The Great Pyramid of Khufu published by french layman B. Coursol

 

The Underworld Amduat Text of the Hidden Chamber is describing the Hauling of the impactor of the Great Pyramid of Khufu inside the Grand Gallery. 

 

This post is about the Grand Gallery's operating and its metaphoric representation in the Amduat, the "Book of the Hidden Chamber", as well as its personification in the ancient Egyptian "God of the Horizon" : Aker (Akeru, plural).

 

The Grand Gallery : in the Hour 4 of this book, the "sloping passageways" of an "oval-shaped cavern" are described as "the mysterious paths of the place of Hauling".

The inclined well : "during the night the sun journeyed through a tunnel that existed in the earth - its entry into the tunnel caused the night, its emergence again bringing the day once more." Source

 

We'll see that this place of Hauling was the Grand Gallery (the Land of Sokar), that the Rosetau was the eastern and western benches of the gallery and we'll also see that the so called "Hidden Chamber" was the Queen's chamber, the only chamber of the Great Pyramid located on its central axis.

1-2 • The representation of the grand gallery in the Amduat : "the mysterious paths of the sacred passageways of Hauling"

"Hours 4 and 5 are designated the realm of Rosetau, the place of Hauling, the sloping passageways of Hour 4 more specifically termed "the mysterious paths of the place of Hauling, sacred roads of Imhet" is talking about the 2 ramps of the Grand Gallery where the crewmembers of the wooden scarab were walking on.

"The name of this cavern is : "With living forms"

Most probably, the Grand Gallery was the only place where people were actually working in the Lower Great Pyramid : there was obviously nobody in the inclined well, as well as in the horizontal cooling passage (though they would nethertheless have to get in from time to time for maintenance reasons on the fog nozzle and the plate cold exchanger).

"The name of the gate of this cavern is : "Which hides the towing"

 

 

Functioning diagram of the evaporative cooling process in the Great Pyramid of Khufu

Updated November 17, 2021 : I keep changing the upper granite block position at the time of the operating of the pyramid, that is before the shutdown procedure and the draining of the inclined well. I decided to keep that block inside the G5 girdle stone because of the following :  

Excerpt from “The Gods of the Egyptians; Studies in Egyptian Mythology, Volume 1” by Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge (originally published: 1904), that is about the Book of the Dead, in chapter 108 : "At about noon, the barque of Ra reaches the summit of a mountain where a serpent 50 cubits (26 meters) in length is found whose foremost 3 cubits are of silex." […] "This serpent swallows in one gulp part of the stream. Set, at the front of the boat, directs his lance of fire against him, and causes him to cough up all that he had swallowed".  Behind the boat, a lion headed entity runs a blade through the serpent Apep."

 This data of a serpent 50 cubits in length may not be correct at all, but at least it does set the discussion : it would set the end of the flooded part of the ascending passage right between G4 and G5. The only certainty here is that there is absolutely no chance that this block would ever be at its present location, close to the middle granite plug during the pyramid operating.

1-3 • The representation of the inclined well in the Amduat : "the sloping tunnel of the underworld"

"Ancient Egyptian mythologists believed that during the night the sun journeyed through a tunnel that existed in the earth - its entry into the tunnel caused the night, its emergence again bringing the day once more." http://www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/aker.htm

 

Amduat Papyrus Inscribed for Tiye from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York ; Accession Number: 25.3.33 (ca. 975–945 B.C). https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/549650

 

1-4 • The Amduat is the story of god Ra through the Duat-Underworld

"The Amduat, literally "That Which Is In the Afterworld", also translated as "Text of the Hidden Chamber Which is in the Underworld" and "Book of What is in the Underworld"; is an important ancient Egyptian funerary text of the New Kingdom of Egypt. Like many funerary texts, it was found written on the inside of the pharaoh's tomb for reference. Unlike other funerary texts, however, it was reserved only for pharaohs (until the Twenty-first Dynasty almost exclusively) or very favored nobility."

"It tells the story of Ra, the Egyptian sun god who travels through the underworld, from the time when the sun sets in the west* and rises again in the east*. It is said that the dead Pharaoh is taking this same journey, ultimately to become one with Ra and live forever."

"The underworld is divided into twelve hours of the night, each representing different allies and enemies for the Pharaoh/sun god to encounter. The Amduat names all of these gods and monsters. The main purpose of the Amduat is to give the names of these gods and monsters to the spirit of the dead Pharaoh, so he can call upon them for help or use their name to defeat them."

*Sunset is symbolising death, and sunrise is symbolising rebirth.

 

The Amduat Book of the Hidden Chamber, Hour 4. Burial chamber of the tomb of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III - ca. 1426 BCE. Drawing by A.G. Shedid (digitally enhanced) - Hornung (1999).

 

1-5 • The Amduat Hour 4 : the Rosetau "Act of Towing/Hauling" region is the Grand Gallery

"In the fourth hour of the Amduat, Re enters a dark and dry new region called Rosetau, meaning 'act of towing'. His solar bark is indeed depicted as being towed by four gods over a dry, sandy land populated by snakes. The solar bark itself has been transformed into a double-headed serpent as only snakes can successfully get across this desert and dangerous region."

"The zigzag path, repeatedly closed by doors, gives access to the 'Land of Sokar, who is upon his sand', which Re visits during the fourth and fifth hours."

 

1-6 • The "Zigzag Towing/Hauling Land of Sokar" region represents the Grand Gallery

1-7 • The "Zigzag Towing/Hauling" of the solar barque, constantly blocked in its progression (cut into pieces) is the representation of the 25 progression steps of the wooden gantry beetle scarab operating

That zigzag cut into pieces towing of the solar barque is a metaphor of the latch bolts powered progression steps of the wooden gantry beetle scarab that was allowing the impactor to be lifted up to the top part of the gallery.

Once again, ancient Egyptians used the knife as a metaphor : the progression steps enabled, or limited by the latch bolts operating were described as knives, cutting the progression.

The god Sokar, with the triangular shape he sometimes shows, is most probably the representation of the latch bolts themselves.

 

Operating of the towing beetle scarab in the grand gallery of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, side view (updated November 18, 2021)

 

Photograph of the Grand Gallery taken from the lower platform (with the entry to the horizontal passage behind the man in the foreground) : Great Pyramid Passages Volume 1, (1910 edition) by John and Morton Edgar, plate CLVIII at the end of the book. https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n301/mode/1up

 

The theory of the Grand Gallery purpose

My theory stipulates that the progression of the impactor, from the lower part of the grand gallery to its upper part, was made in 25 steps, each one being secured by latch bolts inserted in the eastern and western walls of the gallery.

This progression inside the grand gallery, in fits and starts, is exactly what is described in the fourth hour of the Amduat : "In this fourth hour, Re is repeatedly blocked by doors called "knife", cutting the way into pieces."

The light inside the gallery would have also more probably be very limited and the team leader on the top platform would have had much difficulty to see the bottom of the gallery and his own men : "In the 4th, Re cannot be more powerless, for he cannot see those he cares for, relying on his voice alone."

 

Ptah-Seker-Osiris figures showing the squatting falcon representation of god Seker (Sokar), put onto the wooden base of the figure. The general shape of that falcon is most probably representing the latch bolts that were inserted inside the niches of the eastern and western walls of the grand gallery of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

Left : figure of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris 86.1.88a–d, ca. 600–525 B.C. from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York (Late Period, Saite) https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551504. Right : painted wooden figure of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris EA47577 excavated in Asyut, from the British Museum (664BC-305BC), https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA47577

 

1-8 • The Land of Sokar is the Grand Gallery's vision, focused on the latch bolts operating

 As usual, the artistic part of the scene is more important than the architectural design accuracy, everything is here but misplaced : if the lions are facing east and west correctly, the cavern isn't located between the two of them, because the cavern is the Grand Gallery :

"The lower register continues the "secret paths" of the Land of Sokar of the 4th Hour, closed by two doors. Between them is the interior, or "core" of Sokar's land, with an "oval", "cavern", "cave" or "egg" in its centre, embedded in the two halves of the double sphinx Aker, the god of the Earth."

Inside the cavern, Sokar is spreading out his wings, but not in the same way that the beetle scarabs do : his wings are not attached to him, but seem to emerge from the ground.

That is another reason to believe that Sokar is the representation of the latch bolts that were designed to get in and out of the niches of the eastern and western walls of the gallery.

 

Detail of the Amduat Papyrus Inscribed for Tiye from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York ; Accession Number: 25.3.33 (ca. 975–945 B.C). https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/549650

 

The above scene of the Amduat is another evidence, or clue, that Sokar is the representation of the latch bolts. What we have here is the schematic metaphoric representation of the towing scarab, with the 3 major elements of the operating :

• the snake for the water that descends the slope both in the central gutter for the impactor to move, but also for the water that were used inside the 2 hollow section rails in which the scarab sledges were moving.

• the legs of the crewmembers that made the scarab moving

• and the 2 wings of Sokar, the latch bolts, the "knives" that were cutting the progression into pieces.

Please note that these 2 wings aren't just wings : some structures are clearly marked, of course I am seeing into them the niches of the eastern and western walls. These niches were the cavities where the latch bolts were retracted in by the scarab.

 

The above image from Kairoinfo4U from the tomb of Irynefer TT 290 at Deir el-Medina, could be another confirmation that the squatting falcon Sokar was  a metaphoric representation of the latch bolts of the Grand Gallery : the cow looks like it is gonna run over the falcon, exactly like the towing scarab would do on the latch bolts. Source (flickr) : https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/11433106165

The cow is most probably another representation of the hauling beetle scarab and its horns symbolizing that the impactor was designed to ram into the inclined well waters.

 

Detail of the Book of the Dead of the Priest of Horus (section 2), Imhotep (Imuthes), ca. 332–200 B.C. from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Accession Number: 35.9.20a–w : https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551786

 

The 2 Sokar representations, facing each other

This part of the Book is particularly interesting because the falcon Sokar is represented 2 times. The first one is on the left, and Sokar appears exactly like in the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures (except the 2 additional spread wings), but the second one is what's worth really looking at : here, Sokar is represented twice and they are facing each over; there is no more wings, but their legs are somehow suggesting that same 45° angle that many squatted falcons of the figures are showing.

That facing representation of that "double Sokar" reinforce one more time the idea that Sokar is a metaphor of the pairs of latch bolts that were facing each other themselves.

 

Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures from the National Museums Liverpool, World Museum (left), 332 BC - 30 BC Accession number 56.21.601 : https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/ptah-sokar-osiris-figure-17 ; from the Metropolitan Museum of Art at New-York (center), Accession number 86.1.88a–d : https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551504 ; and from the Louvre in Paris (top right image), Numéro principal : N 3512 : https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010018325

 

The hollow underneath the Sokar squatted falcon

These Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures really show the original purpose of the Sokar falcon representations as latch bolts. Also, these squatting falcons aren't just put onto the figurine base, as we can see on the figure from the MET : they are sometimes put on a sliding board and most of the time, the falcon covers a hollow in the wooden base. Most probably this sliding movement to put the falcon into place on the figurine base is a reference to the sliding movement of the towing scarab itself on the hollow section rails, and the hollow itself is a reference to the hollow in the wall where the latch bolt would be pushed by the scarab progression.

These hollows are the 25 pair of niches of the eastern and western walls of the gallery.

 

Tomb KV 9 of Ramesses V-VI, corridor H Amduat Hour 4, photographed by Kairoinfo4U and posted on flickr :  https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/38745537034/in/photostream/

 

1-9 • The inverted position of the latch bolts in the hauling beetle scarab of the Amduat

On the reliefs of the Amduat Hour 4 on the above image, both the impactor and the beetle hauling scarab are represented. We've already seen in the post on Apep that the solar barque was a metaphor of the impactor, and here also appears the metaphoric representation of the hauling scarab, and that is the rectangular structures going down the slope.

If we look at the enlarged image of the structure, it is like hanging in mid air by some kind of magic trick. But actually the trick is also depicted : that is the triangular black shape that is holding the entire structure.

The triangular black shape is the latch bolt.

 

So why did they represented the latch bolts on the bottom side of the scarab structure, while I'm positioning them on the upper side? Well, they are 2 possibilities :

1 • I am wrong about the way that the towing scarab was operating the axle beam, and it is a very legitimate possibility as I am everything but an engineer myself…

2 • I am right about this part, and the explanation could be as follows : on these reliefs, the ropes and the axle beam aren't depicted, there are just the structures on "the slopping paths of the towing region", and that makes another story where nobody would have ever understand that some "triangular stopping elements" would have been put on the upper part of the structure.

I've only put the latch bolts on the upper side of the structure because the axle beam would have redirected the towing forces 180°. The axle beam is inverting the towing forces. So on the reliefs, if the story is "some structure was going down the slope, one step at a time in a constant cutting progression by some kind of "knives" in a "zigzag" movement, well what do you do about the latch bolts : you put them on the lower side of the towing structure, so that the progression still appears logical and secure.

 

1-10 • The Fire-Water is also introduced in this fifth Hour : the pressurized water

"This Lake of Fire is a place of fiery punishment for the damned, but the blessed dead drink cool water from it. This "fire-water" is a powerful alchemical symbol, related to Philosophical Mercury (Aqua Mercurii). Dependent on one's attitude and condition, this water changes function. Constructive (blue) to some, it is destructive (red) to others."

The fire-water, is in my opinion, the pressurized water itself.

When it is said that this fire-water can either be "constructive" or "destructive", it could refer to the danger that is representing pressurized water but also the fact that it is at the very origin of the cold production : "the blessed dead drink cool water from it."

Ironically, the fire-water could be the one producing the cold.

 

1-11 • Is the "who is upon his sand" reference another metaphor of the stop-and-go progression ?

It is still unclear to me what is the meaning of this "sand" reference. The only sand I could think of in this part of the Great Pyramid is the sand filter that was set in what is used today as an electrical room, located between the top platform and the antechamber, on the western side.

In my opinion, this sand filter was most probably a bio-sand filter, able to produce large amount of drinkable water from the dirty water tank that was the King chamber. But I don't see why Aker (the two axle beam holders set in the eastern and western holes), would have been described as "who is upon his sand".

 

It is also possible that this sand reference could be another metaphor of the zigzag progression : when you are walking on sand, the progression is difficult and slow and most of the time it is impossible to walk straight. So that sand could be just another metaphor here, the same way the gates, or the doors are : the operating of the towing scarab was hard, slow and in an endless stop and go progression.

 

1-12 • The start of the cold production

In the Amduat, the "Book of the Hidden Chamber", it is said that the process of regeneration, meaning the cold production, starts at the end of the fourth hour, and that corresponds with the deepest and darkest point RA's voyage.

That deepest and darkest point is about the grand gallery ; as soon as the impactor enters the inclined well, its water is pressurized and the cold can be made : "Arriving at the deepest, darkest point (the end of the 4th Hour), attention is brought on the process of regeneration itself (the 5th & 6th Hour)."

 

God Aker (Akeru, plural). Drawing by Jeff Dahl : "Aker, an ancient Egyptian personification of the horizon. Two lions symbolize 'yesterday' and 'tomorrow' with the sun-disk rising between the symbolic horizon between them. The hieroglyph for 'sky' spans across the top. Based on New Kingdom tomb paintings and the book of the dead." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aker_(deity)#/media/File:Aker.svg

 

2 • God of the "Horizon" Aker and its two lions real meaning

2-1 • The Amduat Hour 5 introduces Aker (represented most of the time as a two lions god) : the representation of the top platform layout of the Grand Gallery with the axle beam and its two eastern and western holders

 

2-2 • Aker / The academic point of view : god of the "Horizon"

Above the lions, are supposed to be the horizon (white), ended by mountains (colored pikes), the red sun and the blue sky (blue straight).

Source : https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/59798

"In Egyptian mythology, Aker (also spelt Akar) was one of the earliest gods worshipped, and was the deification of the horizon. There are strong indications that Aker was worshipped before other known Egyptian gods of the earth, such as Geb. In particular, the Pyramid texts make a sinister statement that the Akeru (plural of "Aker") will not seize the pharaoh, as if this were something that might have happened, and was something of which to be afraid. "Aker" itself translates as "(one who) bends", and thus "Akeru" translates as "benders", though in what sense this is meant, is not fully understood. […] these heads were usually those of lions. Over time, the heads became full figures of lions (still facing away from each other), one representing the concept of "yesterday" ("Sef" in Egyptian), and the other the concept of "tomorrow" ("Duau" in Egyptian)."

"As the horizon, Aker was also seen as symbolic of the borders between each day, and so was originally depicted as a narrow strip of land (i.e. a horizon), with heads on either side, facing away from one another, a symbol of borders."

 

Menat necklace from Malqata at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York (left and center) 1390–1353 B.C. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18. Reign of Amenhotep III, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544509. Right : the same necklace, photographed by Eric (Wsrmatre Stpnre) and posted on Flickr, https://www.flickr.com/photos/wsrmatre/40919418864

 

2-3 • Aker / Bruno's point of view : the grand gallery axle beam and its eastern and western holders representation

On the representations of god Aker, he is depicted as two lions looking east and west and clearly holding something on their backs. To understand the real meaning of this, we need to look at the Menat Necklace from Malqata at the Metropolitan Museum of Art : what is important in the two lion representations isn't their backs, but the hole between their paws and their bellies. The Menat necklace clearly indicates that a "beam" was supposed to be inserted through the cat bellies.

If we look closely the above center photograph, two parallel straight lines are even materializing the exact location where the axle beam itself should be.

These same cats are also looking east and west and their general shape seems to have been designed to perfectly fit in the eastern and western holes of the top platform of the Grand Gallery.

To understand the link between the two opposite cats (or lions), we need to look at some figures of the Four Sons of Horus.

 

Image on the left and center : Funerary Figure of Duamutef. 400–30 B.C. Late Period–Ptolemaic Period. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 133. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551149

 

2-4 • Aker / The Grand Gallery layout replica of the Four Sons of Horus figures at the MET

The first photograph is one of the Four Sons of Horus figures, visible at the Metropolitan Museum of Art at New-York, and is showing a jackal-headed figure representing Duamutef, the god who protected the stomach of the mummies.

The half lower part of this image had been magnified and partially enlightened on the second picture of the figurine so that we can see clearly the different structures depicted.

My assumption is that what we have here is a complete representation of the grand gallery layout of the Great Pyramid of Khufu :

1/ The eastern and western ramps (painted white), with 2 hollow section rails by ramp

2/ The central gutter (yellow painted)

3/ The top platform (yellow painted), with the axle beam for operating the 3 ropes

4/ The south wall of the grand gallery (with the openings)

5/ The opening of the antechamber (black line)

6/ The opening of the passage to the King's chamber (black square)

In my opinion, the crucial element here is the one that is represented in a greenish color and that seems to be put onto the top platform. That element is the axle beam.

