The Pyramids of the Cold published by french layman B. Coursol

The temples of the ancient island of Philae, now rebuilt on the Island of Agilkia; the red arrow is pointing to the Hadrian's Gate where is located the relief showing Hapi in his cave. Image by Gérard Ducher: "In the 1960s, every building was dismantled, and transported to the nearby island of Agilkia, situated on higher ground some 500 m away": https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=503180

Hadrian's Gate photograph: http://www.temples-egypte.net/philae/porteHadrien.html

 

28.01  The Elephantine Triad deciphering starts with Hapi's representation in the Isis Temple of Philae

We'll see in this Section that just like the Memphis Triad is representing the creation of evaporative cold by associating three deities who were the deifications of the pressurized water creation (Ptah) + pressurized dry warm air (Sekhmet) + a fog nozzle (Nefertem, see previous Section 27), the Elephantine Triad is all about the glorification of the operation of a biosand filter (Khnum), and the control of its water supply with active Satis "who runs like an arrow" and inactive Anuket "who looks like a vagina".

But to understand the Elephantine Triad, we first need to get back to Hapi, the god of the annual inundation of the Nile, and we'll start with his representation in the northern wall of the Hadrian's Gate, just next to Philae's Isis temple, now on the island of Agilkia.

 

http://www.temples-egypte.net/philae/hadrien/paroiNord/registreMilieu.html

 

28.02  Hapi and his cave are at ground level, not underwater

Academic interpretations of the relief showing Hapi pouring water in a "cave" or "cavern", at the small Isis temple at Philae, which is a unique and extraordinary artistic representation of this god, is that he is supposed to be underwater and somehow "creating" the waters of the inundation of the Nile.

But it just can't be right, because as seen on the above image of the scene, the cave and the entire structure of piled up blocks above it, are in the exact same level than all the other gods in human shape: Hapi is at ground level, he is not underground or underwater. Both Hapi and his cave are at ground level.

"Hapi (Ancient Egyptian: ḥʿpy) was the god of the annual flooding of the Nile in ancient Egyptian religion."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hapi_(Nile_god)

 

28.03  Hapi's cave being "under the Sun" confirms the idea that it is not underwater, nor it is underground

This idea that Hapi's cave is not located underground or underwater, is reinforced by some ancient Egyptian texts which are saying that Hapi lives in a cave "never seen by anyone" and that this cave is "under the sun"; but if the cave is under the sun, it clearly means that the cave is not underground nor it is underwater.

If it has to be pointed out the fact that the cave cannot be seen by anyone, it is actually suggesting that it normally shouldn't be that way: no none would have to say that an underwater cave wouldn't be seen by anybody, it is just what is expected from such a cave.

If it is clearly specified that the cave cannot be seen by anybody, it is not a cave, but some kind of structure specifically designed so that nobody would ever have to see or to get in.

"Hapi lives in the distant south, in a cave never seen by anyone under the sun and pours the water of the Nile from her/his carafes."  http://egyiptom.freeweb.hu/english/gods_hapi.html

 

Original photograph of the unique representation of god of the Nile Hapi, pouring water inside his "cave", on a relief in the Hadrian's Gate, next to the Isis temple that was on the island of Philae, by Manon Y. Schutz: https://twitter.com/manonyschutz/status/1349673443969658880

Original draw of the King's chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza: "Great Pyramid Passages and Chambers, Volume 1 (1910 edition). By John and Morton Edgar. The Edgars were associates of Charles Taze Russell and wrote this treatise in defense of Russell's views on the prophetic symbolism of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh in Egypt." https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n63/mode/1up

 

 

28.04  The artificial design of Hapi's cave

What is very surprising about this draw that have been made of the relief, except the fact that it is inverted, is  how badly the shape of the snake is rendered: it is like the author wanted to transform the very peculiar and artificial original shape of the snake into a completely dull and natural rounded shape. But maybe it was made by accident, and there was no intention to hide or disguise anything; the fact that the drawing is inverted should reinforce this idea.

But the fact is that if you look closely to the shape of the snake, hence the shape of Hapi's cave, you simply can't miss the artificial design of the whole thing.

 

Very poorly and inverted draw of the relief, reproduced in "The Project Gutenberg EBook of History Of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 1 (of 12), by G. Maspero: Reproduced from a bas-relief in the small temple of Philae, built by Rajan and his successors. […]. By a mistake of the modern copyist's, his drawing faces the wrong way."   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/19400/19400-h/19400-h.htm

 

 

Because the Great Pyramid wasn't finished at the time of its operation and the presence of a temporary more or less flat roof, the Gantenbrink's Doors were real hatches opening to the exterior of the pyramid. Gantenbrink's Doors were real "doors".

 

28.06  The Gantenbrink's Doors were hatches opening on the flat roof of the operating Great Pyramid

It has to be pointed out that at the time of the operation of the Great Pyramid for evaporative cold production, like I've said many times, the pyramid wasn't finished and there was what could be assimilated to a flat roof.

That flat roof explains that Hapi is described as being "under the Sun".

Many elements are pointing to the flat roof design of the Great Pyramid, when it was in operation. The elevation level of that flat roof was probably set by the Gantenbrink's Doors that would have been more like hatches that real "doors", and would coincide with the elevation level of the Lady Arbuthnot's chamber, where the granite walls of the "relieving" chambers are suddenly replaced by usual limestone blocks.

1 • The mysterious Gantenbrink's Doors closing the upper part of the Queen's chamber shafts

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

3 • The walls of the Lady Arbuthnot's chamber which are made of limestone, while all the other walls of the "relieving chambers" are made of granite, just like all the beams of the floors and ceilings of these chambers.

 

Bent Pyramid internal layout by Franck Monnier: https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Bent_Pyramid_substructure_2.png

 

28.07  The flat roof design probably already used in Sneferu's Bent Pyramid

Actually the Great Pyramid would have looked like something close to the first half of the Bent Pyramid; and of course, the fact that this pyramid is "bent" in the first place, is most probably explained by the same necessity of using that "flat roof".

 

28.08  Hapi lives in the distant south and under the Sun

That flat roof also explains why Hapi was described as "living under the Sun": there probably was some kind of access to the Grand Gallery through something that might have resemble to a "central chimney" that would have allowed fresh air as well as the crewmembers of the Hauling beetle to get into the Gallery.

"Hapi lives in the distant south, in a cave never seen by anyone under the sun and pours the water of the Nile from her/his carafes."  http://egyiptom.freeweb.hu/english/gods_hapi.html

 

Elevation diagram of the interior structures of the Great Pyramid.10 shows the King's Chamber and its "star shafts".7 shows the Queen's Chamber and its shafts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_shaft#/media/File:Great_Pyramid_S-N_Diagram.svg

"This find in the northern shaft, coupled with last week's discovery ... in the southern shaft, represents the first major new information about the Great Pyramid in more than a century." - Zahi Hawass to https://www.cheops.org/ Images at: https://www.pyramidofman.com/shafts/

 

The strange trajectory of the northern King's chamber shaft of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Original images thanks to the Bibliothèque nationale de France. "Histoire de l'art égyptien d'après les monuments, depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à la domination romaine" 1858-1879, by Émile Prisse d'Avennes (1807-1879). © Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Réserve des livres rares : http://passerelles.bnf.fr/grand/pas_2457.htm

 

28.09  Hapi's cave and its two spring holes are about the King's chamber and its two shaft openings

One of the most interesting parts of the mythology about Hapi is how were created the waters of the Nile: ancient Egyptians believed that inside their paradise, the "field of the blessed" in the underworld, was running a river which came from the heaven "in a mysterious way" and was filling Hapi's cave passing through two spring holes.

Like everything else, it is a very cute story which only originates in the Great Pyramid and in particular in the King's chamber itself. Because these two "subterranean channels" and two "spring holes" are simply about the northern and southern shafts of the chamber.

"...the Egyptians held of the origin of the Nile and the connection of its sources with the Egyptian paradise in the netherworld. According to these "the fields of the blessed" which is the Egyptian paradise, were encircled by  "a river" (itru) that went forth from heaven. In a mysterious way that river reached the surface of the earth, through two spring holes below the first cataract between Elephantine and Philae and emerged as the Nile. This idea is pictorially represented in a relief in a small island near Philae, at the first cataract. Under a mass of rocks, the god of the Nile, Haapi, protected by a serpent, is pouring out of two vases in his hands, symbolising the two sources of the Nile. Thus the Nile was merely the earthly prolongation of the heavenly "river" (itru) and the two spring-holes beneath the cataract only marked the place where it came out to the surface."

(p. 165. "The Story of Paradise." Abraham S. Yahuda. The Accuracy of the Bible. London. William Heinemann. Ltd. 1934)  http://www.bibleorigins.net/QwertyNileCavernSourceAswan.html

"This Nile in some mysterious way enters the earth and through subterranean channels eventually surfaces via two caverns or spring-holes near the last Nile cataract in the vicinity of Aswan (Greek Philae). The Nile then flows upon the earth's surface till it reaches the Mediterranean Sea where it magically rejoins the sky." http://www.bibleorigins.net/QwertyNileCavernSourceAswan.html

 

28.10  The northern (Hap-Meht) and southern (Hap-Reset) shafts of the King's chamber

Most probably these two northern and southern shafts are the origin of Hap-Reset (the god of the South Nile) and Hap-Meht (the god of the North Nile).

"...the Egyptians believed that the Nile rose in the First Cataract, the Qerti, or "Double Cavern," and the Nile of the South was to them that portion of the river which extended from Elephantine to a place some little distance north of the modern Asyut. The god of the South Nile has upon his head a cluster of lotus plants whilst he of the North Nile has a cluster of papyrus plants, the former is called HAP-RESET, and the latter HAP-MEHT. When the two forms of Hep or Hapi are indicated in a single figure, the god holds in his two hands the two plants, papyrys and lotus, or two vases, from which he was believed to pour out the two Niles...the source of the waters of the Nile-god was unknown." http://www.bibleorigins.net/QwertyNileCavernSourceAswan.html

 

 

28.11  Hapi is just another metaphor: the water used to power up the Pyramid certainly wasn't water from the Nile

We've already seen that ancient Egyptians assimilated the internal layout of the Great Pyramid into their Underworld, hence the famous "mysterious and secret cavern of the Underworld, where was performed the "sacred act of Hauling" (Section 11); but we've also seen that they assimilated that same layout into the whole Egypt country, hence the Upper and Lower Egypt which are corresponding respectively to the Upper and Lower Pyramid, based on the ground level that was the upper platform of the Gallery.

When it is mentioned that Hapi lives "in the distant south", it is not really about Egypt, but rather about the southern part of the Great Pyramid. Because the King's chamber was located in the distant south of the operating Pyramid, Hapi has been described as living in the distant South of Egypt.

And suddenly it struck me: if all ancient Egyptian gods are nothing but metaphors, why would Hapi be different?

And in my opinion, he is not: Hapi is just another metaphor. Let me put it this way: the waters of the Nile are just another metaphor. There is no water from the Nile getting inside the Pyramid; the water that was used, just looked like the Nile river meandering through Egypt country.

The problem is that I've made the exact same mistake than egyptologists are doing: I didn't really understood the metaphor about Hapi.

Just like there was no real hippopotamus at the bottom of the inclined well, there was not really water from the Nile in the Great Pyramid: the water used was just looking like the Nile, getting in the pyramid through the King's chamber shaft(s), then the chamber itself, the filter, the central gutter of the Gallery, the inclined well and finally the evaporative passage before being forced outside of the pyramid through the Queen's chamber shaft(s).

This "voyage" of meandering water in every parts of the pyramid is the reason why they used the Nile metaphor, but this is just a metaphor: in my opinion the water was simply rain water.

 

28.12  Nile water and salt deposits vs. rainwater harvesting

If water from the Nile would have been used, especially at the time of the annual inundation, it would have been charged with huge amounts of silt, that would have rapidly created silt deposits in the chamber: why would they have used water from the Nile?

And more importantly, why would they have needed a King chamber?

If only about 200 liters of water were needed every 15 minutes, and you have tens of thousands of workers available at any time, you wouldn't need a huge water tank this size.

The only reason for the King's chamber to have been built in the first place, is that they used rain water like I first thought at the beginning of the study (posts I've written just before "the Pyramids of the Cold").

If this is right, the King's chamber was nothing less than the main reservoir for the rainwater harvesting that took place on the flat roof of the Pyramid.

 

Relief of King Sobekhotep III (Dynast 13), at the Brooklyn Museum, showing the two goddesses Satis (on the left) and Anuket (on the right). "This relief depicts Sobekhotep III offering vessels to the goddesses Satis and Anukis (left and right, respectively). This was a common motif of temple decoration. The king, who theoretically conducts the cult’s rituals in every temple every day, offers to deities who in turn bless him and, through him, Egypt. Both goddesses extend to the king three “life” hieroglyphs (the ankh)."    https://d1lfxha3ugu3d4.cloudfront.net/images/opencollection/objects/size4/77.194_SL1.jpg

 

28.13  Goddess Satis is the One "pouring Hapi out of his cave": Satis is releasing the waters

What is fascinating with Hapi and the waters of the Nile thing, is that the only representation of the god we have "in situation" is showing him in his cave, holding the two vases as representations of the two underwater rivers and the two spring holes, but that's it, there is nothing more: Hapi is simply represented in his cave and he stays in his cave.

In other words, Hapi's realm is that cave: the King's chamber.

And if it wasn't for another deity, goddess Satis, Hapi's waters would stay in the cave: Satis is the One who is "pouring" and releasing Hapi's waters.

“Satis the Great, the Lady of Sunu (Syene), the Eye of Ra, the Lady of the Sky, Queen of all the Gods, Rayt (/Raet, the female counterpart of Ra), the Great One in Senmet (Abaton, the highly sacred island of Osiris, located close to Philae), She Who pours Hapy (the Nile God) out of His cave, to give the Life to the Two Lands”  https://www.facebook.com/AmentetNeferetEgyptianReligion/posts/sati-the-great-onethe-lady-of-sunu-syene-aswanthe-eye-of-rathe-lady-of-the-skyqu/3687454131283273/

 

Tap water draws showing the active part of the valve (the "stem") and the inactive part (the "seat"). "Compression valves, also known as multi-turn valves, are usually globe valves. They feature a stem with a rubber washer on the end, which is attached to the valve handle. When turned, the stem moves into the cavity of the valve, compressing the washer against the internal seat and forming a seal."  https://www.plumbingsupply.com/compression-vs-quarter-turn-stops.html

 

28.14  Anuket was compared to a vagina and was known as "She Who embrace"

Anuket is another goddess in whom ancient Egyptians projected sexual metaphors about her true nature, i.e. the inactive part of the controlling valve of the King's chamber; probably the most accurate metaphor about Anuket is comparing her with a "vagina", but the reference to "embrace" or "suckling" are almost as good.

"Her name means “embrace” and may have originally referred the embrace of the waters of the inundation. She was also depicted suckling the pharaoh during the New Kingdom, and became a goddess of lust during later periods. In this form, she gained association with cowrie shells, which resemble the vagina. The Festival of Anuket was held when the inundation began. People threw coins, gold, jewelry, and precious gifts into the Nile to please the goddess." https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/anuket/

 

28.15  The Anuket "vagina" pierced by the Satis "running arrow"

Once you have deciphered Satis and Anuket separately, it becomes easy to understand the way they were supposed to interact: Satis "running like an arrow" was supposed to "pierce" into the Anuket "vagina"; and that is the perfect metaphoric representation of the functioning of a stem and seat system valve.

"Her name was originally written with the hieroglyph for a linen garment's shoulder knot (S29); this was later replaced by Anuket's animal hide pierced by an arrow (F29). She was also known by epithets, such as "Mistress of Elephantine" and "She Who Runs Like an Arrow", thought to refer to the flowing river current."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satis_(goddess)

 

Left image: photograph of the interior of the Bent Pyramid, one of the three great pyramids built by king Sneferu (the founding pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom).   https://guardians.net/egypt/cyberjourney/dahshur/bentpyramid/bent_pyramid_interior.htm

Right image: Bent Pyramid of Sneferu at Dahshur, Western part of the Horizontal Passage with Portcullis, thanks to the ISIDA Project, Research Society on Ancient Artifacts: https://isida-project.ucoz.com/egypt_2012/dashur_bnt_corridor.htm#fw

 

28.16  The sand filter of the Bent Pyramid is perfectly showing the Satis and Anuket "run like an arrow" metaphor

I just don't know if the sand filter of Sneferu's Bent Pyramid was a biosand filter, or if it wasn't designed to be operated with a biofilm layer, but it is hard not to see it, even if the "official draws" of this pyramid, made by CNRS engineer Franck Monnier (both in 2007 and in 2016), are not showing it.

 

Image courtesy of ISIDA project: https://isida-project.org/egypt_2012/dashur_bent/corridor_w/p1160851.jpg

 

28.17  Satis "Who runs like an arrow" + Anuket "Who looks like a vagina" = the release of Hapi's water

Now, this Section is really getting interesting. We've seen that Hapi represents water which is imprisoned inside a structure which is the King's chamber of  the Great Pyramid, and that this is goddess Satis of the Elephantine Triad who is the one actually releasing these waters.

We also know that not only Satis is said to be releasing the waters contained in Hapi's cave, but she is also described as "running like an arrow".

I don't know about you, but when I hear this, I immediately think of the functioning of a valve, with its moving part which is controlling the flow of water getting out of a water tank.

If you've already seen previous Sections about Isis and Nephthys, Wadjet and Nekhbet, or Osiris himself who was seen both as the "Great inert", "asleep" and "lethargic", and as the one who gave all his energy, force and power to Ra (Section 27.02), you are already familiar with the fact that ancient Egyptians loved to emphasize both active and inactive ways of describing things.

In a valve, you do have both active and inactive parts; and this dual vision of the functioning of a valve, with the mobile part and the fixed part, has been glorified into the two goddesses of the Elephantine Triad, Satis and Anuket.

If Satis is the active part "Who runs like an arrow" of the releasing valve of the waters of the King's chamber, her counterpart Anuket "Who looks like a vagina" is about the inactive part: the one through which is passing the flow of water.

"The exact pronunciation of Egyptian is often uncertain since vowels were not recorded until a very late period. In transcription, the goddess's name also appears as Setis, Sati, Setet, Satet, Satit, and Sathit. Derived from sṯ, meaning "eject", "shoot", "pour", or "throw", her name can be variously translated as "She who Shoots" or "She who Pours" depending on which of her roles is being emphasized." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satis_(goddess)

"Her name was originally written with the hieroglyph for a linen garment's shoulder knot (S29); this was later replaced by Anuket's animal hide pierced by an arrow (F29). She was also known by epithets, such as "Mistress of Elephantine" and "She Who Runs Like an Arrow", thought to refer to the flowing river current."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satis_(goddess)

 

"Vue axonométrique de la chambre supérieure de la pyramide rhomboïdale" by Franck Monnier, CNRS Paris (2016 and 2007): https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-upper-system_fig4_303024616

Right image: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramide_rhombo%C3%AFdale

 

28.18  The forgotten representation of the filter in the Bent pyramid by French CNRS engineer Franck Monnier

The fact that Franck Monnier decided not to draw the filter, isn't unfortunately the first time that the CNRS (the French National Scientific Research Center) engineer took some liberties with archeological interpretations: in Section 14 about the Red Pyramid and the Solvay process, we've already seen that the limestone kiln of the so-called burial chamber, had also suffered the same fate, and that instead of accurately drawing the chamber like it is with the burnt blocks arranged in concentric circles and forming a deep cavity into the floor, Mr. Monnier preferred to reinvent a whole new and flat floor with perfect straight alignments.

I was gonna make some more comments, but who cares; and most of all, what could have Mr. Monnier done different?

Egyptologists simply can't deviate from the official story telling; if they do, they would most certainly lose their accreditations and working visas, or whatever other special authorization one have to get from the local authorities. So, I don't think Franck Monnier, nor any other egyptologist is to blame in the process.

 

The two Goddesses Anuket-Anukis (at left) pouring water from two water-jars, and Satet-Satis (at right) on their sacred lotus-boat; detail from the ceiling of the Hypostyle Hall of the Temple of Hathor at Iunet.   https://www.facebook.com/AmentetNeferetEgyptianReligion/posts/sati-the-great-onethe-lady-of-sunu-syene-aswanthe-eye-of-rathe-lady-of-the-skyqu/3687454131283273/

 

The ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses family tree (last updated November 16, 2022).

The water that powered up the Great Pyramid wasn't coming from the Nile: rainwater harvesting would have allowed to collect enough water into the King's chamber during the appropriate season, and wait until the air would dry enough before using that water before engaging into the evaporative cooling process, also at the appropriate season.

 

28.19  The First and Second Cataracts are referring to the Sarcophagus input and output "valves"

We've seen that Satis and Anuket are the deifications of the King's chamber releasing valve; but this valve which could have been another portcullis just like the one in the Bent Pyramid, wasn't set in the chamber or just next to it: the first valve, the Satis/Anuket valve was right on top of the biosand filter Sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid.

But there was to be a second valve, one which released the filtered water out of the filter, out of Khnum.

We've also already seen that ancient Egyptians have associated pretty much everything of the Great Pyramid's internal layout with Egypt itself; so we shouldn't be surprised that Satis and Anuket are directly associated with the First Cataract of the Nile, when Khnum is associated with the Second Cataract.

The "First and Second Cataracts" associated with the Elephantine Triad are referring to the input and output valves of the biosand filter Sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid of Egypt.

About rock inscriptions from the Second Cataract forts, Semna and Kumma (Epigraphic Study by Elsa Yvanez. The Sudan National Museum): "A potentially more interesting aspect of the Semna and Kumma corpus is the regular mentioning of local gods. The expression “local gods of Nubia” is even employed in one inscription. Satet “mistress of Eléphantine” is invocated one time, which attest the presence of this goddess of the First Cataract further south. The Nubian god Dedun, related to the inundation, is also mentioned twice. As for the divinised form of the king Senusret III, it represents about 10 % of the religious invocations. The cult of Senusret III in Nubia seems to have developed shortly after his death, as one of the main heritage of the important action of this king in the region (Tallet 2005: 73). But first and foremost, the main god of the Second Cataract was without question Khnum. Invocations to this deity represent about 50 % of the total corpus of private inscriptions from Semna-Kumma. Originally, Khnum was honoured in Elephantine, where he was the warden of the Nile sources and responsible for the river inundations. Because the cataracts were often religiously associated with the sources of the Nile, it seems logical to find Khnum revered at the Second Cataract, mouth of the Nile and entrance door of the river to Egyptian territory."

"Rock Inscriptions from Semna and Kumma, Epigraphic Study by Elsa Yvanez."  The Sudan National Museum. Page 13:  https://www.sfdas.com/IMG/pdf/rock-inscrip28e2.pdf

 

Draw of the goddess Anuket by Jeff Dahl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anuket#/media/File:Anuket.svg

Emblem of Anuket, discovered in the Satis temple at Elephantine, currently at the Louvre Museum "Emblème d'Anouket, -1295 / -1186(?) XIXe dynastie. Lieu de découverte : Cachette (Éléphantine->Temple de Satet)": https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010007003

Bes amulet from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/548299

 

28.20  Anuket's "plumes" are water plumes (just like Bes)

If active Satis can be compared to the moving stem of a modern valve, inactive Anuket "Who looks like a vagina" would be the cavity of the valve.

In other words, when Satis was moved, water could pass through Anuket; and this is why Anuket has plumes on the head: just like Bes (the wedging block that protected the dormant drain hole of the inclined well), Anuket has been represented with water plumes other the head.

