The Pyramids of the Cold Section 22 • The central wooden caisson and the Memphis Triad

Memphis, literally "White Walls", was the first capital of Egypt following its unification by the pharaoh Menes. The people of Memphis believed that their god Ptah, at the heart of the Memphis Triad was the most ancient and pre-eminent of all the gods. Ptah was seen as the creator of all the other gods and he was called the "heart and tongue" of the Ennead.

Pharaoh Ramsses III (on the right) and the three gods of the Memphis Triad: Nefertem (on the left), Sekhmet (center) and Ptah, facing Ramesses III:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ramses_III_and_the_Memphis_gods.jpg

The Pyramids of the Cold v2 (May 2023) • Part D: the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid

Section 22 • The central wooden caisson of the Gallery and the Memphis Triad: Ptah, Sekhmet, and Nefertem

In summary: we've seen that the Great Pyramid of Egypt was meant to create evaporative cold using the power of water, and that there are a lot of elements supporting this idea in the internal layout of the pyramid itself, in particular regarding the massive girdle stones in which had been hollowed out the entire lower part of the "ascending passage" inclined well.

But evaporative cooling simply doesn't work if there is just creation of a fog of microdroplets of filtered water: you also need air, a lot of "fresh" dry air. Each and every cycle of the operation of the pyramid had to supply both water and air to the horizontal passage.

Unfortunately, because air is so easy to move, there isn't any element still in the pyramid that seems to have been involved in this matter: every part that supplied dry air to the cooling passage, was simply made out of wood and it have been removed at the end of the operating period of the pyramid, once the well has been drained.

But it doesn't mean there isn't any other way to start reconstructing that dry air supply system, because without a fixed wooden caisson, inside which the impactor would have been operated, and which would have been exactly extending the inclined well inside the Grand Gallery itself, no air at all would have been able to be used: the fall of the impactor absolutely had to happen in a closed structure to produce and use pressurized air.

We also know that this central wooden caisson had to have a hatch on its lower part so that one of the crewmembers of the Hauling beetle could reattach the impactor with its hauling rope after its fall. In this Section, we'll see that like every other part of the Great Pyramid's operation, this Hatch has been glorified into an ancient Egyptian deity: the cat goddess Bastet.

We'll also see that her counterpart sister Sekhmet is the representation of the pressurized air itself, and that when Bastet was holding the pressure inside the caisson, some air would eventually be able to pass through the seals of the Hatch, making the air hiss and whistle, and the Hatch itself to vibrate, explaining why Bastet is often represented holding a sistrum musical instrument.

Bastet's sistrum is about the whistling air just like the Isis and Nephthys Lamentations are about the squeaking noises that ropes are making under tension (and the water dropping from the wet ropes).

Also we'll see that Hathor was the glorification of the Hauling beetle, at the end of its operating cycle, when the structure would have reached back the top of the Grand Gallery after its job had been done. When Hathor is holding a sistrum, it is this time about the noise and agitation that occurred at this very special moment of the operating cycle, in particular it is then that the crewmembers shift change would have been done, resulting in what could be described as the "total chaos" side of goddess Hathor.

Finally we'll see that the Memphis Triad, which is gathering Sekhmet, Ptah and Nefertem deities, is simply summarizing the production of the evaporative cold by associating pressurized air (Sekhmet), with pressurized water (Ptah) and the fog nozzle (Nefertem). Ptah was the deification of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid which functioned like a living and functioning heart, and Ptah was indeed described as "the heart of the Ennead".

"Ptah, in the form of a mummified man (except for arms and face) standing on the symbol for Ma'at, holding a scepter or staff that bears the combined ankh-djed-was symbols" and drawing of the Creation god Ptah by Jeff Dahl on Wikipedia:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptah

Photograph from tomb KV 11 of Ramesses III, side chamber, image # 21076 by Matjaz Kacicnik, courtesy of ARCE, American Research Center in Egypt in partnership with the American University in Cairo Egyptology Department:   https://thebanmappingproject.com/images/21076jpg

Nefertem Emblem, inventory number N 5118 © Musée du Louvre / Christian Décamps:   https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010008518

22.01  The 1st deity of the Memphis Triad is Ptah: the representation of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. It is known that Ptah was seen as a living and functioning "heart"... just like the inclined well was the Heart of the Great Pyramid

We've already seen in previous Sections that if ancient Egyptians were so obsessed about the Heart, it was only because the inclined well of the Great Pyramid, which is today called "(first) ascending passage", was seen as a living and functioning heart, pressurizing water and ejecting, or "spiting" some of it through the Junction imprint into the evaporative cooling passage. We've also seen that this well has been glorified and deified into god Ptah, one of the three deities of the Memphis Triad.

It is then not a surprise to read in the following excerpt, that Ptah was indeed seen as the "heart and tongue" of the Ennead: the heart and tongue metaphors are about pressurizing water and spiting droplets of that water.

"The people of Memphis believed that their god Ptah was the most ancient and pre-eminent of all the gods. Ptah was seen as the creator of all the other gods […] He was called the "heart and tongue" of the Ennead." http://www.egyptianmyths.net/memphis.htm

"During the Old Kingdom, Memphis became the capital of Ancient Egypt for more than eight consecutive dynasties. The city reached a peak of prestige under the Sixth Dynasty as a centre for the worship of Ptah, the god of creation and artworks. The alabaster sphinx that guards the Temple of Ptah serves as a memorial of the city's former power and prestige. The Memphis triad, consisting of the creator god Ptah, his consort Sekhmet, and their son Nefertem, formed the main focus of worship in the city."   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis,_Egypt#:~:text=The%20Memphis%20triad%2C%20consisting%20of,of%20worship%20in%20the%20city

22.02  Ptah's plastered blue hair and the bandage constraints

We've seen that if Ptah has been seen as the god of craftsmen, it is because of the extreme complexity of the inclined well layout, including the massive face to face girdle stones of its lower part, the three massive granite blocks (the granite "plugs"), including the Taweret block and its wedging block Bes, but also the very elaborate polygonal arrangements of the other blocks, in a very intricate and complex way.