 

Funerary Figures of the Four Sons of Horus, with Imsety (human head) second from the left. 400–30 B.C. Late Period–Ptolemaic Period. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. Imsety is the only one with a human head, the three other Sons of Horus figures have heads representing a jackal (god Duamutef), a baboon (god Hapy) and a falcon (god Qebehsenuef). https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/564551

 

2-5 • Aker / The axle beam for operating the 3 ropes of the gallery was inserted into the 2 holes of the platform

The second magnified image is from the figurine of Imsety, the god that protected the liver, and who was one of the Four Sons of Horus. This image clearly shows the eastern and western holes of the platform and it also depicts that the greenish element was "inserted" inside these holes.

This Imsety figurine is telling us that the main axle beam on which the 3 ropes of the grand gallery were attached to, was anchored into the platform. Also, it is crucial to really keep in mind that this platform is way bigger that what we can see in the first place : it is one of the biggest stone of the entire structure of the pyramid.

 

The southern part of the single block that formed the top platform of the grand gallery, was under tremendous charge by the structure weight, that perfectly anchored the block. It was necessary to resist to the huge structural stress induced by the endless operating of both the beetle wooden scarab, and the moving caisson. God Aker (Akeru, plural), drawing by Jeff Dahl : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aker#/media/Fichier:Aker.svg

 

2-6 • Aker / The single block platform of the grand gallery

The platform of the gallery has a very specific design : it is made of one single giant block, that goes way after the south wall of the gallery towards the antechamber.

Charles Rigano mentioned : "The single block forming the Step does not stop at the Gallery wall but extends an additional 66 inches* into the Ante Chamber".

* For Petrie, it was 64.90 inches. Source : The pyramids and temples of Gizeh. Antechamber and passages, section 47 (page 75). Petrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders), Sir, 1853-1942. https://archive.org/details/cu31924012038927/page/n113/mode/2up

 

Menat Necklace from Malqata at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (left), Accession Number: 11.215.450 (Dynasty 18, reign of Amenhotep III) and the same necklace photographed by Eric (Wsrmatre Stpnre) and posted on Flickr.

Center : the top platform stone of the grand gallery in the Great Pyramid of Khufu, showing the 2 eastern and western holes of the platform. Aker drawing by Jeff Dahl on Wikipedia.

 

Funerary Figure of Imsety, one of the Four Sons of Horus (with human head) from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York, 400–30 B.C. Late Period–Ptolemaic Period (Accession Number: 12.182.37b). Granite fragment with Khufu's Horus name Medjedu on it from the British Museum, photographed by CaptMondo and posted on Wikipedia (en).

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/564551

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/GraniteSlabWithNameOfKhufu-BritishMuseum-August19-08.jpg

 

A better representation than the one found on the Imsety figure, can be found on the granite fragment with Khufu's Horus name at the British Museum : the axle beam and its holders are perfectly drawn on what looks like the exact same top platform of the Grand Gallery.

 

The MET necklace from Malqata, not only shows the axle beam holders, but if we look closely, two straight lines are materializing the location where the axle beam itself should be (see a couple of photographs back).

Original ropes of the Solar Barque of pharaoh Khufu, photograph by Jon Bodsworth : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cordes-originales-barque-kh%C3%A9ops.jpg

More, the small beads of the necklace are also representing the 3 ropes themselves, while the bigger beads are 3 over large oblong beads, one of them with a unique set of symmetrical set of colors that maybe could be a representation of the axle beam itself.

 

2-7 • Aker / The opened mouth reference

"Aker was first depicted as the torso of a recumbent lion with a widely opened mouth. Later, he was depicted as two recumbent lion torsos merged with each other and still looking away from each other."

In both cases, the metaphor is here about the axle beam holders : the widely opened mouth and the 2 lions facing one another.

 

The entire Lower Pyramid cooling process started in the grand gallery of the Great Pyramid with the operating of the axle beam and the 3 ropes that were attached to the wooden beetle scarabs (one on each ramp), and the impactor (in the central gutter).

The maneuvering of the axle beam allowed the impactor to get inside the inclined well (the underworld). 

From Academic.com : "Aker was said to guard the entrance and exit to the underworld, opening them for the sun to pass through during the night. As the guard, it was said that the dead had to request Aker to open the underworld's gates, so that they might enter." Source : https://en-academic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/59798

Here again, everything is nothing else than metaphors : there is no door to open to get to the Duat-Underworld, but you had to operate the ropes and the axle beam has to be in action, rotating in both ways.

 

2-8 • Aker / The forwards and backwards references to the axle beam operating

"From Middle Kingdom onwards Aker appears as a pair of twin lions, one named Duaj (meaning "yesterday") and the other Sefer (meaning "tomorrow"). Aker was thus often titled "He who's looking forward and behind". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aker_(deity)

"In the later period of Egyptian theology the two lions making up the Akeru were named Sef and Tuau - 'yesterday' and 'today' respectively." http://www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/aker.htm

That reference to yesterday and tomorrow (or today) is in y opinion echoing the fact that the axle beam was operated in both directions of rotation : both the towing scarab and the impactor were moving forwards and backwards, again and again, day after day.

My interpretation of the operating of the 3 ropes as represented on the above drawing, isn't probably the only solution to get the job done, but it is simple and could be sufficiently efficient to be correct. It doesn't require any pulley, and according to scholars, ancient Egyptians didn't use this kind of equipment at the time of the construction of the pyramids.

The forwards and backwards reference is about the perpetual direction of rotation changes of the axle beam.

 

2-9 • Aker / The axle beam that bends and imprisons the coils of the snake

"More importantly, he imprisons the coils of the snake, Apophis (Apep), after it is hacked to pieces by Isis, and Aker could, along his back, provide a secure passage for the sun-god's boat as it traveled from west to east during the hours of the night." http://www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/aker.htm

"The name Aker means '(one) who bends'". https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/aker/

It is known that the name Aker means "(one) who bends", and it is conceivable to imagine that the axle beam would indeed bend a lot. Maybe one day we'll even find out in what wood that beam was made of, like we know that the impactor was made out of Sycomore tree wood.

That reference to the bending of Aker is easy to apprehend, and maybe the reference to the coils of the snake imprisoning is that easy : it could simply refer to the winding of the ropes on the axle beam.

 

Detail of The Amduat Book of the Hidden Chamber, Hour 5. Drawing by A.G. Shedid (digitally enhanced) - Hornung (1999). Burial chamber of the tomb of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III - ca. 1426 BCE.

 

Detail of the Amduat "Book of the Hidden Chamber" Hour 5, showing the oval cavern of the Land of Sokar (the Grand Gallery), with god Sokar spreading or opening wings from the ground, inside the cavern, that is "closed" by two lions, facing east and west. These two lions represent the god Aker (Akeru in its plural form).

This scene is a metaphorical representation of the grand gallery of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. The two doors (the lions), that were "closing" the Land of Sokar, were a metaphor of the representation of the axle beam and its two eastern and western holders that were set onto the Grand Gallery's top platform : what was allowing the solar barque to get in the tunnel of the Underworld, were precisely what represent god Aker : the axle beam and its two eastern and western holders.

The two lions were controlling the impactor progression to the top of the gallery before being released, hence metaphorically, these two lions were seen as the gates of the Underworld tunnel.

 

The Amduat Book of the Hidden Chamber, Hour 5. Burial chamber of the tomb of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III - ca. 1426 BCE. Drawing by A.G. Shedid (digitally enhanced) - Hornung (1999).

 

2-10 • Aker / The "grasp of the Akeru"

Until now, we haven't discussed at all about the danger that were facing the crewmembers of the wooden beetle scarab. When they were inside the gantry, they most probably didn't risk anything : their work would have been excruciating but not that dangerous.

I suggested the idea that when the impactor was at the top of the gallery, ready to be released in the slope, the crewmembers first had to get the wooden gantry lifted back up as well, so that the entire crew would most probably be on the top platform just before releasing the impactor.

I also suggested that one crewmember on each ramp was on the top platform, hauling the ropes of the gantry while the 4 other crewmen, on each ramp, were pushing the scarab back up.

During these two phases of operating, crewmen would have been close to the axle beam while the ropes would have been winded on, and they would certainly have fear the danger of their hands being grasped by the ropes winding on the axle :

"Later the Egyptian priests created magical spells to protect ordinary mortals from the grasp of the Akeru, the primeval, lion earth gods." https://www.landofpyramids.org/aker.htm

"There was also a more threatening side to Aker that can be seen when he is pluralized as Akeru in the form of multiple earth gods. In passages from the Pyramid Texts, the Akeru are said not to seize the monarch, but later there is a general hope for everyone to escape the grasp of the earth gods." http://www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/aker.htm

 

Apep (also Apophis) was the ancient Egyptian Great Serpent god of Chaos ("isfet") that reigned over the Underworld and fought sun and creator god Ra in his solar barque, in endless fights, night after night. Image from Soutekh67 and posted on Wikimedia Commons : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Barque_solaire_contre_Apopi.jpg

 

2-11 • Aker / The protection from the Great Serpent Apep and the snake bite immunity

"He guarded the eastern and western borders of the netherworld and protected the sun god Ra when he first entered the netherworld at sunset and again when he returned to the world of the living at sunrise and bore the sun on his back through the underworld. He also welcomed the dead Pharaoh into the underworld."

"He defended the sun god from the serpent Apep (Apophis) and was considered to be able to neutralize a snake bite. In his role as a protective deity, twin lion statues representing Aker were placed at the doors of palaces and tombs to protect against evil spirits, a practice adopted by both the Greeks and Romans."

This part is absolutely essential because it links the Akeru (the axle beam and its holders) to the inclined well (pressurized) waters (the Great Serpent Apep).

Aker was the metaphor of the equipment that used the energy of the working crew of the beetle scarab to lift, again and again the impactor on top of the gallery, before its release in the slope.

When the impactor hits the waters of the well, it could be described as an attack on that waters, an attack on Apep.

Also, when the impactor is recovered from the well for another cycle to begin again and again, it could be depicted as some kind of immunity from Apep ; hence the reference to the snake bite : "He defended the sun god from the serpent Apep (Apophis) and was considered to be able to neutralize a snake bite."

No matter how many times Aker attacked Apep, he would always be able to safely escape from Apep's grip, unharmed.

 

Drawing from "The pyramids and temples of Gizeh" by Petrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders, Sir, 1853-1942), from the original copy at the Cornell University Library ; publication date : 1883. Plate XII, at the very end of the book : https://archive.org/details/cu31924012038927/page/n295/mode/1up

 

2-12 • Aker / The Sun and Horizon real meaning

To be honest, if I have no doubt about the two lions interpretation, I'm not sure of anything about the rest of Aker's emblem. I first thought that it could maybe represent a part of the axle beam holder and that the sun was a cross section of the axle beam itself, even if I didn't understand why the top section wouldn't have been drawn ; and then I stumbled on the Petrie's representation of the hollows in the top of the granite wainscot of the west wall of the antechamber.

I'm not sure of anything for this part, but I must admit that the similarity between these hollows and the "cradle" in Aker's emblem is troubling. I agree we must be careful with "look alike" similarities, but that is a pretty good one, and most of all, it would complete the all thing about the representation of the 3 ropes operating.

 

Photograph on the left : the 4 grooves on the south granite wall of the King's antechamber of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza. Please notice that the entire chamber is built with massive granite blocks, but surprisingly the top of this south wall is made of very worn out and very low-quality limestone. In my opinion, this limestone had been added after the pyramid shut-down, when this chamber didn't need to be connected to the exterior anymore for ventilation.

 

2-13 • Aker / The Antechamber ventilation

The problem with the 3 ropes of the Grand Gallery, is that they were made of natural fibers, most probably papyrus, and that they were used in permanent humid conditions : the gallery was completely surrounded by water sources (the King's chamber, the inclined well, the horizontal cooling passage and water was also running inside the central gutter itself).

Because a natural fiber rope will rot if stored in humid conditions, a special chamber had to be prepared for this role, and equipped with a very effective ventilation system to assure a perfectly efficient dry storage.

That special chamber was the antechamber.

If no portcullis have ever been found in this antechamber or anywhere else in the pyramid, it is because there never was any portcullis in the first place.

The antechamber never had any portcullis, it was the 3 ropes storage chamber, with 3 independent compartments. The ventilation of this chamber came from a little opening that was located on the top part of the south granite wall and that appears today filled with a limestone cement of very low quality.

 

Interestingly, these same 4 grooves are also found in the Lady Arbuthnot's chamber, and from that we can reconstruct these grooves and imagine the entire vent piping system in its original design : in these granite grooves, were most probably inserted 4 ventilation pipes that had to be connected to the exterior of the pyramid.

 

Original drawing by Franck Monnier : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza#/media/File:Kheops-chambre-roi.jpg

Please note that these 4 air ducts would have pass through what is described today as a part of a forced tunnel, presumably digged by Vyse (?).

 

Book of the Hidden Chamber, Amduat Hour 6. Burial chamber of the tomb of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III - ca. 1426 BCE. Drawing by A.G. Shedid (digitally enhanced) - Hornung (1999).

 

3 • The Hidden Chamber of the Amduat is the Queen's chamber

3-1 • The Amduat Hour 6 : the regenerative powers originate from both the primordial waters of Nun and the Mehen serpent

This 6th hour is very important, it perfectly separates the Grand Gallery representation (the Land of Sokar) from the inclined well (the "Water hole filled with Nun", the primordial ocean).

It is also clearly saying that Nun (the water of the well) is at the origin of the magical "regenerative" powers (the creation of the cold) :

"In the 6th Hour, the Land of Sokar is left and the water hole filled with Nun is reached."

"Nun, the primordial ocean, is the guardian of this hour."

"The 6th Hour is the "waterhole" of those in the Duat, filled with Nun, the primordial ocean and its regenerative powers, i.e. the presence of a creative potential (or Ba) within this darkness, namely : Atum."

In the previous excerpt the regenerative powers are linked to the primordial waters of Nun, and in the following excerpt, that same regenerative powers are this time linked to the Mehen serpent : "In the sixth hour the most significant event in the underworld occurs. The ba (or soul) of Ra unites with his own body within the circle formed by the Mehen serpent. This event is the point at which the sun begins its regeneration".

But the previous excerpts are also linking the regenerative powers (the cold) to Atum, and we've already seen that Atum was the representation of the small amount of pressurized water ejected from the inclined well towards the fog nozzle. Atum created the fog of microdroplets (represented by Tefnut, the god of humidity and moisture) , and was simultaneously accompanied with fresh dry and warm air (represented by Shu, the god of…dry and warm air... and fog).

 

The ancient Egyptian gods (and the Great Serpent of the Underworld Apep) involved in the cold production of the Lower Great Pyramid of Khufu : Atum who created 2 other gods by spitting them out of his mouth : Shu (the god of dry warm air and fog), and Tefnut (the goddess of moisture and humidity) ; and Nefertem that represented the fog nozzle itself, and who "had arisen from the primal waters" and was the "beautiful one who closes" or "one who does not close"; as a perfect "tap" or "valve" analogy.

"In the Book of the Dead, [...], the sun god Atum is said to have ascended from chaos-waters with the appearance of a snake, the animal renewing itself every morning."

 

The Serpent god Atum spat out Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture

"Early myths state that Atum created the god Shu and goddess Tefnut by spitting them out of his mouth. Other myths state Atum created by masturbation…"

"He produced from his own sneeze, or in some accounts, semen, Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture."

My comments : when it is said Atum was created by masturbation, it is of course another metaphor here. When Isis is breastfeeding Horus, it is not milk he is receiving, but the cold liquid solution ; the same way when Atum is depicted masturbating, or when semen is invoked, it is only a way of depicting the high pressurized water coming out of the fog nozzle into microdroplets.

Once again, there is no breastfeeding, no masturbation, no semen and no spitting snake (see the Dendera Light post). These are only metaphors of the cooling fluids and the fog nozzle functioning with pressurized water.

 

God Shu (spat out by the Serpent Atum) was associated with dry warm air, cooling and fog

"The ancient Egyptian god Shu is represented as a human with feathers on his head, as he is associated with dry and warm air."

"As the air, Shu was considered to be a cooling, and thus calming, influence, and pacifier. Due to the association with dry air, calm, and thus Ma'at (truth, justice, order, and balance), Shu was depicted as the dry air/atmosphere between the earth and sky, separating the two realms after the event of the First Occasion."

"Fog and clouds were also Shu's elements and they were often called his bones. Because of his position between the sky and earth, he was also known as the wind."

Source : Wikipedia page on ancient Egyptian god Shu, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu_(Egyptian_god)

 

God Tefnut (also spat out by the Serpent Atum) was associated with spat water and moisture

"Tefnut (tfnwt) is a deity of moisture, moist air, dew and rain in Ancient Egyptian religion."

"Literally translating as "That Water", the name Tefnut has been linked to the verb 'tfn' meaning 'to spit'."

Source : Wikipedia page on ancient Egyptian god Tefnut, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefnut

 

All the posts on the natron manufacturing cooling of Sneferu's Red Pyramid and the Great Pyramid of Khufu : click here or on the "LE BLOG" button

The Great Serpent Apep (Apophis)

The fight between Sun god Ra and Apep / The restraint of the inclined well waters / The equal length cuts of Apep

The 14 Girdle Stones of the Inclined Well / The Dormant Breach and the Draining of the Well

The fog nozzle and the 2 products of the Solvay process 

Horus represented holding the fog nozzle that transformed the pressurized water of the inclined well into a fog of microdroplets, after it had been hit (rammed) by the impactor of the Grand Gallery

Pharaohs represented holding the 2 final products of the Solvay process

The impactor of the inclined well

The wooden base of the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures

The operating of the grand gallery / The wooden beetle gantry scarab

The Nefertem Emblem / The Khepeshes and the Clamping Rings

The description of the horizontal evaporative cooling passage

The 32 meters collecting ramp

The Dendera Light

The Dendera Light on the reliefs at the Hathor temple is the fog of microdroplets of the theory

The Dendera Light Bulb / The double outline of the characters offering the cold / The arms and Djed Pillar

Pharaohs Amasis and Hatshepsut are not shown in a purification or baptism act : they are not bringing libation vessels so that their content would be used right away ; they are demonstrating that the chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate was successful. On the artifact farther below, king Taharqa is doing the same thing, but in front of the representations of the chemical manufacturing process heat (the falcon) and its cooling (the snake).

If it was for purification, there wouldn't need to be 2 vessels, and the lids would have been removed.

It is said in literature that this exact kind of ancient Egyptian libation vessels are made for water purification, or sometimes for beer or wine. But if you really are planning for a religious purification act, you don't come with the lids on the libation vessels : you remove the lids. If the lids are still on the vessels, it is because whatever is inside them, it needed to be sealed off.

 

Left images : Kneeling statuette of King Amasis from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. Accession Number: 35.9.3 ; 570–526 B.C. Center image : Large Kneeling Statue of Hatshepsut. Accession Number : 30.3.1 also from the MET (ca. 1479–1458 B.C).

 

Horus / The metaphoric representation of the Natron manufacturing

As I have already suggested in previous posts, I believe that what we call today "ancient Egyptian gods" were actually metaphoric representations of Natron manufacturing by a Solvay-like process, that started most probably before Dynasty 1. This "quest" was nothing else than an applied research programme on the field of chemical manufacturing and it is even possible that this programme resulted in the very first Dynasty, the "Dynasty 0" or " Dynasty 00".

