Aphrodite admonish her son Eros for bringing Selene "down from the sky". While Quintus Smyrnaeus wrote that, while Endymion slept in his cave beside his cattle: [Divine Selene watched him from on high, and slid from heaven to earth; for passionate love drew down the immortal stainless Queen of Night."]
Lucian also records an otherwise unattested myth where a pretty young girl called Muia becomes Selene's rival for Endymion's affections; the chatty maiden would endlessly talk to him while he slept, causing him to wake up. This irritated Endymion, and enraged Selene, who transforms the girl into a fly (Ancient Greek: μυῖα, romanized: muía). In memory of the beautiful Endymion, the fly still grudges all sleepers their rest and annoys them. Philologist Max Müller's interpretation of solar mythology as it related to Selene and Endymion concluded that the myth was a narrativized version of linguistic terminology. Because the Greek endyein meant "to dive,"the name Endymion ("Diver") at first simply described the process of the setting sun "diving" into the sea. In this case, the story of Selene embracing Endymion, or Moon embraces Diver, refers to the sun setting and the moon rising.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selene
Ancient Egyptians not only mastered science and technology like no other civilization before but they also mastered to the perfection the process that allowed them to glorify every single aspect of what they’ve done as engineers. Here, we have crocodile god Sobek, often represented with horns on the head, that is an umpteenth glorification of the impactor of the Great Pyramid. Crocodiles have been used to illustrate the way the impactor moved in the Grand Gallery: it was sliding on shallow waters, taking speed and aiming for some kind of pond. [illustration] “Crocodile Enjoys The Slip n Slide Ride”. From a video on Fur Family: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AhgjVPfwDk
“ Stele dedicated to the god Khonsou by the cartoonist of the god Amon in the Place of Truth Nêbré and his son Aménémopé. Dier-el-Médina, 19th dynasty. Painted limestone, height about 40 cm. Egyptian Museum of Turin. Exhibition L'Aventure Champollion, BnF. Photograph by Siren-Com
37.16 The reciprocating piston
By definition, a piston is actually a reciprocating piston, that goes both ways all the time, and probably the above image is just about this idea. Again, you will note the sliding crocodile metaphor.
Image from page 65 of "The gods of the Egyptians: or, Studies in Egyptian mythology" (1904). "The dual God KHENSU standing upon Crocodiles. In this form he represents both the sun at sunrise and the new moon, and the two crocodiles symbolize the two great powers of darkness over which he has triumphed". Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir, 1857-1934: https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14577503428