The representations of Ptah are fascinating, because they are perfectly showing some of the most important characteristics of what Ptah is really all about: the inclined well of the Great Pyramid.

• First: his hair is both painted in a vivid water blue color, and appears plastered like if he was getting out of a swim

• Second: Ptah is represented mummified just like Osiris, and for the exact same reason. The bandages in which Osiris is wrapped into in so many representations, are both metaphorical and very real: the Osiris stone was most probably completely wrapped in tissue or linen so that she didn't move a fraction of an inch inside the hollowed out cavity of the wooden cradle of the impactor.

But from the outside, it would have looked like Osiris was constraint not by the wooden cradle, but by the bandages themselves.

When Ptah is represented mummified, it is for the exact same reason: the constraint; even if this time it is Ptah himself (as the inclined well), who is responsible for the constraint. It is the inclined well which is resisting the pressure when the impactor rams into its waters. Ptah is the one who is performing the restraint.

Draw of goddess Sekhmet by Jeff Dahl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhmet

Snake Inflation by DoodleDan86: https://www.deviantart.com/doodledan86/art/Snake-Inflation-Pencil-Drawing-2015-788697049

A dust devil in Arizona: https://www.nasa.gov/images/content/122739main_dust_devil_june_10.jpg

22.03  The 2nd deity of the Memphis Triad is Sekhmet: the deification of air being compressed and pressurized inside the central caisson of the Gallery, before being ejected from it towards the evaporative cooling passage

The most important thing about Sekhmet's representations is the emblem she has over the head, the one described by egyptologists as one of many representations of the Sun.

In fact, it is pretty simple: every time there is a disc in ancient Egyptian art, it has to be about the Sun, or sometimes about the moon; and every time, there will be a plausible explanation for it. I have no doubt that here again, egyptologists came up with another explanation for the "Sun inside the snake" representation.

Egyptologists seem to think that everything about ancient Egyptian art and religion has to be taken literally, and that is the most profound mistake. This is a mistake which started with the very first attempts to decipher ancient Egypt in the early 1800's, and it is tremendously damaging for the comprehension of this ancient civilization, because everything has to be taken metaphorically: the art, the myths and the gods.

The metaphor about the inflated snake of Sekhmet's emblem, is actually so "modern" so to speak, that I'm wondering why nobody has already deciphered it, because we've all seen this metaphor hundreds of times in cartoons: it is just a balloon animal, who is ready to explode because there is too much air inside him.

Relief of Ramesses II represented into the Ished Tree of Life in the temple of Derr, Amada. Rock temple of the 19th Dynasty, Lake Nasser in April 2008 (edited image). Original photograph thanks to Rivertay07 on flickr:   https://www.flickr.com/photos/rivertay/2493217074/in/set-72157604899322576/

22.04  The Tree of Life is the wooden fixed caisson of the Grand Gallery

We've seen that Ptah is the deification of the inclined well layout, and that his hollow scepter is another representation of the well.

The red arrows on the above image are pointing to the delimitation between the Tree of Life and Ptah's hollow scepter, and what needs to be seen, is that the Tree of Life is perfectly delimited by the scepter.

The message is that they are both side by side: when the Tree of Life ends, the well starts. What it means is that the Tree of Life is the fixed caisson that perfectly extended the inclined well, right inside the Grand Gallery.

22.05  Ramesses II after successfully having done his job in the Grand Gallery is "passing on the baton" to Ptah

One way of deciphering the above scene between Ramesses II and Ptah, would be to use the "passing on the baton " metaphor, because this is exactly what is happening. Ramesses II is proclaiming that the job that needed to be done inside the Tree of Life wooden caisson was successful: the impactor and its Osiris stone had been hauled to the top of the Grand Gallery and released into the slope; now it is Ptah's responsibility to do his own job by letting the pressurized air pass through him and produce the pressurized water at the moment of the impact with his waters.

By being represented inside the Tree of Life, Ramesses II is identifying himself with all the gods who were involved in the representation of the impactor and its operation.

In other words, Ramesses II is identifying himself with the operating cycle of the impactor inside the central caisson.

22.06  Isis, Horus and Osiris all together in the Acacia tree... as well as Ramesses II

"In the story of the “Contendings of Horus and Set,” Isis, in the form of Her sacred bird, flies into the branches of Her holy acacia after tricking Set into condemning His own attempts to usurp the rightful rule of Horus, Isis’ son. In some tales, the acacia is the tree that magically grew up around the body of Osiris when His sarcophagus washed up on the shores of Byblos. He is called “the One in the Tree” and “the Solitary One in the Acacia.” In the Pyramid Texts, Horus, “comes forth from the acacia tree.”  https://isiopolis.com/2015/07/12/isis-the-acacia-goddess/

22.07  Operating Great Pyramid Phase 4: the hauling of the impactor

The hauling rope is now called Isis.

Thutmose III (as a child) suckled by his mother Isis (also "Iset"), who "is represented into a Sycomore Tree".

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divinit%C3%A9s_%C3%A9gyptiennes#/media/Fichier:Maler_der_Grabkammer_des_Thutmosis_III._001.jpg

and https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thutmose_III_and_family.jpg

22.08  Isis isn't the goddess of "the Tree", nor she is represented "onto" a Tree: Isis is the goddess "inside" the Tree

Goddess Isis, either represented into an Acacia-Sycomore Tree or as the Tree herself, is the glorification of the impactor's Hauling rope which was endlessly moving inside the fixed wooden caisson of the Grand Gallery.

Isis is represented inside the Tree because as the Hauling rope, she was inside the wooden caisson.

When just the Tree is depicted, it is because just like Medjed "the Smiter" who can't be seen because he was the impactor hidden inside the fixed caisson, Isis was also hidden and invisible inside the caisson.

22.09  Wadjet and Nekhbet weren't hidden in the fixed caisson

It is worth noting, that contrary to the central Isis rope, the two lateral ropes which transmitted the power of the Hauling beetle to the axle beam drive shaft were not inside the caisson: these ropes were always visible, on both ramps of the Gallery.