These 2 myths are actually referring to very real events, but the first thing to understand is that ancient Egyptian scientific and technological knowledge was nothing like modern Egyptologists love to describe.

I'm not saying they were using electricity or any other thing that fancy, but they were at the very top of what we call today "Low Technology". The Low Tech is based on very natural and simple concepts, but if you have "infinite human and financial resources" like pharaohs did, you can achieve extraordinary results.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu is the outcome of that research programme, but what we know of that pyramid today is only its lower part. That "Lower Great Pyramid" was designed to produce, store and transfer cold to the Upper Great Pyramid, where were installed the counterflow reaction Solvay chambers.

The cold was produced by one of the most important Low Technology : the adiabatic evaporative cooling. If you put very small droplets of liquid water into dry air, the water evaporates by taking energy from the air. As a result, the air loses energy and cool down.

 

Chemistry was the real secret of ancient Egyptian pharaohs and Djed Pillars were very real structures involved in that field.

 

The 2 final magical products of the Solvay process : sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate

It is only since I started to work on the Red Pyramid of Sneferu that I could figure out the reason why ancient Egyptians had to produce cold in the Great Pyramid : they were trying to master the natron manufacturing by the Solvay process, or a Solvay-like process. Since then, I only focused myself on the sodium carbonate manufacturing, because it is the purest mineral form of natron, and so I thought it was the goal of the entire process ; but it was probably a mistake : the Solvay process final products are actually 2 different components : the sodium carbonate (natron Na2CO3) and the sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3, also called today baking soda or bicarbonate of soda).

Both have plenty of purposes, but the more important is that they were made by pure chemistry. That chemistry craft was most probably seen by the people as pure magic.

If I'm correct, the 2 libation vessels shown in so many figures and reliefs, are actually representing these 2 components.

 

The 2 patinated vessels : the successful chemical manufacturing demonstration

I may be wrong, because I don't know the history of this particular Amasis figurine shown above, but it also looks like the 2 vessels appear patinated, like they were touched hundreds or thousands of times, like worshipping people still do today on some parts of statues all over the world.

 

For more details about the Natron manufacturing and the Solvay process, please visit the post on the Red Pyramid.

 

Left photographs  : sarcophagus of the burial chamber of Thutmes III, Tomb KV34 thanks to ARCE, American Research Center in Egypt in partnership with the American University in Cairo Egyptology Department (search for the "gallery" menu). The first image #10643 (foot end) shows Isis and the second image #10644 (head end) shows Nephthys (photographer : Francis Dzikowski). Right images : Bent Pyramid of Sneferu at Dahshur, Western part of the Horizontal Passage with Portcullis, thanks to the ISIDA Project, Research Society on Ancient Artifacts

 

Isis and Nephthys are shown preparing the content of the 2 libation vessels

What we see on the sarcophagus photographs of Thutmes III from ARCE, is the ultimate fabrication step of the 2 components presented by the pharaohs. But it is not Thutmes III that is preparing them : it is goddesses Isis and Nephthys.

How these 2 libation vessels could be an offering from the pharaoh if their content is made by goddesses?

 

Isis and Nephthys are shown doing the filtration of the chemical manufacturing on sand filters

The final step of the chemical manufacturing process of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate, was 4500 years ago, like it is still today, the filtration of the components. This filtration is represented in ancient Egyptian art by what is described as "collars" in literature, but are actually sand filter, from which are dripping liquid drops.

There is one of these sand filters still in place in Sneferu's Bent Pyramid, and we can see on the photograph from the ISIDA project, that its sand is probably still in place, as well as the portcullis that controlled its supply.

 

In brief, the sarcophagus of Thutmes III could most likely indicates that :

• Isis is the representation of the sodium carbonate manufacturing ("magical" mineral purest form of natron)

• Nephthys is the representation of the sodium bicarbonate manufacturing

For now, the only reason why Isis would be associated with the sodium carbonate, the natron, instead of Nephthys, is only because natron had most probably a higher value compared to the sodium bicarbonate because of its use in the mummification process ; and the fact that Isis has a much more important presence in ancient Egyptian religion compared to Nephthys.

 

Pharaoh king Taharqa presenting god Hemen with wine E25276, from the Louvre Museum, Paris. 

This amazing artifact from the Louvre Museum is outstanding, because it shows a pharaoh kneeled down in front of the representations of the heat generated by the chemical manufacturing (the falcon) and the cold production (the snake), both put on the representation of the impactor of the grand gallery / inclined well : the wooden hollow base of the figure.

 

King Taharqa is thanking the gods for the successful chemical manufacturing

There is no offering in this scene : the pharaoh isn't giving anything to anybody and he is even not physically connected to the rest of the artifact because he is not part of the action.

That is the falcon and the snake who gave the content of the bowls to him.

The falcon is a metaphor of the natron manufacturing heat and the snake represents the cold made out of water that cooled down the reactions.

King Taharqa, like Amasis and Hatshepsut, is simply thanking the gods with the highest respect for giving him the 2 bowls content, and that is certainly not wine as indicated in the data sheet of the artifact, but very much probably sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate if I am right about the Solvay process.

The fact that the snake is gently put between the falcon's legs, is also a perfect metaphor of the balance achieved between the heat of the Upper Great Pyramid chemical reactions and the cold produced by the Lower Great Pyramid.

The falcon and the snake should engage into a mortal combat, but they are not, they have been perfectly domesticated ; the heat and the cold have been perfectly mastered.

 

The chemical manufacturing as a legitimacy to reign demonstration

These statues of pharaohs holding the 2 vessels, would also reinforce the idea that part of pharaohs legitimacy to reign was coming from their ability to demonstrate their mastering of the "magical" chemical manufacturing to their people.

 

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 ; Paris, France, Hauteur : 9 cm ; Largeur : 2,7 cm ; Profondeur : 6 cm. Date de création/fabrication : Basse Epoque (664 - 332 BCE).

Evaporative cooling applications webpage screenshot : AquaFog® from Jaybird Manufacturing Inc (Pennsylvania, USA).

 

The surprising efficiency of the evaporative cooling process that created cold in the horizontal passage of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, is still used today in modern evaporative coolers

"Evaporative coolers lower the temperature of air using the principle of evaporative cooling, unlike typical air conditioning systems which use vapor-compression refrigeration or absorption refrigeration. Evaporative cooling is the conversion of liquid water into vapor using the thermal energy in the air, resulting in a lower air temperature". Source : Wikipedia

 

Hapi, the ancient Egyptian god of the Nile and flood. Left : Statue of the God Hapy. Late Period, Dynasty 26, VII–VI cent. B. C. © The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Right : Statuette du dieu de la crue du Nil Hâpi, N5030 from the Louvre Museum (via  l’Agence photo de la Réunion des Musées nationaux et du Grand Palais © Musée du Louvre, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Christian Décamps).

 

Hapi, the god of the representation of the water supply of the pyramid, holding the evaporative cooling fog nozzle

Horus is not the only god holding the fog nozzle, here are other examples with the god Hapi. The way that Hapi is holding the fog nozzle should convince the greatest skeptics that this so particular element wasn't a libation vessel used for purification or baptism.

It is not a coincidence that Hapi is also holding the fog nozzle : Hapi was the god of the Nile, and we've already seen that the water used inside the Great Pyramid for the impactor to move and the cold to be produced, was most probably coming from the Nile. 

Apep was the representation of the inclined well waters, pressurized by the fall of the impactor, and "Apep was seen as a giant snake or serpent leading to such titles as Serpent from the Nile" (Source : Wikipedia).

 

The Horus, Isis and Nephthys triad, showing the cooling fluid transfer metaphor with overly large belly buttons.

Left : Amulet depicting Isis, Horus, and Nephthys from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. 664–30 B.C. Accession Number: 26.7.890. Center : Triad of Isis, the Child Horus, and Nephthys, from the Brooklyn Museum. 305-30 B.C.E, Accession Number 37.939E. Right : Glencairn Museum News | Number 8, 2020 : Divine Mothers: Power and Protection. Amulet showing Isis, Horus, and Nephthys (Glencairn Museum E163).

 

Hapi's belly button and the overly large Horus/Isis/Nephthys triad's belly buttons : the "transfer" of the cold

We've already seen that the metaphor used with goddess Isis breastfeeding Horus the child was about the cold fluid transfer, and there is another one here with the figure of god of the Nile Hapi from the The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.

This time the fog nozzle isn't pointed to Hapi's face like it is the case on the Horus' figures, but it is pointed to its belly button, and that is a reference to the umbilical cord.

Contrary to Horus (the chemical manufacturing representation), Hapi is not the beneficiary of the cold, he is the one who created it in the first place : he was giving the water and he had to transfer it.

In brief, on this triad :

• Horus is the representation of the chemical manufacturing process in its globality : the Solvay or Solvay-like process

• Isis could be the representation of the sodium carbonate manufacturing ("magical" mineral purest form of natron)

• Nephthys could be the representation of the sodium bicarbonate manufacturing

 

The name of the serpent goddess of embalming liquid Kebechet, that refreshes and purifies the pharaoh, means literally "cooling water"

This idea of a serpent representing water and cold, involved in the mummification process (the natron is the salt used for this occasion), and that progressively emerged from my work, is actually a genuine one, and she has a name : goddess Kebechet.

Wikipedia : "In Egyptian mythology, Kebechet (also transliterated as Khebhut, Kebehut, Qébéhout, Kabehchet and Kebehwet) is a goddess, a deification of embalming liquid."

"Her name means cooling water" and "in the Pyramid Texts, Kebechet is referred to as a serpent who "refreshes and purifies" the pharaoh..." . Also : "Kebechet was thought to give water to the spirits of the dead while they waited for the mummification process to be complete."

 

On this artifact of Kebechet, my interpretation is the following : the snake represents the entire sequence of the pressurized water spat out of the inclined well. The tail of the snake is the section of the well involved in the process, its body is the horizontal passage and its head is the fog nozzle. The structure on which the snake is put, is the horizontal passage itself, and it ends just after the step, before the entry to the Queen's chamber.

 

The Kebechet "cooling water" artifact associated with the feather emblem of god of warm dry air Shu

At the beginning of the horizontal passage representation, there is also a feather, that most probably is a representation of the dry warm air that was injected into the passage between 2 consecutives cycles.

That feather is also a known representation of god Shu, that is precisely the god of warm and dry air. Shu is also known to have produced cooling and fog (see farther below, same post).

 

Scribe and Official Accession Number 45.18 from the Brooklyn Museum (ca. 670-650 BCE).

Catalogue Description : "fragment of limestone tomb relief. At left in raised relief, incomplete figure of seated man. In center, squatting scribe, body entirely frontal, facing left, holding in front of him a long palette. At right, large unidentified object (a misunderstood scribe's box?). Inscriptions in raised relief; left 'Stewart of the land of Lower Egypt'; center, 'Scribe of the gang of Lower Egypt?".

 

The fog nozzle coupled with the Kebechet snake tail

The confirmation that the Kebechet artifact could indeed be a representation of the fog nozzle and its "Nefertem supply pipe"; could come from this relief from the Brooklyn Museum, where a similar tail of the Kebechet snake artifact is coupled in its front part with a representation of the nozzle itself.

 

On the Dendera Light relief drawing, please notice that what seems to be important here isn't the snake, but the spat venom of the snake. Also, you can see that the characters holding the snake are showing a double outline, the same way that the character holding (or offering) the Dendera Light does, on the right part of the drawing. The Dendera Light is produced by the snake, or as explained : by the venom of the snake. This particular relief is describing how was produced the microdroplets fog of sprayed water and the double outline is a representation of the cold : they are cold and they get goosebumps.

Dendera Light drawing from the New York Public Library (Digital Collections). Author : Auguste Mariette, 1821-1881

 

The Dendera Light is the venom spray of a spitting cobra : the representation of the fog nozzle operating

The reasons why the snake has been chosen to represent the water and the fog nozzle operating are numerous ; among them is the way that the serpent is moving, or its moving into water, it's posture attack and the way it is spitting out its venom to attack or defend itself.

That drawing of one of the Dendera Light reliefs, is absolutely outstanding, because it is organized the same way we do today in every single science book : the theoretical part on one side and the practical part on the other side.

On the left side of the drawing, we can see that the key element is the spat venom of the snake and not the snake by itself : that represents the sprayed water ; and on the right side we can see the practical application of the concept inside the horizontal passage of the Great Pyramid : from the inclined well (the ascending passage), is the water pipe going to the fog nozzle and resulting in the microdroplets fog.

Please note that 1/ the angle of the Dendera Light Bulb is very similar to the angle of the typical venom spray of a spitting snake ; and 2/ the shape of the Light Bulb is very similar to the shape of the horizontal passage.

 

Snake stones in a chapel in Dendera and relief in the Temple of Edfu. These 2 reliefs are showing that the Dendera Light (first and second images) and the fog nozzle (second image, with the Dendera Light), were in some way connected.

 

 

The Great Pyramid of Khufu operating functional diagram for the Lower Pyramid cold production in the horizontal evaporative cooling passage and natron manufacturing by a Solvay-like process on the Upper Pyramid. Updated October 10, 2021 with the addition of the little imprint for the small granite block on the inclined well floor, between the girdle stones G8 and G9 (please see the following post on the Great Serpent Apep for the details).

 

The Lower and Upper Egypt origin

If I am correct, this division between the Upper and the Lower Great Pyramid* is the origin of the Lower and Upper Egypt. (*that functional division was not specific to the Great Pyramid : other pyramids, mastabas or similar structures designed for the natron manufacturing, would also show these 2 divisons ; the Lower and Upper Egypt division is way older than the Great Pyramid).

It really seems that the Great Pyramid is the first structure to benefit from evaporative cooling and that before this pyramid, only direct water cooling was used.

Wikipedia : "Horus is often associated with Lower Egypt and Set with Upper Egypt.". "In this tale (The Contendings of Horus and Seth), it was said that Set, the patron of Upper Egypt, and Horus, the patron of Lower Egypt, had battled for Egypt brutally, with neither side victorious, until eventually, the gods sided with Horus."

 

Wand in the form of a two-headed serpent, Accession Number 2002.32 from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston

 

How many fog nozzles were actually set in the evaporative passage?

Since the beginning of my work on the fog nozzle, I assumed that only one nozzle was responsible of transforming the pressurized water into a fog of microdroplets.

But actually, we can find representations of 2, 3 or even 4 coupled nozzles.

It is difficult to say how many nozzles were used, because these 2, 3 or 4 coupled nozzles could have been used for tests or in later structures. It is also not impossible that the Great Pyramid was used over a much more longer period of time that we think. The Great Pyramid is not alone on the Giza plateau : next to it are the Pyramid of Khafre and the Pyramid of Menkaure. What if these 2 pharaohs also used the Great Pyramid, and that some modifications were made along the way for better efficiency, on the Great Pyramid fog nozzle design?

 

Left and Right : Wand in the form of a two-headed serpent, Accession Number 2002.32 from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Center : hesvaas ; dubbel, inventory number: F 1955/1.4 from the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, The Netherlands

 

The extra long pipe with no decoration whatsoever (like the Nefertem pipe)

Please note on the enlarged picture on the right, that the snake only has decorations on its head. Like on the Nefertem emblem pipe, there is no detail or decoration on the rest of the body of the snake : this is just a pipe.

 

The Great Pyramid of Khufu horizontal evaporative cooling passage. Elevation data (inches) : "The pyramids and temples of Gizeh", by Petrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders), Sir, 1853-1942 ; section 40 (page 66) : "Passage to Queen's Chamber"

 

On all these figures, the fog nozzle is directly pointed towards the head or the chest of the character. The photograph in the center shows the fog nozzle with the start of the water supply pipe coming from the exit of the inclined well, and is also pointed towards the Falcon god of the Sky Horus.

First image : E3752, from the Louvre Museum. Purification scene, Horus falcon headed god with libation vessel. Center and lower image : figure of Horus DUT162 also from the Louvre Museum ; Paris, France, Hauteur : 9 cm ; Largeur : 2,7 cm ; Profondeur : 6 cm. Date de création/fabrication : Basse Epoque (664 - 332 BCE). Right images : Egyptian Mongoose (ichneumon)  E 14227 from the Louvre Museum, Paris © Musée du Louvre / Hervé Lewandowski.

Upper center image : Vintage Brass Kitson Navy Water Fire Nozzle from Chairish website. Other images are showing modern firefighter fog nozzles.

Please note that if Horus (Louvre E3752) or the man in front of the mongoose (Louvre E14227) are pointing the fog nozzle right to their face and chest, the other side of the nozzle seems to have been broken and there is no clean cut : something was attached to it, probably the start of the water supply pipe.

 

The fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid design

The fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, Egypt, seems to have been designed as a mix of a modern firefighter fog nozzle (the many teeth we can find on the LACMA artifact, farther below) and a vintage brass fire nozzle like the ones produced for the USS Kittson in 1944.

Another difference of design between the Great Pyramid fog nozzle and the Kittson nozzle, is that the top part of the Kittson nozzle end, is actually designed for solid stream : there is an additional part that doesn't show on the bottom part of the nozzle.

If you take this top part and the handle out of the picture, the resemblance with the nozzle hold by Horus is stricking.

 

Atum figures in form of a Serpent in the Brooklyn Museum : Snake Coffin Accession Number 36.624 (Dynasty 26 or later) and Snake Coffin (Atum) Accession Number 16.600 (Dynasty 26 to 31).

 

The Serpent god Atum : the other representation of the fog nozzle and cooling

"In the Book of the Dead, which was still current in the Graeco-Roman period, the sun god Atum is said to have ascended from chaos-waters with the appearance of a snake, the animal renewing itself every morning."

 

The Serpent god Atum spat out Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture

"Early myths state that Atum created the god Shu and goddess Tefnut by spitting them out of his mouth. Other myths state Atum created by masturbation…"

"He produced from his own sneeze, or in some accounts, semen, Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture."

My comments : when it is said Atum was created by masturbation, it is of course another metaphor here. When Isis is breastfeeding Horus, it is not milk he is receiving, but the cold liquid solution ; the same way when Atum is depicted masturbating, or when semen is invoked, it is only a way of depicting the high pressurized water coming out of the fog nozzle into microdroplets.

Once again, there is no breastfeeding, no masturbation, no semen and no spitting snake (see the Dendera Light post). These are only metaphors of the cooling fluids and the fog nozzle functioning with pressurized water.

 

God Shu (spat out by the Serpent Atum) was associated with dry warm air, cooling and fog

"The ancient Egyptian god Shu is represented as a human with feathers on his head, as he is associated with dry and warm air."

"As the air, Shu was considered to be a cooling, and thus calming, influence, and pacifier. Due to the association with dry air, calm, and thus Ma'at (truth, justice, order, and balance), Shu was depicted as the dry air/atmosphere between the earth and sky, separating the two realms after the event of the First Occasion."