 

"Sobekhotep III worshipping Satet (left) and Anuket (right). The central hole was made when the relief was used as a grinding stone, long after the original carving. Now on display at the Brooklyn Museum". Photograph by Keith Schengili-Roberts:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobekhotep_III

Water tap from:  https://www.wonkeedonkeetools.co.uk/tap-reseaters/what-is-a-tap-reseater

 

28.21  The central hole on the Brooklyn Museum relief was (most probably) for a water tap

It is said about the relief of King Sobekhotep III, that "the central hole was made when the relief was used as a grinding stone, long after the original carving". But apart from the hole itself, there is no other part damaged; would it be possible it was really used as a "grinding stone"?

Could this hole rather be explained by the true meaning of the scene, i.e. the distribution of water?

Personally, I would think that this relief was actually the plaque in which was installed a water tap, with a water tank right behind it, or a simple water pipe.

After all, if both Satis and Anuket are responsible for releasing Hapi's water, and Sobekhotep III is presenting water jars, the only missing part is the water tap so the Sobekhotep III can fill up his jars.

 

Draw of Khnum by Jeff Dahl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khnum#/media/File:Khnum.svg

Ram fighting on Wikimedia Commons thanks to Brahim Djelloul Mustapha:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ram_fighting

 

28.22  The Elephantine Triad: Khnum + Satis + Anuket

We've seen that both Satis and Anuket were the deifications of the valve which controlled the release of the water that was in the King's chamber water tank; but these two deities aren't generally separated from another water god, Khnum, the main deity of the Elephantine Triad and one of the most important gods of all times in ancient Egypt.

Khnum was so important that the full name of pharaoh Khufu, was actually Khnum-Khufu.

 

28.23  Khnum and the ramming metaphor is about earth ramming

I didn't know what to think of Khnum for a very long time, because of his ram head: for me, the ram metaphor was about the impactor ramming into the inclined well waters, but obviously, Khnum didn't fit the profile of any aspect of the impactor.

Khnum is a water god, and water ramming into water didn't make any sense.

But then, I remembered the mistake I've been doing about snakes: at the beginning of the study I thought they were only the glorification of the pressurized water like Apep or Atum, but I know now that ancient Egyptians used every single particular aspect of every animal they could to represent metaphorically every single aspect of their work.

In other words, one single animal can be used not only in one but in many ways: snakes can be about water, air (Sekhmet, previous Section 27.05) or ropes (Wadjet, Section 25.11).

The thing is that the ram metaphor used with Khnum, is kind of a hybrid one: it really is about ramming, but it is not about the water.

The ram metaphor about Khnum is about ramming the earth, and it is because Khnum is the deification of the biosand filter of the Great Pyramid.

A sand filter, or a biosand filter, is after all nothing less than a "earth filter", where earth, sand and gravels are carefully put into the filter "box".

From a distance both sand and biosand filters look the same, the only difference is that the biosand filter does have a thin layer of living microorganisms which are feeding with most of pathogens that may be present in the water to be filtered. This living layer makes a great difference in the operating of a evaporative cooling system because it reduces drastically the risk of contamination, and makes the entire process way safer than what would do a simple softening sand filter.

 

28.24  The rammed earth metaphor and the sand of a sand filter

We've seen that this is Satis who is supposed to let the waters of the Nile out of Hapi's cave, but the control of the flood doesn't stop with Satis; there is another "guardian of the flood", and that is Khnum: "The guardian of this flood was Khnemu, and it was he who kept the doors that held it in, and who drew back the bolts at the proper time."

Khnum was a water god because the biosand filter is producing drinking quality water: the ram metaphor is about rammed earth used by a potter into a mold. This is why Khnum was called the "Great Potter".

The earth used by the Great Potter Khnum is actually about the sand of the filter, inside its mold.

"On being told that its waters, the source of all good things, came from a double cavern, which was compared to twin breasts, the king decided to visit the Nile god who watched over the river and emerged at the time of the flood. The gatekeeper of the flood was Khnum God, who guarded the doors that kept the water in and then, at the right moment, threw open the doors to let the floods loose on the land." https://www.egy-king.com/2021/08/egyptian-god-of-water-khnum.html

The Auroville Earth Institute (AVEI) is a non-profit organization specializing in the research, development, promotion and transfer of earth-based building technologies, among the most cost effective, low carbon, low embodied energy solutions for sustainable development. https://www.earth-auroville.com/sre_foundations_en.php

 

The Auroville Earth Institute (AVEI) is a non-profit organization specializing in the research, development, promotion and transfer of earth-based building technologies, among the most cost effective, low carbon, low embodied energy solutions for sustainable development. https://www.earth-auroville.com/sre_foundations_en.php

 

28.25  Rammed Earth requires 70% sand in the soil, and 30% of clay

"Rammed earth, building material made by compacting certain soils, used by many civilizations. The most durable of the earth-building forms, rammed earth may be used for making building blocks or for constructing whole walls in place, layer by layer. In making building blocks, the soil is rammed into a box-shaped mold. In building up whole walls, two wooden planks separated by a spacer bolt are used as a form, and the earth is rammed into this in layers; when the form is filled, it is removed and superimposed on the top of the wall and more earth is rammed in until the desired height is reached. Ironheaded rammers, roller-mounted forms, pneumatic rammers, and hydraulic, mass-production block presses have been used. The soil used must be high in sand and low in clay, 70 percent and 30 percent being the usual proportions. About 10 percent water is added in modern practice. Good compressive strength is characteristic of rammed earth."  https://www.britannica.com/technology/rammed-earth

 

Ancient Egyptian water god Khnum as Cnouphis-Nilus (Jupiter-Nilus, Dieu Nil), N372.2, at the Brooklyn Museum. Draw by Léon-Jean-Joseph Dubois: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khnum#/media/File:Cnouphis-Nilus_(Jupiter-Nilus,_Dieu_Nil),_N372.2.jpg

"Ram Pokherai drinks clean water from his family's biosand filter. Clean water helps children stay healthy, which means they are less likely to need time away from school, so their education improves. Providing clean water has important knock-on effects." Courtesy of Editorial, Humanitarian & Travel Photographer Gavin Gough : https://www.gavingough.com/clean-water-in-rural-nepal

Images from this assignment are being used to raise awareness of the important work that Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology, CAWST is doing, providing the resources and education required for reliable clean water supplies in rural areas. https://www.cawst.org/

 

28.26  Khnum is indeed associated with potable potent water

Not only Khnum ensured that the "right amount of silt" was released in the Waters of the Nile during the inundation [1], which can be interpreted as the right amount of sand and its proper layout inside the filter, but it turns out that Khnum is indeed associated with drinking water [2].

The only way that the waters of the inundation of the Nile could be associated with drinking water, is that you somehow purify that water. It means that Khnum is really about water filtration.

[1]: "The Egyptians believed that he was the guardian of the source of the Nile who was originally a Nile god, but who became a helper of Hapi. His role changed from river god to the one who made sure that the right amount of silt was released into the water during the inundation. In working with the silt, the very soil that the ancient Egyptian potters used, he became the great potter who not only molded men and women, but who molded the gods themselves and the world." http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/khnum.htm

[2]: There is an excerpt that is talking about the fact that Khnum is not associated with any kind of water, but with potable water. Source: Ember Elektra  http://chthonickore.blogspot.com/2020/07/hes-magic-man.html

"His [Khnum] name in hieroglyphics also points to his early role as a water god. In hieroglyphics "Khnum" is written with a "water jug" pictogram representing the phonogram ẖnm (khnum).

As a primeval god, this water jug is a symbol of greater importance than it may first appear. Remember the heavens themselves were described and imagined as water/s and the gods were shown traveling these "waters" in barques. The Milky Way was sometimes described as the "Nile in the sky." So the dramas that played out in the sky with the sun and stars were reflective and analogous of happenings below on earth. Just as the importance of the fertile fresh waters of the Nile were known to the Egyptians to be essential for abundance and life, so too, the gift of water from heaven was understood as it pertained to the spiritual life and provided life and health to the body.

Not all water/drink is equal, however. Water can be stagnant or fresh. The best water is that which is the cause of health, fertility, rejuvenation, and life. This water of life or living water is a gift. Khnum represented the powers of these potent regenerative waters of life supplied to the world in the form of this vessel or pot.

Potent is from Latin potentem (nominative potens) "powerful," present participle of *potere "be powerful, able, capable." Khnum was most definitely then a Potere (powerful) Potter and pater ("father" in Latin) of the gods and humans. The ultimate PIE root of potent is said to be *poti- "powerful; lord".

These potent waters are most potable as well. Potable is not immediately and obviously connected to this concept of "potent" itself. It comes from a word meaning "to drink". Potable is from Old French potable (14c.), and directly from Late Latin potabillis "drinkable," from Latin potare "to drink" (from PIE root *po(i)- "to drink").

We see a noun form of the word potare "to drink" used here in the Vulgate, caro enim mea vere est cibus et sanguis meus vere est potus [for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.] John 6:56

It's not crazy to think that these concepts are somehow related, however, namely the symbol of the potent potter, i.e., a pot (of sorts), and what is in the pot, i.e., drink (potus); potent, pot, potable. Khnum is a Poti (Powerful Lord) of the powerful/potent potus (drink). 

The etymology of the word "pot" is said to be of uncertain origin, however. Nevertheless the concept of pot (a thing which holds liquid/drink) and drink (potare/potus) in this case are easily related in their association with this god (Khnum). The fact that the Divine Potter is intimately connected to both a vessel (pot) and water (and remember the hieroglyph for water [three wavy lines] also can have the meaning "to drink") lead to the consideration that the word "pot" and certain words for drink might ultimately be connected to the notion of things related to this powerful/potent god."   http://chthonickore.blogspot.com/2020/07/hes-magic-man.html

 

28.27  The distinction between "potable" and "drinking" water

It is also interesting to note that if "potent" is about "potable" water, it doesn't imply that this water is meant to be "drinking" water: it is just saying that you can drink it; and that its purity is so good that you can drink it, even if it is not supposed to be drunk at all. And that is the perfect description of the quality of the water produced by the biosand filter of the Great Pyramid.

 

Granite shrines "boxes" in the Temple of Khnum, Elephantine island (Aswan): http://www.sacredsitesjourneys.com/Egypt-PhotoGallery-3.htm

 

28.28  The Elephantine granite "shrines"

The proof that Khnum and all the Elephantine island were about the glorification of the operation of a (bio)sand filter is in the famous granite boxes, or "shrines" which were copying the granite Sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid. The pointy end is probably referring to the active Satis "running like an arrow" reference.

Very interesting video, with people inside one of the granite boxes that is about 2 meters deep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhWiUad1gOQ

 

 

28.29  When Khufu becomes Khnum-Khufu... and Khafre becomes Ra-Khafre

One of the difficult parts of deciphering ancient Egyptian gods and deities, is that everything happened over many years and generations of experimental work, step after step, starting (most probably) with the very first Dynasty, or even before that. The Great Pyramid concentrates most of these deities, because she was (most probably) the final outcome of the whole thing; but some of them are very old deities, and Khnum is one of them.

Most probably Khnum, was at the very beginning referring to a "simple" sand filter, that became other the years a biosand filter when the functioning of the biofilm of living microorganisms would have been mastered.

What is interesting is that Khufu's full name was actually Khnum-Khufu; and if you add this to the (bio?) sand filter of his father's Bent Pyramid, a possible scenario is that this added part of Khufu's name would be a simple reference to the latest innovation of his time, i.e. the latest innovation of his father's.

So, when Khnum-Khufu build his Great Pyramid after having mastered the floating composite impactor operation Ra, his own son Khafre will add this Ra name to his own, and become known as Ra-Khafre.

"Khnum (Khenmew, Khnemu, Khenmu, Chnum), from the Egyptian 'unite', 'join' or 'build', was an ancient deity of fertility, water and the great potter who created children and their ka at their conception. He was mentioned in the pyramid texts and the pyramid builder Khufu's name was actually 'Khnum-Khufu' meaning 'Khnum is his Protector'. His cult was popular before the cult of Re eclipsed it. The next pyramid builders were his son and grandson who added 'Re' to their names - Khafra and Menkaura. Khnum was possibly even a predynastic god. The Egyptians believed that he was the guardian of the source of the Nile who was originally a Nile god, but who became a helper of Hapi. His role changed from river god to the one who made sure that the right amount of silt was released into the water during the inundation. In working with the silt, the very soil that the ancient Egyptian potters used, he became the great potter who not only molded men and women, but who molded the gods themselves and the world." http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/khnum.htm

"Khufu's name was dedicated to the god Khnum, which might point to an increase of Khnum's popularity and religious importance. In fact, several royal and religious titles introduced at this time may point out that Egyptian pharaohs sought to accentuate their divine origin and status by dedicating their official cartouche names to certain deities. Khufu may have viewed himself as a divine creator, a role that was already given to Khnum, the god of creation and growth. As a consequence, the king connected Khnum's name with his own. Khufu's full name (Khnum-khufu) means "Khnum protect me". While modern Egyptological pronunciation renders his name as Khufu, at the time of his reign his name was probably pronounced as Kha(w)yafwi(y), and during the Hellenized era, Khewaf(w). [...] "The pharaoh officially used two versions of his birth name: Khnum-khuf and Khufu. The first (complete) version clearly exhibits Khufu's religious loyalty to Khnum, the second (shorter) version does not. It is unknown as to why the king would use a shortened name version since it hides the name of Khnum and the king's name connection to this god. It might be possible though, that the short name wasn't meant to be connected to any god at all."   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khufu

 

Elephant spraying water at the Sanctuary for Rescued Elephants in Pattaya, Thailand: https://www.pattayaelephantsanctuary.org/gallery/

Desert elephant (Loxodonta africana) spraying sand on herself while guarding her sleeping baby. She has covered the baby with a branch. Damaraland, Namibia. Photograph by Charles J. Sharp:  https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89l%C3%A9phant_du_d%C3%A9sert#/media/Fichier:Desert_elephant_(Loxodonta_africana)_spraying_sand.jpg

 

28.30  The Elephant metaphor is about both water and earth

Many hypothesis are trying to explain why the Elephant has been associated with the Khnum, Satis and Anuket Triad by naming Elephantine Island just like it is; but when you know that this Triad is all about a sand filter, that is purifying water, simply using earth, the elephant metaphor becomes perfect because an elephant spraying water or earth on himself is without any doubt the first image that comes to mind about an elephant.

 

The operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Egypt for evaporative cold production. The Great Pyramid internal layout is what ancient Egyptians glorified into the Underworld, where was the "Mysterious Cavern of the Sacred act of Towing". Last updated November, 18.

 

More on the Dendera Light in Section 2: the evaporative cooling process and the Dendera Light

 

28.31  Is the Solvay process just a fad?

I must admit that this whole ancient Egyptian deities deciphering thing has become kind of a "supreme game" that I really enjoy, maybe because it is a way to get as close as possible to the true nature of ancient Egyptian themselves; but I have a major problem: until today, I've found no real indisputable clue that the evaporative cold was created to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate natron. I've found not a single god or goddess directly referring to the Solvay process.

I'm not saying I have to invalidate this part of the study, because maybe it is right under my eyes and I just don't see it, or maybe this part simply didn't get the same treatment than the evaporative cold.

One of the keys of the study is the dual active and inactive "philosophy" that ancient Egyptians loved to oppose, in some ways; maybe they did that in a broader scale by glorifying everything about Physics (how was produced the cold) and nothing about Chemistry, like this part was the real end game which nobody could ever understand in any way.

In every single temple, there was a place where only the highest ranking priests were allowed to go, maybe this sacred place was all about Chemistry.

 

Source: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/65/fe/f0/65fef06826d4663ed468653119a370b9.jpg

 

28.32  Summary of the study: hidden behind the academic vision of the ancient Egyptian religion, a vast number of metaphors are describing some of the most advanced science and technological knowledge of that time : ancient Egyptian gods were nothing else than pharaohs' metaphoric self-glorifications of their theoretical and experimental scientific accomplishments in physics and chemistry.

Pharaohs used the power of Science to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt : they forged an entire religion, based on science to rule their kingdom, and they presented that science as Magic.

The end game of this technological program that probably started on the very first Dynasty, was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid from the pressurized water produced in the inclined well, known today as the ascending passage.

The evaporative cold simply took advantage of the power of water, and was most probably necessary to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate produced by an ammonia-soda Solvay process, as suggested by the very strong ammonia smell and the limestone kiln in the so-called burial chamber of the Red Pyramid. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs (Sections 14, 15 and 16).

The cooling seems to have represented the most difficult part of the process, as suggested by the Step Pyramid's official name : according to scholars, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods". No doubt that a more accurate translation would certainly be "the cooling of the Gods".

It means that ancient Egyptians were the first civilization to master a Solvay-like process for sodium carbonate manufacturing, long before it got reinvented in the 1800's in Europe. The key elements of that process is the temperature control of the chemical reactions (the cooling), and the dome shaped plate necessary for the counterflow chemical reactions to occur in an efficient way. That counterflow reaction plate is what really is the disc of Sabu.

As shown with Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the creation of the evaporative cold was the most sacred accomplishment of all (Section 17), and this is exactly what the Dendera Light is all about : the Dendera Light is the fog of microdroplets of liquid water that evaporates and creates the cold. Talking 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, Section 2).

Everything that had been done in the Great Pyramid of Giza inspired most of the ancient Egyptian religion, and it had been glorified into what we know today as the Underworld.

The Underworld is referring to the chambers and passages of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and in particular to the Grand Gallery where a hauling gantry beetle operated a wooden coffin shaped impactor that had a small nested granite block inside it. The impactor generated endlessly, over and over, maybe every 15 minutes the pressurized water that was then transformed into a fog of microdroplets inside the horizontal cooling passage.

The Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid where the act of hauling was done, is the "Secret Hauling Cavern of the Underworld" described in the Amduat "Book of the Hidden Chamber".

The most important chamber of the Great Pyramid wasn't the King's chamber that only was the main water tank of the pyramid, but the Queen's chamber, the only one on the central axis of the pyramid. Because the Queen's chamber was inaccessible from the rest of the pyramid, it was glorified into the "Hidden Chamber of the Underworld" (Section 11), and because the Queen's chamber was the coolest place in the pyramid (about 5°C / 41°F), and with a constant 100% Humidity rate, this chamber was the one where the biggest amount of very hard salt encrustation had been documented by the first explorers of the pyramid in the 1800's and before it had been removed in 1998 by Zahi Hawass (Section 1). Very hard salt encrustation is the signature of the evaporative cooling process, even nowadays.

The most incredible thing is that pretty much everything I've just said, actually appears in many myths, and they don't even originate from ancient Egypt : the "Churning of the Ocean" Hindu myth that produces the immortal nectar Amrita, the Tibetan Prayer Wheels operated to give small amounts of 'merit' to too lazy Naga snakes, and the entire Norse mythology with Thor's magical hammer endlessly fighting another Great Serpent of the Underworld and producing a mist of cold from a mysterious well that would be opposed to hellishly hot heat waves.

I'm talking a lot about the impactor of the Great Pyramid, but it is nothing compared to the tremendous impact caused by what the ancient Egyptians had accomplished within the 78 years of the Great Pyramids Era, from Djoser to the Great Pyramid: the entire ancient World had been shaken up in their deepest beliefs beyond all comprehension; and we are still talking about it today.

 

 

The Pyramids of the Cold

Back to the Table of Contents

Next Section: the Obelisk and the Benben stone

 

The crewmembers are pulling down the Hauling gantry beetle backwards for maximum power efficiency. Of course, the impactor couldn't be seen inside the central wooden caisson; and the Hauling beetle is actually totally covering the caisson on both sides as well as on top: the central caisson also disappear completely underneath the Hauling beetle.

 

27.01  The operating cycle of the Grand Gallery (side view): Position 4 

• The impactor is now called Horus the child and is hauled back up to the top of the Grand Gallery, using the latch bolts in the walls

The impactor's Hauling rope has become Isis, the Hauling beetle is now Mehet-Weret and the Beetle's rope drives are now Wadjet.

 

27.02  The Great "inert", "asleep" and "lethargic" Osiris... but who gives all his "force", "power" and "energy" to Ra

The fact that Osiris is nothing but the glorification of what was the weight of the impactor, its ballast so to speak, is actually perfectly explaining one of his epithets: Osiris was seen as the "Great inert".

Also, another name of Osiris is Wenennefer, which means "the one that remains perfect", and it probably is referring to the fact that the Osiris stone was hidden and fully protected inside the wooden impactor.

About Osiris' epithets: "The egyptologist W. Budge counts no less than forty of them. The Egyptians, always obsessed by their desire to reject death by any means, use metaphors or more or less explicit circumlacation to speak of Osiris and his state.

The various Books of the Dead teem with them. One notices that the God never dead, he is asleep, he is apathetic, he is lethargic, etc. Here are some examples: "the great inert", "the king of those who are not", "the Lord of the living", "the master of eternity", "the one who governs Ro-Setau", "the first of the westerners".

As Wenennefer, which means "the one that remains perfect" […]."  https://www.osirisnet.net/dieux/osiris/e_osiris_01.htm

 

I need to point out that this "inert", "asleep" and "lethargic" Osiris, is the exact same one than the Osiris who is giving all his force, all his power and all his "ramming" energy to Ra:

"Ra at this time becomes merged with Osiris, the judge of the dead, and Osiris is seen as the “corpse” and Ra as the “soul” of the single deity Ra-Osiris."   https://www.worldhistory.org/Ra_(Egyptian_God)/

"Osiris' soul, or rather his Ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god […] This aspect of Osiris was referred to as Banebdjedet. […] As Banebdjed, Osiris was given epithets such as Lord of the Sky and Life of the (sun god) Ra. Ba does not mean "soul" in the western sense, and has to do with power, reputation, force of character, especially in the case of a god. […] Since the ba was associated with power, and also happened to be a word for ram in Egyptian, Banebdjed was depicted as a ram, or as Ram-headed."   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris (in the "Ram god" section).

 

"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

 

27.03  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

 

27.04  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

 

27.05  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.

 

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

 

27.06  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.

 

 

27.07  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

 

 

27.08  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.

 

27.09  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

 

27.10  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

 

27.11  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.

 

27.12  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/

 

Of course, the impactor couldn't be seen inside the central wooden caisson; and the Hauling beetle is actually totally covering the caisson on both sides as well as on top: the central caisson also disappear completely underneath the Hauling beetle.

 

27.13  The operating cycle of the Grand Gallery • Position 1

• The impactor has been hauled up to the top of the Grand Gallery and is ready to be released: a new cycle begins

Just like the 3 ropes of the Grand Gallery have been deified into many goddesses, depending on each part of their operating cycle, the Hauling beetle have also been deified multiple times. Hathor is the Beetle that had been brought back up at the very top of the Grand Gallery. In this position, the impactor was perfectly covered and nested in between the western and eastern Beetles, it would have looked like the Beetle was "protecting", "nursing" even "milking" Horus and Ra. This is why Hathor is described as the "Temple of Horus", "House of Horus" and the "Mother of Ra".

"Hathor (Ancient Egyptian: ḥwt-ḥr, lit. 'House of Horus', A) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god Ra."   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor

The Beetle has also been represented into Khepri, who is referring to its wooden structure in Acacia: Khepri is about the wooden gantry.

 

27.14  Bastet was only opened to reconnect the Isis rope with the floating impactor

Everyone knows Isis, but it is not even close to be the real name of the goddess, because it is a Greek name.

Ancient Egyptian name for Isis, is Aset; and what is very interesting is that Bastet is actually named after her: Bastet means the Ba of Aset. But it is most of all saying that the two of them, Isis and Bastet had a very close connection; and that connection is that the Bastet Hatch was only opened so that the Isis impactor's Hauling rope could have been reattached to the impactor floating in the well.