22.10  Isis and Nephthys were together called the Two Acacia Shonti Goddesses

"While the acacia is associated with a number of Egyptian Deities, it has specific associations with Isis and Her family. A particular acacia—simply called The Acacia, or Shondj—was sacred to Her. The Goddess Shontet, the Acacia Goddess Who took part in the Osirian resurrection rites at Djedu (Mendes), was considered to be a form of Isis. And Isis and Nephthys together were called the Two Shonti Goddesses, that is, the Two Acacia Goddesses."  https://isiopolis.com/2015/07/12/isis-the-acacia-goddess/

The fact that the Dendera Light is made of liquid water that transforms itself in a magical way, is exactly what are describing ancient Egyptians themselves : [About the snake inside the Dendera Light Bulb] "The field surrounding Ra’s snake form is referred to in ancient Egyptian literature as protective magical energy in liquid form that all gods and pharaohs possess (Faulkner 1970*)." https://ahotcupofjoe.net/2016/11/dendera-light-bulb-and-bagdad-battery-nonsense/

*I'm not sure, but the excerpt might be from "The ancient Egyptian book of the dead / translated by Raymond O. Faulkner; edited by Carol Andrews, 1972."

The Dendera Light relief in the Hathor temple, photographed by kairoinfo4u and posted on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/14525094039/in/photostream/

Lotus seed head image thanks to Dinkum: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nelumbo_nucifera_%28fruit%29.JPG

22.11  The third deity of the Memphis Triad is Nefertem: the glorification of the fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid, and who had been described as "the beautiful One who closes" or "One who does not close"

The emblem of Nefertem is the lotus flower, but like everything else, the flower is just another metaphor: it isn't the flower in which ancient Egyptians were interested in, it is the lotus seed head that resembles to a shower head and which has been used to represent the functioning of the fog nozzle; and because the functioning of the fog nozzle wasn't continuous, but on the contrary based on a sequential process because of the Hauling cycle that could have been taken about 15 minutes, maybe a little more, Nefertem was described as "the beautiful One who closes" or "One who does not close".

"Close or not close" is not a bad epithet for what was really representing Nefertem: the fog nozzle of the horizontal cooling passage  was actually nothing else than a huge water tap that transformed pressurized water from the inclined well (the "primal waters") 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 turned the nozzle on, every 15 minutes and for maybe just a few seconds.

From 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". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nefertem

On the so famous reliefs of Dendera showing the Dendera lights, what has been described as a "womb" or as "real electric lamps" by some people, is actually the fog of microdroplets after the pressurized water has come through the fog nozzle (please, read Section 2 for more on the Dendera lights).

Nefertem is the metaphoric representation of the fog nozzle; i.e. the deification of the lotus seed head.

22.12  The combined deities of the Memphis Triad are like a perfect metaphoric diagram of evaporative cold production

To summarize the evaporative cooling process, you only need three elements:

1 • the pressurized water that is gonna be transformed into the fog of microdroplets, and which is coming from the inclined well, deified into Ptah (the god of craftsmen)

2 • the pressurized air that would renew the moist air of the previous cycle in the evaporative passage, and which had been deified into goddess Sekhmet

3 • the fog nozzle which is the one mixing them both and producing the fog, and which had been deified into Nefertem (the god of the "Lotus flower")

In other words, the Memphis Triad, by associating Ptah, Sekhmet and Nefertem, is the glorification of the "experimental" approach of the evaporative cooling process.

Original image of Rameses II flanked by Ptah (left) and Sekhmet (right), as a representation of the Memphis Triad (Sekhmet + Ptah + Nefertem), thanks to Daniel Mayer:   https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Egyptian_Museum_-_Statue_in_front_of_trio_of_figures.JPG

22.13  The real family tree of some of the major ancient Egyptian deities

The ankh symbol is the  representation of the evaporative cold itself. The process is controlled by the basic laws of physics which are regulating the equilibrium between the liquid and evaporated form of water: that is what Maat is all about.

22.14  The "masturbatory Hand of Atum" is the Hauling beetle, endlessly moving up and down the Grand Gallery, with the impactor constantly "penetrating its body" 

What is extraordinary with ancient Egyptians is that they didn't seem to have any difficulty using sexual metaphors when it was necessary; and of course, the ejection of a small amount of pressurized water from the well and the endless criss-cross movements of the impactor within the Hauling beetle structure gave them the opportunity to play with such metaphoric representations: whether we are talking about the endless up and down "sliding and penetrating movements" of the Beetle in the Gallery, or about masturbation and intercourse, they all end up with some kind of "ejaculation" of pressurized liquid.

We've already seen that Atum was precisely the representation of this small amount of water that was endlessly produced by the fall of the impactor. It could have been about 200 liters of pressurized water that would have been transformed into a fog of microdroplets, every 15 minutes or so.

We've also seen in previous Section 26.25 that the biosand filter Sarcophagus was indeed able to supply precisely this amount of water, with its 1.3464 m² of internal surface: in theory, the Sarcophagus could have been able to supply 201.96 liters of filtered water every 15 minutes.

So if Atum is the representation of these 201.96 liters of pressurized filtered water, and that the "Creation" process is about the production of the evaporative cold, then the description of Atum masturbating whit his Hand, is all about what produced this pressurized water: the Hand of Atum is the Hauling beetle, endlessly moving up and down the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid.

"The process of creation was said to have begun when Atum masturbated, or copulated with himself, to produce the deities Shu and Tefnut, thus beginning the process of creation. The hand he used in this act was personified as a goddess, the Hand of Atum. She (the Hand), was equated with Hathor or Iusaaset and Nebethetepet, two other, more minor goddesses. The earliest texts to mention them seem to treat Iusaaset and Nebethetepet as two names for a single goddess, but after the time of the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000–1700 BC) they were treated as separate, although similar, deities. The name "Iusaaset" means something resembling "She who grows as she comes" and "Nebethetepet" means "Lady of the Field of Offerings'"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iusaaset

22.15  Hathor, Nebethetepet and Iusaaset are all "masturbatory Hands of Atum" and they all are deifications of the Beetle

The above excerpt is also telling is that the Hand of Atum has been represented into three goddesses: Nebethetepet, Iusaaset and Hathor. It means that the three of them are representations of the Hauling beetle. Just like for the ropes of the Gallery, ancient Egyptians didn't just represent the Beetle in one deity, they've represented it in many ways, depending on its position in the Gallery, and its different aspects: its wooden structure or its endless up and down movement in the Gallery.