"Fog and clouds were also Shu's elements and they were often called his bones. Because of his position between the sky and earth, he was also known as the wind."

Source : Wikipedia page on ancient Egyptian god Shu

 

God Tefnut (also spat out by the Serpent Atum) was associated with spat water and moisture

"Tefnut (tfnwt) is a deity of moisture, moist air, dew and rain in Ancient Egyptian religion."

"Literally translating as "That Water", the name Tefnut has been linked to the verb 'tfn' meaning 'to spit'."

Source : Wikipedia page on ancient Egyptian god Tefnut

 

On this picture, god Set is depicted trying to kill the Great Serpent Apep, because as an excessive heat representation, Set was seen as fighting the cooling of the process. In this scene, Set is trying to kill the snake so he is aiming for its head, he is not trying to cut him into pieces. Images from Jeff Dahl on Wikipedia and Soutekh67 on Wikimedia Commons

 

Set is the representation of the (excessive) heat produced by the chemical manufacturing

Set could be seen as the representation of the overheat of the chambers that needed to be dissipated, and he is only associated with the Upper Pyramid.

Set is the evil part of the chemical manufacturing. 

On the above image, Set is attacking the Great Serpent Apep, he is attacking the water, so he is attacking the cold made out of water.

The scene is tricky because Set is on the same boat as Ra (the Solar Barque), but they are really actually fighting one another. Set could be seen as evil on Ra's shoulder.

"He (Set) is conceived as the sun that kills with the arrows of heat". Source (first paragraph).

The real fight in the myth about Apep is with Set : the fight is about the balance to achieve between the extensive heat generated by the counterflow reactions of the Solvay process and the cold production, first by direct water cooling, then by evaporative cooling.

 

Left : Nefertem figure Accession Number 10.175.131 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. Second image is the Nefertem Emblem, inventory number N 5118, from the Louvre Museum © Musée du Louvre / Christian Décamps. Top left : 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. Antique brass fire nozzle : Vintage Brass Kitson Navy Water Fire Nozzle from Chairish website. Bottom right picture : ancient Egyptian Khepesh Scimitars (exact dating is unknown to me).

 

Nefertem and the Khepesh-Scimitar : the fittings spanner wrench

Nefertem is having a Khepesh-Scimitar on the right hand, that is described as a warfare blade with sharpened edges, even if many examples have dull edges that apparently were never intended to be sharp.

According to scholars, "it may therefore be possible that some Khepeshes found in high-status graves were ceremonial variants". But in my opinion, the idea that the reason why some Khepeshes 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 expensive 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.

 

My interpretation of the Khepesh hold by Nefertem is radically different : to connect the pipe to the fog nozzle, or pipe pieces to each other, they would certainly have to use fittings. And as a former french winemaker, I know one thing for sure about pipes and fittings : when you want to connect or disconnect these elements, and you're not in the US or in Canda where you guys have clamps, you need a spanner wrench.

The Khepesh that Nefertem is holding isn't for warfare, it is a spanner wrench.

 

Nefertem "had arisen from the primal waters " and was the "beautiful one who closes" or "one who does not close"

1 • The Nefertem "close or not close" reference

The brass fire fog nozzle shown in the above photograph is designed to be manually handled and is equipped with a handle that doesn't appear on the representations of the fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid. That nozzle was either functioning or not, depending if the inclined well was pressurized or not.

And that echoes to the Nefertem description :

Wikipedia : "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".

"Close or not close" is not a bad definition for what was really representing Nefertem : the fog nozzle of the horizontal passage. This nozzle was eventually nothing else than a huge water tap that transformed pressurized water from the inclined well (the ascending passage) into a mist of microdroplets of liquid water. There was no valve though, just the fall of the impactor inside the grand gallery of the Great Pyramid that pressurized the well.

 

2 • The Nefertem "arisen from the primal waters" reference

That part have already been discussed in the previous post on the myth about Apep : the primal waters are describing the inclined well waters themselves.

God Nefertem is another metaphor, this time it is representing the fog nozzle itself and its operating.

 

The fog nozzle of the horizontal evaporative cooling passage of the Great Pyramid was most probably very similar to a modern firefighter fog nozzle.

The image on the left is the Nefertem Emblem, inventory number N 5118, from the Louvre Museum © Musée du Louvre / Christian Décamps. Second image from the LACMA : Cultic Aegis and Menat with a Goddess Head. Egypt, 19th and 20th Dynasties (1315 - 1081 BCE). Bronze, 4 1/4 × 4 1/2 × 5 5/8 in. (10.8 × 11.43 × 14.29 cm). The Phil Berg Collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The center image is a modern firefighter fog nozzle.

 

The Wedjat Eye of Horus and the disc of Sabu. The draw, showing the dome shaped plates in their counterflow reaction chambers, comes from a technical data sheet of a European 1800's sodium carbonate manufacturing based on the Ammonia Soda Solvay process, and is fully explained on Lenntech website (The Netherlands).

 

The 80 years of conflict and challenges between Horus and Set

Wikipedia : "Horus was told by his mother, Isis, to protect the people of Egypt from Set, the god of the desert, who had killed Horus' father, Osiris. Horus had many battles with Set, not only to avenge his father, but to choose the rightful ruler of Egypt. In these battles, Horus came to be associated with Lower Egypt, and became its patron."

 

1 • The Wedjat Eye of Horus broken into pieces is the Disc of Sabu

​The Wedjat Eye of Horus is representing a disc of Sabu, inserted inside a counterflow reaction Solvay chamber. The snake is a representation of the cold produced to cool down the reactions and it was made of water.

The first attempts to balance the reaction temperatures were most probably made by simple direct water cooling until the evaporative cooling was implemented and mastered in the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

The vulture is another representation of the excessive heat produced by the Solvay process, he is embracing the entire Eye and he is gonna eat the cold. That cold is represented by the snake, and its cooling fluid is connected on the Eye, where tears are coming from.

The tears of the Eye, or the breastfeeding of Horus by Isis, or the snake predators feeding animal metaphor (mongoose, hawks, vultures, crocodiles, cats, ibis, etc.), all this is describing the cooling of the chemical process.

The disc of Sabu is made of metamorphic siltstone, a very fragile material that is actually a schist stone, and it had been entirely carved from a single block. When the balance between excessive heat and cooling failed, the discs of Sabu were susceptible to break over excessive thermal stress, whether it resulted from excessive heat or excessive cooling, in particular with direct water cooling.

 

Wikipedia : "The Eye of Horus, wedjat eye or udjat eye is a concept and symbol in ancient Egyptian religion that represents well-being, healing, and protection. It derives from the mythical conflict between the god Horus with his rival Set, in which Set tore out or destroyed one or both of Horus's eyes and the eye was subsequently healed or returned to Horus."

 

The solar barque entering the underworld primal waters is the representation of the impactor of the Great Pyramid entering the inclined well.

 

2 • The wooden and stone boat race / The wooden cradle float and granite weight of the impactor

Wikipedia : "… the other gods were getting tired from over eighty years of fighting and challenges. Horus and Set challenged each other to a boat race, where they each raced in a boat made of stone. Horus and Set agreed, and the race started. But Horus had an edge: his boat was made of wood painted to resemble stone, rather than true stone. Set's boat, being made of heavy stone, sank, but Horus' did not. Horus then won the race, and Set stepped down and officially gave Horus the throne of Egypt."

 

The wooden cradle float that was the main structure of the impactor is represented in many Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figurine bases. The weight made in stone is most of the time only fully represented on Imhotep's figures. 

Images on the left : Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Figure, Accession Number: 21.9.1a-c from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue. On the right : Imhotep's figures showing the granite block weight, without the wooden cradle float : figure of Imhotep EA40666 from the British Museum

 

 

On this image, The Great Serpent Apep god of Chaos is restraint by ropes : it is representing the restraint of the pressurized water of the inclined well by the girdle stones. These girdles are represented in U-shaped red elements on the relief, because the 3 upper girdles are actually half girdles, each built in 2 U-shaped blocks. The snake metaphors real meaning : the water of the Great Pyramid.

 

Under the head of the snake, the knife cuts are also representing the fact that while it was restraint, a small portion of it was separated from the rest of the water. That small amount of water, maybe a few hundred liters, was then injected into the evaporative cooling passage, passing through the fog nozzle.

The ropes restraining the serpent indicate that the inclined well is pressurized, and that a small amount of it is ready to be separated to get injected into the evaporative cooling passage ; that explains why Anubis is showing off his knife : the well has been prepared by the impactor and he is ready to make the "cut".

 

For more details on the Apep representations of the inclined well waters, the meaning of its fight against Sun god Ra and the 14 girdle stones of the ascending passage, please visit its dedicated post

 

The ancient Egyptian god of the Sky Horus as a child, represented breast-fed by Isis and with a falcon head, holding the fog nozzle of the evaporative cooling passage of the Great Pyramid. Left image :  Isis nursing Horus from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. 1070–343 B.C. Third Intermediate Period–Late Period. Accession Number: 17.190.1641. Center image : Egyptian Mongoose (ichneumon)  E 14227 from the Louvre Museum, Paris © Musée du Louvre / Hervé Lewandowski. Right image : Statue of a Crocodile with the Head of a Falcon AN 22.347 from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland.

 

The representation and metaphors of the Solvay chambers/Djed Pillars cooling

1 • The Isis breastfeeding metaphor of Horus the child : the cooling/transfer fluid

Horus is often represented on many figures as a child with Isis breastfeeding him. This scene is not to be taken literally.

Like everything else about ancient Egyptian religion, this is only a metaphor.

There is no breastfeeding, and no Horus as a child. The metaphor is about the transfer of the cooling fluid from the Queen's chamber to the Solvay towers. Isis is not giving milk to Horus, but the cold brine that is circulating into the cold plate exchanger that was installed inside that chamber.

 

2 • The snake predators feeding metaphors

We've seen that the key element of the operating of the Great Pyramid, was the water and that it was represented by a snake. The great amount of pressurized water inside the inclined well was represented by the Great Serpent Apep (Apophis) and the small amount of water injected inside the evaporative cooling passage was represented in the Dendera reliefs by a small snake.

So the snake is a representation of the cold, and that cold was transferred to the Solvay towers. It is like the Solvay towers were needed to be fed with the cold. That explains why so many animals that are eating snakes as a regular diet, appear so often in ancient Egyptian religion scenes.

The mongoose, the hawk and vulture, the crocodile, the cat, the ibis... all of them are snake predators : they are nothing else than feeding metaphors for the Solvay reaction chambers.

Please note the hawk headed crocodile figurine on the above photograph. What these 2 animals have in common : they eat snakes.

 

If we consider Horus to be the representation of the Natron manufacturing by the Solvay process and Set, as the overheating of the Solvay reaction chambers, it would explain a lot of things and in particular the famous conflict between Horus and Set, that lasted 80 years.

Horus can be tricky to understand, because he is a representation of the natron manufacturing that was located on the Upper Pyramid, but he was cooled down by the Lower Pyramid. That explains certain meanings of his name.

 

The disc of Sabu was installed inside chemical reaction chambers of Solvay towers, the Djed Pillars

 

Horus god of the Sky, but also the "distant one" or "one who is above, over"

Wikipedia : "Horus is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably god of kingship and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. He was most often depicted as a falcon, or as a man with a falcon head".

If we consider Horus to be the representation of the Natron manufacturing by the Solvay process and Set, as the overheating of the Solvay reaction chambers, it would explain a lot of things and in particular the famous conflict between Horus and Set, that lasted 80 years.

Horus can be tricky to understand, because he is a representation of the natron manufacturing that was located on the Upper Pyramid, but he was cooled down by the Lower Pyramid. That explains certain meanings of his name :

Wikipedia : "Additional meanings are thought to have been "the distant one" or "one who is above, over"

Horus, as the Natron manufacturing unit representation on the Upper part of the Great Pyramid was indeed away and over everybody who were working in the grand gallery, precisely to cool down the reaction chambers.

 

But some other clues also suggest that the elevation of the Great Pyramid wasn't finished at the time when it was functional and that there was kind of a flat roof, or partial flat roof, at the level of the Lady Arbuthnot chamber.

• The copper parts hammered down onto the doors (or Gantenbrink's slab) on the upper part of the Queen's northern and southern shafts.

• The change of direction of the northern King's chamber shaft

• The granite beams of the King's chamber complex that no longer rest on granite but on regular limestone blocks.

 

In other words, the Solvay towers were in open air, on the Upper part of the Great Pyramid and that explains another name of Horus : god of the Sky.

 

Wikipedia : "Khnum or also romanised Khnemu (...) was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities, originally the god of the source of the Nile. In art, Khnum was usually depicted as a ram-headed man at a potter's wheel, with recently created children's bodies standing on the wheel. He was also shown holding a jar from which flowed a stream of water."

Left image : Cnouphis-Nilus (Jupiter-Nilus, Dieu Nil) N372.2 C35 from the Brooklyn Museum. Center image : E3752, from the Louvre Museum. Purification scene, Horus falcon headed god with libation vessel. Right drawing from the New York Public Library (Digital Collections). Author : Auguste Mariette, 1821-1881. 

 

Khnum god of the Nile : the water supply of the pyramid was coming from the Nile

When a stream of water is depicted in ancient Egyptian religious art, we must absolutely think twice before being able to determine the direction of the stream. On the Dendera Light reliefs, this is easy because the snake is spiting its venom, but in many other scenes, it is way more complicated.

We've already seen in the previous post about Apep (Apophis), that all the water would have probably come from the Nile :

Wikipedia: "Apep was seen as a giant snake or serpent leading to such titles as Serpent from the Nile".

We've also seen in that same Apep post, that many ancient Egyptian religious text are mentioning the "creation" concept, related to dry air and moisture.

If Khnum (also Khnemu), the god of the Nile, and one of the very first primordial ancient Egyptian deities, was known of the "Lord of created things from himself", then it confirms the idea that all the water used in the Great Pyramid in order to create the cold in the Queen's chamber, was indeed coming from the Nile.

 

Khnum, as the god of the Nile, is painted in vivid blue and is representing the water supply of the Great Pyramid. He is not involved with the cold production, his role is strictly restrained to the water supply of the pyramid. Though, his ram's horn headdress is also showing the first step necessary to produce that cold : the pressurization of the well waters.

The ram horns are a metaphor of the impactor effect on the inclined well waters.

Khnum is holding the fog nozzle in the exact same way as Horus does : the stream of water isn't getting out of the nozzle, it is getting in the nozzle. The scene is showing the water supply of the fog nozzle.

 

The Ramesses "Baptism of Pharaoh" described as a purification scene, is actually showing ancient Egyptian gods Horus and Thoth pointing the fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid, directly to their own heads. Horus and Thoth are representing the 2 Solvay towers that were set on the Upper part of the Great Pyramid, that needed to be cool down.

The result of the Solvay process is the purest mineral form of natron : sodium carbonate, and that is this mineral that is "poured" all over the body of pharaoh Ramesses.

 

Ramesses purification scene "Baptism of Pharaoh" : the fog nozzle is pointed towards Horus and Thoth

The above image showing pharaoh Ramesses (center of the image) with god Thoth, in one of his forms as an ibis-headed man, and Horus as a falcon-headed man, has been completely misinterpreted.

The scene is described as the purification (some people even talk about "baptism"), of the pharaoh Ramesses by Horus Thoth gods, and that some water is poured from a kind of libation vase.

But this can't be correct, because some Horus figures are showing that he is holding the element pointed directly to his own face and that is also the same thing here.

The purification scene of Ramesses has to be read in the exact opposite way that we usually do : Horus and Thoth are pointing the element to their own faces, and the result is that Ramesses gets ankh and was hieroglyphs all over his body (or it represents the "holy" water supply of the nozzle).

 

We've seen in previous posts the meaning of the element that Horus (and here Thoth as well) is holding : it is the fog nozzle of the evaporative horizontal cooling passage of the Great Pyramid. That nozzle transformed the pressurized water of the inclined well (the ascending passage) into a fog of microdroplets that would evaporate and cool down the air.

Both Horus and Thoth are representing the Natron manufacturing that took place on the Upper part of the Pyramid, and which needed to be cool down : they were represented as snake predators. They were fed with snakes, meaning they were fed with cold (the water).

 

The draw, showing the dome shaped plates in their counterflow reaction chambers, comes from a technical data sheet of a European 1800's sodium carbonate manufacturing based on the Ammonia Soda Solvay process, and is fully explained on Lenntech website (The Netherlands).

 

Djed Pillars / Discs of Sabu / Stone basins : the typical ancient Egyptian natron manufacturing plant

The Disc of Sabu (actually many are needed), the Djed Pillar and the Stone Basins from the Solar Temple of Nyuserre at Abu Gorab are the 3 elements used by ancient Egyptians to manufacture sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate by the Solvay process (or similar Solvay-like processes like the Hou process). These are the same elements that are required today to achieve the counterflow reactions between the ascending gas and descending brines. This reactions are producing a lot of heat that need to be cooled down to complete the process.

Of course, the disc of Sabu was set upside down into the chambers, compared to his usual modern representation.

 

The cooling of the Solvay reaction chambers = the cooling of the Djed Pillars

The cooling of the Solvay reaction chambers is represented in the above image of the Djed Pillar, by the arms embracing what is another Dendera Light Bulb. This Dendera Light doesn't have the same shape at the ones we know of on the Dendera reliefs, because the fog nozzle (the lotus flower at Dendera) isn't shown. There is just the fog, and inside it is the Egyptian "water ripple" hieroglyph (U+13216, Gardiner N35), or the representation of a snake. But that doesn't matter, because the Snake is the metaphor that ancient Egyptians used for water in the religious point of view.

 

Goddess Isis breastfeeding Horus the Child N5091 from the Louvre Museum and N3808 also from the Louvre

 

Goddess Isis showing the plate cold exchanger and the cooling of the disc of Sabu

We've already seen that the goddess Isis, when breastfeeding Horus the Child, was actually a metaphor of the transfer of the cooling fluid that was coming from the Queen's chamber. Most of the time, nursing Isis figures don't show much information except for the cooling fluid pipe that looks like huge horns, and a very rough and simple shape of the disc of Sabu itself.

But on the figures from the Louvre Museum shown above, well apparently the artist who made the artifacts was given more leeway : the central hole of the disc of Sabu is clearly marked and the plate cold exchanger representation that was set in the Queen's chamber is also added. Please note how the pipes are progressively merging with the plates.

 

Left image from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence : Ptah-Sokar-Osiris / wood, gesso, and paint, 332-30 BCE. Second image from the Penn Museum blog. Third image is a SWEP Plate Heat Exchanger and the last image is a complete plate heat exchanger from V Thermo Enterprises, Hyderabad, Telangana.

 

Left : Statuette of Isis nursing Horus, Accession Number: 45.4.3a, b from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. Right : AF585 from the Louvre Museum

 

The discs of Sabu cooling inside the Solvay reaction chambers

The crown of goddess Isis is made of snake's heads and reproduce the design of modern firefighter fog nozzles.