"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

 

27.15  Is Bastet's mouth the missing mouth of Medjed?

We've seen in previous Section 26 about the smiter deity called Medjed, that if both his nose and mouth were invisible, it was because Medjed represents the impactor, hidden inside the central wooden caisson, and I've associated Medjed's missing mouth with the mouth of the well; but maybe it was not the well's mouth, but Bastet's mouth instead.

 

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

 

27.16  ​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

 

27.17  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.

 

27.18  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

 

27.19  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

 

27.20  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.

 

27.21  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

 

27.22  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

 

27.23  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

 

27.24  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!

 

27.25  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

 

27.26  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.

 

27.27  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

 

27.28  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

 

Of course, the impactor couldn't be seen inside the central wooden caisson; and the Hauling beetle is actually totally covering the caisson on both sides as well as on top: the central caisson also disappear completely underneath the Hauling beetle.

 

 

27.30  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.

 

27.31  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/

 

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

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

 

27.32  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. More on Geb, Shu and Nut in Section 3

 

"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/

 

27.33  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.

 

Of course, the impactor couldn't be seen inside the central wooden caisson; and the Hauling beetle is actually totally covering the caisson on both sides as well as on top: the central caisson also disappear completely underneath the Hauling beetle.

 

27.34  The operating cycle of the Grand Gallery • Position 3

• The impactor is inside the inclined well and its Hauling rope has been released in the wooden caisson for its reattachment. The Beetle has become Hathor: the Distant Goddess

The impactor's Hauling rope has become Hatmehit and the Hatch is opened for one man to reattach Hatmehit with the floating impactor.

 

The idea that Hatmehit was the representation of a rope that was supposed to be reconnected with the impactor is probably the meaning of the hole that the figures of Hatmehit have directly in their heads: that hole was meant for the rope itself.

Draw of goddess Hatmehit by Jeff Dahl. Hatmehit figures: https://www.ecured.cu/Hatmehyt_(diosa_egipcia)#/media/File:Hatmehyt.jpg

https://www.trocadero.com/stores/explorer/items/1383416 and https://www.thierrydemaigret.com/lot/13797/2579392

 

27.35  Hatmehit is about the impactor's Hauling rope, just like Isis or Nephthys

Many references about Hatmehit are pointing to the same conclusion: Hatmehit is another name for the impactor's Hauling rope, the one which have been called Isis and Nephthys.

In particular, it is known that Isis, Nephthys and Hatmehit are all "searching for the body of Osiris", who is the impactor floating in the inclined well waters. It means that the three of them are all together about the same impactor's Hauling rope: "There is one note of a Nephthys-Hatmehit in a hieratic papyrus Book of Hours. Additionally, Herman de Meulenaere argues that due to Hatmehit's epithets describing her as one of the parties who search for the body of Osiris that pointed to a connection with Nephthys as well". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatmehit

 

27.36  Hatmehit is the impactor's Hauling rope that was fishing the impactor out of the well

If goddess Hatmehit's emblem is a fish, it is because she is the deification of the impactor's Hauling rope in a very particular moment of the operating cycle of the Grand Gallery: the recovery of the impactor from the waters of the inclined well. Figures of Hatmehit also have a hole pierced in the head of the goddess, because she was "fishing the impactor out of the well".

"Hatmehyt was a fish-goddess worshipped in the Delta, particularly in the northeast at Mendes. The fish as a divinity is comparatively rare in the Egyptian pantheon, but Hatmehyt's name means "she who is in front of the fishes" […] At Mendes, in a district for which the ancient standard was the fish symbol indicating that Hatmehyt was the senior deity in terms of residence there, her cult becomes subordinated to that of the ram-god Banebdjedet - interpreted after his arrival as her consort."  http://www.touregypt.net/godsofegypt/hatmehyt.htm

 

27.37  When the Hatmehit rope is becoming the Isis impactor's Hauling rope

We've seen that Isis is the rope actually involved in the act of towing the impactor (the active rope), when Nephthys is the same rope, but inactive, completely coiled upon the axle beam and disconnected with the impactor.

This part is crucial, because it is unimaginable that the impactor would be released into the slope of the Gallery, if it was still connected with the towing rope: the central rope absolutely had to be disconnected before the release of the impactor; hence the necessity to have the Bastet Hatch at the bottom of the central caisson, to reconnect the rope with the impactor.

It means that there is here another part of the operating cycle of the rope: the rope that is descending inside the central wooden caisson after the impactor had rammed into the waters of the well.

Hatmehit is about this part of the operating cycle; it is about the reattachment of the towing rope with the impactor. In other words, Hatmehit is about the birth (so to speak) of Isis.

When it is known that "Isis would begin to take the role of Hatmehit", it is actually all about the opposite: it is Hatmehit who is supposed to become Isis: "In earlier periods, Hatmehit was considered her own goddess. However from the Third Intermediate Period onwards, Isis would begin to take the role of Hatmehit in the local cult, with Hatmehit being considered a form of Isis particular to Mendes."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatmehit

 

"Mehet-Weret is described as being the mother of Ra and that she was responsible for raising the sun [Ra] into the sky every day." It means that Mehet-Weret is the glorification of the active Hauling beetle, really accomplishing the sacred act of hauling the impactor.

At this point, the hatch is opened to let the air fill the caisson with fresh air that will replace the moist air of the evaporative passage.

 

27.38  The operating cycle of the Grand Gallery • Position 4

• The impactor is now called Horus the child and is hauled back up to the top of the Grand Gallery, using the latch bolts in the walls

The impactor's Hauling rope has become Isis, the Hauling beetle is now Mehet-Weret and the Beetle's rope drives are now Wadjet.

 

Mehet-Weret in the tomb of Irynefer at Deir el-Medina (TT290), in front of goddess Nut. Photograph thanks to kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/11433106165/in/photostream/

 

27.39  Hathor isn't the Hauling beetle actually performing the act of towing: it was Mehet-Weret

I've already mentioned in previous Sections, the fact that Hathor was a representation of the Hauling beetle, but I was wrong in the way I've presented it, saying that the Beetle was Hathor and that both of them were the deification of the Beetle really towing the impactor.

The cow goddess Hathor is actually just one out of many representations of the Beetle: Egyptians did the same thing with the Beetle that what we've already seen with the ropes. It didn't matter if there was only one hauling rope for the impactor, this rope had been deified at least three times in Isis, Nephthys and Hatmehit (and maybe there is or there are other representation(s) of this rope that I still didn't get).

Until today, I thought Hathor was the "active" Hauling beetle, really accomplishing the act of towing; and that was a mistake: Mehet-Weret is the deification of the active Beetle.

 

27.40  Mehet-Weret is the active Beetle performing the act of towing the impactor

When it is said that Mehet-Weret was responsible for "raising Sun god Ra into the sky every day", we simply have the answer to who was the deification of the active towing Hauling beetle; and it was her Mehet-Weret, because Ra is the impactor.

"Mehet-Weret was responsible for raising the sun into the sky every day." […] "Mehet-Weret is described as being the mother of Ra, the ancient Egyptian solar deity. As the Goddess of Creation, she gives birth to the sun every day and is the reason the world isn't in the dark. In her physical description, she is described as having a sun disk between her horns; in typical motherly fashion, she protects her son Ra and keeps him close to her."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehet-Weret

 

The Hauling beetle Mehet-Weret has done her duty: the impactor has been brought back at the top of the Grand Gallery.

 

27.41  The operating cycle of the Grand Gallery • Position 5

• The Hauling process is finished: the impactor and the Hauling beetle are in complete opposing positions

At this point, the Bastet Hatch has to be closed again so that the air could be pressurized and sent to the evaporative passage.

All the tension on the impactor's Hauling rope has to be transferred to the quick release system, probably set on the caisson, and the Hauling beetle needs to get brought back up to the top of the Grand Gallery, before the next cycle can begin.

 

The Hauling beetle's lateral ropes are probably disconnected with the Beetle so that its movement isn't hindered by them (hypothetical).

 

27.42  The operating cycle of the Grand Gallery • Position 6

• The Hauling beetle is being brought back up to the top of the Gallery to securely lock the impactor before its release

Hathor the "Distant goddess" is progressively becoming Hathor. Everything is starting to get ready for the next Hauling cycle.

 

Ancient Egyptians believed that "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 [which was] equated with Hathor or Iusaaset and Nebethetepet".

This sexual metaphor of "the Hand of Atum" is perfectly depicting the continuous and simultaneous relative movement of the impactor inside the Hauling beetle, that was endlessly "passing through" or "penetrating" the Beetle… and resulting in the ejection of pressurized liquid: the about 200 liters of pressurized water that endlessly, all day long, were creating the evaporative cold in the horizontal passage.

 

27.43  The operating cycle of the Grand Gallery • Position 7

• The Beetle is progressively covering the impactor and becomes Iusaaset (the wooden structure aspect of the gantry)

The Beetle also becomes Nebethetepet (this time it is about the sexual metaphor about the penetration movement of the impactor).

 

27.44  Nebethetepet is about the penetrating movement of the impactor "inside" the wooden structure Iusaaset

What seems to be the most significant aspect of Nebethetepet, the "Satisfied Lady" is her "sexual" side, as in her epithet of "Mistress" that is used in Mistress of Offerings, Mistress of Hetepet and Mistress of the uterus and Mistress of the Vulva.

It could indicate that Nebethetepet was the vision of the Hauling beetle in movement towards the impactor, and that the metaphor used in her case is about the sexual intercourse, when the impactor was cycle after cycle endlessly "penetrating" inside the wooden structure that would have appear like two opened legs over the impactor.

It would mean that the Hauling beetle could have been called Nebethetepet only when the gantry was slowly closing to the impactor Horus the child, who was "waiting" for the Beetle at the top of the Gallery, at the very end of every cycle.

"Nebet-hetepet (nb.t-ḥtp.t) is an ancient Egyptian goddess. Her name means "Lady of the Offerings" or "Satisfied Lady". She was worshipped in Heliopolis as a female counterpart of Atum. She personified Atum's hand, the female principle of creation, and could also be a title for Hathor, but aside from that had little significance."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebethetepet

"Iusâas is also known as Nebet-Hetepet, ‘Mistress of Hetepet’, a cult site in the vicinity of Heliopolis. This epithet also, however, has the meaning of ‘Mistress of the Vulva’ as well as ‘Mistress of Offerings’, thereby expressing a conception of divine offerings as that which brings forth the latent potency of the Gods into generative expression. The epithet Nebet-Hetepet is frequently borne by Hathor as well, who is the Goddess of sexual satisfaction in a broader sense. Iusâas and Nebet-Hetepet sometimes appear to be distinct Goddesses; closer investigation, however, tends to reveal that when the distinction between Iusâas and Nebet-Hetepet is genuine, it is because it is Hathor to whom the epithet ‘Nebet-Hetepet’ is being ascribed (Vandier 1964-66)."  https://henadology.wordpress.com/theology/netjeru/iusaas/

"The cult of Iusaas was associated with that of another heliopolitan goddess: Nebet-Hetepet. There are also several suggestions regarding her name: Lady of contentment; Mistress of Offering; or simply "Misteress of Hetepet". Troy explains that Htpt is generally determined by the water-filled well which is found in Hmt, woman and wife. Accordingly, it is related to the female reproductive organs. It also might betranslated as "uterus", which is considered a place of rest, Htp. Hence, Nebet-Hetepet could mean Mistress of the uterus." Goddess Iusaas (A study about her iconography and her religious role in Ancient Egypt), by Dina Ezz El-Din: https://www.academia.edu/43571020/Goddess_Iusaas_A_study_about_her_iconography_and_her_religious_role_in_Ancient_Egypt

 

Ra-Horakhty and Hathor in the tomb of Nefertari, QV66, in the Valley of the Queens. Photograph by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/33976926276/in/photostream/

Book of the Dead of Hunefer (Hw-nfr) frame 3, at the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA9901-3

 

27.45  The Hauling gestures performed by Hathor, Isis and Nephthys

If goddess Hathor is reproducing the exact same gesture on Horus-Ra than Isis and Nephthys on Osiris, it is because the meaning is the same. Isis and Nephthys are representations of the rope which hauled the impactor to the top of the Grand Gallery (all the impactor's weight was in the Osiris stone); and Hathor is the wooden gantry structure, the Hauling beetle which hauled the Horus composite structure of the impactor, including the wooden cradle float: Ra.

 

27.46  When falcon headed Ra-Horakhty as the deification of the impactor is represented creating the pressurized air inflated snake of Sekhmet, right over his head

An interesting point to note on the Ra-Horakhty deity, who is representing the impactor in its "visible" nature (Ra is the wooden part of the impactor and Horus the entire composite structure), is that:

• he is not wrapped in bandages like Osiris is (Osiris was actually really wrapped in linen or tissue inside his hollowed out cavity "House of Osiris"), on the contrary he is depicted with a falcon's head referring to the speed and energy of the impactor

• he has above the head the same inflated snake that Sekhmet has, and that is to show that during his dive/fall into the slope of the Gallery, the impactor was the one which created the pressurized air

 

Hypostyle hall of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera, photographed by A. Parrot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor#/media/File:Dendera_hypostyle_hall_crosswise.jpg

Hathor column at Dendera: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Hathor_column_dendera.png

Hathor columns and breathtaking ceiling at Dendera, by Karen Green: https://www.flickr.com/photos/19479358@N00/4416542140

 

27.47  The Distant goddess Hathor

If Hathor is represented at the very top of a column capital, it is because Hathor is the deification of the Hauling beetle of the Great Pyramid of Giza, when it is back to the very top of the Grand Gallery, right underneath the top platform after having done its hauling job.

When Hathor is described as "the Distant goddess", it is about the moment when Ra (the impactor) is alone and floating in the inclined well, desperately waiting to be taken in charge for another Hauling cycle to begin.

 

27.48  When the impactor Ra is sending the Hatmehit rope to reconnect with the Distant Goddess Hathor Hauling beetle

For the recovery of the impactor, one man had to get inside the fixed caisson to reattach the Hatmehit rope, and start a whole new Hauling cycle towards the upper part of the Grand Gallery. The Acacia wooden caisson had to have a hatch at the bottom of the Gallery.

"When the Distant Goddess (Hathor) eludes Ra's control, a god is sent forth by Ra to find his daughter and bring her home and, when this happens, she brings with her the inundation of the Nile River which overflowed its banks and brought life to the people."

The god sent by Ra (who is the impactor), to find Hathor (the Hauling beetle) to reassemble them both is precisely the Hatmehit rope.

 

In the following excerpts, many parts are gonna ring a bell if you've already worked your way through all the Pyramids of the Cold Sections 23 and the more recent ones, which are little by little deciphering the metaphoric representations of the ropes of the Grand Gallery.

All excerpts are from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatmehit

• Isis, Nephthys and Hatmehit are all "searching for the body of Osiris" (they are all together about the impactor's Hauling rope): "There is one note of a Nephthys-Hatmehit in a hieratic papyrus Book of Hours. Additionally, Herman de Meulenaere argues that due to Hatmehit's epithets describing her as one of the parties who search for the body of Osiris that pointed to a connection with Nephthys as well".

• "Hatmehit being considered a form of Isis": "In earlier periods, Hatmehit was considered her own goddess. However from the Third Intermediate Period onwards, Isis would begin to take the role of Hatmehit in the local cult, with Hatmehit being considered a form of Isis particular to Mendes. This was prompted by the growing association between Banebdjedet and Osiris, with Banebdjedet being considered the ba of Osiris. This is also evidenced by her epithets "She who looks for (the members of) her brother on the flow" and "The excellent Sister of He who wakes healthy (=Osiris)".

and: "The Dendera temple complex contains the most evidence of the connection between Isis and Hatmehit, where Isis is referred to explicitly as Hatmehit on two occasions. The first is on the wall of the mysterious hall in a series of inscriptions about Isis visiting the various nomes. When they get to Nome 16 of Lower Egypt it states: "The king of Upper and Lower Egypt, the son of Ra comes to you, Isis the great, the mother of the god, mistress of Iatdi. He brings you to the capital of the Mendesian nome carrying his possessions, it garnishes your chapel, you are Hatmehit, sovereign in Mendes, who seeks (the members of) her brother on the flow."

• Hatmehit's connection with Banebdjedet: "As the connection between Isis and Hatmehit became stronger, eventually Isis was shown as part of the Mendesian triad without necessarily being explicitly identified as Hatmehit. For example, a stela from Mendes from the reign of Iuput II depicts an offering being given to a triad of Banebdjedet, Isis the Great, and Harpocrates. Another stela depicts Ptolemy II Philadelphus making an offering to the deified Arsinoe II, the ram of Mendes, Banebdjedet the ba of Osiris, and a figure with the inscription "Isis the Great Hatmehit".

• Hatmehit's connection with Hathor and Mehet-Weret: "Hatmehit is considered by some Egyptologists to be connected with Hathor. Hathor is one of the oldest deities of Egypt who also went by the name Mehet-Weret, meaning "great flood". This may possibly be due to being seen as a remnant of the primal waters of creation from which all things arose. Other goddesses associated with the primal waters of creation are Mut and Naunet."

 

 

27.49  The operating cycle of the Grand Gallery • Position 8

• The impactor has been hauled up to the top of the Grand Gallery and is ready to be released into the slope

A new cycle can begin; back to Position 1.

 

27.50  Iusaaset: the wooden Acacia Structure of the Hauling beetle that looked like a scarab

If many aspects of Nebethetepet are about the movement of the Hauling beetle, Iusaaset is on the contrary all about its structure that resembled to a scarab beetle: not only Iusaaset is described with a scarab beetle on her head, but she is also directly associated with the Acacia tree.

But because Iusaaset is also about the movement of the impactor inside the structure, it means that Iusaaset is the Hauling beetle approaching the top of the Grand Gallery and the impactor itself: the more the structure is approaching the impactor and the top platform, the bigger it looks from the platform.

"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 was equated with Hathor or Iusaaset and Nebethetepet, two other, more minor goddesses.[4] 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

"Iusaaset is a primordial goddess in Ancient Egyptian religion, a feminine counterpart to the male creator deity Atum. Iusaaset was depicted as a woman with a scarab beetle on her head."

"Iusaaset was associated with the acacia tree and acacias stood at the sanctuary dedicated to Iusaaset at Heliopolis."

"In very ancient times she was seen as “the great one who comes forth”  https://iseumsanctuary.com/2022/02/14/goddess-of-the-tree-of-life/

"In Ancient Egyptian art, Iusaaset appears as a woman wearing the horned vulture crown with the uraeus and the solar disk in it, and she carries an ankh in one hand and a scepter in the other. The Egyptian vulture, most sacred to the ancient Egyptians and symbolizing Nekhbet, one of the Two Ladies protecting Egypt, was thought to reproduce though parthenogenesis also. This association might be the basis for the similar view about the motherhood of Iusaaset. The vultures also were considered extremely good mothers. The horns, the uraeus, and the solar disk make a religious connection to Bat and Hathor."

https://religion.fandom.com/wiki/Iusaaset

 

27.51  The shift change chaos because of Hathor and the 8 "dead" crewmembers

The P8 position in the operating cycle of the Grand Gallery was certainly the moment when a shift change could have been proceeded. And that could be the origin of the "troublesome" side of Hathor: it is only when the Hauling beetle was at the very top of the Grand Gallery, locked and secured, that any shift change could have occurred.

It means that the entire team of the 8 crewmembers would have to get out of the gantry, to be replaced by a brand new team; and I can only imagine the chaos it would cause. The "chaos in the human world", created by Hathor is probably all about this shift change.

From a certain point of view, the 8 crewmembers leaving their posts, could also have been seen as "dead", just like we all are after a very intense physical activity. The 8 leaving crewmembers certainly didn't say "oh, kill me now", but they were probably quite dead anyway!

"Myth of the Heavenly Cow" by Nadine Guilhou tells the story of a separate goddess that is related to Mehet-Weret who is named Hathor. Hathor is seen as more troublesome than Mehet-Weret, because she creates chaos in the human world. The title of the story of the “Myth of the Heavenly Cow” is also known as “The Destruction of Mankind” because Hathor was sent to kill the rebels who acted against the sun god Ra and his plans to rearrange the cosmos. While Hathor is the bloodthirsty warrior cow, focused on the destruction of humankind, Mehet-Weret is responsible for creating some of the most basic needs for humankind: sun and water."   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehet-Weret

 

Hypostyle hall of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera, by A. Parrot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hathor#/media/File:Dendera_hypostyle_hall_crosswise.jpg

Sistrum with Image of Hathor on Handle at the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory’s Atlanta campus: https://collections.carlos.emory.edu/objects/13693/sistrum-with-image-of-hathor-on-handle

Sistrum of the Chantress Tapenu at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/553814

 

27.52  The sistrum also stands for the agitation and noises caused by the Hauling beetle shift change

If Hathor is represented at the very top of a column capital, it is because she is the deification of the Hauling beetle of the Great Pyramid when it reached the top of the Grand Gallery, underneath the top platform and ready for a shift change.

Hathor is the goddess of Chaos, precisely because of this shift change that would made a lot of agitation and noises.

The sistrums with Hathor's head on them are simply recreating, or recalling these noises caused by the shift changes.

 

It is also very interesting to note that about 90% of sistrum have three horizontal wires, sometimes taking the aspect of snakes. We've seen that snakes, not only were representations of water but also stood for ropes.

It would make the sistrum a complete reproduction of the Hauling beetle, with the three ropes of the Gallery and Hathor as the Beetle itself.

When there is a fourth horizontal wire, it is sometimes clearly set separately from the three other ones, which are arranged in some kind of a cluster, and it should represent the axle beam, maybe.

 

 

27.53  The operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Egypt for evaporative cold production

The Great Pyramid is what ancient Egyptians glorified into the Underworld, where was the "Mysterious Cavern of the Sacred act of Towing".

 

27.54   Summary of the study: hidden behind the academic vision of the ancient Egyptian religion, a vast number of metaphors are describing some of the most advanced science and technological knowledge of that time : ancient Egyptian gods were nothing else than pharaohs' metaphoric self-glorifications of their theoretical and experimental scientific accomplishments in physics and chemistry.

Pharaohs used the power of Science to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt : they forged an entire religion, based on science to rule their kingdom, and they presented that science as Magic.

The end game of this technological program that probably started on the very first Dynasty, was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid from the pressurized water produced in the inclined well, known today as the ascending passage.

The evaporative cold simply took advantage of the power of water, and was most probably necessary to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate produced by an ammonia-soda Solvay process, as suggested by the very strong ammonia smell and the limestone kiln in the so-called burial chamber of the Red Pyramid. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs (Sections 14, 15 and 16).

The cooling seems to have represented the most difficult part of the process, as suggested by the Step Pyramid's official name : according to scholars, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods". No doubt that a more accurate translation would certainly be "the cooling of the Gods".

It means that ancient Egyptians were the first civilization to master a Solvay-like process for sodium carbonate manufacturing, long before it got reinvented in the 1800's in Europe. The key elements of that process is the temperature control of the chemical reactions (the cooling), and the dome shaped plate necessary for the counterflow chemical reactions to occur in an efficient way. That counterflow reaction plate is what really is the disc of Sabu.

As shown with Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the creation of the evaporative cold was the most sacred accomplishment of all (Section 17), and this is exactly what the Dendera Light is all about : the Dendera Light is the fog of microdroplets of liquid water that evaporates and creates the cold. Talking 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, Section 2).

Everything that had been done in the Great Pyramid of Giza inspired most of the ancient Egyptian religion, and it had been glorified into what we know today as the Underworld.