House altar: Akhenaten, Nefertiti and three of their daughters under the Radiant Aton. State Museums in Berlin, Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection / Margarete Büsing: https://recherche.smb.museum/detail/607132

22.16  The Memphis Triad vs. Akhenaten's divine Triad

The Memphis Triad deciphering is also precious for a better understanding of what really wanted to achieve the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten: by replacing the Memphis Triad which was all about the glorification of the experimental accomplishments in the Great Pyramid, with his own divine Triad with Nefertiti and the Aten, Akhenaten wanted to transform the experimental glorification of the evaporative cooling into a more theoretical glorification of the process.

Akhenaten represented himself into Shu (the god of dry and warm air), while Nefertiti represented herself into Tefnut (the goddess of water in spat form, as 'tef' means 'to spit').

The most important thing, though is that they still worshiped the creation of the cold; and it is this cold that they offer to the Aten Sun, who by the way is just here to represent Heat, and nothing else: ancient Egyptians didn't really care about the Sun, nor they really cared about scarabs, falcons, cats, hippopotamus, snakes, bulls, cows, crocodiles, etc. The Sun and all these animals were only metaphors.

22.17  The theorization of the evaporative cooling process attempt by Akhenaten and Nefertiti

What Akhenaten and Nefertiti had really done, is stop worshiping the original "experimental approach" of the creation of the cold, instead they used the "theoretical approach" by worshiping Shu (Akhenaten represented himself into the god of dry and warm air Shu), and Tefnut (Nefertiti represented herself into the goddess of water in a spat form, Tefnut).

"During the “Aten heresy” led by Akhenaten, Shu, and Tefnut remained popular with the apparently monotheistic pharaoh. The pharaoh and his queen (Nefertiti) were depicted as the personification of Shu and Tefnut emphasising their divinity. As the Aten represented the sun disk, the solar aspect of Shu and his link with the pharaoh apparently prevented Shu from being proscribed along with Amun and the other gods." https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/shu/

"Even on the pharaoh's own stone sarcophagus, images of Nefertiti replaced those of traditional goddesses. Akhenaten, by associating himself with Shu and the Aten, and Nefertiti with Tefnut, had effectively presented himself and his family as living gods." https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1110/the-art-of-the-amarna-period/

The key hole shaped base of the figurine from the Louvre, is the key, so to speak; because a key hole is probably the best metaphor that ancient Egyptians could have used to emphasize the fact that a door, or a hatch would have to stay closed, no matter what. Because of this key hole and the cat flap metaphor, we can assume that Bastet is about a closed hatch that stays closed, no matter what.

Figurine of the cat goddess Bastet, Musée du Louvre / Christian Décamps: https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010006514#

A traditional keyhole for a warded lock, thanks to Thegreenj: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock_and_key#/media/File:Wardedlock.jpg

22.18  Cat representations of Bastet are about the cat door: the cat metaphor is about a cat flap "hatch"

We've just seen who really was representing the destructive lioness goddess Sekhmet, now we are gonna find out about her gentle sister, the cat goddess Bastet.

It is well documented that both Sekhmet and Bastet are two sides of the same goddess; but this isn't right: they are not exactly about the same thing. But the confusion is understandable, because they actually really are indissociable.

To be more exact, Sekhmet cannot exist without Bastet, because Bastet was the deification of the Hatch of the central wooden caisson of the Grand Gallery. Bastet let the fresh new air get inside the caisson, and once the impactor had been released, Bastet is also the one who forced the pressurized air Sekhmet, to stay inside the caisson.

Bastet is the Hatch of the caisson, hence she has been seen as a cat door, and she has been glorified into a cat goddess. The cat metaphor is about a cat flap.

I've read a couple times people trying to explain that if ancient Egyptians worshiped cats as protectors of their homes, it was because "cats really protected homes from snakes, mice, of other rodents", but seriously did anyone ever get a cat thinking about protecting his home?

From personal experience, the only one thing that a cat is really doing, is killing everything he can outside the house, like birds, mice and rabbits and then get them back to you right at the entry of the house.

Ancient Egyptians only worshiped cats because of the Great Pyramid: the central caisson's Hatch controlled the entry of the air, and prevented it from getting out. The cat worship is about protecting your home, because it was the function of the caisson's Hatch.

The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Tahrir Square Cairo (visited October 2016). Cosmetic Jar with Lions, Hunting Scenes and Captives; from KV62, Valley of the Kings. New Kingdom, Dynasty 18, reign of Tutankhamun, c. 1334-1325 BCE. Acc. No.: JE62119. Photos of Ancient Egyptian artifacts and places, taken by Margaret Lucy Patterson of Tales from the Two Lands: https://photos.talesfromthetwolands.org/picture.php?/625/categories

22.19  The lid of Tutankhamun's alabaster cosmetic jar is just another locked hatch

This metaphoric glorification of Bastet, as the representation of a closed hatch, has been used on the above alabaster cosmetic jar from the tomb of Tutankhamun: the lioness Bastet, is represented resting onto the lid of the jar, because the lid is nothing else that a special kind of hatch.

Ancient Egyptians loved to show what they did, but they hid everything underneath metaphors and tortuous mind games on the construction of the scenes they were representing.

For example, we've already seen that there is no such a thing as "the barque of Ra": Ra is the barque; Ra is the wooden part of the impactor.

The same way, there is no such a thing as the lioness goddess Bastet standing on the lid of the alabaster jar: Bastet is the lid, because Bastet is the Hatch.