 

All the posts on the natron manufacturing cooling of Sneferu's Red Pyramid and the Great Pyramid of Khufu : click here or on the "LE BLOG" button

The impactor of the inclined well

The wooden base of the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures

The operating of the grand gallery / The wooden beetle gantry scarab

The Great Serpent Apep (Apophis)

The fight between Sun god Ra and Apep / The restraint of the inclined well waters / The equal length cuts of Apep

The 14 Girdle Stones of the Inclined Well / The Dormant Breach and the Draining of the Well

 

The Nefertem Emblem / The Khepeshes and the Clamping Rings

The description of the horizontal evaporative cooling passage

The 32 meters collecting ramp

The Dendera Light

The Dendera Light on the reliefs at the Hathor temple is the fog of microdroplets of the theory

The Dendera Light Bulb / The double outline of the characters offering the cold / The arms and Djed Pillar

Left : Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, entry to the the ascending passage (inclined well), viewed from the grand gallery. Top and center : Egyptian god Ra in his solar barque, by Ausir. Top right : wall relief of Apep, temple of Edfu (author : Rémih, on Wikipedia). Bottom right image from Wikimedia Commons, author : Soutekh67

 

Please note on the top right image, 3 things :

• the solar barque is set on top of the axle beam of the top platform of the gallery (see the post on the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures for more about the axle beam)

• the character is set on the bottom platform of the gallery (that is the primordial mound)

• the real shape of the impactor is actually also indicated, in dark green on the solar barque

 

Apep / Apophis myth is completely inverted and doesn't make any sense

The myth about the Great Serpent Apep, god of Chaos of the Underworld and Sun god Ra, actually doesn't make any sense if you really think it through.

A proper and convincing story, would have been to say that Sun god Ra would fight the Great Serpent Apep (Apophis) during the day, he is the Sun god after all, and he would have kill the snake just before dusk. Then Apep would resurrect during the night (he is supposed to live in the Underworld after all) and restart the fighting cycle with Ra, at dawn.

But the actual myth is the exact opposite of that : Ra is fighting Apep during the night, and Apep resurrects during day light.

The myth about Apophis the Great Serpent only makes sense if you have the real backstory of the operating cycle of the grand gallery and the inclined well of the Great Pyramid of Khufu.

 

Great Pyramid of Khufu operating diagram, updated September 24, 2021 (revisions of : the inclined well 16 yards supply pipe for the horizontal evaporative cooling passage. 16 yards is 14.63 meters, that would make the start of the water supply pipe 30 centimeters ahead of the south part of the girdle stone G2).

 

Djoser's "Refreshment of the Gods" Pyramid

The fact that the Great Pyramid of Khufu was producing cold in its Lower part, shouldn't surprise anyone : the very first pyramid built for pharaoh Djoser by Imhotep, was called "the refreshment of the gods' pyramid". Pharaohs were trying for decades to master the manufacturing of the purest mineral form of natron by the Solvay process, and it required a very efficient cooling system.

 

The work on the inclined well and its water turned out to be like no other part of the theory, because this time, pretty much everything is perfectly described metaphorically in ancient Egyptian texts mentioning Apep, the Great Serpent god of Chaos of the Underworld.

The text in italic with the mention (WHF), comes from Joshua J. Mark, and can be find in the World History Foundation Encyclopedia (Canada) ; and from the Wikipedia's page on Apep (Wikipedia).

 

Apep / Apophis is the metaphor of the pressurized water of the inclined well (from the primordial still waters)

My theory describes the use of an impactor, over and over lifted to the top of the grand gallery and then released into the steep slope of the central gutter to gain speed and energy before it hit the waters of the inclined well and pressurizes it. Maybe the cycle was about 15 to 20 minutes, that is the time needed by the crew of the grand gallery, to lift the impactor back up from the water of the inclined well to the top of the gallery. This cycle would have been realized all day long, for weeks, months, who knows…

(WHF): "No matter how many times Apophis was defeated and killed, he always rose again to life and attacked the sun god's boat. The most powerful gods and goddesses would defeat the serpent in the course of every night, but during the day, as the sun god sailed slowly across the sky, Apophis regenerated and was ready again by dusk to resume the war".

My comments : in the Apep Myth, the cycle doesn't take 15 to 20 minutes but an entire day ; that is because, from the impactor point of view, when it got inside the inclined well, it was night ; and when it got out of it, and reached the gallery, day light came back again.

In Apep myth, when they talk about night and day, that is actually depicting the operating cycle of the grand gallery.

 

Nu are the primordial still waters of the inclined well, before being hit by the impactor

From Wikipedia : "Nu (also Nenu, Nunu, Nun), feminine Naunet (also Nunut, Nuit, Nent, Nunet), is the deification of the primordial watery abyss in the Hermopolitan Ogdoad cosmogony of ancient Egyptian religion."

"The name is paralleled with nen "inactivity" in a play of words in, "I raised them up from out of the watery mass [nu], out of inactivity [nen]". The name has also been compared to the Coptic noun "abyss; deep".

"The ancient Egyptians envisaged the oceanic abyss of the Nun as surrounding a bubble in which the sphere of life is encapsulated."

That last part is a pretty good metaphor of the restrained water of the inclined well.

 

The Solar Barque (Solar Barge) is the impactor

Of course, the Apophis Myth doesn't mention any impactor, but it is right there : it is the barque (or the barge), because to get the impactor moving they got to constantly pour water inside the fixed wooden caisson of the central gutter. Probably the 2 parts, the fixed caisson and the moving caisson (the impactor) were covered with a microalgal or cyanobacterial biofilm to even more reduce the friction.

On some images, we see that the barque is actually sustained by the Great Serpent. It is called the Solar Barque, because again, the grand gallery was considered as Day, whereas the inclined well was considered as the (Underworld) Night.

(WHF): "The sun was Ra's great barge which sailed through the sky from dawn to dusk and then descended into the underworld."

(WHF): "In a text known as the Book of Gates, the goddesses Isis, Neith, and Serket, assisted by other deities, capture Apophis and restrain him in nets held down by monkeys, the sons of Horus, and the great earth god Geb, where he is then chopped into pieces; the next night, though, the serpent is whole again and waiting for the barge of the sun when it enters the underworld."

 

Apep god of Chaos : the impactor descent and crash

Over time I think it is gonna be possible to evaluate how fast was moving the impactor, but one thing that will be very hard to reproduce or evaluate is the sound of the impactor fall, and the extreme deafening noise at the moment of the impact with the waters of the well. Especially with the grand gallery acting like a huge resonance chamber.

Of course, the descent and the crash into the well, would also have caused the structure to tremble.

(Wikipedia): "It was thought that his terrifying roar would cause the underworld to rumble… Apep's movements were thought to cause earthquakes, and his battles with Set may have been meant to explain the origin of thunderstorms."

 (Wikipedia): "Apep was viewed as the greatest enemy of Ra, and thus was given the title Enemy of Ra, and also "the Lord of Chaos."

(WHF): "Apophis is associated with earthquakes, thunder, darkness, storms, and death."

 

2 ways of reading the disposition of the coiled snake in the first top image of this post

• Vertically : Apep sustains the solar boat (the impactor), and represents the water poured onto the wooden fixed caisson to make the impactor move. Please note that the serpent is painted in a bluish color and that there are 10 loops sustaining the barque, that is the same number as the 10 scarab crewmembers.

• Horizontally : this time we see Apep taking the shape of the central gutter of the gallery.

 

The grand gallery operation of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, with the wooden beetle scarab and the impactor. Photograph : the Senet Game Table of Tutankhamun, with the sledge and the golden cylinder parts that were designed to engage the latch bolts of the towing scarab.

 

Both the Solar Barque and the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris mummy figure bases, were metaphoric representations of the impactor of the grand gallery. Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures 25.3.204 (left) and  86.1.88a–d (right) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art at New-York ; and Ptah-Sokar-Osiris / wood, gesso, and paint, 332-30 BCE, from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), at Providence (third image).

 

The ram's horns headdresses of the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris mummy figures represent the impactor shocks

The ram's horns significance is one of the easiest representation of the grand gallery operation to comprehend : the entire process was to make the moving caisson ram into the water of the inclined well, so that its energy would be converted into pressurized water directed to the horizontal cooling passage.

The moving caisson was an impactor for the inclined well waters : it moved from the grand gallery (daylight), to the inclined well (the Underworld).

The impactor was what caused the chaos-waters in the myth of Apep (Apophis), the rumbles and ground shaking.

 

The water slide metaphor of the Solar Barque / impactor

The solar barque was used as a representation of the impactor because it was moving inside the central gutter of the gallery on a film of liquid water, exactly like a water slide ; while the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure wood bases were used to reproduce the actual shape of the impactor.

 

Was all the water used inside the Great Pyramid coming from the Nile ?

I first thought that the water used in the Great Pyramid was rain water, but Apep was also known as the Serpent from the Nile. Is this a real information or another metaphor? I would think it is reliable, but then we would also need to add to the all thing a pumping station. Would it be possible? I think it would, and maybe it would explain the other structures all around the pyramids, such as those tiny "temples" or huge passage ways with high walls leading to the pyramids.

(Wikipedia): "Apep was seen as a giant snake or serpent leading to such titles as Serpent from the Nile".

 

On the left image, Apep is cut into pieces with a knife by the great cat Mau (the Great Cat of Heliopolis) as a representation of Sun god Ra, image from kairoinfo4u on flickr : Tomb of Inherkau TT359. Second chamber, South wall 

 

The discontinuous high pressurized water injection towards the fog nozzle

When the impactor hits the water of the inclined well, it pressurizes it and a small amount of its water is then ejected from the well.

A small amount of the waters of the well is extracted from it, and that is the real meaning of the Great Serpent Apep being attacked by representations of Sun god Ra : nobody is trying to kill the snake, they are just cutting him into pieces, of equal lengths. 

 

(WHF): "Apophis is sometimes depicted as a coiled serpent but, often, as dismembered, being cut into pieces, or under attack. A famous depiction along these lines comes from Spell 17 of The Egyptian Book of the Dead in which the great cat Mau kills Apophis with a knife".

(WHF): "According to the most popular creation myth, the god Atum stood on the primordial mound, amidst the swirling waters of chaos, and began the work of creation".

My comments : the ejected water is then directed towards the fog nozzle of the horizontal passage, passing through the bottom platform of the gallery, most probably with water splashes everywhere, and the cold can now be created.

From this part, we can think that the "primordial mound" would then represent the bottom platform of the grand gallery.

 

The otherthrowing of Apep. Image on the left comes from Tomb TT335 of the sculptor Nakhtamon. Right image :  wall relief of Apep, temple of Edfu (author : Rémih, on Wikipedia).

 

The cutting of the Great Serpent Apep in equal length segments of 14.6 meters

It is clear on the above images that the goal was not to kill the Great Serpent Apep, but to cut it in equal length segments. The cut is precisely made the same way we would do ourselves today, when we want to cut a string with a knife: we make a loop and make the cut vertically, from the top down.

Also, on the right image, the sign above the serpent, is the Egyptian "water ripple" hieroglyph (U+13216, Gardiner N35).

(Wikipedia): "Apep was seen as a giant snake or serpent leading to such titles as Serpent from the Nile and Evil Dragon. Some elaborations said that he stretched 16 yards in length and had a head made of flint".

Maybe this data is genuine and the pipe that was inside the inclined well, was 16 yards in length (14.6 meters). This pipe was filled up with water and the energy from the impactor ejected that water towards the fog nozzle. If we can find out the diameter of this pipe, we would know exactly how much of this water was used at every cycle.

 

Ancient Egyptian Mehen board games, showing coiled snakes cut into equal size pieces.

 

The Mehen game boards are representations of the Great Serpent Apep cut into equal size pieces

This multiple times cutting of the Great Serpent Apep into equal length pieces, is exactly what is depicting the famous ancient Egyptian Mehen board game.

Wikipedia : "Mehen is a board game which was played in ancient Egypt. The game was named in reference to Mehen, a snake deity in ancient Egyptian religion."

 

It is interesting to see that some of these Mehen artifacts also show the head of a goose, that is once again an animal that can attack snakes.

Another interesting question, would be to know why isn't it a cat or a cat's paw that is joined to the artifact, but a goose. Is the fact that the goose is a farm animal important?

From 5 Farm Animals That Kill Snakes : "Geese may appear to be gentle and harmless, but they are among the type of farm animals that kill snakes. When the need arises, a goose loses all of its gentle nature and turns fierce. Countless times, geese have been seen overpowering small snakes by killing them. Scenarios like this often occur when the snakes try to attack the offspring of the goose. In the course of trying to protect its offspring, a goose can end up killing a snake."

 

The link between Mehen artifacts and Apep cutting : water distribution

1 • The Ballas Mehen was found covering a pot…

Following excerpts are from : Ancient Egyptians at Play, Board Games across Borders. Walter Crist, Anne-Elizabeth Dunn-Vaturi , Alex de Voogt (Bloomsbury Egyptology)

"Of the few boards that have good archaeological provenance, the oldest comes from the late Naqada Tomb 19 at Ballas, now in the Ashmolean Museum (Petrie & Quibell 1896: 42), and dates to the end of the fourth millennium BCE (Rothöhler 1999: 11). Found covering a pot, it was likely a votive representation of a mehen board rather than one used for play, since it was only 10.5 cm in diameter (Kendall 2007: 37), but appears in the form of other full-sized game boards."

 

2 • And another one was most certainly also a jar lid

"Another mehen game without provenance, now in a private collection, may have been a jar lid much like the Ballas game as it is only 4.5 cm in diameter and unlikely to have been used for play considering it contains 336 very small spaces (Kendall 2007: 37). It depicts a coiled serpent, with a tail and head, much like the others already discussed, but with an important distinction: four holes* were drilled on different parts of the serpent and may have been filled with a colored paste or some kind of inlay, distinguishing those spaces from the others (Kendall 2007: 37)."

*Unfortunately, no picture of this particular Mehen artifact is available ; probably the position of these 4 additional holes could be of some interest.

 

Were any of the Mehen artifacts designed as game boards?

What we know for sure, is that some of the Mehen board games hadn't been designed to be played with, whether because they are too small, the segments too tiny, or for both of these reasons.

The question is : were any of the Mehen artifacts designed as game boards?

 

Center image : Book of Gates, showing the coiled serpent god Mehen protecting Ra on its solar barque. Image from Wikimedia Commons : Ra traveling through the underworld (the Duat) in his barque, from the copy of the Book of Gates in the tomb of Ramses I (KV16).

 

The Mehen artifacts are related to Sun god Ra only starting with the fourth Dynasty

Interestingly, even if some coiled segmented serpent artifacts were found dating from the First Dynasty or before, it is only with the fourth Dynasty, that the name Mehen appears, and that it is related to the protection of Sun god Ra.

"The Fourth Dynasty tomb of Prince Rahotep at Meidum provides the earliest known names associated with specific board games anywhere in the world. In a list of offerings for the king to use in the afterlife are three different games: mn ,  “ men, ”   zn . t ,  “ senet ” and  mh. n ,  “ mehen .” Translated as “to coil” or “the Coiled One” (Ranke 1920: 372–5), mehen shares its name with the god Mehen, an immense coiled serpent associated with the netherworld, whose primary function was to envelope the sun god Ra in his many coils, thus protecting him from all evil (Piccione 1990a: 43; Rothöhler 1999: 12–19)."

"Boards have been found with as few as forty nine spaces, and some had as many as four hundred (Swiny 1986: 57). There also was not a predetermined number of circles in the spiral, with as few as two (e.g., Petrie & Quibell 1896: Pl. 43) and as many as seven (e.g., Quibell 1913: Pl. XI , see fig. 2.5) known from archaeological contexts. The serpent could also be coiled in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction (Piccione 1990a: 47)."

Excerpts from : Ancient Egyptians at Play, Board Games across Borders. Walter Crist, Anne-Elizabeth Dunn-Vaturi , Alex de Voogt (Bloomsbury Egyptology)

 

Disc of Sabu / Mehen artifacts / Direct and Evaporative Cooling : the European Emergence of the Technology analogy (1500 to 1750)

If the Mehen artifacts and the disc of Sabu were much older that the Great Pyramid, how can they be related to it?

Once again, the Great Pyramid is only the outcome of many decades of technological research on chemical manufacturing that started probably around the very first Dynasty, like it is suggested by the Serekh names list* and the fact that the disc of Sabu is also dated from first Dynasty.

During all these years, chemical reactions cooling would have been a major problem and most probably direct water cooling was mostly used. The Great Pyramid at Giza seems to have been the only one designed to benefit from evaporative cooling, but the necessity of disposing of pressurized water for direct cooling would have been a reality since maybe the very beginning of the research programme.

In Europe, it took about 250 years to achieve the Emergence of the technology (1500 to 1750), with the Renaissance and Leonardo da Vinci ; and another 150 years for the Industrial Revolution (1750 to 1900).

They were most probably slowed down in their research by the lack of power, because contrary to what the western world had in the 1700's or 1800's in Europe, they didn't have the steam engine.

My guess is that, in some ways, ancient Egyptians got stuck in the first step of technological evolution : they were a civilization living the Emergence of the technology.

*Please see the post "pyramids of the cold" for more on that matter.

 

Overthrowing of Apep in the Theban Tomb TT359, located in Deir el-Medina, part of the Theban Necropolis. It is the burial place of the ancient Egyptian workman Inherkhau, who was Foreman of the Lord of the Two Lands in the Place of Truth during the reigns of Ramesses III and Ramesses IV (Wikipedia). Image thanks to kairoinfo4u, on flickr

 

The sycamore fig tree is also a metaphor of the impactor

The sycamore fig tree that appears with Apep has raised some problem until I stopped thinking about it in a "static" way and completely disconnected from the cutting made by the cat on the left part of the image.

We've seen that Apep is a metaphor of the inclined well waters, and that it's cutting is a representation of the small amount of pressurized water getting out of the well.

On this image, the cut is made right in front of our eyes : it means that the well is pressurized. The presence of the sycamore fig tree has to tell us what is causing the pressurization.

1 • If we look closely, the trunk of the fig tree seems to be completely surrounded by the body of the snake, and nearly absorbed by it. The snake (the water) is all around the trunk : the sycamore tree is immersed into the water.

2 • Also, it almost looks like Apep had been punched down by the tree and he is held down on the ground like fighters would do. The weight of the trunk is constraining the body of the snake : that is the representation of the pressurization of the water.

The trunk of the sycamore is a metaphor of the impactor getting inside the inclined well (represented by the body of the snake) and pressurizing the well.

The sycamore fig tree is the impactor.

 

The interlocked fibers of the Sycamore wood Ficus sycomorus* ("Sycomore") and its high hit resistance : "the sycamore wood is one of the toughest that exists in the timber market, according to hits, weather and time."

Knowing that the sycamore fig tree was a representation of the impactor, we now have to ask ourselves if that impactor was made from sycamore fig wood or if this is another metaphor.

From the Majofesa website, about Ficus sycomorus* : "The sycamore wood is one of the toughest that exists in the timber market, according to hits, weather and time. It even acquired a sacred value thanks to its durability, as the Pharaohs and the most powerful men of the Ancient Egypt wanted their sarcophagi was built with this material to be preserved better and longer. It was believed that in time their mummies would reach a sacred aspect."