The Underworld is referring to the chambers and passages of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and in particular to the Grand Gallery where a hauling gantry beetle operated a wooden coffin shaped impactor that had a small nested granite block inside it. The impactor generated endlessly, over and over, maybe every 15 minutes the pressurized water that was then transformed into a fog of microdroplets inside the horizontal cooling passage.

The Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid where the act of hauling was done, is the "Secret Hauling Cavern of the Underworld" described in the Amduat "Book of the Hidden Chamber".

The most important chamber of the Great Pyramid wasn't the King's chamber that only was the main water tank of the pyramid, but the Queen's chamber, the only one on the central axis of the pyramid. Because the Queen's chamber was inaccessible from the rest of the pyramid, it was glorified into the "Hidden Chamber of the Underworld" (Section 11), and because the Queen's chamber was the coolest place in the pyramid (about 5°C / 41°F), and with a constant 100% Humidity rate, this chamber was the one where the biggest amount of very hard salt encrustation had been documented by the first explorers of the pyramid in the 1800's and before it had been removed in 1998 by Zahi Hawass (Section 1). Very hard salt encrustation is the signature of the evaporative cooling process, even nowadays.

The most incredible thing is that pretty much everything I've just said, actually appears in many myths, and they don't even originate from ancient Egypt : the "Churning of the Ocean" Hindu myth that produces the immortal nectar Amrita, the Tibetan Prayer Wheels operated to give small amounts of 'merit' to too lazy Naga snakes, and the entire Norse mythology with Thor's magical hammer endlessly fighting another Great Serpent of the Underworld and producing a mist of cold from a mysterious well that would be opposed to hellishly hot heat waves.

I'm talking a lot about the impactor of the Great Pyramid, but it is nothing compared to the tremendous impact caused by what the ancient Egyptians had accomplished within the 78 years of the Great Pyramids Era, from Djoser to the Great Pyramid: the entire ancient World had been shaken up in their deepest beliefs beyond all comprehension; and we are still talking about it today.

 

 

27.55  Everything about ancient Egyptian "art" and "religion" is entirely metaphoric

I guess that we've all been collectively "conditioned" not to think anymore regarding ancient Egypt; because if you take the "ancient Egyptian" context out of consideration, everybody will see a limestone kiln in what is called the "funerary chamber" of the Red Pyramid; everybody will see perfect heart shape representation in the "sema tawy symbols" and everybody will see a snake balloon ready to explode on Sekhmet's head.

 

 

The Pyramids of the Cold

Back to the Table of Contents

Next Section: The Elephantine Triad deification of the biosand filter

Sheet 76 of the Book of the Dead of Nestanebetisheru, known as the "Greenfield Papyrus". 950 BCE to 930 BCE, 21st or 22nd Dynasty. Picture courtesy of the British Museum, but not available as of today:   https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA10554-76

 

26.01  Medjed is the "Smiter": the ancient Egyptian version of what I've been calling the "impactor"

We've seen in previous Sections that the impactor has been deified in many very different representations, each one of them focusing on one or some of its particular aspects (Sections 23 and 24):

• The hawk or falcon (Horus) is about the speed acquired during the descent

• The Apis bull is about the force and the water projections both frontwards and backwards

• The ram's horns are about the impact itself, the ramming

 

Medjed, as the "Smiter" is also evidently about the ramming but with the "invisible" and "unseen" touch that is due to the central fixed wooden caisson. We'll see further in this Section that this wooden caisson had been deified into the Tree of Life, and that if Isis is represented many times inside the Tree, visible or "invisible", it is because Isis is the representation of the impactor's Hauling rope.

Just like Medjed, Isis was moving inside the fixed caisson; and just like Medjed, Isis could also have been invisible.

"Spell 17 of the Book of the Dead mentions, amongst many other obscure gods, one Medjed (meaning "The Smiter"), in the following line: "I know the name of that Smiter among them, who belongs to the House of Osiris, who shoots with his eye, yet is unseen."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medjed

"E.A. Wallis Budge translated the corresponding passage in the New Kingdom Papyri, known as the "Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead" as follows: I know the being Mātchet [Medjed] who is among them in the House of Osiris, shooting rays of light from [his] eye, but who himself is unseen. He goeth round about heaven robed in the flame of his mouth, commanding Hāpi, but remaining himself unseen." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medjed

 

 

26.02  The "Smiter" Medjed impactor ramming into the waters of the well

During the entire process of Hauling, the impactor had been seen as Horus the child, just waiting to grow and release all the potential energy mostly nested into the Osiris stone. Horus the child becomes Horus the elder at the exact moment of its release: Horus "the Elder" is the deification of the impactor of the Great Pyramid gaining speed and energy into the steep slope of the Gallery. 

In some ways, the "unseen Smiter" Medjed deity, could be described as the deification of Horus the elder at the exact moment of the impact with the waters of the well.

 

Sheet 12 of the Book of the Dead of Nestanebetisheru, known as the "Greenfield Papyrus". 950 BCE to 930 BCE, 21st or 22nd Dynasty. Picture courtesy of the British Museum (©Trustees of the British Museum):  https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA10554-12

 

26.03  The Medjed deity in the Greenfield Papyrus

Following excerpts (adapted), are from "Medjed: from Ancient Egypt to Japanese Pop Culture", by Rodrigo B. Salvador (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart. Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany), a very interesting article on Medjed that I strongly recommend:   https://jgeekstudies.org/2017/08/15/medjed-from-ancient-egypt-to-japanese-pop-culture/

"The main source of knowledge on Medjed is the so-called “Greenfield Papyrus”, where he appears twice. If the name of the papyrus seems a little awkward, that is because it is common for ancient Egyptian artifacts (especially papyri) to be named after the collector who owned it during the heyday of Egyptomania. In this case, this particular papyrus belonged to Mrs. Edith M. Greenfield, who donated it to the British Museum in 1910. The curator’s comments on the online collection of the British Museum summarizes it nicely:

“The ‘Greenfield Papyrus’ is one of the longest and most beautifully illustrated manuscripts of the ‘Book of the Dead’ to have survived. Originally, over thirty-seven metres in length, it is now cut into ninety-six separate sheets mounted between glass. It was made for a woman named Nestanebisheru, the daughter of the high priest of Amun Pinedjem II. As a member of the ruling elite at Thebes, she was provided with funerary equipment of very high quality. Many of the spells included on her papyrus are illustrated with small vignettes, and besides these there are several large illustrations depicting important scenes.” British Museum (2017)

The Greenfield Papyrus dates from the historical period known as New Kingdom, possibly from the end of the 21st Dynasty or the beginning of the 22nd, around 950–930 BCE (British Museum, 2017)."

 

Banebdjedet wielding a scepter of the Was-sceptre, Djed, and Ankh. From the Tomb of Mentuherkhepeshef in the Valley of the Kings. Photograph thanks to kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/3331554556/in/photostream/

Ram fighting on Wikimedia Commons thanks to Brahim Djelloul Mustapha:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ram_fighting

 

26.04  Medjed the Smiter is having all his force because of Osiris as Ram-headed Banebdjedet

Osiris as Ram-headed Banebdjedet is "the One who is giving Life, Power and Force to Ra"… and it is all about impact ramming. "Throughout the day, Ra sailed across the sky in his barge and then descended down into the underworld at night. The sun barge now transformed into the evening barge known as the Ship of a Million Souls […] Ra at this time becomes merged with Osiris, the judge of the dead, and Osiris is seen as the “corpse” and Ra as the “soul” of the single deity Ra-Osiris."

 Medjed is described as the "Smiter" and "belongs to the House of Osiris" because of the Ram-headed Banebdjedet.

 

 

26.05  Medjed's "House of Osiris" is the  hollowed out cavity of the wooden impactor to accommodate the Osiris stone

The part mentioning the fact that Medjed "the Smiter" belongs to the House of Osiris is priceless, because it is talking about the cavity in which is perfectly nested the Osiris stone.

The House of Osiris, is actually not a very difficult metaphor to decipher, because it is simply referring to the location where is standing Osiris; and we already know that Osiris, as the Osiris granite stone, was perfectly nested inside the wooden part of the impactor. Most probably the lower end of the wooden cradle had been hollowed out so that the granite stone would perfectly fit in.

It means that this hollowed out cavity inside the wooden part of the impactor, which is Ra, is the "House of Osiris".

It also means that Medjed is a particular aspect of Osiris: it is about its capacity to hit and smite, first the air then the inclined well waters. Medjed is taking all his smiting force and energy into the Osiris stone.

 

26.06  The linen mummy bandages origin in the Osiris stone protection wrappings

I've already mentioned the fact that the linen mummy wrappings or bandages, were originating in this particular assembly of the granite stone with the wooden cradle.

I didn't take into consideration the fact that the impactor was endlessly immerged into water, and that consequently the interior of the wooden cradle would have been exposed to constant humidity; it would have obliged to completely wrap the Osiris stone into thick layers of linen, just so it didn't move and damage the hollowed out cavity. Wet granite is very slippery.

 

Detail of the sheet 76 of the Book of the Dead of Nestanebetisheru, known as the "Greenfield Papyrus": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medjed

 

26.07  The release of the impactor: when Horus the child is becoming Horus the elder

On this draw, is represented the entire sequence of the release of the impactor, from its locked position at the top of the Grand Gallery. The famous "worshiping" gesture is only about pushing and putting the Osiris stone "Smiter" into motion, and the birds on the left side of the image are the demonstration of the successful release: the bird is first walking on the ground, before taking off into the sky.

In other words, the scene is describing the moment where Horus the child becomes Horus the elder: when the impactor is gaining speed and energy into the slope of the Grand Gallery.

 

26.08  The representation of Medjed, first resisting the push

The scene is particularly interesting, because it first shows Medjed resisting the push: his feet are in opposition with the direction of the push; but when the bird is taking off, the bird goes in the same direction than the push.

 

Relief in the tomb of Paschedu, Deir el-Medina, Egypt, Luxor West-Bank, photographed by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/430887106/in/album-72157600016963557/

 

26.09  The House of Osiris is actually represented right under our eyes, on the throne of Osiris itself

On this relief, nothing about Osiris is static: everything is in motion. In Section 1, it is explained that the character on the left is pushing and putting the Osiris stone into motion: the part of the throne of Osiris, without any decoration, is mimicking the hollowed cavity of the Osiris stone (mark 3 is the "House of Osiris"). In Section 2, Osiris is depicted descending down the steep slope of the hill (which is the Grand Gallery) on his throne (which is actually his own "House"), and smiting into the waters of the well, also represented at his feet.

 

 

26.10  The Hauling of the impactor of the Great Pyramid of Egypt (Horus the child, also Horus the younger) 

Implementation of the Acacia Tree of Life as the fixed central wooden caisson of the Grand Gallery, and the House of Osiris as the hollowed out cavity where was nested the Osiris stone, inside the wooden cradle part of the impactor.

 

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

 

26.11  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.

 

26.12  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.

 

 

26.13  The Hauling of the impactor (Horus the child, also Horus the younger)

It is only after the release of the impactor, that Horus the younger becomes Horus the Elder, and start gaining speed and energy into the slope, until the impact with the waters of the well when Horus becomes Medjed "the Smiter". Both the impactor and Isis were moving inside the fixed caisson, this is why Isis is known as the Lady of the Acacia Tree of Life: the fixed wooden caisson is the Tree of Life.

 

26.14  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/

 

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/

 

26.15  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 (Section 23).

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.

 

26.16  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.

 

26.17  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/

 

Statue of god Ptah, photographed by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/26774477850/in/photostream/

"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

 

26.18  Ptah's hollow scepter is a representation of the inclined well itself

In the above image and in most of his representations, Ptah is holding a blue and yellow scepter or staff that bears the combined ankh, djed and was symbols.

This blue and yellow 'staff' is actually the representation of the inclined well of the pyramid, and the reason why the ankh, djed and was symbols seem to be nested into that 'staff' is only to indicate that it is hollow : the 'staff' is the inclined well and the dotted blue line is about the movement of water .

The representation of the well held by Ptah is always in a perfect vertical position, but its true nature is shown in the tomb of Ramesses III : it has pretty much the same slope than the Grand Gallery/ascending passage layout.

More on the ancient Egyptian god of Creation Ptah, in previous Section 21 (Tibetan Prayer Wheels) and Section 22 (Thor and Norse mythology)

 

 

26.19  The impactor (still "Horus the child") ready to be released into the slope of the Grand Gallery

For the recovery of the impactor, one or two men had to get inside the fixed caisson to reattach the Isis Hauling rope, and start a whole new Hauling cycle towards the upper part of the Grand Gallery. The caisson had to have at least one hatch at the bottom of the Gallery.

 

26.20  The crucial role of the central fixed caisson for fresh air supply of the evaporative cooling passage

It is important to keep in mind that without the fixed caisson, the evaporative cooling couldn't have worked: you need both softened water with microbial stability and fresh renewed air to get the humidity out of the system in between two cycles. Without the central fixed caisson, there wouldn't be any fresh air supply possible.

 

The pintle hook hypothesis would perfectly explain the "opening of the mouth" ritual.

 

26.21  The cry for help for the release of the Isis rope and the recovery of the impactor (Horus the child)

The following excerpt is fantastic, really, because it is talking about the exact moment when the impactor had done its job and is now floating (more or less) on the surface of the inclined well waters.

Because before being released into the slope, the impactor had to be disconnected with the Isis Hauling rope to preserve its structural integrity and reduce at the maximum its length, once inside the well, someone had to open a hatch at the very bottom of the Tree of Life fixed caisson, and reattach the Isis rope which had at this point been gently sliding down inside the empty caisson.

Listen to this, it is beautiful: the "doorkeepers at the Temple of the Holy Acacia Tree" are the crewmembers standing at the bottom of the Grand Gallery, next to the caisson; maybe two of them needed to get inside the caisson and had to open one or two hatches when they heard the impactor popping up at the surface of the well, that is them "hearing Horus crying in pain"; then they shout in the Grand Gallery so that probably the team leader of the crew can release the Isis rope inside the caisson (that is the "send a cry to the heavens for help")… because Isis (the Hauling rope) is at the other end of the Gallery, away from its impactor. Beautiful!

"In one of the poison-curing spells that include the legend of “Isis & the Seven Scorpions,” when Horus is stung and cries out in pain, it is the doorkeepers at the Temple of the Holy Acacia Tree who hear Him and send a cry to the heavens for help, since Isis is away making libations for Osiris." https://isiopolis.com/2015/07/12/isis-the-acacia-goddess/

 

Photograph from the tomb of Pashedu, thanks to kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/11402798564/in/photostream/

The coffer of the Great Pyramid of Khufu : "Great Pyramid Passages" Volume 1, Plate CXXV page 250, by John and Morton Edgar in 1910 : https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n259/mode/1up

 

26.22  The Palm Tree is another kind of "Tree of Life", one which is giving "drinking" water out of the earth

There is no direct link between the central fixed wooden caisson "Tree of Life" of the Grand Gallery which was supplying fresh new air to the evaporative cooling passage and the palm trees, but I guess this Section could be seen as the "Tree Section", so to speak.

 

26.23  The "drinking water" or "kissing the earth" interpretations are both correct: they are about earth filtration

The famous scene showing Irynefer "drinking from a pool of cool and fresh water", or Pashedu "kissing the earth" are actually both about the sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid, his broken piece at a corner, and of course its function in the Pyramid, that is indicated by the palm tree.

The palm tree is giving us the solution to understand the "drinking scene": the tree isn't in front or behind  Irynefer or Pashedu, nor it is below or on top of "the pool of drinking water". The palm tree "is" the pool of water.

To be exact, the palm tree is a metaphor of how was produced the cool and fresh drinking water that looks like getting out of the earth itself: it is about the slow process of getting drinking water out of a palm tree…or out of a biosand "earth" filter.

We've already seen in Section 18 that the Sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, was precisely a biosand filter, and this is why these two scenes are represented here in the tombs of Irynefer and Pashedu: they both are glorifying representations of the crucial role of the Sarcophagus in the operation of the Great Pyramid.

On the Irynefer scene, we can even see that the artist had implemented the broken piece of the filter, on what looks like the "left side" of the filter.

 

Photograph from the tomb of Irynefer, thanks to kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/11433332256/in/photostream/

 

26.24  The drinking water produced by the Sarcophagus was not to be drunk: it was water treatment

The catch is that the sarcophagus was producing drinking water, but it was not to be consumed, there is another metaphor here.

There are actually to main reasons why there had to be a biosand filter in the Great Pyramid, and both are about the evaporative process; because if you use untreated water for the process, there is gonna be two problems: first there will be microorganism proliferation, and second there will be very important salt deposits.

The biosand filter that was the sarcophagus took care of both problems in one single step: the microorganism layer at the surface of the filter sterilized the water and the slow sand filtration got the minerals susceptible to deposit, away.

Irynefer and Pashedu are simply demonstrating that they could drink the water "right from the earth", because the water was actually coming from the earth.

I've been using the term "biosand filter" for some time now (please read Section 18 about the Sarcophagus), but there is actually another term used for the process, and it is simply "earth filtration for drinking water".

In short, about these two scenes showing Irynefer and Pashedu, some people are explaining that they are either "drinking water" or "kissing the earth"; it turns out they are doing both things at the same time, because they are drinking water literally out of the earth due to the slow biosand filtration process of the sarcophagus

 

The sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid of Giza, was a biosand filter originally operated in the little room located between the antechamber and the entry to the Grand Gallery. The water treatment by biosand filtration was to control scale, corrosion, and microbiological growth within the evaporative cooling process.

"Ram Pokherai drinks clean water from his family's biosand filter. Clean water helps children stay healthy, which means they are less likely to need time away from school, so their education improves. Providing clean water has important knock-on effects." Courtesy of Editorial, Humanitarian & Travel Photographer Gavin Gough : https://www.gavingough.com/clean-water-in-rural-nepal

Images from this assignment are being used to raise awareness of the important work that Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology, CAWST is doing, providing the resources and education required for reliable clean water supplies in rural areas. https://www.cawst.org/

 

26.25  The sarcophagus produced about 201.96 liters of filtered water every 15 minutes

I've suggested the hypothesis that every 15 minutes or so, it was about 200 liters of water that would have been ejected from the inclined well towards the evaporative cooling passage. It just sounded right, but I didn't check one thing: was the biosand filter sarcophagus able to supply that amount of water?

I'm not an engineer, so this whole "practical" thing about numbers is clearly not my cup of tea, even if it was both crucial for the operation of the Great Pyramid and very easy basic science:

With an internal surface area of 1.98 m x 0.68 m = 1.3464 m², and a theoretical flow rate of 600 liters/hour/square meter (according to ACF data, below), the biosand filter of the Great Pyramid of Giza would have been able to supply 807.84 liters of filtered water every hour.

That is 201.96 liters of softened and microbiologically stable water every 15 minutes.

"The internal dimensions [of Khufu's Sarcophagus] are roughly 198 cm (6.50 ft) by 68 cm (2.23 feet), the external 228 cm (7.48 ft) by 98 cm (3.22 ft), with a height of 105 cm (3.44 ft)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza

"The biosand filter has been designed to allow for a filter loading rate (flow rate per square meter of filter area) which has proven to be effective in laboratory and field tests. This filter loading rate has been determined to be not more than 600 liters/hour/square meter." From ACF:   https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/sites/default/files/publications/Biosand_and_ceramic_filters_training_manual_02.2010.pdf

"ACF is a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO). It can also be called Action Contre la Faim (ACF) which is a French phrase meaning Action Against Hunger. ACF began in France in 1979 and currently, it operates in 40 countries world wide."

 

26.26  No night shift for the cold production

Also from ACF, we learn that the filter had to have a pause period, up to 12 hours, every day. It means that the sarcophagus, and the entire cooling process couldn't have been in operation during this period.

Of course, this resting period occurred at night and the cold production only could have happened during the day.

"The biosand filter is most effective and efficient when operated intermittently and consistently. A recommended pause period is 6 to 12 hours with a minimum of 1 hour and a maximum of 48 hours. The pause period is important because it allows time for the microorganisms in the biolayer to consume the pathogens in the water. As the pathogens are consumed, the flow rate through the filter may be restored. If the pause period is extended for too long, the microorganisms will eventually consume all of the nutrients and pathogens and then eventually die off. This will reduce the removal efficiency of the filter when it is used again."

 

Irynefer "drinking fresh and cool water" under a palm tree is actually probably depicted accomplishing the maintenance of the original biosand earth filter that really was the Sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The filter produced drinking water used as softened water with microbial stability for the evaporative cooling process.

 

26.27  Irynefer's inverted right hand indicates a movement of the hand from left to right

There is also something weird about Irynefer's right hand: the thumb of this hand is clearly the thumb of the left hand. Irynefer's right arm is actually supporting his left hand, and in my opinion it is a way of indicating the movement of the hand, from left to right.

The scene is not static: Irynefer is bent over the filter, and he is agitating his hand in the water at the surface.

 

26.28  The best biosand filter maintenance method is the Surface Agitation method

The idea that Irynefer and Pashedu are both represented servicing a biosand filter is precisely this "weird" left hand on the right arm, that indicates the movement of the hand; the exact movement that needs to be done with the hand when using the Surface Agitation method for realizing the maintenance of such Biosand filters.

"Over time, the pore opening between the sand grains will become clogged with sediment. As a result, the water flow rate through the filter will slow down. To clean the filter, the surface of the sand must be agitated to resuspend the sediment in the standing water. The dirty water can be removed using a small container. The process can be repeated as many times as necessary to regain the desired flow rate. After cleaning, it will take the biolayer up to a week to reestablish itself and return the removal efficiency to its previous level." https://www.actionagainsthunger.org/sites/default/files/publications/Biosand_and_ceramic_filters_training_manual_02.2010.pdf

"The authors recommend using the surface agitation method for filter maintenance, as this method was associated with higher removal rates of thermotolerant coliforms and turbidity [in the filtered water]."  https://www.purewaterfortheworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Singer-et-al-2017-BSFSurfaceMaintenance.pdf

 

26.29  Were Irynefer and Pashedu involved in the operation and/or the research on biosand earth filters?

Because both Irynefer and Pashedu were foremen, and probably with a very high position among craftsmen, because of the magnificence of their tombs, I would tend to say that in the "drinking water" and "kissing the earth scene", they are actually both represented accomplishing the maintenance of a biosand filter.

Maybe they are even depicted on the original biosand earth filter that was the Sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid of Giza, even if they never were directly involved in this particular filter. It would be like an honorary distinction.

 

Even if I disagree with the conclusion of the study from which the following excerpts are coming from, I strongly recommend you have a look at it, because there is a lot of very good material in it. The study is "Kissing the earth’ scene in Pashedu Tomb", by Doha M Sami Abdel Hamid (Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality), and is actually about both the Irynefer and Pashedu scenes:  https://jaauth.journals.ekb.eg/article_53832_f93c00895e949195df9292d38c5b775f.pdf

"Pashedu was a foreman at the beginning of the 19th Dynasty. He had the titles: “Servant in the Place of Truth on the west of Thebes”, “Scribe in the place of truth”.

"The community at Deir el-Medina consisted of the workers and craftsmen who were employed in the construction of the New Kingdom royal tombs, Maspero suggests that the workers of Deir el-Medina were a kind of religious community who maintained the cults of kings who were buried at Thebes. Royal tomb artisans throughout the Egyptian new Kingdom considered Deir el- Medina as their eternal home."

“Kissing the earth scene” in Pashedu tomb was probably represented in order to show a kind of pray or an act of obeisance or adoration, accompanied by spell of chapter 62 of the book of the dead “chapter for drinking the water in the Necropolis”. In spite of the presence of chapter 62, Pashedu was not probably kneeling in purpose of drinking because it's not familiar to drink in a such way, but he was kneeling in order to kiss the holy earth of the underworld or kissing the water of the underworld , that's why the scene was decorated and accompanied by the chapter 62, chapter of drinking water."