22.20  The "Soul of Isis" goddess Bastet

The understanding of Bastet have been particularly difficult, because it first implied that was assumed as certain that the central wooden caisson of the Grand Gallery was a real thing, even if there is no remaining trace of it, and second because the metaphor used by ancient Egyptians about the cat was somehow unexpected: the cat metaphor of goddess Bastet is not really about the cat herself, but the litle door "hatch" that a cat is using to pass through the door of your home.

The cat metaphor is about a cat flap, or a cat door as you wish. Of course it is not really about the door of a home, the cat metaphor is about a hatch, the very one which had to be installed at the bottom of the central wooden caisson, so that the impactor could have been reconnected to its hauling rope once it was floating inside the inclined well after the impact with its waters.

In other words, it means that the cat goddess Bastet is the deification of that Hatch.

"Bastet is the Egyptian goddess of the home, domesticity, women's secrets, cats, fertility, and childbirth. She protected the home from evil spirits and disease, especially diseases associated with women and children. As with many deities in Egyptian religion, she also played a role in the afterlife. […] She is sometimes depicted as a guide and helper to the dead although this was not one of her primary duties. She was the daughter of the sun god Ra and is associated with the concept of the Eye of Ra (the all-seeing eye) and the Distant Goddess (a female deity who leaves Ra and returns to bring transformation). Bastet was one of the most popular deities of ancient Egypt as she was the protector of everyone's home and family." https://www.worldhistory.org/Bastet/

Bastet was the sister of Sekhmet, the wife of Ptah, and one of the most popular deities of ancient Egypt as she was the protector of everyone's home and family"  https://egyptianmuseum.org/deities-Bastet

"Sekhmet was depicted with the body of a woman with a lion head wearing a sun disk. She was seen as the protector of the pharaohs and led them in warfare. When she was in a calmer state she would take the form of the household cat goddess Bastet. https://egyptianmuseum.org/deities-sekhmet

"The Greeks […] called the goddess […] Bast ba'Aset (Soul of Isis) which would be the literal translation of her name with the addition of the second 'T' to denote the feminine (Aset being among the Egyptian names for Isis*). https://www.worldhistory.org/Bastet/

*Isis is actually a Greek name for the Egyptian goddess Aset

Wooden coffin for a cat shaped as a cat, from the Brooklyn Museum. "It is made from several pieces of wood, joined with wooden dowels. The main joins appear to run lengthwise in the center of the coffin, splitting the coffin into two halves. A cat mummy was inserted inside, the coffin assembled and then the gesso and layer of dark material (paint?) was applied, affectively sealing the wood assembly seams. The coffin was constructed to be inserted into a wooden base. The base is made from a single piece of wood and has hollow areas carved out to accept the mortise like joins at the undersides of the feet at both the front and rear of the cat. The tail of the cat is carved from three pieces of wood that have been doweled into the top of the base. In looking at the x-radiographs taken, the mummy inside appears to have the cat positioned so that the front legs are up and bent as opposed to long and crossed over the body as is seen on other cat mummies. On the coffin, there is a roughened depression at the top of this cat's head." https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/118450

Cat flaps from Four Paws Doors: http://www.fourpawsdoors.co.uk/jobs-in-2017---2018.html

22.21  The wooden coffin shape as a cat from the Brooklyn Museum

The wooden coffin for a cat shaped as a cat, from the Brooklyn Museum (above image), is a perfect illustration of the real meaning of the cat in ancient Egyptian religion: "It is made from several pieces of wood, joined with wooden dowels. The main joins appear to run lengthwise in the center of the coffin, splitting the coffin into two halves".

The structure of the coffin is probably mimicking the structure of the original central wooden caisson itself and it is possible that the "dark material (paint?)" mentioned by the museum is directly referring to some kind of protective material that had been applied on the caisson against humidity and pressurized air, like some kind of resin or tar.

A typical modern padlock and its keys, on Wikipedia:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock_and_key#/media/File:Solex_99_30_padlock_with_keys_(DSCF2659).jpg

22.22  The ancient Egyptian key hole metaphor of a locked door... or hatch

The key hole shaped base of the figurine from the Louvre, is the key, so to speak; because a key hole is probably the best metaphor that ancient Egyptians could have used to emphasize the fact that a door, or a hatch would have to stay closed, no matter what.

Because of this key hole and the cat flap metaphor, we can assume that Bastet is about a closed hatch that stays closed, no matter what.

22.23  The link between Bastet and Nefertem is "perfume and smells" which are all about the air

The fact that Bastet is all about the air is also explaining her association with god of "perfume and smells" Nefertem, whom we've already seen is actually the deification of the fog nozzle of the horizontal passage.

The metaphor, making Nefertem the god of perfume is really all about the air, and the perfume itself is actually the evaporative cooled air.

"Bastet, however, was also sometimes linked with the god of perfume and sweet smells, Nefertum, who was thought to be her son and this further links the meaning of her name to the ointment jar. The most obvious understanding would be that, originally, the name meant something like She of the Ointment Jar (Ubaste) and the Greeks changed the meaning to Soul of Isis as they associated her with the most popular goddess in Egypt. Even so, scholars have come to no agreement on the meaning of her name." https://www.worldhistory.org/Bastet/

NASA artist's rendering of a microburst. "The air moves in a downward motion until the surface. It then spreads outward in all directions. The wind regime in a microburst is opposite to that of a tornado":   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downburst#/media/File:Microburstnasa.JPG

22.24  The destructive aspect of pressurized air Sekhmet

This is precisely because Sekhmet is the glorification of the pressurized air, that she has been described has a ferocious deity, associated with violence and war. Sekhmet had accumulated all the power of the impactor, and if all her energy would have to be released, it would have destroy everything around her.

A perfect modern metaphor about Sekhmet would be about the severe damages caused by powerful winds, like "downbursts": "a downburst is a strong downward and outward gushing wind system that emanates from a point source above and blows radially"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downburst

"Sekhmet was the daughter of the sun god, Ra, and was among the more important of the goddesses who acted as the vengeful manifestation of Ra's power, the Eye of Ra. Sekhmet was said to breathe fire, and the hot winds of the desert were likened to her breath. She was also believed to cause plagues (which were called as her servants or messengers) although she was also called upon to ward off disease". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhmet

22.25  Sekhmet's breath was like "hot winds that blew from the desert": Sekhmet is indeed all about warm dry air

Once you've accepted the fact that everything in ancient Egyptian myths and religion are only metaphors, it becomes quite a game to decipher these metaphors.