"The sycamore wood is heavy, moderately hard and strong. Its fiber is straight, occasionally wavy, and the grain is fine and uniform. The sycamore wood is easy to work because of its linked fibers, which allow breaking and cutting it easily. It supports very well the gluing, screwing and nailing, and the finish is usually great. Sycamore has a fine and even texture that is very similar to maple."

"The grain is interlocked."

In other words, the Sycamore would have been a perfect candidate for the purpose of the impactor : its interlocking fibers make this wood very hit resistant.

*Ficus sycomorus, not to be confused with unrelated trees. From Wikipedia : "The term sycamore spelled with an A has also been used for unrelated trees: the Great Maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, or plane trees, Platanus. The spelling "sycomore", with an O rather than an A as the second vowel is, if used, specific to Ficus sycomorus."

 

Tomb KV9 of Ramses V-VI. Fourth corridor, decoration on left wall: ninth division of the Book of Gates. Photograph by R Prazeres, on Wikipedia

 

Another representation of the pressurization of the inclined well waters in KV9

This scene is also a representation of the pressurization of the inclined well. This time, this is not the impactor that is used to put weight on the body of the snake, but the characters themselves. Probably they are also meant to represent the cutting of the snake in equal length segments.

 

Apep and the combination of 4 different metaphors

In my opinion, the metaphors about Apep are the most striking of all the metaphor combinations used by ancient Egyptians I know of, and it is in 4 acts :

1 • The metaphor of the pressurization of the inclined well : the sycamore tree

2 • The metaphor of the pressurized waters : the Great Serpent Apep

3 • The metaphor of the pressurized waters containment : the restraining of Apep by the ropes (see farther below).

4 • The metaphor of a portion of the pressurized water injected into the cooling passage : the Great Serpent Apep cutting and the Mehen artifacts                

 

What all this metaphoric art is saying about the ancient Egyptian lost civilization is really admirable. I already had the utmost respect for the beauty of the Great Pyramid functioning and its marvelous impactor operating cycle, but I am starting to believe their artistic capabilities were at least equally outstanding.

The fact that their extraordinary extremely high sophisticated society was so diminished by modern people is totally beyond me.

In all honesty, we should be ashamed of ourselves.

 

The confirmation that the cutting of Apep in many equal length segments was actually related to the injection of pressurized water into the horizontal passage, could come from the Book of the Dead.

Please note that on this picture, there are 2 snakes, but they are really one single serpent : Apep. What is represented here is that the attack on Apep is on 2 parts, on a temporal perspective :

1 • The attack on the head of the snake is representing the coughing up of the swallowed water : that is the small amount of pressurized water ejection process, on every cycle

2 • The multiple cutting of the snake into equal length segments indicates the repetition of that sequential cycle, over and over again

 

The Book of the Dead serpent that swallows in one gulp part of the stream… and cough it all up

Excerpt from “The Gods of the Egyptians; Studies in Egyptian Mythology, Volume 1” by Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge (originally published: 1904) :

About the Book of the Dead, chapter 108 : "At about noon, the barque of Ra reaches the summit of a mountain where a serpent 50 cubits (26 meters) in length is found whose foremost 3 cubits are of silex."

"This serpent swallows in one gulp part of the stream. Set, at the front of the boat, directs his lance of fire against him, and causes him to cough up all that he had swallowed".  Behind the boat, a lion headed entity runs a blade through the serpent Apep."

 

What we have here, is the same scene as the one with the sycamore tree : the big serpent Apep not only is allowing the barque to move (it is in the first place, the water coming from the King's chamber), but the barque is also putting its weight on him. That weight is pressurizing the water Apep : the cutting can be made into equal size portions of water, and injected in the horizontal passage.

That serpent that swallows in one gulp part of the stream and cough up back all of it, is describing the operating cycle  of the pressurized water injection into the evaporative cooling passage.

I first thought that a pipe was set inside the inclined well, filled up with water between every cycle, and that same amount of water would then be ejected out of the well due to the pressurization. But maybe there was no pipe at all.

I'm still not sure what is the flint (silex) part about : is it the fog nozzle itself or the part that was set at the exit of the well ?

 

In this part of the Apep myth, everything is depicted but everything is also mixed up :

• The summit of the mountain is the top of the grand gallery (the upper platform)

• The barque is the impactor

• The 50 cubits length serpent is the part of the inclined well that was flooded

• The swallowing of the stream by the serpent is the filling up of the well between each cycle

• The coughing up of what the serpent had swallowed and the cutting of Apep is the ejection of the pressurized water

 

The restraining of Apep : the containment of the inclined well pressurized waters

We've seen that the Great Serpent Apep was a metaphor of the inclined well waters and that the fall of the impactor into the well pressurized it. The forces at play were so high that not only it was at the origin of some of the more impressive parts of the fights between Ra and Apep (the thunder noises, the rumble and trembling, etc.), but it also put the well on tremendous structural forces. That was the mission of the girdle stones : maintain the structural integrity of the well.

So, when we are looking at the restraint of the Great Serpent Apep, on the above image from Ramesses KV19 tomb, we are looking at the representation of the water that was restrained inside the well. The ropes are representations of the restraint, and the red elements in a inverted U shape, are the girdle stones : the upper girdles are actually 2 U-shaped half girdles stacked on top of each other. 

 

Apep worship : a gradual process of dismemberment and disposal, with water and fire references

From Wikipedia : "In an annual rite called the Banishing of Chaos, priests would build an effigy of Apep that was thought to contain all of the evil and darkness in Egypt, and burn it to protect everyone from Apep's evil for another year. The Egyptian priests had a detailed guide to fighting Apep, referred to as The Books of Overthrowing Apep (or the Book of Apophis, in Greek)."

"The chapters described a gradual process of dismemberment and disposal, and include : Spitting Upon Apep / Defiling Apep with the Left Foot / Taking a Lance to Smite Apep / Fettering Apep / Taking a Knife to Smite Apep / Putting Fire Upon Apep".

 

My interpretation is that the rituals practiced by the worshippers of Apep, once a year, were reproducing the operating cycles of the inclined well pressurization : it started with giving water to Apep (the "Spitting upon Apep"), then putting him under pressure, like with the sycamore metaphor on the Tomb of Inherkau TT359 ("Defiling Apep with the left foot"), then restraining him ("Fettering Apep") and finally watching him cut into tiny pieces in the form of flying sparks as a metaphor of the small amount of pressurized water ejected from the well on every cycle ("Putting fire Upon Apep").

It also probably is a reference to the high heat of the Solvay towers that would have been associated with fire. The water made cold was created to cool down the "Solvay fire".

Please note that " Taking a Lance to Smite Apep" appears twice. The first one is most probably referring to the cutting of Apep into equal size pieces, while the second one is referring to "coughing up all that Apep had swallowed".

Also, the rituals are described as "a gradual process of dismemberment and disposal".

 

The Eye of Horus caused the "Putting Fire Upon Apep" reference : it is the cooling of the disc of Sabu

From Wikipedia : "In addition to stories about Ra's victories, this guide had instructions for making wax models, or small drawings, of the serpent, which would be spat on, mutilated and burnt, whilst reciting spells that would kill Apep."

Here again is described a big part of the water cooling process :

• the water supply of the well : "the serpent would be spat on"

• the sequential ejection from the well and injection into the cooling passage of the pressurized water : "the mutilation of the serpent", but also "the small drawings of Apep" that echoes with the segmented snakes of the Mehen artifacts.

• the cooling itself : "the serpent would be burnt"

 

The Book of Overthrowing Apep is even more precise and directly links the cooling process to the Eye of Horus, which is the Disc of Sabu :

From THE BREMNER-RHIND PAPYRUS-III, BY R. O. FAULKNER. Chapter D. THE BOOK OF OVERTHROWING APEP. THE SPELL OF SETTING FIRE TO APEP (page 168 : Section 22.24 and 23.1)  "May the Eye of Horus have power over the soul and the shade of APEP; may the flame of the Eye of Horus devour that foe of Re; may the flame of the Eye of Horus devour all the foes of Pharaoh, dead or alive."

 

The Cold and its enemy, its foe : Fire

A lot of references about Apep are about fire, like "Putting Fire Upon Apep". It is most probably not a direct reference to him, but to his purpose : the cold was produced to cool down chemical manufacturing reactions and structures. Ancient Egyptians never talk directly about the cold (with one exception : the double outline of the characters offering the Dendera Light, meaning the fog of microdroplets, or the fog of cold), but they can't stop talking about its opposite, its enemy, its foe : the fire.

 

 

The polygonal interlocking layout of the blocks of the ascending passage

These blocks are displaying an interlocking layout revealing that the passage was also under a lot of longitudinal forces. If the girdle stones were set to counteract transversal forces passing through the ascending passage (from the inside to the outside of the well), the interlocking layout of the blocks reveals that the passage was also under strong longitudinal forces (from the top to the bottom of the well, and reverse).

Drawing of the ascending passage of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, made by the Edgar brothers in the early 1900's and showing floor, ceiling and walls of the passage. In red and green, are highlighted the imprints of the girdle stones onto the floor to reveal that they were set in 2 different angle positions. In blue is the small imprint that is still today filled up with a small block of granite.

 

The 14 girdle stones of the inclined well (and why everybody forgot about 10 of them)

Contrary to what seems to suggest all the ascending passage drawings we can find on the internet and mentioning the girdle stones, there is not just 3 or 4 of these huge blocks in the passage. Actually, the entire passage, from the G4 girdle (the lower of the usual girdles) to the lower part of the passage (right to the connection with the descending passage), is nothing else than 100% girdle stones.

The fact is that when the Edgar brothers tried to understand the function of these girdle stones back in the early 1900's, they couldn't make any sense of them all. They were only interested in finding distances between blocks in order to associate these distances to Bible or other historical events. They were able to do that with G1, G2, G3 and G4 ; but girdles G5 to G14 are completely pressed against each other and they couldn't measure anything so they didn't talk about it much (and that is precisely what they wrote themselves in their book). Since, everybody did the exact same thing and G5 to G14 were completely forgotten.

 

In italic, are excerpts from "Great Pyramid Passages, Volume 1, by John and Morton Edgar 1910", sections 460 to 470.

Section 462, talking about the girdle stones : "Before leaving home we had recognized the importance of the three upper ones as marking important dates in the Law Dispensation".

Section 467 : "Those Girdles which lie lower down the passage than the three just described, are all in contact with one another".

Section 468 : "it would seem that the stones which form the Girdles here were originally built in solid, end to end, after which the bore of the passage was cut through them. Above the fourth Girdle, however, there can be no doubt that the passage was constructed in the usual way, i.e., that the floor was first laid, the walls erected at the proper distance apart on the floor, and the roof- stones then placed on top of the wall-stones".

 

We forgot precisely the more protected part of the ascending passage, and focused ourselves with 3 or 4 minor girdles. How do you want to understand anything about this passage by doing so?

If you want to understand the girdle stones layout, you need to understand that the passage was flooded and that the girdles were acting as an integrated strapping of the well, exactly like wine barrel metal hoops.

The pressure inside the well was maybe, or probably, perfectly distributed on all its surface by a another complete wooden casing, that would have allowed the well to be waterproof. It is possible though, that the seals between the blocks were sufficient enough so that no casing was needed. Probably another copper pipe was fixed on the floor of the well that would have allowed some of its water to be injected into the entry of the horizontal cooling passage.

 

The lower end-to-end girdles are arranged in 2 sets with different orientations

When you look attentively to the drawing of the Edgar brothers, showing the girdle imprints on the floor of the passage (above image, in red and green), you can see something absolutely amazing : these girdle stones were arranged in 2 sets of girdles, and that these 2 sets were positioned at a different angle to the vertical axis.

This particular layout reveals a dormant breach, just waiting to be opened up, and it is located right where the Al Ma'mun cavity has been digged.

 

The 14 girdle stones of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, indicating that the ascending passageway was a flooded well, and that it was drained inside the Al-Ma'mun cavity towards the descending passageway and the subterranean chamber.

Last update : September 23, 2021 (correction of the position of the 3 granite plug blocks, resulting of the identification of the most probable granite weight block of the impactor as the subterranean recess block).

 

The breach opening for the shutdown procedure of the pyramid

The 2 sets of girdles with different orientations are opening up to reveal a dormant breach. More amazing is that at the exact location where the breach is positioned, we can find a tiny squared imprint in the floor with a granite plug still stuck inside, and on the other side of the wall is the huge Al-Ma'mun cavity, leading to the subterranean part of the Great Pyramid.

My guess is that this particular layout was designed to drain the well for the shutdown procedure of the pyramid : a small granite block would have been positioned in the small imprint (colored in blue on the drawing), placed against the wall, directly next to the dormant breach.

This is Petrie talking about the part just ahead (south) of the granite plugs : "The present top one is not the original end ; it is roughly broken, and there is a bit of granite still cemented to the floor some way farther South of it". Source : The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh par W. M. Flinders Petrie. Chapter : Ascending Passage, page 21.

 

When time has come to shut the pyramid down, the impactor is lifted up to the top of the grand gallery one last time, unless this time there is no float anymore. When the impactor is released and enter the inclined well, it doesn't pop back up to the surface but sink to the bottom of the well with high velocity. When it hits the granite plug block n°3 that was dormant all along by this small granite block in the imprint, it opens the breach and all the water is drained trough the cavity of Al-Ma'mun.

The draining of the well was necessary in order to empty completely the pyramid of all its content. More about it farther below, same post (dormant breach, little imprint, draining of the well into the cavity of Al-Ma'mun...)

 

Atum figures in form of a Serpent in the Brooklyn Museum : Snake Coffin Accession Number 36.624 (Dynasty 26 or later) and Snake Coffin (Atum) Accession Number 16.600 (Dynasty 26 to 31).

 

The Serpent Atum (a fraction of the Great Serpent Apep) refers to the water ejected from the well

Once Sun god Ra (representing the grand gallery, and Daylight) and Apep (representing the inclined well water of the Underworld) had finished a cycle, the adequate quantity of water is ejected from the well, and another god, Atum is going to represent this fraction and everything that happened to it from the bottom platform of the gallery to the outcome production of the cold.

Atum's role, is complementary to Nefertem's role, who seems to be a pure "technical" representation of the cooling passage. Atum seems to add vision and perspective to it. Nefertem figures are very common and rich in elements like huge lotus flowers, copper pipes, khepeshes, etc. Nefertem is more like the engineer point of view.

Atum figures are very rare. But contrary to Nefertem, a lot of information can be found about him and understood by the theory.

 

The following text in italic comes from the Wikipedia page about Atum

 

• Atum was created from the primordial dark chaos-waters of the inclined well

"In the Heliopolitan creation myth, Atum was considered to be the first god, having created himself… from the primordial waters (Nu)."

"Atum was a self-created deity, the first being to emerge from the darkness and endless watery abyss that existed before creation. A product of the energy and matter contained in this chaos."

"In the Book of the Dead, which was still current in the Graeco-Roman period, the sun god Atum is said to have ascended from chaos-waters with the appearance of a snake, the animal renewing itself every morning."

 

• Atum created 2 other gods by spitting them out of his mouth : Shu and Tefnut

"Early myths state that Atum created the god Shu and goddess Tefnut by spitting them out of his mouth. Other myths state Atum created by masturbation…"

My comments : when it is said Atum was created by masturbation, it is of course another metaphor here. When Isis is breastfeeding Horus, it is not milk he is receiving, but the cold liquid solution ; the same way when Atum is depicted masturbating, it is only a way of depicting the high pressurized water coming out of the fog nozzle into microdroplets.

"He produced from his own sneeze, or in some accounts, semen, Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture."

My comments : that part is describing the crucial point of the cooling passage that was being supplied in both (dry) air and liquid water to produce moist air with very high humidity rate.

Atum's mouth refers to the fog nozzle

 

The lifted arms of the Shu amulets and on the Dendera Light reliefs. Left : Shu Amulet 44.4.24  and 04.2.372 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. Center : Shu amulet 48.1683 from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Right : Dendera Light relief in the Hathor temple, from the New York Public Library (Digital Collections). Author : Auguste Mariette, 1821-1881.

 

• Atum and the transfer of the cold to the Upper part of the pyramid

"In the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians believed that Atum lifted the dead king's soul from his pyramid to the starry heavens."

My comments : they are talking here about the transfer of the cold to the Upper part of the pyramid. In the Dendera Light reliefs, this same idea is depicted by the arms sustaining Djed Pillars.

 

Atum Sneezed out Shu and spat out Tefnut

"The Coffin Texts contain references to Shu being sneezed out by Atum from his nose, and Tefnut being spat out like saliva." Source : Wikipedia page on ancient Egyptian god Shu

Ancient Egyptian gods Shu and Tefnut are other representations of the cooling passage. This time these gods tell us exactly what the nozzle was doing : blowing wind ("sneezed out by the nose") and droplets of water ("being spat out like saliva").

 

• The cooling god Shu was associated with dry warm air... and fog

"The ancient Egyptian god Shu is represented as a human with feathers on his head, as he is associated with dry and warm air."

"As the air, Shu was considered to be a cooling, and thus calming, influence, and pacifier. Due to the association with dry air, calm, and thus Ma'at (truth, justice, order, and balance), Shu was depicted as the dry air/atmosphere between the earth and sky, separating the two realms after the event of the First Occasion."

"Fog and clouds were also Shu's elements and they were often called his bones. Because of his position between the sky and earth, he was also known as the wind."

Text in italic from the Wikipedia page on ancient Egyptian god Shu

 

• The god Tefnut was associated with spat water and moisture

"Tefnut (tfnwt) is a deity of moisture, moist air, dew and rain in Ancient Egyptian religion."

"Literally translating as "That Water", the name Tefnut has been linked to the verb 'tfn' meaning 'to spit'."

Text in italic from the Wikipedia page on ancient Egyptian god Tefnut

 

Left : Egyptian Mongoose (ichneumon)  E 14227 from the Louvre Museum, Paris © Musée du Louvre / Hervé Lewandowski. Center : Isis nursing Horus, AN 17.190.1641 from the Metropolitan Museum, New-York, 1070–343 B.C. Third Intermediate Period–Late Period. The Serdab of Djoser's Step Pyramid at Sakkara : photograph thanks to Jon Bodsworth. Top right : cylinder seal from the Louvre Museum E25687. Bottom right : cylinder seal E32669 from the Louvre Museum. Date de création/fabrication : Djedkarê Isési (mention de règne) (2411 - 2380 BCE). Statue of a Crocodile with the Head of a Falcon AN 22.347 from the Walters Art Museum.

 

The feeding metaphors to describe the Solvay reaction chambers cooling

Ancient Egyptians used 2 types of feeding metaphors regarding the cooling of the Solvay counterflow reaction chambers, based on human or animal behaviors.

 

• The breast feeding of Horus child, by Isis

This is probably the best metaphor of all, because it is a perfect representation of the transfer/cooling fluid.