"Irynefer beard the title: "servant in the place of truth" during Ramses II's reign. His tomb is one of the better preserved tombs of Deir El Medina, and one of the most colorful of the tombs of the craftsmen. The scene is very similar to Pashedu's scene, this scene is located at the top of the eastern wall near to the entrance, where Irynefer is kneeling before a Dome-palm tree, or a palm-tree according to Porter and Moss, drinking from a pool of fresh water, spell for "drinking water in the necropolis", from chapter 62 of the Book of the Dead."

"Deir El-Medina tombs were characterized by this kneeling down under a dom-palm tree scenes, which were not represented in Valley of the Kings scenes. Although spells from the book of the dead were represented on walls of valley of the Kings tombs, the scene of “kissing the earth” or “drinking water” was not seen on Kings private tombs."

 

Photographs from : https://wiki.lowtechlab.org/wiki/Water_-_Biosand_Filter#

 

26.30  The up to one-half inch thick salt incrustation in the Queen's chamber & Horizontal passage

Despite the softening treatment realized by the biosand filter Sarcophagus, and just like nowadays, the evaporative cooling process produced limescale: salt encrustation.

The salt encrustation inside the Great Pyramid has been mainly documented in the Queen's chamber, where it could have been up to one-half-inch thick in some places, 1.3 centimeter, and in the horizontal passage, but also in a smaller extent in the lower part of the Grand Gallery and in the ascending passage.

It is crucial to note that there was absolutely no salt encrustation documented anywhere else in the Great Pyramid: its distribution is perfectly explained by the evaporative process and the particular layout of the junction between the Grand Gallery, the ascending and horizontal passages.

The following excerpt is from  "Great Pyramid Passages Vol 1, 1910 edition" by John and Morton Edgar, paragraph ref. 584, page 293 : https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n301/mode/2up

Paragraph. ref. 584 : "Following these uniform sets of 15 stones, are two long stones in each course, averaging about six feet in length, after which each wall is built in one course only, apparently as far at least as the drop in the floor of the passage ; but beyond this, on to the Queen's Chamber, the very thick and hard incrustation of salt which entirely covers the walls of this passage, made it impossible for us to locate the joints with any certainty. This salt incrustation is peculiar to the Horizontal Passage and Queen's Chamber, although a little of it may also be seen on the walls of the First* Ascending Passage."

* For some authors, the first ascending passage starts at the granite plugs and ends with the start of the Grand Gallery, the second ascending passage.

Excerpt from "The pyramids and temples of Gizeh" by Petrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders), Sir, 1853-1942 : "The size of the chamber (after allowing suitably in each part for the incrustation of salt) is on an average 205 85 wide, and 226*47 long, 184*47 high on N. and S. walls, and 245*1 high to the top of the roof ridge on E. and W. walls." https://archive.org/details/cu31924012038927/page/n103/mode/2up

 

26.31  Salt encrustation is the signature of the evaporative cooling process... even nowadays

Of course, the salt encrustation in evaporative cooling systems is not about table salt NaCl, but primarily calcium carbonate CaCO3 also called calcium scale, or limescale.

With most of the pyramid built with limestone, this is not a surprise that limescale would have been a major problem.

 

From "Evaporative Cooler : Self Salt Clean", by Mohammed Ali Bahobail from the Department of Architecture and Building Sciences, College of Architecture and Planning, King Saud University, a Public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia : "Evaporative coolers are relatively economical, less expensive to install and to operate. They are consuming less electricity than a refrigerated unit, and they do not need an expert to maintain. In addition, evaporative coolers provide the building with a fresh humid air. However, evaporative coolers have some disadvantages; one of them is the deposited salt. Water usually has a high percentage of mineral. The evaporative mechanism will leave mineral deposits on the pads and interior of the cooler. This cumulative mineral will close the porous of the wetted pads and damage them and will participate to corrosion of the cooler frame."

The work made by Mohammed Ali Bahobail is about coolers designed with wetted pads where water is circulating, there is no fog of microdroplets, but the principle is the same and the deposited salt problem is the same.

https://cap.ksu.edu.sa/sites/cap.ksu.edu.sa/files/imce_images/jap_ksu_jan2013_e1_0.pdf

 

26.32  The 1998 salt encrustations cleaning

Unfortunately, the salt deposits have been removed since the first explorers of the pyramid reported its presence, most likely when the chamber was cleaned by Zahi Hawass in 1998 :

Zahi Hawass (Director General of the Giza Pyramids, between 1987 and 2002) : "Each visitor produces nearly an ounce of moisture with a high saline content through their breath and perspiration. This results in the accumulation of salt, which leeches into the limestone and plaster and gradually causes them to crumble into powder. So, in 1998, we spent 12 months cleaning the salt."

Excerpt from https://www.world-archaeology.com/features/pyramids-excavation-and-preservation/

Mr Hawass is obviously blaming tourists for the salt encrustations in the Queen's chamber, but when the first explorers of the pyramid discovered these encrustations, there wasn't any tourist at all visiting the pyramid. The remark of Mr Hawass, is pretty funny though : did we ever had to periodically close down limestone built churches, cathedrals or any other pyramid or building made of this material (I guess in Mr Hawass' mind, limestone is a key element of the salt deposits in the Great Pyramid), just to remove the salt? Be that as it may, salt deposits were only documented in the Grand Gallery in its lower part (most probably just around the junction with the horizontal and ascending passages); did tourists stop breathing passed this point, and did they climb the gallery and visit the King's chamber in total apnea ? Were they offered respiratory masks ?

The cleaning of the salt deposits is actually a real drama, because before 1998 it was still possible to know exactly at what temperature the Queen's chamber was cooled down, simply by analyzing the crystalline structure of the deposits, the size and shape of the crystals.

 

 

26.33  The original operating location of the Biosand filter Sarcophagus

If the Sarcophagus is without any decoration or hieroglyphic sign, if it is not even polished but instead completely hammered down on all its upper part, it is because it had been "uprooted" from its original location between the antechamber and the entry to the Grand Gallery. With access to the water of the King chamber, the Sarcophagus was a biosand "earth" filter for softening and microbial treatment of the water used to power up the Pyramid and create the evaporative cold in the horizontal passage.

More on the Sarcophagus in Section 18.

 

 

26.34  Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Egypt for evaporative cold production of a Solvay or Solvay-like process

The Great Pyramid has been designed for the cooling of chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate (natron) and sodium bicarbonate. Last updated: Octobre 7, 2022.

 

"There were about 1,000 graphemes in the Old Kingdom period, reduced to around 750 to 850 in the classical language of the Middle Kingdom, but inflated to the order of some 5,000 signs in the Ptolemaic period. Antonio Loprieno, Ancient Egyptian: A Linguistic Introduction (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1995)." In "Notes and references" at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_hieroglyphs

 

26.35  Ancient Egyptians maybe really called Medjed "the impactor"

At this point I need one more time to emphasize the fact that despite what every egyptologist is claiming, we do not understand the full meaning of every single hieroglyph; and for one particular reason: if you are wrong in the overall context of what you are trying to decipher, you will get wrong translations.

The entire process of deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs is based on the discovery of the Rosetta stone, a stele which was erected after the coronation of King Ptolemy V and was inscribed with a decree that established the divine cult of the new ruler, in three languages: the top and middle texts are in Ancient Egyptian using hieroglyphic and Demotic scripts respectively, while the bottom is in Ancient Greek. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone

This gave to Champollion the opportunity to start deciphering the hieroglyphic text, but the context was political.

And the problem is that most of the important texts about ancient Egypt are directly referring to the scientific knowledge and technological accomplishments of the time; whether it occurred in temples, mastabas or great pyramids.

Ancient Egyptian temples were temples of knowledge, temples of learning and temples of experimentations.

At the time of the Old Kingdom, it was about 1000 different signs that were used, but I'm not sure it includes every variants of each sign; but I'm sure it doesn't include the color in which it had been painted, or if it was written from left to right or from right to left.

Anyway, I don't understand why 1000 different hieroglyphs were used in the Old Kingdom, and more than 5000 in the Ptolemaic period, if these signs were just about consonant syllables (as an extremely quick summary of the writing deciphering, I know). On the above screen shot from Wikipedia, it is explained that ancient Egyptians (mostly) used hieroglyphic signs to determine consonants like "st", "wsjr" or "htm"; and that each individual or combined sign just wasn't meaningful at all.  At least when we are reading modern rebus, we do care for the meaning of each sign.

Maybe Medjed wasn't called the "Smiter", but really "the impactor".

 

Tomb of Pashedu TT3 at Deir el-Medina, thanks to kairoinfo4u : https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/11403232974/in/photostream/

 

26.36  The ancient Egyptian worshiping posture is about pushing and putting the Osiris stone into motion

A better look at the true original meaning of the ancient Egyptian "worshiping posture": the little character is facing the Osiris stone, and what he is really doing is participating in putting this stone, the one that powered up the Great Pyramid, into motion.

 

26.37  Summary of the study: hidden behind the academic vision of the ancient Egyptian religion, a vast number of metaphors are describing some of the most advanced science and technological knowledge of that time : ancient Egyptian gods were nothing else than pharaohs' metaphoric self-glorifications of their theoretical and experimental scientific accomplishments in physics and chemistry.

Pharaohs used the power of Science to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt : they forged an entire religion, based on science to rule their kingdom, and they presented that science as Magic.

The end game of this technological program that probably started on the very first Dynasty, was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid from the pressurized water produced in the inclined well, known today as the ascending passage.

The evaporative cold simply took advantage of the power of water, and was most probably necessary to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate produced by an ammonia-soda Solvay process, as suggested by the very strong ammonia smell and the limestone kiln in the so-called burial chamber of the Red Pyramid. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs (Sections 14, 15 and 16).

The cooling seems to have represented the most difficult part of the process, as suggested by the Step Pyramid's official name : according to scholars, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods". No doubt that a more accurate translation would certainly be "the cooling of the Gods".

It means that ancient Egyptians were the first civilization to master a Solvay-like process for sodium carbonate manufacturing, long before it got reinvented in the 1800's in Europe. The key elements of that process is the temperature control of the chemical reactions (the cooling), and the dome shaped plate necessary for the counterflow chemical reactions to occur in an efficient way. That counterflow reaction plate is what really is the disc of Sabu.

As shown with Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the creation of the evaporative cold was the most sacred accomplishment of all (Section 17), and this is exactly what the Dendera Light is all about : the Dendera Light is the fog of microdroplets of liquid water that evaporates and creates the cold. Talking 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, Section 2).

Everything that had been done in the Great Pyramid of Giza inspired most of the ancient Egyptian religion, and it had been glorified into what we know today as the Underworld.

The Underworld is referring to the chambers and passages of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and in particular to the Grand Gallery where a hauling gantry beetle operated a wooden coffin shaped impactor that had a small nested granite block inside it. The impactor generated endlessly, over and over, maybe every 15 minutes the pressurized water that was then transformed into a fog of microdroplets inside the horizontal cooling passage.

The Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid where the act of hauling was done, is the "Secret Hauling Cavern of the Underworld" described in the Amduat "Book of the Hidden Chamber".

The most important chamber of the Great Pyramid wasn't the King's chamber that only was the main water tank of the pyramid, but the Queen's chamber, the only one on the central axis of the pyramid. Because the Queen's chamber was inaccessible from the rest of the pyramid, it was glorified into the "Hidden Chamber of the Underworld" (Section 11), and because the Queen's chamber was the coolest place in the pyramid (about 5°C / 41°F), and with a constant 100% Humidity rate, this chamber was the one where the biggest amount of very hard salt encrustation had been documented by the first explorers of the pyramid in the 1800's and before it had been removed in 1998 by Zahi Hawass (Section 1). Very hard salt encrustation is the signature of the evaporative cooling process, even nowadays.

The most incredible thing is that pretty much everything I've just said, actually appears in many myths, and they don't even originate from ancient Egypt : the "Churning of the Ocean" Hindu myth that produces the immortal nectar Amrita, the Tibetan Prayer Wheels operated to give small amounts of 'merit' to too lazy Naga snakes, and the entire Norse mythology with Thor's magical hammer endlessly fighting another Great Serpent of the Underworld and producing a mist of cold from a mysterious well that would be opposed to hellishly hot heat waves.

I'm talking a lot about the impactor of the Great Pyramid, but it is nothing compared to the tremendous impact caused by what the ancient Egyptians had accomplished within the 78 years of the Great Pyramids Era, from Djoser to the Great Pyramid: the entire ancient World had been shaken up in their deepest beliefs beyond all comprehension; and we are still talking about it today.

 

 

The Pyramids of the Cold

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Next Section: the Memphis evaporative cold Triad air inflated snake

The impactor of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, being hauled up to the top of the Grand Gallery by the Hauling beetle. The Two Ladies Wadjet and Nekhbet are both the deifications of the two lateral ropes, but only Wadjet is about the rope drives which transmitted the power of the Beetle to the axle beam drive shaft.

In this position, the impactor had been deified into Horus the child, Horus the infant or Horus the younger, ready to be released into the slope of the Grand Gallery. Of course, the impactor is not really visible like shown on the draw: the impactor, as well as the opening of the inclined well are completely hidden inside the fixed wooden caisson that is perfectly extending the inclined well into the Gallery.

 

25.01  The impactor of the Great Pyramid, as Horus the child being hauled by the Beetle

We know for sure that when being hauled by the Beetle, the impactor Horus was already seen as Horus the child (also Horus the younger, or Horus the infant), because of the following excerpt: "Wadjet was said to be the nurse of the infant god Horus. With the help of his mother Isis, they protected Horus from his treacherous uncle, Set" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet

Wadjet being the nurse of the infant god Horus, (also Horus the younger or Horus the child) is referring to the exact same operating phase of the Grand Gallery: the hauling of the impactor. It is also the same phase that is depicted when Isis (the impactor's Hauling rope), is saving Osiris from the Great Serpent Apep (the pressurized waters of the inclined well): Osiris is simply part of Horus, the composite impactor.

 

The goddesses Isis (left) and Nephthys (right), on the foot of the outer coffin of the mummy of Ankh-Wennefer, Washington State History Museum. Photo by Joe Mabel (Isis): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ankh-Wennefer_07.jpg

 

25.02  Isis and Nephthys are grabbing the Shen ring because they are representations of the impactor's Hauling rope

Isis and Nephthys are the deification of the same rope; the one which was directly connected to the impactor and performed the act of towing (Isis, the active rope), or which was completely coiled around the axle beam (Nephthys, the inactive disconnected rope).

Here, the "twin-sisters" Hauling rope is depicted reaching for the Shen ring: the representation of the tow hook of the impactor.

Please note that because of the fact that Isis is the active representation of the Hauling rope and Nephthys its inactive and disconnected representation, the Isis' Shen ring (left image) is actually really touching the "floor" on the painting, when Nephthys' Shen ring isn't touching anything.

"The Goddess Isis, and the Goddess Nekhbet are often shown kneeling, with their hands resting upon a shenu." […] The Hawk (Horus), and the Vulture (Goddess Mut) have the shenu in their talons, wings outstretched, over the scene portrayed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_ring

More on Isis, Nephthys, the "lamentations of Isis and Nephthys" and Seshat in Section 23.17

 

Ancient Egyptian god Horus in his form of sacred falcon "spreading his wings in protection" and holding the Shen ring. Watercolor copy of a painted scene showing the Horus falcon from the mortuary temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, 1895, by Howard Carter (1874-1939). © Griffith Institute, University of Oxford: http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/gri/4GI_wd_opening_page.html

 

25.03  Both Isis and Wadjet were "protecting" the impactor Horus: they are both about the ropes of the Grand Gallery

"Wadjet, the "Green One" is an ancient Egyptian goddess known to the Greek world as Uto or Buto among other renderings including Wedjat, Uadjet, and Udjo. [...] Wadjet was said to be the nurse of the infant god Horus. With the help of his mother Isis, they protected Horus from his treacherous uncle, Set, when they took refuge in the swamps of the Nile Delta" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet

"With the help of his mother Isis, they protected Horus from his treacherous uncle, Seth": that phrase alone not only is the confirmation that Isis was protecting both the Osiris stone and the entire composite impactor (Horus = Ra + the Osiris stone), but it also means that Wadjet was deeply involved into the operating of that impactor.

 

25.04  The Two Ladies Beetle's Hauling ropes are transforming the axle beam into a drive shaft

The fact that both Isis and Wadjet were known to protect and defend Horus is priceless, because it is the clue to understand Wadjet, perfectly.

We've seen that if Isis was the one protecting and saving Osiris from the Great Serpent Apep, it is because Isis was the glorification of the impactor's Hauling rope, the rope which was recovering the impactor from the waters of the inclined well, on each cycle.

But the impactor's Hauling rope Isis isn't moved by itself: the power comes from the Hauling beetle and the axle beam. We already know that the axle beam has been glorified into Aker, so the only missing deification of the system has to be the ropes which were transmitting the power of the Hauling beetle to the axle beam.

These two ropes, the Beetle's Hauling ropes are transforming the axle beam into a drive shaft, and they are the ones which had been deified into the Two Ladies, Wadjet and Nekhbet.

 

Wadjet illustration with bow, from Pantheon Egyptien by Leon Jean Joseph Dubois, courtesy of rawpixel

Piece of papyrus rope which was discovered at the ancient Egyptian stone quarry of Tura in Egypt. Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery, Exeter City Council: https://rammcollections.org.uk/object/85-1999-1/

 

25.05  Wadjet was made of papyrus and as a rope, she "coiled upon the head of Ra"

If Wadjet's name means "the papyrus colored one" and if she is represented holding a bow in the above image, it is because Wadjet is the deification of the rope drives of the Hauling beetle of the Great Pyramid.

The bow is only another metaphor about the ropes, tension and potential energy.

"Her name mean "papyrus-colored one", as wadj is the ancient Egyptian word for the color green (in reference to the color of the papyrus plant) and the et is an indication of her gender. Its hieroglyphs differ from those of the Green Crown (Red Crown) of Lower Egypt only by the determinative, which in the case of the crown was a picture of the Green Crown and, in the case of the goddess, a rearing cobra. […]

Eventually, Wadjet was claimed as the patron goddess and protector of the whole of Lower Egypt and became associated with Nekhbet, depicted as a white vulture, who held the same title in Upper Egypt. When the two parts of Egypt were joined together, there was no merger of the deities as often occurred, both beliefs were retained and became known, euphemistically, as the two ladies, who were the protectors of unified Egypt. After the unification the image of Nekhbet joined Wadjet on the crown, thereafter shown as part of the uraeus." […]

Depicted as an Egyptian cobra she became confused with Renenutet, whose identity eventually merged with hers. As patron and protector, later Wadjet often was shown coiled upon the head of Ra, who much later became the Egyptian chief deity".

https://www.crystalinks.com/wadjet.html

 

Pharaoh Ptolemy VIII between the goddesses Wadjet (symbolizing upper Egypt) and Nekhbet (symbolizing lower Egypt). Relief on wall of Temple of Edfu, Egypt. Olaf Tausch: https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Edfu_Tempel_42.jpg

 

25.06  Wadjet is the glorifying deification of the rope drives of the Hauling beetle

But just like Isis and Nephthys, there is a catch, neither Wadjet or Nekhbet are representing one particular rope or the other. Wadjet is referring to both of the active Hauling ropes: Wadjet is the glorifying deification of the rope drives, both of them. On the other hand, Nekhbet is referring to the exact same ropes, but they can't be seen as rope drives anymore, because they are the ropes completely coiled around the axle beam. Nekhbet cannot be associated with the axle beam as a drive shaft: Nekhbet is the inactive and resting side of Wadjet.

 

25.07  Wadjet was also the nurse of Horus the child (Horus the younger)

And because "Wadjet was said to be the nurse of the infant god Horus", it also confirms the idea that when being towed, the impactor was already seen as Horus the child (the infant, also Horus the younger). And it makes perfect sense: the Hauling of the impactor is fully associated with the youth of Horus, and he only becomes "adult" when released into the slope of the Gallery, growing speed and energy.

"Wadjet was said to be the nurse of the infant god Horus. With the help of his mother Isis, they protected Horus from his treacherous uncle, Set" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet

 

"On the lintel above the entry to the next chamber is an image of the vulture goddess Nekhbet. Her name appears twice, at either end of outstretched wings. In her claws she holds the symbol of protection, the "shen-sign". Tomb of Nefertari, QV66, Valley of the Queens". Photographed by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/34032213746/in/photostream/

 

25.08  Isis, Nephthys, Horus... and now Nekhbet associated with the Shen ring

We've seen that both Isis and Nephthys were reaching to grab the Shen ring, that Seshat (who is simply a particular aspect of Nephthys) is also holding it at the end of her rope, and that Horus is carrying it in his claws. Here, it is also explained that Nekhbet is also supposed to carry the ring.

"The shen ring is most often seen carried by the falcon god Horus, but was also carried by the vulture goddess Nekhbet. It was used as early as the Third Dynasty where it can be seen in the reliefs from Djoser's Step Pyramid complex". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_ring

 

25.09  Nekhbet's name written twice and the names are mirroring each other

Like Horus, the vulture goddess Nekhbet is represented "holding" the Shen ring; but again, it is the Shen ring which is holding Nekhbet.

Goddess Nekhbet is the deification of the two Hauling ropes which were directly connected to the Hauling beetle, and because there were two of them, the name of Nekhbet appears twice on the above relief, at either end of her outstretched wings. The names mirrored each other, because there was a left leg (the western half-Hauling beetle's rope) and a right leg (the eastern half-Hauling Beetle's rope).

 

"Nekhbet/Wadjet illustration from Pantheon Égyptien by Leon Jean Joseph Dubois": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet#/media/File:Illustration_from_Pantheon_Egyptien_by_Leon_Jean_Joseph_Dubois,_digitally_enhanced_by_rawpixel-com_88.jpg

Edited image of Horus and Wadjet (center) appearing on a carved wall in the Hatshepsut Temple at Luxor. "On the wall of the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Luxor, there are two images of Wadjet: one of her as the uraeus with her head through an ankh and another where she precedes a Horus hawk wearing the pschent, representing the pharaoh whom she protects. Original image (on the right) of Steve F-E-Cameron: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet#/media/File:S_F-E-CAMERON_Hatshepsut_Hawk.JPG

 

25.10  Wadjet/Nekhbet in the "pushing the Osiris stone" position

Because Wadjet and Nekhbet are the deifications of the Beetle's Hauling rope, they are represented here with the arms raised, in the "usual worshiping" position that we've discussed about in previous Section 24: the real meaning of the scene is that Wadjet/Nekhbet is in the "pushing the Osiris stone" position, because they represent the ropes transmitting the power of the Beetle which was the one Hauling the impactor Horus.

 

25.11  First mea culpa: snakes are not only about water, they can also be metaphoric representations of ropes

This is the first error I've committed that I can correct in this Section: snakes in ancient Egyptian "religion" are not all about the water, some are also about the ropes. Snakes and ropes can indeed be often confounded.

Wadjet is the first deity I know of, who has been associated with snakes as a metaphoric representation of the ropes of the Grand Gallery: she is often represented as a cobra, winding like a rope, around what is described as the Solar disc, but which is more probably a cross section of the axle beam.

The vocabulary associated with Wadjet, like "coiled" or "entwined", is often identical to the one used to described the operating of ropes.