One of them, that concerns Sekhmet is about blood: Sekhmet had a "unquenchable thirst for blood". But because in the same following excerpt, Sekhmet is also associated with "hot winds that blew from the desert", it is pretty easy to understand that the blood is actually a metaphor of the water.

Sekhmet's unquenchable thirst for blood is actually about her thirst for water, because she is all about dry warm air, and because her destiny was to be coupled with spat form of water. This is exactly what Akhenaten wanted to be associated with by representing himself into the god of dry warm air Shu and Nefertiti as the goddess of spat water.

"The myths go on to state that whenever she breathed out, fire came out. Her breath was like the hot winds that blew from the desert. […] In one incident, it was believed that Ra had gotten frustrated with mankind’s insolence and transgressions against the principles of Ma’at. The sun god unleashed Sekhmet (The Destroyer of Rebellion) upon the earth in order to teach humanity a painful lesson. The myth goes on to say that Sekhmet killed every one of Ra’s conspirators, leaving the land of Egypt in a pool of blood. Such was her unquenchable thirst for blood that Ra feared she would kill every living soul in Egypt." https://www.worldhistoryedu.com/sekhmet-myth-and-powers/

Collapsed home in Mena, Arkansas USA. Damages caused by a EF3 tornado on April 9, 2009 (3 fatalities and 30 injuries): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mena_tornado_damage.jpg

22.26  The destructive Sekhmet high winds

I have to admit I am particularly happy to have understood Sekhmet, because where I'm living here in Brittany, high winds are a major problem; most of French people think the main inconvenience is the rain, but it is a misunderstanding of the region: wind is the problem; like it is at this very moment, with wind gusts at about 60 km/h.

But now, that I can call these wind gusts by their (ancient Egyptian) name, even if I'm not a religious person, I feel way better! Instead of being mad because of this (not so much) high winds, I'm just saying to myself: "Hello Sekhmet, how is it going? I hope you're not gonna stay too long, but until then, have a good day and please, don't get too much exited right!"

But we'll see how I will react when there is gonna be a 100 km/h Sekhmet in the next coming weeks… I even may become religious, and by myself a Sekhmet statue!

22.27  The seated and standing Sekhmet statues

A good metaphor we can use to represent Sekhmet, is the bicycle pump; because the first consequence of the fall of the impactor was the pressurization of the air imprisoned inside the central caisson, and the fact that this air would have been forced into the evaporative cooling passage.

It would have result in the creation of kind of a high wind inside the very structure of the Great Pyramid. This internal high wind was absolutely indispensable for the cooling process to occur because of the problem generated by the moist air of the previous cycle (most probably this air would have had a 100% humidity rate).

And I think that this internal high wind is explaining both the seated and standing statues of Sekhmet: the goddess has become associated with the high winds ancient Egyptians had to face in real life. The seated statues of Sekhmet would represent the calm, appeased and settling down winds, while the standing statues would represent the winds rising up and becoming dangerous and destructive.

We can imagine all kind of scenarios regarding the worship of the statues, but there is one thing that is puzzling, and it is about the fact that hundreds of them have been used, apparently in only two locations: the Mortuary Temple/Complex of Amenhotep III at Kom el Heittan and the Temple of Mut at Karnak.

"The origin of the Sekhmet statues was during the reign of Amenhotep III dynasty 18 (ca 1390-1352 BC). There have been more than six hundred statues that have been recovered from Egypt. Most of these Sekhmet statues were created under Amenhotep III. Sekhmet statues have been found at Amenhotep III Mortuary Temple/Complex at Kom el Heittan on the Theban West Bank and at the Temple of Mut at Karnak on the east bank of the Nile River at Thebes. Sekhmet statues can still be found and traced back to Amenhotep III. The Sekhmet statues are a part of his massive statuary program. Amenhotep III hoped that the Sekhmet statues would heal him from illness and bring him good fortune for the year. This is why there were so many Sekhmet statues being built and at such a fast pace. We can tell Amenhotep III favored the Sekhmet goddess since he used her statues so much for ritual practices. Many scholars believe that there were a total of 730 statues built which is two statues for everyday of the year."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhmet_statues

Four black granite statues of the goddess Sakhmet [=Sekhmet], all originally from Thebes, at the Temple of Mut. From the reign of Amenophis III, circa 1400 BCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhmet_statues#/media/File:FourStatuesOfGoddessSakhmet-FrontalView-BritishMuseum-August19-08.jpg

A medieval wind rose: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_rose

22.28  The Sekhmet statues were (most probably) arranged into a wind rose

It is said that scholars believe that 730 statues were built, because it represents twice the numbers of days in a year.

"Many scholars believe that there were a total of 730 statues built which is two statues for everyday of the year."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekhmet_statues

I'm suggesting something else, because there is absolutely no reason what so ever that would explain why ancient Egyptians would have needed one statue of Sekhmet for every single day of the year, and they wouldn't have needed the same thing for every other deity.

Now that we know that Sekhmet is about the wind, there is something that is coming to mind right away: the wind rose, and its 360 degrees. Let's say that all, or most of the Sekhmet statues were dispatched into 2 locations, it would have needed 360 x 2 = 720 statues to reproduce the design of the wind rose.

The problem now would be to determine if the Sekhmet wind rose would have been created for worship or scientific purposes; and maybe probably for both reasons.

It would make more sense though, that the 720 Sekhmet statues would all be together at the same site, each seated statue paired with a standing statue.

Let's say that some wind would come from the north-east region, priests would come to the appropriate pair of Sekhmet statue and pray for the standing statue to get back to the seated statue, and let the wind calm down. Of course this is purely hypothetical.