 

• The animal snake predator feeding

We've already seen that snakes were the metaphors used to represent water. The Great Serpent Apep was a metaphor of the inclined well pressurized waters (from the primordial still waters Nu), and the small snake spitting out its venom on the Dendera Light reliefs, was a metaphor of the small amount of water injected inside the evaporative horizontal cooling passage. The water is the origin of the cold, that was used to cool down the chambers : it is like they were feeding the Solvay reaction chambers with the cold.

That is most probably the reason that explains why so many snake predator animals were represented in ancient Egyptian religion.

The most dangerous predator for snakes, is the mongoose (above photograph) ; but other snake predators include : hawks, ibis, cats, crocodiles, vultures…

 

The representation of the fog nozzle

On this picture of the mongoose from the Louvre Museum, it is interesting to see that the man in front of the mongoose is holding the fog nozzle of the horizontal cooling passage. Most of the time, the fog nozzle is only clearly represented with Horus, so this artifact is precious.

Please note that the fog nozzle is not pointed to the mongoose, or the flower base that is another representation of the nozzle : the nozzle is pointed to the man himself.

Also, note the very particular posture of the mongoose that kind of mimic the posture of a dog waiting to be fed as well.

For more details about the lotus flower and the fog nozzle, please visit the Dendera Light post.

 

Funerary Figures of the Four Sons of Horus. 400–30 B.C. Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York : Duamutef (jackal head), Imsety (human head), Hapy (baboon head) and Qebehsenuef (falcon head). Right image : Dendera astronomical ceiling relief in the Hathor temple representing the 8 Ogdoad deities. Top right : Nu and Nut; top left : Hehu and Hehut; bottom right : Kek and Keket; bottom left : "Ni and Nit" (for Qerh and Qerhet). Source : Kairoinfo4u

 

The 4+4=8 crewmembers of the 2 scarab beetles of the grand gallery

Please note, on the first image of this post, showing the fight between Sun god Ra and Apep (Apophis), that the 2 scarabs of the grand gallery are represented by 4 jackals (that would be the western ramp of the gallery), and 4 snakes showing the fog nozzle pattern (the eastern ramp). Each scarab was operated by 4 crewmembers that took place inside the scarabs, and that were represented by the Four Sons of Horus figures.

In total, 8 crewmembers were in the scarabs : the 8 primordial Ogdoad deities. 2 other crewmembers stayed constantly behind the scarabs progression to force the latch-bolts back into the walls (when scarabs were going to the bottom of the gallery) and to secure the progression when the scarabs were lifted back again to the top of the gallery after the impactor was securely set on the top of the gallery.

 

The 2 crewmembers following the beetle scarab

These 2 essential crewmembers that stayed behind, and not inside the beetle scarab, are also represented on that same image : they are on the rear part of the Solar Barque, like they were behind the scarabs.

 

Image on the left : detail of the Funerary Figures of the Four Sons of Horus, showing Imsety (human head). 400–30 B.C. Late Period–Ptolemaic Period. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. Second image is a detail of the tomb KV16, located in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, and used for the burial of Pharaoh Ramesses I of the Nineteenth Dynasty (burial place discovered by Giovanni Belzoni in October 1817). Third image : Limestone false door of Senwehem, from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston provided by the Giza Project at Harvard. Image on the right : Large Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure from Catawiki. Late Period c. 664 – 332 BC. Image on the right from kairoinfo4you on flickr : Tomb of Inherkau no. 359. Second chamber, South wall. "The great cat of Heliopolis" killing the enemy of the sun, Apophis

 

Apep was also called the World-Encircler

It is very interesting to see that the same water (let's say from the Nile) was first pumped from the Nile, then short term stored and treated (filtration, etc.) on the flat roof of the pyramid, long term stored inside the King's chamber, then passed through the antechamber and the central gutter of the grand gallery, then the inclined well, the horizontal evaporative cooling passage and, at last inside the Queen's chamber basin.

I still didn't figure out what was happening next to that water, so I stop here its path, but it couldn't be the end of it...

(Wikipedia): "The wide range of Apep's possible locations gained him the title World-Encircler".

 

The water from the King's chamber

The 3 images on the left are representations of the grand gallery, with the 2 lateral ramps and the water supply of the central gutter ; the last image on the right represents the inclined well, with the 16 yards Apep Great Serpent that represented the supplying pipe for the fog nozzle. The head of Apep is put onto the bottom platform of the gallery and is made of pressure resistant flint material.

 

The junction of the grand gallery, the ascending passage and the horizontal evaporative cooling passage of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza.

The image showing Horus, holding the fog nozzle, is a detail of : E3752 from the Louvre Museum, Paris.

 

The sodium carbonate manufacturing

Horus was representing the sodium carbonate Na2CO3 (purest mineral form of natron) manufactured by a Solvay-like process, that needed to be cooled down. Here, Horus is refreshing himself. For more on this part, read the following post : the pyramids of the Cold.

 

Image on the left from "The Great Pyramid Passages And Chambers" Volume 1, by John Edgar and Morton Edgar, Glasgow 1910. Second and third images from the Louvre Museum © Musée du Louvre / Christian Décamps : Nefertem emblem N 5118. Last image also from the Louvre Museum : Nefertem emblem ME299 © Musée du Louvre.

 

The key element of the connection between the grand gallery of the Great Pyramid, the inclined well and the horizontal evaporative cooling passage

This photograph was taken before 1910, and it is the only photograph I know that shows this part of the lower end of the grand gallery. In the foreground there is the beginning of the horizontal passage (the Queen's chamber would be on the right), then you have the abrupt cut-off of the smooth ramp sloping floor and the slot in the middle. In the background, there is the east ramp and the north wall of the gallery.

The "slot" in the middle of the cut-off, is not the result of an abrasion, but a real design made for a unique reason : it allows the connection between the well and the horizontal passage when the well is lined up with its wooden casing.

This layout is absolutely essential to the process and it was probably extended by a heavy piece of equipment that would sustain the pressure coming from the well and let the air, and the pressurized water coming through towards the fog nozzle unit that made the micro-droplets of liquid water.

 

The representations of the girdle stones : the restraining of Apep

We've seen that the Great Serpent Apep was a metaphor of the inclined well waters and that the fall of the impactor into the well pressurized it. The forces at play were so high that not only it was at the origin of some of the more impressive parts of the fights between Ra and Apep (the thunder noises, the rumble and trembling, etc.), but it also put the well on tremendous structural forces. That was the mission of the girdle stones : maintain the structural integrity of the well.

So, when we are looking at the restraint of the Great Serpent Apep, on the above image from Ramesses KV19 tomb, we are looking at representations of the water that was restraint inside the well. The ropes are representations of the restraint, and the red elements in a inverted U shape, are the girdle stones.

 

The U-shape half girdle stones of the ascending passage upper part

Interestingly, G1, G2 and G3 are actually exactly that : 2 U-shape half blocks. The bottom half part of each girdle stone make the floor and half of the wall elevation of the passage, and the top part of the girdle make the ceiling of the passage and the rest of the wall section.

 

The fact that there are 5 painted girdles could be a valuable data.

Interestingly, the girdle stone G5, is also the biggest girdle we know of. Is there a link?

In my theory regarding the draining of the well, it is the granite plug n°3 that triggers the rupture / explosion of the West wall of the well. The plug crashes into the small granite block that was inside the little imprint on the floor and the impact opens the dormant breach.

For that to happens, the plug had to already have energy (speed) before hitting the small block. So the question is : where was put the granite plug n°3 during the entire operation of the pyramid.

In my opinion, the plug was set inside the girdle stone G5. It would have been the waters coming from the King's chamber "explosive" opening, that would have violently pushed the plug against the small floor block and opened the breach.

It would mean that the rest of the lower structure would have been in place for the only reason of the draining of the well.

 

The baboon turning his back to the top of the well

Please note that like on the gnomon from the Louvre Museum, there is a baboon, turning his back to the top part of the well.

On the gnomon from the Louvre Museum, the baboon has his back pressed onto the vertical line ; and on the relief painting, the tail of the baboon and the tail of the serpent are joined together so that there is just one shared element.

 

Source : "The great pyramid passages and chambers" by John and Edgar Morton, 1910.

 

The gnomon of the Louvre Museum  E 11558, with god Thot and solar disc. A gnomon, literally: "one that knows or examines" is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. (Source : Wikipedia).

 

The "explosive" draining of the inclined well

I know that the scenario of the inclined well drainage with kind of a submarine "explosion" will not help my theory to gain credit. But the fact is that it was absolutely necessary, they had to get everything out of the pyramid at the end of its operation.

It may look even more crazy to say that I also may have found what could be the proof of this : and that is an artifact at the Louvre Museum, called a gnomon, which is the part that is casting shadows on a sundial.

I think that this artifact is actually representing the floor of the inclined well and the bottom platform of the grand gallery.

What is remarkable is that the small horizontal passage leading to the well shaft is also represented, that is the square shape under the platform.

More remarkable is the lower end of the artifact, with the baboon seated on what looks like a small block, that is against a vertical element showing a perfect vertical line, and right under it, a neatly crafted notch.

I think that notch is the point where the breach starts, and the vertical line is like a punctured line, ready to break.

Of course, the small block the baboon is sat on (with kind of a smile, don't you think?) would be the original granite block set in the square imprint of the passage floor, and on its West side, ready to be hit and broken.

 

Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza : the lower part of the ascending passage and the dormant breach revealed by the disposition of the different orientation sets of girdle stones.

 

For more on the draining of the well part, please visit :

The shut-down of the pyramid : the grotto and the draining of the inclined well

 

Left : The gnomon of the Louvre Museum  E 11558, with god Thot and solar disc. Center : Clepsydra or water clock with squatting babooon 86.1.93 from the Metropolitan Museum in New-York, 4th century B.C. Right : Water Clock Decorated with a Baboon 17.194.2341, also from the MET (664–30 B.C).

 

The water retaining block and the squatting baboon

The 2 artifacts on the above photographs, showing squatting baboons on water clocks, could reinforce the idea that the same baboon, in the same squatting position on the first photograph of a sun clock from the Louvre Museum, could really have his back against a retention block, that would be installed inside the inclined well of the Great Pyramid.

The fact that we also have here, 2 clocks, one functioning with the sun (and the shade), and the other one functioning with water itself, could be seen as a metaphoric countdown of some kind.

The functioning of the water clock, would also be a perfect representation of the draining of the well itself.

 

Photographs of the Al-Ma'mun cavity, in which the inclined well had been drained. "The Great Pyramid Passages And Chambers" Volume 1, by John Edgar and Morton Edgar, Glasgow 1910.

 

The Al-Ma'mun forced entry

The reason that explains the Al-Ma'mun cavity and the little passage towards the descending passage is the drainage of the inclined well. Once out, the waters would have been simply naturally directed towards the subterranean chamber.

The Al-Ma'mun forced entry towards the lower part of the ascending passage, was to get all the equipment of the grand gallery and the Queen's chamber out of the pyramid.

 

Left : the "forced tunnel", supposedly digged by Al-Ma'mun. Right : the small passage from the Al-Ma'mun cavity to the descending passage.

 

The "road sign" blocks of the Al-Ma'mun forced passage

For the shutdown procedure of the pyramid, the precise order in which the 3 parts may have been digged, would be probably vigorously discussed, but for now I would say they started from the outside of the pyramid towards the ascending passage, then the small passage and finally the cavity itself.

They would have been helped for the first step, by the very particular layout of the stones that constitute the forced passage : there are some black and white blocks, and flat and regular blocks all over the passage, that looks like perfect road signs to me.

 

All the posts on the sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate manufacturing by the Solvay process, and its cooling in the Great Pyramid of Khufu : click here or on the "LE BLOG" button

Horus and the evaporative cooling Fog Nozzle : the pyramids of the cold

 

The Dendera Light Bulbs are representations of the evaporative cooling fog of microdroplets of the theory : the Dendera post

 

Ptah-Sokar-Osiris + Imhotep figures : the impactor of the grand gallery with its granite weight

 

The Nefertem Emblems : the horizontal evaporative cooling passage with its fog nozzle

 

The Scarab Amulets : they are representations of the wooden gantry that was giving life to the Great Pyramid

 

The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza

The sarcophagus : a bio-sand filter for the production of drinking water

The horizontal passage : an evaporative cooling unit

The grand gallery : the heart of the operating cycle of the pyramid, with the wooden scarab

The shut-down of the pyramid : the grotto and the draining of the inclined well

 

The pyramids of Sneferu

Sneferu : the revolutionary quest for immortality

The Red Pyramid : the limestone kiln and the pure sodium carbonate (natron) production by the Solvay process

The Bent Pyramid : the chemical sand filter and the last trials before the Great Pyramid

The Disc of Sabu : a counterflow chemical reaction perforated plate used in Solvay towers

 

Figures of ancient Egyptian goddess Isis with Horus. Left : Isis with Horus the Child, from the Walters Museum, Baltimore, Maryland. ca. 680-640 BCE (Late Period). Accession Number 54.416. Center : Isis nursing Horusca from the Metropolitan Museum, New-York. 1070–343 B.C. Third Intermediate Period–Late Period. Accession Number: 17.190.1641. Third image : E3752, also from the Louvre Museum. Scène de purification ; Horus (dieu à tête de faucon, debout, pagne chendjit, présentant aiguière). Basse Epoque (d'après style) (664 - 332 BCE). Right image : detail of Aegis of Isis (Accession Number: 48.73) from the MET.

 

I wanted to show the first 2 images side by side, because they look the same, but they actually are quite different on the lower part : the first image from the Walters Museum (Baltimore), show Isis the same way than Imhotep is on his figures where he has his feet only connected to the granite weight block ; while on the second image from the MET (New-York), the entire design of the impactor is shown, with the granite block inserted into the wooden cradle float.

 

The Breastfeeding of Horus the child real meaning

I have to admit I really love these representations of Isis, nursing Horus the child. Like the snake of the Dendera reliefs, or everything else, nothing that is depicted by ancient Egyptians regarding their gods, have to be taken literally. Everything is nothing else that simple or elaborate metaphors.

And the metaphor here, is pretty simple. Isis is set onto a chair (meaning that others would have to lift her : the 8 crewmembers of the 2 scarab beetles of the grand gallery), that is put onto the impactor, with the wooden cradle float and/or the granite weight block (the "heart" of the pyramid). She is wearing a crown showing the many teeth of the fog nozzle of the horizontal cooling passage (last image)… and she is breastfeeding Horus the child.

The important thing here, is of course the breastfeeding ; but this is not milk that Horus the child is receiving : this is what comes out of the Queen's chamber plate heat exchanger. Horus is given cold solution brine.

It is nothing else than the same scene depicted on the first image of this post, showing the falcon Horus waiting to be fed with the snake, the representation of the cold. It is the same feeding metaphor.

Probably that the "wands of Horus" represent the pipes, or tubes, that were feeding the Solvay units with cold solution.

On these figurines, what Isis is really doing, is cooling down the Natron manufacturing towers/chambers/units, whatever was really set on the flat roof of the pyramid.

 

The Serdab of Djoser's Step Pyramid at Sakkara. Photographs thanks to Jon Bodsworth (left) and Roweromaniak (right). Top right : sceau cylindre from the Louvre Museum E25687. Date de création/fabrication : Nebhepetrê Montouhotep II (mention de règne) (2033 - 1982 BCE). Bottom right : sceau cylindre E32669 from the Louvre Museum. Date de création/fabrication : Djedkarê Isési (mention de règne) (2411 - 2380 BCE).

 

The Serdab (literally meaning cold water) of Imhotep's Step Pyramid at Sakkara

From Wikipedia : "A serdab, (literally meaning "cold water", which became a loanword in Arabic for 'cellar') is an ancient Egyptian tomb structure that served as a chamber for the Ka statue of a deceased individual. Used during the Old Kingdom, the serdab was a sealed chamber with a small slit or hole to allow the soul of the deceased to move about freely. These holes also let in the smells of the offerings presented to the statue".

 

What is interesting to note on the photograph of the Serdab of the Djoser Step Pyramid at Sakkara, is that not only there are 2 holes, but one of them had been set right in between 2 different blocks.

In my opinion, the serdab had nothing to do with a tomb, it was a cooling chamber. If serdab means "cold water", then it means that cold water would have been injected into that chamber. It could probably be a room that will evolve into the Queen's chamber of the Great Pyramid.

Probably water (or a solution), at room temperature was passing through the hole on the right (pierced in the middle of the block) ; and very cold or very hot water (or solution) was passing through the hole that is in between the 2 blocks.

We can imagine that high temperature solutions coming from the Solvay towers would have been injected through the left hole (in between the 2 blocks) and that it would have leave the chamber, at "room temperature", passing through the right hole.

The joint between the 2 blocks would have play the role of an expansion joint.

It is also possible that the "2 wands of Horus" may represent the pipes coming through the 2 holes of the Serdab, or the holes themselves.

 

The horizontal cooling passage of the Great Pyramid

Chemical manufacturing of the Na2CO3 (the pure mineral form of natron) was since the very beginning a perpetual fight between the heat produced by the counterflow reactions inside the chambers were discs of Sabu were set, and the necessity to cool down these reactions so that the 2 different cycles of the Solvay process could be efficient.

I presume that the design of the Great Pyramid, with its horizontal cooling passage, and the storage of the cold in the Queen's chamber, was the achievement of their civilization.

 

Imhotep's figures showing the granite block weight of the theory, without the wooden cradle float. Left : Figurine of Seated Imhotep E3640 from the Louvre Museum. Date de création/fabrication : Basse Epoque (attribution d'après style) (664 / 332 BCE). © Musée du Louvre / RMN-Grand Palais / Hervé Lewandowski. Second image : figure of Imhotep EA40666 from the British Museum

 

Imhotep's granite block : the heart of the Great Pyramid

Imhotep was a scientist, an architect and an engineer, so we shouldn't be surprised about the way he is depicted in his seated figurines : he holds the knowledge in his hands (or the Step Pyramid plans), seated with his feet in contact with what represented maybe the most important piece of the Great Pyramid operating cycle, the granite block that was inside the wooden cradle float.

The wooden beetle scarab operating inside the grand gallery was designed only to lift this block. The wooden cradle float all around it was only here to get the impactor back from the inclined well. This block was what pressurized the well and permitted to have the fog of microdroplets inside the horizontal cooling passage. Imhotep's granite block was, in some ways, the heart of the Great Pyramid.

 

From Imhotep's "Refreshment of the Gods" Pyramid... to the "Pyramid of the Cold"

Imhotep biggest influence was not in the medicine field, but in architecture. He is the one who built the first true pyramid in ancient Egypt, made of stone blocks and not dried mud bricks : the Djoser's Step Pyramid.

Interestingly, this unprecedented step pyramid was called "The Refreshment of the Gods".

My conviction is that the term "refreshment" is incorrect : Imhotep's first pyramid was certainly not the "Refreshment Pyramid", but "the Pyramid of the Cold".