Also it looks like the first depictions of Wadjet as a cobra appeared as early as the Predynastic era. It doesn't mean that everything I've wrote so far is wrong because it is way earlier than the Great Pyramid, it simply means that ancient Egyptians used Hauling beetles as a power source, a very long time before the Pyramid (please read previous Section 23.41 on that matter).

"Sometimes she (Wadjet) was depicted as a woman with two snake heads […] Wadjet was depicted as a cobra. As patron and protector, later Wadjet often was shown coiled upon the head of Ra."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet

" Another early depiction of Wadjet is as a cobra entwined around a papyrus stem, beginning in the Predynastic era (prior to 3100 B.C.) and it is thought to be the first image that shows a snake entwined around a staff symbol." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet

 

The three ropes of the Grand Gallery, fully coiled around the "inactive" axle beam (which was not a drive shaft at this point of the operating cycle). If Nephthys had to be disconnected, it is still unclear to me if the two lateral Nekhbet ropes had to be disconnected as well, or if their operating didn't required this extra step.

Image of the "big step" of the Grand Gallery's top platform, in "Great Pyramid Passages" Volume 1, 1910 edition, by John and Morton Edgar, plate CXVI, paragraph 473 page 238: https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n247/mode/1up

Datas of the massive top platform single block, from "The pyramids and temples of Gizeh", by Petrie, W. M. Flinders (William Matthew Flinders), Sir, 1853-1942. Publication date 1883, Section 47, page 75: https://archive.org/details/cu31924012038927/page/n113/mode/2up

 

25.12  2nd mea culpa: it is Nekhbet and the drive shaft who are defining the limit between Upper and Lower Great Pyramid

The following excerpts are the absolute key points for the understanding of Wadjet and Nekhbet, and it also gives me the opportunity to correct an important inaccuracy about my interpretation of where was located the "floor level" that defined the Upper and Lower part of the Great Pyramid from the ancient Egyptian point of view, an which are the real meaning of what we call today "Upper and Lower Egypt".

"Nekhbet (also spelt Nekhebit) is an early predynastic local goddess in Egyptian mythology, who was the patron of the city of Nekheb (her name meaning of Nekheb). Ultimately, she became the patron of Upper Egypt and one of the two patron deities for all of Ancient Egypt when it was unified." 

"Wadjet was said to be the matron and protector of Lower Egypt, and upon unification with Upper Egypt, the joint protector and patron of all of Egypt."  Both images at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadjet

 

I've been assuming that this floor level was defined by the Lady Arbuthnot's chamber, where if I'm correct, would have been operated the (hypothetical) Solvay chambers that needed to be fed with the evaporative cold (previous Sections).

But obviously, I was wrong; because it is clearly said that:

1 • Nekhbet was the "patron of Upper Egypt" and one of the two patron deities of the "unified Egypt"

2 • Wadjet was the "matron of Lower Egypt" and one of the two patron deities of the "unified Egypt"

 

What it means is that this is Nekhbet who is defining the "floor level", in other words: the top platform of the Grand Gallery and everything which was set on its level, is part of the Upper part of the Pyramid, and part of Upper Egypt.

The unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, is the glorification of these two parts of the pyramid, functioning together and combining their strengths; it is about the power of the drive shaft axle beam accumulating and giving back all its power to the impactor.

 

In this hauled position, the impactor was already seen as Horus the child, Horus the infant or Horus the younger. Of course, the impactor is not really visible like shown on the draw: the impactor, as well as the opening of the inclined well are completely hidden inside the fixed wooden caisson that is perfectly extending the inclined well into the Gallery.

 

25.13  The main difference between the Twin Sister ropes and the Two Lady ropes

The difficult part about the Two Ladies, is that they are actually intertwined metaphors.

While Isis and Nephthys are called Twin Sisters, because they are representing the same rope, Wadjet and Nekhbet are called together "Two Ladies" because there actually really was two ropes; when at the same time, their individual names are referring to a complete different metaphor: their joint active or resting action in the operating cycle.

Just like the Twin Sisters Isis and Nephthys are the deification of the impactor's Hauling rope, the Two Ladies are the deification of the two other ropes of the Gallery: the Beetle's Hauling ropes. Wadjet represent the ropes under tension and active (the rope drives), while Nekhbet is about the same ropes resting onto the axle beam, and inactive.

"With the help of his mother Isis, they (Wadjet and Nekhbet) protected Horus from his treacherous uncle, Seth".

 

25.14  The ancient Egyptian well known principle of "inactivity or repose"

I was pretty surprised to see with Nekhbet, another example of the "inactive and resting" deification of a rope, just like the inactive Nephthys is to the active Isis rope drive; but then really by accident, I happened to stumble upon this exact same principle of the duality between the active and inactive vision of one single same thing, and it is the principle of "inactivity or repose", mentioned in Wikipedia's page on goddess Amunet, the counterpart of Amun, the god who was the deification of the fog of microdroplets of liquid water which evaporated and created the cold.

The question is why did they feel like showing both active and inactive sides, and why did they decided to glorify this idea by pairing so many gods and goddesses. Maybe it is a metaphysical aspect of their civilization, but maybe it is another metaphor; if so, it could simply refer to the fact that each crewmember of the Hauling beetle had his perfect counterpart on the other side of the Beetle, or that the operating of the Pyramid was sequential, resulting in an endless cycle. But this is purely hypothetical.

About goddess Amunet: "Her name, jmnt, is a feminine noun that means "The Hidden One". She is a member of the Ogdoad of Hermopolis, who represented aspects of the primeval existence before the creation: Amunet was paired with Amun—whose name also means "The Hidden One", with a masculine ending (jmn)—within this divine group, from the earliest known documentation. Such pairing of deities is characteristic of the religious concepts of the ancient Egyptians. In early concepts known as the Ogdoad, the primeval deity group to which they belonged as "Night" (or as the determinative D41 meaning "to halt, stop, deny", suggesting the principle of inactivity or repose), was composed of four balanced couples of deities or deified primeval concepts.

Speculation exists that Amunet may have been conceived by later theologians as a complement to Amun, rather than being an independent deity originally, however, the Pyramid Texts, the earliest known religious texts of Ancient Egypt, mention "the beneficent shadow of Amun and Amunet": O Amun and Amunet! You pair of the gods, who joined the gods with their shadow."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amunet

 

Ra-Horakhty is a combined deity of Horus and Ra, and is usually depicted as a falcon-headed man. Draw by Jeff Dahl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra#/media/File:Re-Horakhty.svg

The Awakening of Osiris at the Exposition Osiris, Institut du Monde Arabe, by Gautier Poupeau

Skeleton infographic by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation : https://www.ibsf.org/en/our-sports/skeleton-info-graphics

 

25.15  The awakening of Osiris is the moment when the impactor is released: when Horus the child becomes Horus the elder

Anyway, this principle of "inactivity or repose" is the reason why Horus is either described as Horus the younger or Horus the elder. Horus the younger is all about this principle, the completely inactive impactor when being hauled to the top of the Gallery, or already in place in its starting locked position, ready to move from the "inactive or repose" state to its active state, gaining speed and energy, like a man, and becoming Horus the elder.

This principle is also the reason of the "death bed of Osiris": on this "bed", Osiris is simply accompanying Horus the younger in the Hauling process, and just like Horus becomes Horus the elder after the release of the impactor, Osiris becomes represented into a speeding falcon, gaining speed and energy as well, and this is the awakening of Osiris.

 

The vulture goddess Nekhbet, in the tomb of Nefertari, QV66, Valley of the Queens". Photographed by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/34032213746/in/photostream/

 

25.16  The hidden coiled ropes of Nekhbet in the tomb of Nefertari

The funny thing about this representation of Nekhbet, is that the artist didn't really try very hard to hide the fact that Nekhbet was all about two ropes, one on the left and one on the right, and completely coiled around their axle beam.

The two fully coiled Nekhbet ropes are right there, before our very eyes, hidden under the feathers!

 

25.17  The metaphor of the vulture extending his very large wings onto the beam

The representation of Nekhbet in the tomb of Nefertari is extraordinary, because at some point the feathers of the vulture are replaced by vertical stripes in a vibrant bright orange color and that look like perfect representations of natural coiled ropes.

The vulture metaphor is particularly interesting, and it has probably been chosen because the two ropes were spread at both ends of the axle beam, like a vulture extending his very large wings onto the beam, and waiting for its prey.

 

The Hauling beetle was the start of the entire evaporative cooling process that occurred in the Great Pyramid of Giza.

 

25.18  Main ancient Egyptian gods involved in the glorification of the operating of the Great Pyramid of Egypt

The Hauling beetle was the start of the entire evaporative cooling process that occurred in the Great Pyramid: its power was transmitted to the impactor via the two Wadjet rope drives, towards the axle beam drive shaft, and finally to the impactor via the Isis impactor's Hauling rope.

 

Australian green tree frog climbing a tree: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Australian_green_tree_frog

 

25.19  The sticky tongue of the frog as a metaphorical representation of a rope's hook

Pretty much in every new Section, I stumble upon a new metaphor that really gets to me, and becomes my new favorite one; but sincerely, what are the chances that we can find a metaphor cuter than this one!

Because, what I've called the "little sticky frog" is the cutest metaphor of all (so far!), and she is all about attaching and connecting things together. This is why the little frog is right between the Seshat's rope and the Shen ring.

This little frog appears here on the representation of Seshat, the goddess of Builders and Architecture. By extension Seshat is also the goddess of ropes: she is known for her "stretching the cord" ceremony (Section 23.18).

"As Lady of Builders, one of Seshat’s main functions is to lay out the boundaries for new buildings, especially temples, via the ceremony of “stretching the cord,” which was a method of using a cord or rope to measure out straight foundations for a building." https://isiopolis.com/2014/07/13/oh-yes-more-nephthys/

 

This image (a) and right side of previous image (d), courtesy of "Frogs use a viscoelastic tongue and non-Newtonian saliva to catch prey" by Alexis C. Noel, Hao-Yuan Guo, Mark Mandica and David L. Hu (School of Mechanical Engineering and School of Biology at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta; and the Atlanta Botanical Garden). Published by the Royal Society, J. R. Soc. Interface 14: 20160764: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsif.2016.0764

 

25.20  Both the sticky little frog and the Shen ring are representations of a rope attachment "tow hook"

Of course, the question is to understand the meaning of the little frog which is put onto the Shen ring. And in my opinion, both the little frog and the Shen ring have the exact same meaning; the only difference is that they are resulting in two different visions of the same thing, just like what I've already discussed in the Dendera Section: there is the "theoretical" point of view, and the "experimental" point of view.

If Seshat is by extension the goddess of ropes, what she is holding is a rope; and what is at the end of the rope is its connecting apparatus: it is the tow hook, and the Shen ring is the experimental vision of this tow hook; a solid ring that anyone can grab. It doesn't mean that the real tow apparatus looked close to the Shen ring, it is simply an easy metaphor.

The little frog, on the other hand, is a tricky metaphor of the same tow apparatus, because it is about its function, its theoretical vision: it is about the idea itself of attaching and connecting things together. The rope has simply been compared to the tongue of the frog, and to its sticky end.

The Shen ring and the sticky little frog are both representations of the tow hook of a rope.

 

Ancient Egyptian representation of a 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.

Forged coupling with mounting base from Hebei Ximai Machinery Equipment

 

25.21  Seshat and the modern forged coupling with mounting base: sticky little frog Heqet is the coupling handle

In this representation of Seshat, who is simply a particular aspect of goddess Nephthys, both the little frog and the Shen ring are a perfect copy of what is called today a forged coupling with mounting base. The coupling is actually designed into 2 parts, and the one which is so interesting is the locking handle: this is this very coupling handle that is representing the sticky little frog Heqet.

 

Denver Rope: https://denverrope.com/heavy-marine-hawser-lines/hawser-4/

 

A ram headed bird representing the ba of Ra with Shen rings in his grasp. Photograph by Rama: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_ring#/media/File:Ram-headed_falcon_amulet-E_80-IMG_2503-with_reflection-gradient.jpg

 

25.22  Ra holding the Shen rings in a ram headed bird representation

There aren't many Egyptian gods associated with the Shen ring: Horus, Isis, Nephthys, Seshat (an aspect of Nephthys), Nekhbet… and Ra.

Ra was the wooden part of the impactor, it allowed the impactor to be operated, with most probably a pintle hook on the structure.

The only ancient Egyptian gods associated with the Shen ring are because they were the deifications of the Hauling process, that required ropes and tow hooks attachment equipments.

 

In this position, the impactor had been deified into Horus the child, Horus the infant or Horus the younger, ready to be released into the slope of the Grand Gallery. Of course, the impactor is not really visible like shown on the draw: the impactor, as well as the opening of the inclined well are completely hidden inside the fixed wooden caisson that is perfectly extending the inclined well into the Gallery.

 

25.23  Shen rings are tow hook representations

There were 3 Hauling ropes in the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid of Giza: the most important of all was the one actually hauling the Horus impactor (Horus = the Ra wooden cradle + the Osiris stone), but the Hauling gantry itself also had to be connected with the axle beam by 2 additional lateral ropes, one on each ramp of the Gallery.

Because these 3 ropes had to be disconnected at the end of each cycle (for the impactor's rope) or probably only at the end of each working day (for the 2 lateral ropes), there had to be specific connecting equipments that would have allow easy, secure and quick operating: there had to be tow hooks.

The Shen ring is the representation of these "tow hooks"

 

Military pintle hook (left) and lunette ring: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tow_hitch

 

25.24  The Pintle hook and Lunette ring set up hypothesis suggested by the Opening of the mouth ritual

This part is only to try visualizing what kind of towing equipment was installed inside the Grand Gallery: what the hauling ropes really looked like, what kind of attaching "heads" they got and what kind of tow hook, or tow hitch could have been used.

Because of the opening of the mouth ceremony, and for the very little I know about the "real life" towing subject, I would consider at first glance, the "pintle hook" as the most promising hypothesis.

Just like the opening of the mouth, the pintle hook has 2 jaws that need to be opened and separated from each other; and more importantly, this kind of apparatus is used today for heavy equipment towing, apparently mostly in the military.

If this hypothesis is genuine, the pintle hooks and their massive jaws could have been placed onto the massive equipments of the Gallery: the two half-Beetles and the impactor.

The three ropes' heads would have had a hard eye splice "lunette ring", and would have engaged in a locked position with the jaws of the pintle hooks.

One pintle hook would have been set onto the impactor, and two others onto the half-Hauling beetles.

The Hauling beetle would also have an additional lunette ring in the middle of the structure, and it would have been used to lock the impactor in its starting position at the top of the Gallery.

"A lunette ring is a type of trailer hitch that works in combination with a pintle hook on the tow vehicle. A pintle hook and lunette ring make a more secure coupling, desirable on rough terrain, compared to ball-type trailer hitches. It is commonly seen in towing applications in agriculture, industry, and the military."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tow_hitch

 

The operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Egypt for evaporative cold production (the Great Pyramid is the ancient Egyptian Underworld).

 

25.25  The floor level of the Great Pyramid, delimiting Upper and Lower Pyramid/Egypt

Nekhbet is defining the "floor level" of the Great Pyramid: in other words: the top platform of the Grand Gallery and everything which was set on its level, is part of the Upper part of the Pyramid, and part of Upper Egypt.

The unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, is the glorification of these two parts of the pyramid, functioning together and combining their strengths; it is about the power of the drive shaft axle beam accumulating and giving back all its power to the impactor.

 

 

25.26  The Third Eye is about the Osiris stone, the third part of the Triad in which had been deified the impactor, but no one could have ever seen because hidden inside the wooden cradle

We've already seen in previous Section 24, that the Eyes of Horus were glorifying representations of the two half-Hauling beetles of the Grand Gallery, because the fixed caisson was hiding both the impactor and the entry of the inclined well.

Because Ra (the wooden part of the impactor) and Horus (the composite assembly of the wooden part with the Osiris stone) were both visible if you take the fixed caisson out of play, they both had Eyes named after them: the Eye of Horus and the Eye of Ra.

But because the Osiris stone was nested and hidden inside the wooden cradle (Ra), Osiris was not visible at all to anyone; and that is the origin of the Third Eye: an invisible Eye no one could ever seen, because it was hidden inside Horus' "head".

 

25.27  The pointing finger metaphor of the Third Eye marking

When Hindus are marking the Third Eye between the eyes with paint, they are actually pointing to the inside of the head, exactly like we are pointing a finger to our temple to signify that something is either good or bad inside our head.

The Third Eye is about the Osiris stone, nested inside the wooden impactor; it is about the Third ancient Egyptian god who was just like Ra and Horus, the deifying representation of the impactor of the Great Pyramid, but no one could have ever seen.

 

A Cambodian Shiva head showing a third eye: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_eye#/media/File:Shiva_Musée_Guimet_22971.jpg

More on the Hindu mythology and the complete reinterpretation of the operating of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, in Section 19

 

 

25.28  The Eye of Horus and the Eye of Ra

Please read previous Section 24 for the explanation of the Eyes of Horus and the missing parts of Horus' face due to the presence of the fixed wooden caisson of the Grand Gallery.

 

 

The Pyramids of the Cold

Back to the Table of Contents

Next Section: The Tree of Life wooden caisson and the Smiter nobody can see

Osiris has been identified with Fertility and Agriculture, because hidden in his wooden cradle coffin, he would have looked like a seed, just waiting for germination. "Epigeal vs. hypogeal germination", by Kat1992: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigeal_germination. Ancient Egyptian god Osiris by Jeff Dahl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris#/media/File:Standing_Osiris_edit1.svg

 

24.01  Osiris and the seed metaphor

In previous Section 23, I've suggested that if Osiris was represented with a green color face, it was because the granite stone he was the deification of, was made of green granite. But this is most probably wrong, because Osiris doesn't just have a green color face: he is also the god of fertility and agriculture.

The green color can't be the explanation for this, but if we take a few steps back and try to imagine how ancient Egyptians could have seen Osiris, completely invisible because hidden inside the wooden coffin and constantly thrown and immersed into the waters of the inclined well, it could have been seen like a seed that would have been just planted into the soil and regularly watered.

Just like the seed contains all the force of the future plant, Osiris contains all the power of the impactor.

Hidden in the wooden cradle Ra, Osiris would have been associated with a well watered seed, just planted into the soil, preparing itself for germination, and Osiris would have become the god of fertility and agriculture.

 

 

24.02  The impactor of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, being hauled up by the Hauling beetle to the top of the Grand Gallery

Side view (adapted) of the impactor of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, being hauled up by the Hauling beetle, to the top of the Grand Gallery. Of course, the impactor is not really visible like shown on the draw: the impactor is hidden inside the fixed wooden caisson.

 

24.03  Osiris "Banebdjedet" merging with Ra and giving him all his force and power

Not only the germinating beds of Osiris is a perfect reinterpretation of the composite original design of the impactor, but the idea itself of Osiris merging with Ra, and giving to him all his force and power is already perfectly known, in one of Osiris' aspect: Banebdjedet (also "Banebdjed").

Ra at this time becomes merged with Osiris, the judge of the dead, and Osiris is seen as the “corpse” and Ra as the “soul” of the single deity Ra-Osiris." https://www.worldhistory.org/Ra_(Egyptian_God)/

"Osiris' soul, or rather his Ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god […] This aspect of Osiris was referred to as Banebdjedet. […] As Banebdjed, Osiris was given epithets such as Lord of the Sky and Life of the (sun god) Ra. Ba does not mean "soul" in the western sense, and has to do with power, reputation, force of character, especially in the case of a god. […] Since the ba was associated with power, and also happened to be a word for ram in Egyptian, Banebdjed was depicted as a ram, or as Ram-headed."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris ("Ram god" section)

 

Germinating beds of Osiris at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. "Beginning in Dynasty 18, beds were made on which soil was molded into the shape of the god of regeneration and ruler of the dead, Osiris. Thickly sown with grain and kept moist until the grain sprouted and grew, then left to dry again, these figures were created as part of a ritual carried out in association with the Osirian Festival of Khoiak."  https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/553820

 

24.04  The reproduction of the impactor's cycle in and out of the well: keeping the grain moist, then left to dry

The germinating wooden beds of Osiris, or bricks of Osiris, are particularly interesting, because not only the shape of Osiris is perfectly respected in order to duplicate the original granite stone perfectly nested into the wooden cradle, but the endless cycle of the impactor inside the inclined well, then outside the well, is also duplicated: first you keep the seeds moist until germination, and then you let the sprouted grain dry.

Osiris-Nepra (E. A Wallis Budge), with wheat growing from his body. From a bas-relief at Philae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris

 

Api or Hapi (Apis, Taureau Consacré a la Lune)", 1823-25, by the French illustrator Léon-Jean-Joseph Dubois, at the Brooklyn Museum: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/archives/image/55326

 

24.05  The cooling of the limestone kilns and the flails pointing backwards and downwards

Amazingly, these two above images are about the same thing: the water that is pushed ahead of the impactor and backwards in gigantic plumes. Even if the vast majority of the flail representations are very stylized, there are some "street-artist" versions in the open desert, and they are crystal clear: flails are about using water.

We've seen that the Apis bull (just like Horus) is the deification of the impactor, projecting waves of water in front of him and gigantic plumes of water backwards, because the impactor is moving into the fixed caisson where water is running into it (probably constantly).

As the glorification of the granite stone from which the impactor gained all his power and all his ramming force, Osiris is represented here doing the exact same thing. The flail pointing backwards and downwards is easy to understand, but the frontwards wave isn't.

The context here is the cooling of the kilns; there is no frontwards wave represented, but it is here, cooling down the kilns on the right.

 

24.06  The fundamental difference between Horus and the Apis bull

We'll see in the next paragraphs, that Horus and the Apis bull (as well as every single over bull deity, prior to the impactor of the Great Pyramid) are the exact same thing, with just one difference: just like the difference between Isis and Nephthys (both the deification of the impactor's Hauling rope) is about a very specific part of the operating cycle of the rope (active Hauling rope/disconnected rope), Apis is simply the Horus impactor (Ra + Osiris), but in action.

Horus is more like a still-life vision of the impactor, when the Apis bull is describing him at full speed, running for the inclined well waters.

 

The impactor of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, gaining speed and energy into the steep slope of the Grand Gallery. Of course, the impactor is not really visible like shown on the draw: the impactor is hidden inside the fixed wooden caisson. Isis and Nephthys are both representations of the impactor's Hauling rope. Nephthys was only the deification of the rope, inactive and disconnected with the impactor when this one was securely in a locked position at the top of the Grand Gallery. At this very particular point of the operating cycle, the impactor has been glorified into Horus the child, waiting to grow into an adult because waiting to grow speed and energy after its release. Nephthys cannot be associated with another form of Horus.

 

24.07  Horus Contendings with Seth

The key point to understand who really was Horus and which part of the glorification process he was involved in, is to understand who, or what was he really endlessly fighting in the Osiris' myth describing his Contendings with Seth.

We've already seen this exact same idea of endless fights between two deities: it was Ra fighting the Great Serpent Apep in the Underworld, on his Solar barque. And we've seen that it was the glorifying representation of the endless sequential pressurization of the inclined well waters by the impactor of the Great Pyramid.

So, what is Horus all about, if it isn't about pressurization of water? Well, Seth is the answer, and we'll see that he is all about the air: Seth is the (pressurized) air pushed by the impactor inside the fixed caisson.

 

Another way of saying that is that Horus (the impactor unit) was fighting Seth (the pressurized air).

 

24.08  The boat of Horus made of wood but painted to resemble and act like a stone

The following excerpt is the key point to understand both Horus and Seth. Because their fight can't be about the waters of the well (that is represented into the Ra and Apep myth), it can only be about the air that is slowing down the fall of the impactor inside the fixed caisson: "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."