22.29  The Sekhmet statues were (most probably) indeed all at the same place and arranged in some kind of "celestial" map

This idea that the Sekhmet statues were indeed all at the same place at the same time and arranged in a wind rose pattern, is reinforced by the following excerpt coming from the Metropolitan Museum:

"It was long thought that the king himself had erected statues in both places, but today many scholars believe that originally the statues all stood at the Kom el Heitan mortuary temple. There they formed part of Amenhotep’s massive statuary program. The Sakhmet statues have convincingly been shown to have constituted a "litany in stone" that appeased the goddess and invoked her not to use her negative powers, thereby delivering the king from illness and evil for a year. Based on our understanding of the litany, there may originally have been 730 statues, one seated and one standing for each day of the year. Moreover, it has been theorized they were arranged, along with other divine statues, across the giant courts at Kom el Heitan to form a vast celestial map that served as the king's eternal ritual calendar."   https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544484

You'll note that the MET is mentioning the term "celestial map", which would require like every other map, some kind of wind rose.

"The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus is probably a mathematics textbook, used by scribes to learn to solve particular mathematical problems by writing down appropriate examples. The text includes eighty-four problems with tables of divisions, multiplications, and handling of fractions; and geometry, including volumes and areas." Excerpt from The British Museum data sheet. The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus at the British Museum:   https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA10057

Compass directions and bearings:   https://scoutwiki.scouts.org.za/wiki/Compass#/media/File:Compass_directions_and_bearings.png

22.30  The ancient Egyptian mathematics and the wind rose

It looks like there is no final answer to the question about who came up with the idea of dividing a circle into 360 degrees, which a wind rose is all about: some people are praising the Mesopotamians, the Babylonians or the ancient Egyptians themselves.

" The Mesopotamians passed their base-60 numerical system to the ancient Egyptians, who used it to divide a circle into 360 degrees, Mary Blocksma writes in her book Reading the Numbers. The 360-degree circle worked out great: The Egyptians loved perfect triangles, and exactly six of them fit into a circle. Therefore, six triangular slices of 60 degrees each made for a sensible 360-degree dissection of a circle. The Egyptians, who invented the degree symbol, also came up with the first calendar based on a 360-day year, which is only off by 5.25 days. Since then, the 360-degree circle has more than stood the test of time, it has made its mark on time itself: When time was first recorded on the face of a circle, it was an easy leap to divide hours into 60 minutes and minutes into 60 seconds."  https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2002-02/who-determined-circle-should-be-divided-360-degrees/

What is certain is that not only did the Egyptians invent the 24 hours in a day concept: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/experts-time-division-days-hours-minutes/#:~:text=Hipparchus%2C%20whose%20work%20primarily%20took,varying%20hours%20for%20many%20centuries, but they also invented the 365 days calendar: "The ancient Egyptian calendar – a civil calendar – was a solar calendar with a 365-day year. The year consisted of three seasons of 120 days each, plus an intercalary month of five epagomenal days treated as outside of the year proper. Each season was divided into four months of 30 days."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_calendar

Diving drawing: https://www.mobilesport.ch/plongeon/plongeon-basics-chute/

Backstroke swimming technique: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Backstroke_(PSF).png

22.31  The ancient Egyptian glorification of the evaporation process of water...

The Geb, Shu and Nut scene is all about the theoretical concept on which is based the evaporative cooling process: the infinite cycle of transformation of water from its liquid form to its evaporated form. The evaporation itself consists in forcing liquid water to be sustained and supported by dry warm air. Shu (precisely the god of dry warm air) is not "separating" Geb and Nut: Shu is supporting Nut. Nut is humidity in the air.

22.32  The re-establishment of Maat by the union of Sekhmet (dry air of the caisson) and Ptah (water in the well)

Maat is one of the most beautiful metaphors of all, because she is the goddess of balance and harmony. It is a very cute story; but the real meaning of Maat is all about science: Maat is about the equilibrium which rules every basic scientific process, whether it is in physics or in chemistry.

My guess is that when Maat is used by ancient Egyptians, it is most of the time directly referring to the equilibrium of the evaporation process of water, when the liquid form (deified into god Geb) is transforming itself into the evaporated form (deified into the goddess Nut).

This is why "[The union of Sekhmet and Ptah] created Nefertum and so re-established Ma’at."

"In one version of the myth, Ptah is the first thing she sees upon awakening and she instantly falls in love with him. Their union (creation and destruction) created Nefertum (healing) and so re-established Ma’at." https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/sekhmet/

The fact that Maat's emblem is the same feather as her brother's (Shu, the god of dry warm air), indicates that the equilibrium is all about the air. Maat is the glorification of the capacity of the air to charge itself with water: it is about dry air becoming moist air by accumulating humidity.

22.33  The question of knowing if the pressurized air really got inside the well

This question is fundamental, and I still can't answer it, even if in the following excerpt, it is said that "Ptah is the first thing she [Sekhmet] sees upon awakening and she instantly falls in love with him".

Because, Sekhmet is pressurized air and Ptah the inclined well, it clearly suggests that the air was indeed getting into the well. But I really have a problem with that, because the efficiency of the evaporative cooling process is entirely depending on the dryness of the air that is injected in the system: the dryer the air, the more water you can force into it and the colder it is gonna get.

I can't imagine that this same air would have first to get inside the water of the well, before passing through the fog nozzle, but maybe it wouldn't affect the air dryness that much, I don't know.

This is why I've implemented in previous draws, some hollowed out slots in the junction ramp. But then, it would mean that the space directly underneath the ramp would have been connected with the Grand Gallery by these slots… unless the impactor somehow covered these slots after the impact; but without a 3D model reconstruction of the area, it is very difficult to imagine a credible reconstitution at that point.

"In one version of the myth, Ptah is the first thing she sees upon awakening and she instantly falls in love with him. Their union (creation and destruction) created Nefertum (healing) and so re-established Ma’at." https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/sekhmet/

"Synthetic diagram of the functioning of a storm, with the representation of a gust capable of generating a new lift and propagating this storm to the left": https://www.encyclopedie-environnement.org/en/air-en/thunderstorms-electricity-in-the-air/

22.34  And its use in "gusty winds" Sekhmet seen as the "daughter of Geb, and Nut" searching for "blood"

Of course, the interpretations of Geb (water in liquid form) and Nut (evaporated water) are wrong on the above excerpt, but because we know now that Sekhmet is the deification of high winds, we understand the original ancient Egyptian belief: high winds which can be very destructive, indeed are born from the interactions between liquid and evaporated water.