 

Figures of ancient Egyptian god Horus showing the fog nozzle of the theory. Left and center : figurine of Horus DUT162 from the Louvre Museum ; Paris, France, Hauteur : 9 cm ; Largeur : 2,7 cm ; Profondeur : 6 cm. Date de création/fabrication : Basse Epoque (664 - 332 BCE). Photograph on the right : E3752, also from the Louvre Museum. Scène de purification ; Horus (dieu à tête de faucon, debout, pagne chendjit, présentant aiguière). Basse Epoque (d'après style) (664 - 332 BCE).

 

Horus and the fog nozzle of the horizontal cooling passage : he is refreshing himself

The scene described here on these above figures of Horus, holding something in his hands, is not a purification scene like indicated on the technical data sheet by the museum, but the cooling of the Solvay process.

What Horus is holding in his hands, is the fog nozzle of the cooling passage.

Actually, Horus is doing exactly what we do ourselves when we are suffering from heat waves : we put the cooling fan right to our faces.

 

Figures showing more detailed representations of the fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Left : figurine of Horus DUT162 from the Louvre Museum ; Paris, France, Hauteur : 9 cm ; Largeur : 2,7 cm ; Profondeur : 6 cm. Date de création/fabrication : Basse Epoque (664 - 332 BCE). Center : Image from the LACMA : Cultic Aegis and Menat with a Goddess Head. Egypt, 19th and 20th Dynasties (1315 - 1081 BCE). Bronze, 4 1/4 × 4 1/2 × 5 5/8 in. (10.8 × 11.43 × 14.29 cm). The Phil Berg Collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Right : modern high pressure firefighter fog nozzle.

 

The high pressure firefighter fog nozzle

The fog nozzle that Horus is holding is designed in a very similar way to modern firefighter fog nozzles, with numerous teeth that are responsible for producing the fog of microdroplets that would immediately evaporate and cool down the air by a adiabatic cooling process.

 

Evaporative cooling applications, from Jaybird Manufacturing Inc. Pennsylvania, USA.

 

The surprising evaporative cooling efficiency

The above image from Jaybird Manufacturing Inc. is very impressive, and shows, or suggests, how efficient the evaporative adiabatic cooling can be. Of course, in the Great Pyramid, the supply of water wasn't continuous, but according to the literature on the subject, it wouldn't have been a real problem because the water injected into the system needs time to completely evaporate itself anyway : it is not an instantaneous process.

Another thing is that the Great Pyramid would also have provide probably the best thermal insulation possible, due to its out of proportion massive blocks build-up, and the probable additional sand thermal insulation added all around the Queen's chamber and the horizontal cooling passage.

 

The use of wet sand as thermal insulation, in the construction of cool chambers. Left : Construction of Zero Energy Cool Chamber at Thoubal district, Manipur (India). Right : same thing but at Karong Village.

 

The sand of Zero Energy cool chambers and of the horizontal passage at the Great Pyramid

Also, if it is true that we've found sand behind the blocks in the first part of the horizontal passage, I'm wondering if this sand wasn't actually set all around the entire structure [horizontal passage + Queen's chamber] ; exactly like it is shown on the above photographs of the construction of Zero Energy Cool Chambers, in India.

After all, when the French team who discovered the sand behind the blocks, reported it, they were asked to stop their work. We don't know the entire extend of the sand casing behind the blocks.

I first thought the sand was here to reduce the thermal stress on the structure, due to the constant sudden changes in temperature that occurred in the first part of the passage, and maybe it also served this problem ; but it was most likely to be a thermal insulation.  

 

The horizontal cooling passage of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Updated September 18, 2021.

 

For example, they would have been used to connect the Campbell's chamber to the entry of the Great Pyramid to complete the operating cycle of the liquid desiccant air dehumidification (with a salt brine solution). 

The dehumidification of the air injected inside the Queen's chamber had to be at the lower humidity rate, so that it could have accept the higher amount of water, and so achieve the most effective cool down of the passage and the Queen's chamber.

 

The Wedjat Eye amulets are referring to the discs of Sabu that were installed inside the counterflow reaction chambers of the Solvay process towers (the Djed Pillars). Wedjat Eye Amulet from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. Accession Number: 26.7.1032. 1070–664 B.C. 

 

You may probably already have tried to understand the so complicated story of the Osiris myth as it is presented to us by Egyptologists, and so did I, but I miserably failed on this task. It is at least ten times more complex than an Agatha Christie novel ! I swear I didn't wake up this morning, thinking of negating another part of the academic explanations on ancient Egyptian culture and religion, but it looks like it anyway, and I apologize for that.

 

Horus's name means "he who is above" and "he who is distant"

If you remember, I suggested that the Great Pyramid wasn't finished at the time of its operation, there was a flat roof at the Lady Arbuthnot's chamber level ; and everything we know today of this pyramid was designed for the cold production : the Lower part of the pyramid was for cold production and the cooling regulation of the Solvay towers that were set on the flat roof, that is the Upper part of the pyramid.

Horus represents the Natron manufacturing that needed to be cooled down : he was on the flat roof of the pyramid, above and away of everybody else that were working in the grand gallery (the 8 + 2 crewmembers of the scarab beetle and the team leader) to produce the cold.

 

The Osiris myth is the fight between Horus (Natron manufacturing) and Set (the overheating)

To paraphrase the Wikipedia page on the Osiris myth, Horus and Set were involved in constant disputes and competition over a period of 80 years ; and in my opinion, the origin of this myth comes directly from the constant attempts by ancient Egyptians to master the Natron manufacturing by the Solvay process, and in particular the control of the cooling of the 2 Solvay towers were discs of Sabu were installed.

The information regarding the 80 years of disputes, could be a genuine one : it probably took them 80 years to master the process.

 

The Eye of Horus myth is referring to the disc of Sabu

The Eye of Horus myth is the most valuable in my opinion, because it most probably refer to the disc of Sabu itself.

Egyptologists tell us that the many conflicts between Horus and Set, could have ended so badly that sometimes Horus would have an eye so damaged it broke into pieces ; and that is the academic origin of the Eye of Horus.

For 80 years, ancient Egyptians might have work on a project where the weakest link would have been the disc of Sabu, the dome-shape plate that was set inside counter-flow chemical reaction chambers. If something had to break, it would have been these discs, that are made of schist, a very fragile stone.

The discs of Sabu would have brake under excessive thermal stress due to excessive heat or cooling, and they would have ended into pieces : that is most probably the real story of the Eye of Horus myth.

In the Wedjat Eye amulets or in other representations of the Eye of Horus, the iris and the pupil of the eye are combined together and they represent the disc of Sabu. Each disc was set inside a chamber probably like the stone basins from the Solar Temple of Nyuserre at Abu Gorab, and these chambers represent the eye itself : a perfect protective casing for the discs of Sabu.

 

Set is representing the Solvay towers overheating

We've seen that Horus was cooled down because he was fed with cold (the snake of the Dendera reliefs, the breastfeeding by Isis and the fog nozzle pointed directly to his head) ; so who is Set ?

Well, Set could be seen as the Evil responsible for the towers overheating. To summarize the conflict between Horus (the Natron Na2CO3 manufacturing) and Set, we could say that Horus had to fight constantly against an overheated process. Sometimes he won, and sometimes he didn't. When Set won, one or many discs of Sabu could have been broken.

 

The origin of Upper and Lower Egypt : Upper and Lower Pyramid

From Wikipedia : "The cases in which the combatants divide the kingdom, and the frequent association of the paired Horus and Set with the union of Upper and Lower Egypt, suggest that the two deities represent some kind of division within the country"… " Horus is often associated with Lower Egypt and Set with Upper Egypt"… " The Lower Egyptian followers of Horus then forcibly reunified the land, inspiring the myth of Horus's triumph".

I've been feeling weird about this Lower and Upper Egypt since a long time now, and then I stumbled on this particular part of the Wikipedia page : " Horus is often associated with Lower Egypt and Set with Upper Egypt".

Because what we know from the Horus figures, is that Horus is often associated with Isis : she is breastfeeding him (the cold solution). 

Horus "on the flat roof of the pyramid" was associated with the Lower part of the Great Pyramid so that the Natron manufacturing would be successful. Horus and the Lower part of the Great Pyramid were working together against the overheating of the Solvay towers that were installed on the Upper part of the Pyramid.

The flat roof of the Great Pyramid* might be the origin of the Lower and Upper Egypt.

 

*Of course, I am talking a lot about the Great Pyramid here, but this is just an example ; the distinction between lower and upper parts of the different structures that had been used over 80 years to master the cooling of the Solvay process might has been quite the same over time. In particular, they always had to construct steep ramps and platforms, in pyramids, mastabas, or other structures all other Egypt.

 

 

The operating of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, updated September 17, 2021 (revisions of : the Horus fog nozzle, the axle beam for the 3 ropes of the grand gallery, the subterranean recess granite block weight of the impactor, the high pressure resistant clamping rings and the repositioning of the 3 granite plug blocks in the inclined well).

 

Top left photograph above : 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).

 

The Khepesh Scimitars of the Nefertem amulets were spanner wrenches for copper fittings

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 be the reason of the huge lotus blossom that Nefertem amulets displayed on their heads.

But most of the time, Nefertem is also having a Khepesh-Scimitar on the right hand, that is described as a warfare blade with sharpened edges, even if many examples have dull edges that apparently were never intended to be sharp.

 

Why ancient Egyptian Khepeshes aren't sharp and were never be designed for warfare

According to scholars, again, "it may therefore be possible that some Khepeshes found in high-status graves were ceremonial variants". But in my opinion, the idea that the reason why some Khepeshes 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 expensive 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.

 

Ancient Egyptians were using spanner wrenches in the pyramids

My interpretation of the Khepesh hold by Nefertem is radically different. I keep saying that pressurized water was directed towards the fog nozzle of the horizontal cooling passage of the Great Pyramid, and for that to be possible, pressure resistant pipes were needed, and that is exactly what is depicted in the Nefertem emblem.

But there is more, because to connect the pipe to the fog nozzle, or pipe pieces to each other, they would certainly have to use fittings. And as a former winemaker, I know one thing for sure about pipes and fittings : when you want to connect or disconnect these elements, you cannot do anything without a spanner wrench (maybe not in the US or in Canada where screw fittings are very rare, but in France, at least).

The Khepesh that Nefertem is holding isn't for warfare, it is a spanner wrench.

 

The higher position of the tooth indicates that their fittings weren't screw fittings

We can see on the ancient Egyptian Khepeshes that the tooth is placed higher in relation to the handle axis than on the modern spanner wrenches and it could mean that the hook system was different : on the modern tool photographed above, the tooth is designed to hook to an external piece of a screw fitting, but the artifacts of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden show they were not using screw fittings.

 

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

 

The representations of quick-release clamping rings 

On the above figures of Horus, the fog nozzle is completely disconnected from the Nefertem copper pipe, and Horus hold it in both hands. To disconnect and reconnect the nozzle to the rest of the equipment, you need 2 things : high pressure resistant clamping rings and a spanner wrench.

I've already found the spanner wrench, it is very often associated with figures of Nefertem and, thanks to Elizabeth Fleming from the Griffith Institute and her colleague Cisco, I've just found representations of the clamps in the National Museum of Antiquities Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, Netherlands.

These clamp rings were 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

 

The representations of permanent clamping rings

Additionally to these quick-release clamping rings, we can also find representations of more permanent connections, like the 2 representations on the above photographs. These clamps could have been used to connect different pipe sections together probably not in the cooling passage itself, but everywhere in the pyramids, mastabas, etc.

 

Left : Nefertem figure Accession Number 10.175.131 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. Center : Nefertem emblem from the Louvre Museum N 5118 and inventory number ME299 © Musée du Louvre. Right : Figure of Isis-Serget as Scorpion, ca. 663-346 BCE (Late Period) from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

 

For more on the subject, please visit the Nefertem post.

 

Top view of the wooden gantry beetle scarab that was operated inside the grand gallery of the Great Pyramid, and in every single other structures with both steep ramps and massive single block platforms (in other pyramids, at Dendera...).

 

Image on the left : Red granite stone EA1097 from the British Museum : "Fragment of red granite relief: Horus name of Khufu". Center : Pharaoh's Horus name (Serekh name), and Dynasties in ancient Egypt, from Wikipedia : List of Pharaos (French version)

 

The Serekh refer to single block platforms and ramps used for operating wooden beetle scarabs

From around 3300 BCE (Before Current Event) with The Gerzeh culture, also called Naqada II, to the reign of Khufu 2589–2566 BCE : it is about 700 years of technological research on chemical manufacturing that since the very beginning, was supported by man powered beetle scarabs. These wooden pieces of equipment needed 2 things to work : inclined ramps and a huge solid anchor structure, like the massive single block that is the top platform of the grand gallery of the Great Pyramid.

These 2 components are what represent the Serekh.

 

 

The single massive block that is the platform of the grand gallery of the Great Pyramid was designed to sustain huge structural stress due to the operating of the wooden beetle scarab (onto the 2 lateral ramp-benches), and the impactor moving caisson (inside the central gutter).

 

Ancient Egyptians and Leonardo da Vinci

The ancient Egyptians were involved in chemical manufacturing since at least the Dynasty 0, like it is suggested by the Serekh names list and the fact that the disc of Sabu is dated from the first Dynasty. They were most probably slowed down in their research by the lack of power, because contrary to what the western world had in the 1700's or 1800's in Europe, they didn't have the steam engine. In Europe, it took about 250 years to achieve the Emergence of the technology (1500 to 1750), with the Renaissance and Leonardo da Vinci ; and another 150 years for the Industrial Revolution (1750 to 1900).

My guess is that, in some ways, ancient Egyptians got stuck in the first step of technological evolution : they were a civilization living the Emergence of the technology.

From what I'm describing of the Great Pyramid operation and in particular the wooden gantry and the impactor, it would have been something Leonardo da Vinci could very easily have done himself.

Most probably Imhotep was the first Leonardo da Vinci !

 

Left : image from Chipdawes, on Wikipedia.Triad statue of pharaoh Menkaura, accompanied by the goddess Hathor (on his right) and the personification of the nome of Diospolis Parva (on his left). Material:Graywacke. Dimensions: Height 93 cm. Width 47 cm. c. 2530 B.C.E. Center image : sceau cylindre from the Louvre Museum E25687. Date de création/fabrication : Nebhepetrê Montouhotep II (mention de règne) (2033 - 1982 BCE). Right image : sceau cylindre E32669 from the Louvre Museum. Date de création/fabrication : Djedkarê Isési (mention de règne) (2411 - 2380 BCE).

 

The "wands of Horus" and the cold exchanger supply tubes representation

Actually, the wands of Horus are hollow cylinders that can represent 2 things : the high pressure resistant copper pipe that supplied the fog nozzle in pressurized water and the cold exchanger supply pipes. 

The fact is that the diameter of the hollow part is so tiny that it most probably represent, in my opinion, the copper pipes for the supply of the cold exchanger, maybe in chemical solutions coming directly from the Solvay towers. The flow inside these pipes, or tubes, didn't have to be high at all.

It is possible that the "2 wands of Horus" may represent the pipes coming through the 2 holes of the Serdab, or the holes themselves.

 

Left image from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence : Ptah-Sokar-Osiris / wood, gesso, and paint, 332-30 BCE. Second image from the Penn Museum blog. Third image is a SWEP Plate Heat Exchanger and the last image is a complete plate heat exchanger from V Thermo Enterprises, Hyderabad, Telangana.

 

The plate cold exchanger of the Queen's chamber

Since the beginning of the study, I keep talking about "serpentine cold exchanger"  but I was most probably wrong about that. Many representations of the design of the cold exchanger actually exist, and they are all saying the same thing : they were using a plate cold exchanger.

The last picture is very interesting, because it shows what could have looked like the cold exchanger, in its actual size, perfectly adapted to the Queen's chamber dimensions.

 

The niche of the Queen's chamber

If a massive plate cold exchanger was installed inside the Queen's chamber, then some equipment necessary for lifting, cleaning and reassembling the plates, from time to time, could have been set inside the niche of the chamber.

 

Left : base for a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure with model burial. Ptolemaic Period 332 BCE-30 BCE. NGV National Gallery of Victoria, Australia. Center : plate heat exchanger from Onda, Italy. Right : plate heat exchanger from WilTec Wildanger Technik GmbH, Germany.

 

Could the artifact put on the NGV Ptah-Sokar-Osiris base, be a representation of the plate cold exchanger ? Could the Y-shape piece be a foot or another part of the structure ?

 

Left and center : figurine / sarcophage de faucon E 3058 from the Louvre Museum. Right : Barque Sphinx from the Metropolitan of Fine Arts, New-York, Dynasty 26. Accession Number: 2011.96

 

The top part of the impactor wooden caisson

These 2 figures could be very important to recreate the original design of the moving caisson, the impactor of the inclined well (the ascending passage).

I first thought that the second and top part of the wooden cradle float would have been quite a perfect copy of the bottom one, the one depicted in so many figure bases. The "Imhotep granite weight" would have been set at one end of the caisson, and in height halfway.

But if these  artifacts have to be taken literally, we need to change plans and probably the top part was very thin, very much like a lid.

Maybe the groove that is set on this lid, is as important and had a function. We can imagine that the ramps of the grand gallery were covered with a wooden floor that extended a few centimeters off the ramps and inside this groove to lock the impactor in a vertical plane, preventing any false movement.

Please note that Horus the falcon is set on the granite block, and not onto the wooden cradle. The only particular thing is that the block has been placed in the middle of the cradle, instead of at one end of it, like in the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures.

 

The antechamber of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza.

 

Coffret à serviteurs funéraires N 2697, from the Louvre Museum in Paris and showing the Four Sons of Horus. 
Actuellement visible au Louvre, salle 643 (aile Sully, niveau 1).

 

The representation of the antechamber of the Great Pyramid of Khufu

under construction...

All the posts on the sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate manufacturing by the Solvay process, and its cooling in the Great Pyramid of Khufu : click here or on the "LE BLOG" button

The Dendera Light Bulbs : the reliefs at the Hathor temple are describing every part of the theory, from the fog of microdroplets, to the cooling process of chemical manufacturing.

 

The Dendera Light is the fog of microdroplets of the theory.

 

The wooden base of the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures : the moving caisson / impactor of the grand gallery

The Nefertem amulets : the fog nozzle of the horizontal cooling passage

 

All the posts about Ancient Egypt : please click here (or click on the "LE BLOG" button)

 

 

The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza

The sarcophagus : a bio-sand filter for the production of drinking water

The horizontal passage : an evaporative cooling unit

The grand gallery : the heart of the operating cycle of the pyramid, with the wooden scarab

The shut-down of the pyramid : the grotto and the draining of the inclined well

 

The pyramids of Sneferu

Sneferu : the revolutionary quest for immortality

The Red Pyramid : the limestone kiln and the pure sodium carbonate (natron) production by the Solvay process

The Bent Pyramid : the chemical sand filter and the last trials before the Great Pyramid

The Disc of Sabu : a counterflow chemical reaction perforated plate used in Solvay towers

 

Abstract (english) : "The Khufu's Great Pyramid Air Processing Unit"