The "boat made of wood" is the wooden cradle; and if Seth is all about the air, as we've already seen in the Seth's animal, it means that the boat made of wood but "painted to resemble to stone" is fighting the air: it is a wooden boat (a wooden cradle), but because it is painted to resemble stone, it also acts like a stone.

I had some trouble exactly figure this part out, because personally I would have described the design of the impactor: I would have say "it is a stone, painted to resemble wood". I didn't understand first that ancient Egyptians only focused here on the function. Most metaphors used to describe the operating of the Great Pyramid, are about the function, the role and not the design.

What ancient Egyptians did glorify is the fact that it was an impactor made of wood but acted ("painted") like it was made of stone.

"Throughout the day, Ra sailed across the sky in his barge and then descended down into the underworld at night […] Ra at this time becomes merged with Osiris, the judge of the dead, and Osiris is seen as the “corpse” and Ra as the “soul” of the single deity Ra-Osiris." https://www.worldhistory.org/Ra_(Egyptian_God)/

 

Seth and Shu draws by Jeff Dahl and the Seth animal Sha, after an original by E. A. Wallis Budgeat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_(deity) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu_(Egyptian_god)

 

24.09  Seth and the Seth animal (Sha) are the deifications of some sort of air

"In art, Set is usually depicted as an enigmatic creature referred to by Egyptologists as the Set animal, a beast not identified with any known animal, although it could be seen as a resembling an aardvark, an African wild dog, a donkey, a hyena, a jackal, a pig, an antelope, a giraffe, an okapi, a saluki, or a fennec fox. The animal has a downward curving snout; long ears with squared-off ends; a thin, forked tail with sprouted fur tufts in an inverted arrow shape."

I really never thought I would be able to decipher Sha, the so enigmatic animal which represents Seth, but as soon as you think of the air, everything clarifies itself. If the Seth animal is depicted with gigantic nose and ears, as well as an inverted arrow shaped tail with fletchings, it is because of the air: the air that is passing through the nose, the air that is supporting the sounds, and the air that is supporting the flight of the arrow.

 

24.10  The names similarity between Seth, Sha and Shu

The Seth animal Sha, being the representation of the air, also explains the similarity of their names with the name of the god of dry and warm air Shu. More on Shu and Tefnut in Section 3

I also have to point out that egyptologists can't say the vowels when they are deciphering hieroglyphic texts. Seth, Sha and Shu looks already pretty similar, but their real original pronunciations were most probably even closer.

• Seth comes from the ancient Egyptian 'swth'. Seth on Wikipedia: /sɛt/; Egyptological: Sutekh - swtẖ ~ stẖ

• Sha, the Seth Animal: I've found no reference on his Egyptian name. I'm only questioning if it wouldn't be something like 'sh'.

• Shu comes from the ancient Egyptian 'sw'. Shu on Wikipedia: Shu (Egyptian šw)

 

Seth, "attacking" or "spearing" the Great Serpent Apep from the front of the Solar barque of Sun god Ra.

 

24.11  The inclined well is first hit by pressurized air: Seth, at the front of the impactor's Solar barque

On the above image, this is Seth, "attacking" or "spearing" the Great Serpent Apep from the front of the Solar barque of Sun god Ra. Because we know that the Solar barque and Ra are both glorifications of the impactor, it means that Seth, positioned at the front of the barque, and going in contact with the waters of the well (Apep = the waters), is actually representing the air that is pushed by the impactor during its fall.

It is pressurized air that is first "attacking" the Great Serpent Apep and the waters of the inclined well, and only just a moment before these same waters are pressurized themselves by the fall of the impactor ramming into them.

There are 2 sequences of pressurization occurring in the inclined well, and there are 2 pressurizes waves getting out of it towards the fog nozzle: first the pressurized air that allows a much more efficient evaporative process in the horizontal passage (more air in the same volume, means you can force more water in that volume: hence, you create more cold), and second the pressurized water transformed into microdroplets that are evaporating in pressurized air.

 

24.12  The great spear of Seth piercing Apep is about the Junction imprint "piercing" the well

We've already seen that Apep is a representation of the pressurized waters of the well due to the ramming of the impactor; but in the following excerpt, we have the description of the impact itself, with "the boat of Ra" (i.e. the wooden cradle) trapped in Apep's massive coils".

The ejection of the pressurized water is referred to as flooding waters, but more importantly there is also Seth "piercing the side of Apep with a great spear". In my opinion, this piercing is about the Junction imprint: the little hole without which nothing could have ever gotten out of the inclined well.

"According to one myth, Apep would hypnotise the sun god and all of his followers, except Set who would repel the serpent by piercing his side with a great spear. In some texts, Apep would trap the boat of Ra in his massive coils (referred to as sandbanks) or cause the waters of the underworld to flood to overwhelm him." https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/apep/

 

24.13  The pressurized air forced into the well is causing intense rumbling into the entire structure

Most certainly, the reference to Apep causing the Underworld to "rumble" during his fights with Sun god Ra (the wooden part of the impactor), is referring to the pressurized air of the fixed caisson, forced into the well before getting out of it through the Junction imprint. It would have looked and sound like boiling water.

"It was thought that his (Apep, also Apophis) terrifying roar would cause the underworld to rumble." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apep

 

Ancient Egyptian myth excerpts involving Horus, Ra, Seth, Osiris and Apep.

 

24.14  Not only Seth is all about Air, he is also a key metaphor regarding the operating of the impactor and the inclined well

The Osiris myth, one of the most popular myth in ancient Egypt, is the most important of all, because it is revealing it is Seth who was responsible for Osiris to lay down in a casket that fits his body perfectly, and for throwing Osiris into the Nile.

Of course, it is only a metaphor: what it really means is that Seth is some way involved in the operating of the "Osiris casket". In other words, Seth is directly referring to the operating of the impactor of the Great Pyramid, and the fact that at some point, it was simply thrown into water coming from the Nile.

"The story of Horus comes out of the Osiris Myth which was one of the most popular in ancient Egypt and gave rise to the Cult of Isis. This story begins shortly after the creation of the world when Osiris and Isis ruled over a paradise they created. When men and women were born from the tears of Atum (Ra) they were uncivilized and barbaric. Osiris taught them culture, religious observances to honor the gods, and the art of agriculture. The people were all equal at this time, men and women, owing to the gifts of Isis which were dispensed to all. Food was plentiful and there was no want or need unfulfilled.

Osiris' brother, Set, grew jealous of him and this envy turned to hatred when Set discovered that his wife, Nephthys, had transformed herself into the likeness of Isis and seduced Osiris. Set was not angry with Nephthys, however, but focused his revenge on his brother, "The Beautiful One", who had presented a temptation too strong for Nepthys to resist. Set tricked Osiris into laying down in a casket he had made to his brother's exact specifications and, once Osiris was inside, Set slammed the lid on and threw the box into the Nile.

The casket floated down the river to eventually lodge in a tamarisk tree by the shores of Byblos where the king and queen admired its beauty and sweet scent and had it cut down for a pillar in their court." https://www.worldhistory.org/Horus/

 

 

24.15  The impactor of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, being hauled up by the Hauling beetle to the top of the Grand Gallery

Top view (adapted) of the impactor of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, being hauled up by the Hauling beetle, to the top of the Grand Gallery. Of course, the impactor is not really visible like shown on the draw: the impactor is hidden inside the fixed wooden caisson.

 

The representations of the Eye of Horus and the Eye of Ra: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eye_of_Ra.svg

 

24.16  The fixed caisson of the Grand Gallery is the one hiding the missing parts of Horus' face: only the Eyes are visible

The "Eye of Horus" is known by everybody, but there are actually two eyes mentioned: there is the left eye and the right eye. Nothing fancy, just regular eyes. The problem is that what we know for sure about ancient Egyptians is that they were very thorough with the way they were building things or creating masterpieces of art.

So, if they were drawing eyes everywhere, and only the eyes of the face, it is only because the other parts of the face are hidden. What I mean is that just like the hidden meaning of the hieroglyphic signs, or the real hidden meaning behind their obsession for the Heart (a metaphor of the functioning of the inclined well), the representations of the Eyes of Horus are incomplete: you need the key to "see" the entire picture; and the key in that matter is the fixed wooden caisson of the Grand Gallery.

Because of the caisson which is imperative to use the air moved by the fall of the impactor, both the impactor and the opening of the inclined well were hidden.

And because we are talking about the Eyes of Horus, the missing parts of the face are about Horus' face.

The hidden impactor, in the middle of the face is Horus himself.

"Egyptians believed that the "Eye of Horus" and the "Eye of Ra" traversed the sky when he, Horus as a falcon, flew across it." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus

Here, the metaphor is about the Hauling beetles, descending the Grand Gallery of the Pyramid, when at the same time, the impactor was hauled up; and most of all, it is about the fall of the impactor itself, Horus who like a falcon, flew across the left and right Eyes (the eastern and western half-Hauling Beetles).

 

The impactor of the Great Pyramid, ready to be released into the slope of the Grand Gallery. Of course, the impactor is not really visible like shown on the draw: the impactor is hidden inside the fixed wooden caisson. More on Isis (the active impactor's Hauling rope) and Nephthys (the inactive and disconnected impactor's Hauling rope), in previous Section 23

 

24.17  Nephthys also serves as the nursemaid and watchful guardian of Horus the child (Horus the younger)

I was wondering why ancient Egyptians had to create Nephthys, the deification of the Hauling rope of the impactor, completely coiled around the axle beam, and disconnected with the impactor, and Horus the child is maybe the answer. Because when the impactor was in its starting locked position at the top of the Gallery, it was Nephthys who was just next to him; hence the following excerpt: "It is Nephthys who assists Isis in gathering and mourning the dismembered portions of the body of Osiris after his murder by the envious Set. Nephthys also serves as the nursemaid and watchful guardian of the infant Horus."   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephthys

 

Figure of Horus the child at the Saint Louis Art Museum: https://www.slam.org/collection/objects/27044/

and at the Walters Art Museum: https://art.thewalters.org/detail/22710/horus-the-child-4/

 

24.18  The sidelock of Horus is a real sidelock mechanism made for the release of the impactor

Egyptologists called "sidelock" what is represented on the head of Horus the child, because of its resemblance with the sidelock mechanism used in firearms. The thing is that this time, they were right: it really is the representation of the mechanism that triggered the release of the impactor. Horus the child is the impactor, locked on top of the Gallery, waiting to grow speed and energy.

If you look closely to the above figure of Horus the child, you'll see that their interpretation of the sidelock, as being hair, isn't very satisfying: the "hair" sidelock really doesn't look like it is coming from the real hair of Horus, which is hidden under his head covering. There is also a strange circular area onto the sidelocks (red arrows) that are almost present on every single figure I've been looking at; maybe it is kind of a button of some sort.

I was wondering where the mechanism that was triggered to release the impactor would have been set on the top platform of the gallery; but looking at the draw I've made, I'm wondering if the sidelock couldn't have been positioned right onto the Hauling beetle itself.

 

Figure of Horus the child, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/570699

A flintlock mechanism, (French lock design), very similar to a sidelock, by Engineer comp geek: https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flintlock

 

24.19  Horus the child is the impactor in its locked position at the top of the Gallery, waiting to be released and grow speed and energy

We've seen that Horus was the deification of the impactor unit, but the explanation of Horus the child is another piece of work: Horus the child is about the initial position of the impactor, just before its release.

The whole point of the impactor is to gain speed and energy in the slope of the Grand Gallery, but if you want to represent it in its starting position, before the release, you can't use Horus as we know it, because he is all about speed and energy. There is no Horus yet, but you can use another metaphor: Horus as child, because in this child is present all his future energy, just waiting to be released. Horus the child is about the energy potentially residing in himself.

Horus the child is the impactor, locked in its starting position and ready to be released.

 

The Tomb of Menna, Theban Tomb TT69 in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna, part of the Theban Necropolis on the west bank of the Nile, Luxor. Menna was Scribe of the Fields of the Lord of the Two Lands in the 18th dynasty. Photographed by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/14001055450/in/photostream/

 

24.20  The opening of the mouth is about the mechanism which triggered the release of the impactor

When I started to look attentively at the sidelock on Horus' head, I first thought "weird, it looks like a fish is stuck on his head"; and the little " button" which appears on the upper part of the sidelock kind of looks like an eye, the eye of the fish. Then I let it go for a while, but I started to realize that if Horus the child was pointing his mouth with a finger, what if this was related to the "opening of the mouth"?

Horus' mouth is closed, and he's pointing to it like he was saying "see, my mouth is closed, completely close, I'm a good kid". But we also know what he is also representing: the impactor locked in its starting position before its release.

It should mean that all of the above is connected: the sidelock, the mouth, the impactor's locked position, and the opening of the mouth.

I think the opening of the mouth is describing the release of the impactor. Probably the sidelock end had a small weight that triggered the opening of some kind of jaw: the opening of the mouth. In the above image of the tomb of Menna, the Peseshkaf does look like it is forming a jaw with the "beard" .

 

24.21  The opening of the mouth actually is really supposed to "split, divide or separate" (two) things from each others

What is really interesting is that just after this thought, I saw the following excerpt about the opening of the mouth, where it clearly states that this ritual is about separating things, and not really opening the mouth of anybody; it is even mentioning separating two things from each others: " Translating literally as "opening of the mouth," the Egyptian terms for the ritual are wpt-r and um-r. According to Ann Macy Roth, the verb wpi connotes an opening that splits, divides or separates: "it can be used, for example, to describe the separation of two combatants, the dividing of time, or even an analysis or determination of the truth."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_of_the_mouth_ceremony

 

24.22  The "awaken" reference to mimick the "inactive" impactor, waiting to be released

"During the funeral, the procession would make its way to the tomb. At the entrance to the tomb the Sem Priest would fall into a trance, and then be symbolically woken by the other priests. The sem Priest would announce; “I have seen my father in all his forms” and the other priests would respond by calling on the Sem Priest to take the place of Horus and protect his father Osiris (the deceased). […] At this point the statues of the deceased would also be awoken so that they could receive offerings for the deceased. Then the lector priest would bring the foreleg of the sacrificed calf (which was similar in shape to the adze used in the ritual) to the mummy." https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/openingofthemouth/

 

24.23  The Peseshkaf is shaped like the tail of a fish

And back to our fish, about the instrument used for the opening of the mouth: "Peseshkaf is an instrument used for this ritual, psš (“an instrument for Opening of the mouth”) + k?f (“obsidian”). This instrument was made of stone and shaped like the tail of a fish." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_of_the_mouth_ceremony

 

On load mechanism: http://ajishnavigator.blogspot.com/2011/06/on-load-off-load-release-mechanism-of.html

Free Fall lifeboat release: https://www.marineinsight.com/maritime-law/types-of-lifeboat-release-mechanisms-solas-requirements-for-lifeboats/

 

24.24  The Quick Release system of the impactor vs. the Free Fall life boat release

The impactor of the Great Pyramid had to be released from the top of the Grand Gallery, using some kind of Quick Release mechanism. Maybe what is done today with the Free Fall life boat release systems, can point towards the original ancient Egyptian solution.

I'm thinking that part of the mechanism was set onto the Hauling beetle, while the other part was set onto the impactor itself. Most probably the impactor already had a ring, so that it could have been hauled out of the well with a crook before the Isis Hauling rope could have been connected with it, and start the hauling process.

It would mean that the part that was set onto the Hauling beetle would have been a second crook, and this is this crook that would have been needed to unhook with the ring of the impactor for its release.

 

24.25  The Great Pyramid of Egypt in operation for evaporative cold production

The operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Last updated 2022, September 21.

 

The Egyptian "worshiping posture" with the characteristic hand gesture is about pushing the Osiris stone, down the slope of the Gallery.

 

24.26  The characteristic Egyptian "worshiping" posture is about pushing and putting the Osiris stone in motion 

What is incredible about the relief in the tomb of Paschedu, at Deir el-Medina, is that it allows us to understand this so particular gesture that ancient Egyptians are showing in their characteristic worshiping posture: if they have their hands just like we would do if we want to push something, it is because they really are pushing something themselves!

Here it is shown that they are pushing the Osiris stone.

We've seen that it is this stone which has been deified into Osiris, and because we also know that "Osiris as Ram-headed Banebdjedet is "the One who is giving Life, Power and Force to Ra", we can assume that the "pushing the Osiris stone" gesture is an attempt to "participate" in some ways into the travel of Ra in his Solar barque; an attempt to keep the impactor moving and creating the evaporative cold.

 

 

24.27  Diagram of the gods involved into the operating of the Great Pyramid of Egypt for evaporative cold production

Each and every one of these gods are deifications of either theoretical knowledge or experimental achievements that occurred in the Great Pyramid.

A river baptism in North Carolina at the turn of the 20th century. Full-immersion (submersion) baptism continues to be a common practice in many African-American Christian congregations today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism#/media/File:River_baptism_in_New_Bern.jpg

 

24.28  It is possible that [Ra, Osiris and Horus] are the origin of the Christian Trinity and Baptism into water

I'm sure many will find very close similarities between what was realized inside the Grand Gallery, and some religious beliefs, like resurrection of the Christ and the Baptism ritual.

Because, one way of summarizing what we know of the operating of the impactor of the Great Pyramid, in just a few words, is that the three gods who were the glorification of the impactor: Ra, Osiris and Horus, were all together, the three of them constantly immersed into the waters of the well; and every time they would rise again from these waters and reborn again, until the next cycle begins.

These three ancient Egyptian gods, immersing themselves before being reborn, sounds very similar with the Christian Baptism ritual and the doctrine of the Trinity: "the three consubstantial gods".

"Baptism […] is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of admission and adoption, almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three times, once for each person of the Trinity." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptism

"The Christian doctrine of the Trinity […] defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons…" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity

 

Femmes en Haïk and Haïk porté par des femmes à Alger by Mus52: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha%C3%AFk_(v%C3%AAtement)

 

24.29  It is possible that the Haïk is originating in the Eyes of Horus (highly hypothetical)

Finally, this idea of hiding completely one's face and showing only the eyes, is reminding me of the Haïk, the traditional women's garment that is worn in the Maghreb region and that only let the eyes of the women visible.

Is it possible that the Eyes of Horus would be the origin of the Haïk? If it is, it would mean that the Haïk would be originating in the attempt to reproduce the missing parts of Horus' face, so that only the eyes are visible.

 

24.30  Summary of the study: hidden behind the academic vision of the ancient Egyptian religion, a vast number of metaphors are describing some of the most advanced science and technological knowledge of that time : ancient Egyptian gods were nothing else than pharaohs' metaphoric self-glorifications of their theoretical and experimental scientific accomplishments in physics and chemistry.

Pharaohs used the power of Science to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt : they forged an entire religion, based on science to rule their kingdom, and they presented that science as Magic.

The end game of this technological program that probably started on the very first Dynasty, was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid from the pressurized water produced in the inclined well, known today as the ascending passage.

The evaporative cold simply took advantage of the power of water, and was most probably necessary to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate produced by an ammonia-soda Solvay process, as suggested by the very strong ammonia smell and the limestone kiln in the so-called burial chamber of the Red Pyramid. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs (Sections 14, 15 and 16).

The cooling seems to have represented the most difficult part of the process, as suggested by the Step Pyramid's official name : according to scholars, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods". No doubt that a more accurate translation would certainly be "the cooling of the Gods".

It means that ancient Egyptians were the first civilization to master a Solvay-like process for sodium carbonate manufacturing, long before it got reinvented in the 1800's in Europe. The key elements of that process is the temperature control of the chemical reactions (the cooling), and the dome shaped plate necessary for the counterflow chemical reactions to occur in an efficient way. That counterflow reaction plate is what really is the disc of Sabu.

As shown with Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the creation of the evaporative cold was the most sacred accomplishment of all (Section 17), and this is exactly what the Dendera Light is all about : the Dendera Light is the fog of microdroplets of liquid water that evaporates and creates the cold. Talking 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, Section 2).

Everything that had been done in the Great Pyramid of Giza inspired most of the ancient Egyptian religion, and it had been glorified into what we know today as the Underworld.

The Underworld is referring to the chambers and passages of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and in particular to the Grand Gallery where a hauling gantry beetle operated a wooden coffin shaped impactor that had a small nested granite block inside it. The impactor generated endlessly, over and over, maybe every 15 minutes the pressurized water that was then transformed into a fog of microdroplets inside the horizontal cooling passage.

The Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid where the act of hauling was done, is the "Secret Hauling Cavern of the Underworld" described in the Amduat "Book of the Hidden Chamber".

The most important chamber of the Great Pyramid wasn't the King's chamber that only was the main water tank of the pyramid, but the Queen's chamber, the only one on the central axis of the pyramid. Because the Queen's chamber was inaccessible from the rest of the pyramid, it was glorified into the "Hidden Chamber of the Underworld" (Section 11), and because the Queen's chamber was the coolest place in the pyramid (about 5°C / 41°F), and with a constant 100% Humidity rate, this chamber was the one where the biggest amount of very hard salt encrustation had been documented by the first explorers of the pyramid in the 1800's and before it had been removed in 1998 by Zahi Hawass (Section 1). Very hard salt encrustation is the signature of the evaporative cooling process, even nowadays.

The most incredible thing is that pretty much everything I've just said, actually appears in many myths, and they don't even originate from ancient Egypt : the "Churning of the Ocean" Hindu myth that produces the immortal nectar Amrita, the Tibetan Prayer Wheels operated to give small amounts of 'merit' to too lazy Naga snakes, and the entire Norse mythology with Thor's magical hammer endlessly fighting another Great Serpent of the Underworld and producing a mist of cold from a mysterious well that would be opposed to hellishly hot heat waves.

I'm talking a lot about the impactor of the Great Pyramid, but it is nothing compared to the tremendous impact caused by what the ancient Egyptians had accomplished within the 78 years of the Great Pyramids Era, from Djoser to the Great Pyramid: the entire ancient World had been shaken up in their deepest beliefs beyond all comprehension; and we are still talking about it today.

 

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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

 

23.02  The Heat of Sun god Ra is the reason why ancient Egyptians would have worshipped the Sun

This idea that ancient Egyptians only referred to the sun because of the Heat it is generating is actually well known : "The Eye of Ra also represents the destructive aspect of Ra's power: the heat of the sun"  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_of_Ra

The Heat of the Sun, is also what the Akhenaten and Aten scene is all about : the light beams are about Heat, not light.

 

23.03  The Sun metaphor and the operating cycle of the impactor in and out of the well

I've always wondered why egyptologists were so eager to talk about the sun, and if ancient Egyptian themselves really talked about it or if it was another incorrect interpretation from the early 1800's.

We've seen in the 'Weighing of the Heart' Section 20, that ancient Egyptians couldn't stop talking about the Heart, but only because it was referring to the Heart of the Great Pyramid, the masterpiece of engineering that was the inclined well. The Heart was nothing but another metaphor.

So maybe it is the exact same thing with the Sun : the Sun would be just another metaphor.

 

23.04  The evaporative cold Ankh symbol is given by Akhenaten to Aten, through the nose : it is about cold air

Actually we've already seen in the Akhenaten Section 17, that the Sun actually really had been one on these metaphors : the Sun is simply representing the Heat. If at the end of every single ray of light there is a hand, it is because it is not about light in the first place : the hands are for touching, and you don't 'feel' the light on your body, but you do feel the warmth of the Sun of your body.

The Aten is just a metaphoric representation of the Heat, and what Akhenaten is giving to the Aten Sun is the Ankh symbol : the symbol for the evaporative cold. Because the evaporative cold is nothing but cold air, Akhenaten is giving the Ankh symbol of the cold, through the nose. The nose is made for the air.