"Sekhmet whose name means: “She who is powerful” or “the One who loves Ma’at” was […] created from the fire of the sun god Ra’s eye when he looked upon Earth. Ra created her as a weapon to destroy humans for their disobedience to him and for not living in accordance with the principles of Ma’at. Sometimes she is seen as the daughter of Geb (earth), and Nut (the sky)."   https://egyptianmuseum.org/deities-sekhmet

"The myths go on to state that whenever she breathed out, fire came out. Her breath was like the hot winds that blew from the desert. […] In one incident, it was believed that Ra had gotten frustrated with mankind’s insolence and transgressions against the principles of Ma’at. The sun god unleashed Sekhmet (The Destroyer of Rebellion) upon the earth in order to teach humanity a painful lesson. The myth goes on to say that Sekhmet killed every one of Ra’s conspirators, leaving the land of Egypt in a pool of blood. Such was her unquenchable thirst for blood that Ra feared she would kill every living soul in Egypt." https://www.worldhistoryedu.com/sekhmet-myth-and-powers/

Of course, in the above excerpt, the "unquenchable thirst for blood" isn't at all really about blood: blood is another metaphor used to refer to water.

Diagram of the operating Great Pyramid of Egypt for evaporative cold production (hypothetically for chemical manufacturing cooling of pure sodium carbonate "natron", the salt used for the mummification of pharaohs). When in operation, the elevation of the Great Pyramid was not finished, and it is only after the shutdown procedure and the draining of the inclined well, that the 3 granite plugs were finally close to one another.

© 2023 Copyright milleetunetasses.com. All rights reserved.

The Pyramids of the Cold version 2 (May 2023 - March 2024)

Summary of the study and Table of Contents

Part A: The evaporative cooling process

Section 1 • The horizontal evaporative cooling passage layout

Section 2 • The Dendera Light and the creation of the fog of microdroplets by the fog nozzle

Section 3 • The water cycle glorifying metaphors: Geb, Shu, Nut, Tefnut

Section 4 • The theorization of the evaporative cooling process by Akhenaten and Nefertiti

Section 5 • The theorization of the evaporative cooling process in the Weighing of the Heart

Part B • The inclined well of the Great Pyramid of Giza

Section 6 • The inclined well layout and the girdle stones

Section 7 • The Taweret "Lady of the Well" temporary sealing granite plug of the well

Section 8 • The Bes temporary wedging block immobilizing Taweret

Section 9 • The draining of the well

Section 10 • The Great Serpent Apep and the snake water metaphors

Section 11 • The Was scepter and the control over "snakes"

Section 12 • The beating Heart of the Great Pyramid

Part C • The composite impactor of the Great Pyramid (Horus, Ra, Osiris, Medjed, Sobek...)

Section 13 • The wooden and stone composite design of the impactor: Ra and Osiris

Section 14 • The endlessly immersed Osiris stone and the seed metaphor

Section 15 • The Anubis sledge and the bobsled mask

Section 16 • The sledge runners of the impactor: Thoth

Section 17 • Medjed: the smiter nobody can ever see

Section 18 • The Apis bull and the ramming impactor's metaphors

Section 19 • The crocodile god Sobek impactor (more or less) floating in the waters of the well

Section 20 • The Obelisk and the Benben stone rising from water

Part D • The Grand Gallery's of the Great Pyramid of Giza

Section 21 • The Sacred "sloping paths" of the "oval-shaped cavern of the act of Hauling"

Section 22 • The central wooden caisson of the Gallery: Sekhmet and the Triad of Memphis

Section 23 • The hauling ropes of the Grand Gallery: Isis, Nephthys, Hatmehit, Wadjet and Nekhbet

Section 24 • The hauling Beetle and the Seven Scorpions of Isis

Section 25 • The Great Cow goddess Hathor and the operating cycle of the hauling Beetle

Section 26 • The 10 operating phases of the Grand Gallery

Section 27 • The guide to the Afterlife for the smart traveler and the canopic jars

Section 28 • The scarab amulet glorifications of the hauling Beetle

Part E • The very large and roughly finished sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid

Section 29 • The biosand filter sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid

Section 30 • The Elephantine Triad deification of the biosand filter of the Great Pyramid

Section 31 • The Great Pyramid's operating flat roof and the water supply issue

Part F • Chemical manufacturing and industrial cooling before the Great Pyramid

Section 32 • The Serdab and the "Refreshment of the Gods" Step Pyramid of Djoser

Section 33 • Sneferu's Red Pyramid and the accumulated ammonia

Section 34 • The Disc of Sabu and the Solvay process for pure natron manufacturing

Part G • The tremendous impact of the Great Pyramid on the whole ancient world

Section 35 • The hidden secrets of the Hermetica Emerald Tablet (around 1600 C.E.)

Section 36 • Thor and the magical Hammer in the Great Hall of Bilskirnir

Section 37 • The Churning of the waters of the Ocean of Milk (Hindu mythology)

Section 38 • The Tibetan prayer wheels and the Grand Gallery's operation

Section 39 and Conclusion • The cooling water of spitting Kebechet

Part H • Epilogue

Section 40 • The smiting Ark of the Covenant and the Ten Commandments

Section 41 • The 293 kilograms windlass Staff of Moses and Aaron... and the First Plague of Egypt: water turning into blood

Section 42 • Ezekiel's Four Egyptian pulley "Wheels within the Wheels" and the four angel ropes

Section 43 • David, Saul, two giant Goliaths, five little stones, an aeolian harp... and a weaver's beam

Section 44 • The holy water fonts and the biosand filter

Part I • The magicians of the Great Pyramid of Giza

Section 45 • The Legend of Khufu and the "magician" polymath Imhotep

Section 46 • The two magical eyes of Isis and the brilliant but painful flame of her twin sister's braids