But this is a metaphor from the 18th Dynasty, and from a King who apparently didn't want to worship every single god from the past; Akhenaten wanted to be remembered as the one who created the cold : he wanted to replace the ancient gods so to speak.

So, if ancient Egyptians really were worshipping some kind of Sun god, and in some ways the endless day and night cycles, it could simply come from the endless operating cycle of the impactor.

When the impactor was inside the inclined well waters, ancient Egyptians described it like it was Night; and when the impactor was back in the Grand Gallery, it was Day again.

The retrieving of the floating impactor from the waters of the well would have marked the beginning of a new day in the voyage in the afterlife of the deceased; and the entering in the waters would have marked dusk, the beginning of the night in the afterlife.

 

"As this deity, Ra confers with Osiris on the deepest of levels, perhaps confirming which souls have been rightly justified before transporting them, and then traveling on through the underworld darkness toward the dawn of paradise. As the barge rolls through the underworld, it is attacked by the serpent Apophis who tries to kill Ra and prevent the sunrise. The gods onboard fight the serpent off with the help of the justified dead while, on earth, the living encourage the defenders through ritual ceremonies, channeling positive energies to strengthen those on board. Every night Apophis attacks, and every night he is defeated. Ra and his crew sail on toward dawn, the justified dead are delivered to their destination, and the sunrise was then seen as the sign that Ra was again victorious, and the Egyptians would see another day." 

https://www.worldhistory.org/Ra_%28Egyptian_God%29/

 

 

23.05  The scientific metaphoric representations of the ancient Egyptian gods

Every single ancient Egyptian god is only a metaphor, and they all are about a particular aspect of the scientific research program they've started probably with the very first Dynasty. Most of these gods are directly referring to how was created evaporative cold in the horizontal passage and how was this process based on.

For example, gods like Shu, Geb and Tefnut are a perfect representation of the evaporation of water from liquid water, and the fact that this evaporative process was supported by Shu, the god of dry and warm air.

 

23.06  The impactor ramming into the inclined well waters (Nun) to produce pressurized water (Apep)

I've already talked about the distinction that has to be made between the waters of the well before the pressurization and the pressurized waters strictly speaking.

The 'plain still' waters had been glorified into what have been called the primordial waters of Nun, while the pressurized waters had been represented into the Great Serpent Apep (also Apophis).

This passage talks about how Atum created everything in human form out of the chaos: "At the beginning of time, when there was nothing but chaos, the sun-god existed alone in the watery mass of Nun which filled the universe. "I am Atum when he was alone in Nun, I am Ra when he dawned, when he began to rule that which he had made."

 

Once the well is pressurized, a small amount of that water is ejected into the horizontal cooling passage, and that is Atum : about 200 liters of pressurized water which every 15 minutes or so passes through the fog nozzle to create a fog of microdroplets of liquid water. This very particular form of water had been glorified into goddess Tefnut (Tef, or 'tf', meaning to spit, Section 5).

"He (Ra) created Shu, god of air, and the goddess of moisture, Tefnut."

The above excerpt is by the way, another confirmation that the purpose of the impactor was not limited to produce pressurized water, just like the "awakening" Osiris figure already have suggested it (previous Section 21).

If Ra is the one creating Shu, the god of dry and warm air, it is because the fall of the impactor is taking place inside a fixed wooden caisson that was perfectly extending the inclined well, probably to the top of the Grand Gallery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra

 

23.07  The Primeval Hill on which Ra is creating Shu and Tefnut is the Grand Gallery

"On a Primeval hill, Ra created out of himself the first gods, Shu (Dryness and Air), and his partner Tefnut (Humidity), who would engender other gods to complete the Cosmos: Geb the Earth god and Nut the Sky goddess. " https://www.arce.org/resource/ra-creator-god-ancient-egypt

Everyone would have most probably recognized in the "Primeval Hill", the steep slope of the Grand Gallery, precisely where the impactor Ra was operated. More on Nut and Tefnut in Section 3

 

23.08  Ra as Atum and the Creation process out of Water

Also from Arce : "Before creation, according to Egyptian mythology, only Darkness embraced the Primeval Ocean out of which life would come. When the breath of life was strong and ready, the entity called Atum decided it was time for Creation to begin. An island emerged from the water to support this divinity, who manifested itself in the form of Ra, the sun god of Egypt."

This particular phrase "When the breath of life was strong and ready, the entity called Atum decided it was time for Creation to begin" could be another confirmation that before the well was pressurized, the fall of the impactor first pushed air in front of him. The fixed wooden caisson in which was moving the impactor would have function exactly like a bicycle pump and would have pressurized the evaporative cooling passage with the air of the caisson, before the pressurization of the inclined well waters.

Atum, originating from the well and being the one metaphorical god just before creation could happen, is the "small amount of pressurized water", maybe about 200 liters, that were ejected from the well every 15 minutes or so, towards the fog nozzle.

"Ra was believed to have created all forms of life by calling them into existence by uttering their secret names. In some accounts humans were created from Ra's tears and sweat."

"According to one myth the first portion of Earth came into being when the sun god summoned it out of the watery mass of Nun."

"Ra was thought to travel on the Atet, two solar barques called the Mandjet (the Boat of Millions of Years) or morning-boat and the Mesektet or evening-boat. These boats took him on his journey through the sky and the Duat – twelve hours of night which is also the literal underworld of Egypt. While Ra was on the Mesektet, he was in his ram-headed form." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra

 

There are genuine links between all ancient Egyptian gods, but they are not about family lineage. Nobody is the grandmother or the mother or the sister of anybody : every single god from ancient Egypt is a metaphor, and nothing else. Most of them were either 'born' with the Great Pyramid (like Taweret and Bes who were referring to the draining of the well, an event which most probably didn't happened before, except in necessary trials), or the pyramid just 'revealed' them, because the Great Pyramid was the outcome of 80 years of technological research (like the gods who are referring to the operating of the Hauling beetle or the impactor which already had to be used before the Great Pyramid in other locations).

 

23.09  The imbroglio of gods relationships vs. their truly genuine meaning

It will be probably impossible to determine who, between ancient Egyptians themselves of egyptologists from the 19th century, are responsible for the extreme imbroglio regarding all these gods.

But when Nut is described as both Ra's grandmother and mother, and as the goddess of the sky and the stars when her emblem and everything else about her is about water, then it is probably a good indicator that the academic understanding of Nut, as a good example out of many, might be a little off course.

 

"According to the Pyramid Texts, Ra (as Atum) emerged from the waters of Nun as a benben stone (an obelisk-like pillar). He then spat forth Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), and Tefnut in turn gave birth to Geb (earth) and Nut (sky). Ra tried to separate Geb and Nut by placing Shu between them and decreed that Nut could not give birth on any day of the calendar. […]It was thought that Ra “died” or was swallowed by Nut every evening as the sun dipped below the horizon. He travelled through the world of the dead by night and was then reborn in the morning (making Nut both his granddaughter and his mother). At sunset he was linked to Horakhty (Horus on the Horizon) and Atum, and at dawn he was linked to the scarab beetle, Khepri (“the Emerging One”) and Nefertum."  https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/ra/

"Atum-Ra (or Ra-Atum) was another composite deity formed from two completely separate deities; however, Ra shared more similarities with Atum than with Amun. Atum was more closely linked with the sun, and was also a creator god of the Ennead. Both Ra and Atum were regarded as the father of the deities and pharaohs and were widely worshiped. In older myths, Atum was the creator of Tefnut and Shu, and he was born from the ocean Nun."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra

 

 

The metaphorical use of the Great Serpent of the Underworld Apep, as a representation of the inclined well pressurized waters, being contained by the girdle stones of the inclined well.

 

23.10  The snake metaphor for the water used to power up the Great Pyramid

The idea that ancient Egyptians worshiped the Nile river because it fertilized the banks of the river is wrong : they worshiped the Nile because they used its water to power up the Great Pyramid, and every single other site dedicated to science before that.

Even today, almost every significant industrial site is located either next to a major river or directly along sea shore; and the funny thing is that most of the time, the water is used for industrial cooling.

Ancient Egyptians did the exact same thing, and they did it way long before the state of the art Great Pyramid. We know it for sure, because maybe the first metaphor used by Egyptians was the snake metaphor : every single snake representations (in the scientific "religious" context) are about the water from the Nile, and it had been used for a very long time : "The oldest deity known in Egypt was Wadjet, the Egyptian cobra, whose cult never was eclipsed in Ancient Egyptian religion."  https://religion.fandom.com/wiki/Isis

 

Relief from KV 17, the tomb of Sety I. Photograph thanks to kairoinfo4u and posted on flickr

 

23.11  The Great Serpent Apep is a metaphor of the pressurized waters of the inclined well

The Great Serpent Apep is one of these snake metaphors representing the water from the Nile, and it is about the pressurized waters of the inclined well, being contained by the well: the "restraining of Apep" is the containment of the pressurized waters of the well by the upper girdle gtones.

More on Apep and the Water metaphor in Section 5

In the following excerpt, Ra is linked with Atum and Nut. To understand the real link between them, please look back at the diagram in paragraph 23.08

 

"Apophis, the god of chaos (isfet), was an enormous serpent who attempted to stop the sun-boat's journey every night by consuming it or by stopping it in its tracks with a hypnotic stare. During the evening, the Egyptians believed that Ra set as Atum or in the form of a ram. The night boat would carry him through the underworld and back towards the east in preparation for his rebirth. These myths of Ra represented the sun rising as the rebirth of the sun by the sky-goddess Nut."

"Apep, also called Apophis, was the god of chaos and Ra's arch-enemy. He was said to lie just below the horizon line, trying to devour Ra as Ra traveled through the underworld."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra

 

Sun god Ra on his Solar barque with Set fighting Apep, the Great Serpent of the Underworld: https://www.mygodpictures.com/apep-and-seth-imageapep-and-seth-image/

Original image of the draw: "Représentation de la barque solaire de Rê tirée par des chacals et des serpent. L'embarcation est attaquée par le serpent Apophis mais ce dernier est transpercé par Seth". Papyrus funéraire de Hérouben. Soutekh67 on Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Barque_solaire_contre_Apopi.jpg

 

23.12  The Osiris myth is about the "killing" of the Great Serpent Apep: it is about the power over water

We've seen that snakes were only representations of the water used to power up the Great Pyramid, so when Ra and the Great Serpent Apep are fighting against each other in the Underworld, it means that Ra is actually "fighting" with water in the pyramid. The whole Osiris myth is actually based on the operating of the Great Pyramid and the endless cycle of Hauling the Beetle gantry to the top of the Grand Gallery and it release into the steep slope to pressurize the inclined well waters.

 

23.13  Ra and Osiris had to merge together in the Underworld to accomplish their task

I was talking about the impactor, over and over again for about a year and a half now, and it was right under my nose since the very beginning : just like I've missed Osiris, I've also missed Ra. Of course, I've already understood that Ra's barque, the Solar boat, was the glorification of the impactor (Section 11, 'The Hauling Cavern of the Underworld') but I couldn't figure out what exactly was Ra representing; it could have been anything, but I think I got confused by the academic vision of Ra, and particularly about his Solar barque; because there is not such a thing as Ra's Solar barque. Ra is the barque; Ra is the vessel that is carrying the Osiris stone through the Underworld. Ra is the impactor of the Great Pyramid.

One thing we know about Ra, is that "When Ra was in the underworld, he merged with Osiris..." and because we already know that the Underworld is the internal layout of the Great Pyramid and that Osiris is the granite stone that was inside the impactor, it means that Ra is the wooden impactor itself.

"Throughout the day, Ra sailed across the sky in his barge and then descended down into the underworld at night. The sun barge now transformed into the evening barge known as the Ship of a Million Souls which picked up the newly arrived and justified dead to bring them to the paradise of the Field of Reeds. Ra at this time becomes merged with Osiris, the judge of the dead, and Osiris is seen as the “corpse” and Ra as the “soul” of the single deity Ra-Osiris."

"As this deity, Ra confers with Osiris on the deepest of levels, perhaps confirming which souls have been rightly justified before transporting them, and then traveling on through the underworld darkness toward the dawn of paradise. As the barge rolls through the underworld, it is attacked by the serpent Apophis who tries to kill Ra and prevent the sunrise. The gods onboard fight the serpent off with the help of the justified dead while, on earth, the living encourage the defenders through ritual ceremonies, channeling positive energies to strengthen those on board. Every night Apophis attacks, and every night he is defeated. Ra and his crew sail on toward dawn, the justified dead are delivered to their destination, and the sunrise was then seen as the sign that Ra was again victorious, and the Egyptians would see another day."  https://www.worldhistory.org/Ra_(Egyptian_God)/

 

Sun god Ra and Osiris are both glorifying representations of the two parts that constituted the impactor of the Great Pyramid of Egypt.

 

23.14  Ra is the impactor vessel for the Osiris granite stone

We've seen that in the ancient Egyptian religion, everything is nothing but metaphors and the Underworld isn't different; it is absolutely not just a metaphysical idea : the Underworld is very real, it is the glorification of the internal layout of the Great Pyramid. The King's chamber, the Grand Gallery, the inclined well, the evaporative cooling passage and the Queen's chamber, they all together constitute the ancient Egyptian Underworld.

One particular phrase from the last excerpt is exceptional, and is explaining the role of both deities in the single deity Ra-Osiris: "Ra at this times becomes merged with Osiris, the judge of the dead, and Osiris is seen as the "corpse" and Ra as the "soul" of the single deity Ra-Osiris."

This phrase can be easily understood simply by replacing the term "soul" by "vessel". Ra is the vessel for the "corpse" of Osiris. Translated, it means that Osiris is the one who has to be moved, by using the Ra "vessel".

Ra is the wooden "vessel" impactor for the Osiris granite stone.

 

Exceptional 3D Model of the "Osiris Death Bed" from Abydos, courtesy of danderson4 on Sketchfab.

"The god Osiris lying on his death and resurrection bed. Discovered by Amélineau in the late 19th century in the tomb of First Dynasty Pharaoh Djer in the royal cemetery at Abydos known as Umm el-Qa’ab. This tomb while originally dated to the First Dynasty, later becomes attributed as the tomb of Osiris. It has been suggested that the sculpture was added to the tomb in the late Middle Kingdom / Second Intermediate Period.

The artifact is of black basalt and represents the god Osiris mummified and wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt, lying upon a lion headed bed. At the head and feet Osiris is protected by four falcons representing his son Horus and perched above him is the goddess Isis depicted as a Kite.

Photographed when the artifact was in the exhibit “Egypt’s Sunken Cities” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, November 10, 2018." https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/osiris-death-bed-from-abydos-cdeee4ba154e420b8221dcc56752ae3d

 

23.15  The Death Bed of Osiris and the eight front finger paws

Because the "Bed of Osiris" is actually a representation of the Hauling beetle of the Great Pyramid, and because this wooden gantry was the assembly of two "half-beetles", one on the eastern ramp and the other on the western ramp, the front paws of the Bed are doubled: the left paw of the Lion have eight fingers and the right paw have eight fingers as well. There are even separating lines on the legs.

Remarkably, these eight finger paws are beautifully echoing the eight crewmembers of the Beetle.

Male Lion Paw, by Jonathan Griffiths: https://www.flickr.com/photos/37047946@N07/3469978681/

 

Isis, left, and Nephthys stand by as Anubis embalms the deceased, in the Theban Tomb 335 (Nakhtamun), thirteenth century BCE. By ShillukinUSA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis#/media/File:ThebanTomb335.png

 

23.16  Isis and Nephthys are the Ones saving both Ra and Osiris from the Great Serpent Apep

We've already seen that the Sokar deity was representing the latch bolts of the Grand Gallery that enabled the sequential hauling of the impactor, one step at a time; and we've also seen that Aker represented both the axle beam and its holders (Section 11); but there is even more to find out about the operating of the impactor : Isis and Nephthys were the representation of the impactor's Hauling rope.

In the Osiris myth, these two goddesses are the ones saving Osiris from the Great Serpent Apep; it means that they are the ones who are getting Osiris out of the waters of the inclined well. Of course, the myth is only mentioning Osiris, because in the single Ra-Osiris deity, Ra was only considered as the "soul", while Osiris was the "corpse".

Isis and Nephthys actually gave life back to both of them, Ra (the wooden impactor) and Osiris (the granite stone).

"It is Nephthys who assists Isis in gathering and mourning the dismembered portions of the body of Osiris after his murder by the envious Set. Nephthys also serves as the nursemaid and watchful guardian of the infant Horus."   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephthys

"Nephthys or Nebet-Het in ancient Egyptian was a goddess in ancient Egyptian religion. A member of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis in Egyptian mythology, she was a daughter of Nut and Geb. Nephthys was typically paired with her sister Isis in funerary rites because of their role as protectors of the mummy and the god Osiris and as the sister-wife of Set."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephthys

If Isis is described as the wife of Osiris, the one who at the very end of the myth is giving life back to him, and if there are many sexual metaphors about Isis and Osiris copulating, it is because, as the metaphorical representation of the central rope (the impactor's Hauling rope); Isis and Osiris were constantly uncoupled (for the release of the impactor) and reassembled (to get the impactor back to the top of the Gallery).

"Isis, who is Osiris's wife as well as his sister, is his queen. Set kills Osiris and, in several versions of the story, dismembers his corpse. Isis and Nephthys, along with other deities such as Anubis, search for the pieces of their brother's body and reassemble it. […] Finally, Isis restores breath and life to Osiris's body and copulates with him."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis

 

In the next paragraphs, we'll see why both twin sisters Isis and Nephthys were actually one single deity representing the impactor's Hauling rope, and why on the above image from Nakhtamun Theban tomb 335, Isis is at Osiris' feet and obviously pushing the Osiris' Bed, while Nephthys is standing still at Osiris' head.

 

The twin sister goddesses Isis on the left, and Nephthys on the right. Draws by Jeff Dahl on Wikipedia.

Original ropes discovered in the Kheops Solar boat pit. Photograph by Jon Bodsworth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khufu_ship

 

23.17  One of the names of Nephthys is Seshat

The question now is to know what these twin sisters are really representing, and it is Nephthys who is giving the answer, because she is all about ropes.

Most of the time, Nephthys and Seshat are considered two different deities, but this is incorrect: Seshat is only one particular aspect of Nephthys. Seshat is one of the names of Nephthys:

"As early as the Pyramid Texts (the oldest ones date from 2400-2300 BCE), Nephthys is said to have “collected all your members for you in this Her name of Seshat, Lady of Builders.” (Pyramid Texts, Utterance 364)": https://isiopolis.com/2014/07/13/oh-yes-more-nephthys/

"In utterance 364, Nephthys, identified with Seshat, “Lady of Builders,” has collected the limbs of Osiris/the deceased": https://henadology.wordpress.com/theology/netjeru/nephthys/

"Nephthys has been treated here in some detail, foe Seshat proves to have been one of her forms. The Pyramid Texts, par.616, speak of Nephthys 'in this her name of Seshat, Mistress of Builders', and the late inscriptions again record Seshat as a form of Nephthys". Source Sage journals at https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/030751334002600105?journalCode=egaa

 

23.18  Seshat (and her "stretching the cord" ceremony) and Nephthys (and her "Tresses") are about ropes

Probably a good interpretation of the couple constituted of Nephthys and Seshat, would be to identify Nephthys as the 'mythological' aspect of what was really represented into Seshat: the ropes.

"As Lady of Builders, one of Seshat’s main functions is to lay out the boundaries for new buildings, especially temples, via the ceremony of “stretching the cord,” which was a method of using a cord or rope to measure out straight foundations for a building." https://isiopolis.com/2014/07/13/oh-yes-more-nephthys/

This "stretching the cord" ceremony of Seshat, echoes one of the most famous attributes of Nephthys: her "tresses".

The "tresses of Nephthys" are the ropes used by her own Seshat "technical" aspect of herself.

 

23.19  Isis is the impactor's Hauling rope getting Osiris out of the waters of the well

The reason why both Isis and Nephthys are holding a Wadj scepter representing the stem of papyrus, from which ancient ropes were made of, is because they are both representations of ropes; and because Nephthys was the twin sister or Isis, it also means that Isis is representing a rope.

And it makes perfect sense: if Isis is the One who is giving life back to Osiris and to the impactor Ra, by getting them both out of the inclined well waters, it is because Isis is the impactor's Hauling rope.

 

Book of the Dead of Hunefer (Hw-nfr) frame 3, at the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA9901-3

 

23.20  The Nephthys mystery: which rope(s) is she referring to?

I first thought that Nephthys, the twin sister of Isis, was representing the two other ropes of the Grand Gallery: the ones directly connecting the Hauling beetle with the axle beam. At first glance, it looked satisfying. But actually, nothing about Nephthys is supporting this idea. Everything about her is so mysterious:

"When in a dyad with Isis, Nephthys is decidedly the “darker” one. The Pyramid Texts advise the king to “descend with Nephthys” in the Barque of the Night, but arise with Isis in the Barque of the Day."

"Later he says that Nephthys is what is “below the earth and invisible” in contrast with Isis Who “is above the earth and manifest.”

"The one being reborn is to “throw off the tresses of Nephthys” like he throws off his mummy wrappings at his rebirth".

https://isiopolis.com/2014/07/13/oh-yes-more-nephthys/

I really tried to make Nephthys the representation of these two lateral Beetle's Hauling ropes, but in vain. And suddenly, I got it: like the Barque of Ra, which is simply Ra himself; there is no such thing as Isis and her twin sister Nephthys: they are both representing the same thing, they are both about the same rope.

Isis and Nephthys are both glorifying representations of the impactor's Hauling rope, and the difference between the two of them, is that they are not representing the rope in the same moment in its operating cycle.

Because we know that Isis is saving Osiris, meaning she is getting the impactor out of the well, it is pretty easy to understand her : Isis is the typical representation of a Hauling rope that anybody could imagine.

In the following excerpt, Isis is even described "travelling among humans". This phrase looks pretty insignificant, but it is not : because Isis was the impactor's Hauling rope that was set into the central gutter of the Gallery, Isis was indeed literally "travelling" among the crewmembers of the Hauling Beetle.

"In some texts, Isis travels among humans and must seek their help". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis

 

23.21  Isis and Nephthys are the same impactor's Hauling rope: the active one; and the inactive one, coiled around the axle beam

The problem is with Nephthys. When Isis is described as "above the earth and manifest", Nephthys is described as "invisible".

"Later he says that Nephthys is what is “below the earth and invisible” in contrast with Isis Who “is above the earth and manifest.” https://isiopolis.com/2014/07/13/oh-yes-more-nephthys/

There is even this following excerpt that I find so interesting: "The one being reborn is to “throw off the tresses of Nephthys” like he throws off his mummy wrappings at his rebirth".

"The one being reborn is to “throw off the tresses of Nephthys” is actually price less, because it is talking about throwing off the rope so that one can reborn.

Once the impactor has been hauled to the top of the Gallery, I've suggested that it would have been disconnected with its rope before being released into the steep slope. At that exact moment, the Isis Hauling rope is completely wound around the axle beam, and then they had to disconnect the rope with the impactor.

 

23.22  Beheaded Isis and the release of the impactor, freed from the Hauling rope

Another way of saying that, is that they had to cut off Isis' head: "Isis continues to assist her son when he challenges Set to claim the kingship that Set has usurped […] as when Horus beheads Isis and she replaces her original head with that of a cow—an origin myth explaining the cow-horn headdress that Isis wears". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis

It is also mentioned that the original head of Isis is replaced with the head of a cow, and it is directly referring to the act of towing itself : the cow is suggesting the towing (Hathor herself, as a representation of the Hauling beetle, is depicted into a cow goddess).

 

"Mooring lines are used when arriving or leaving a berth. One of the most important competent crew skills is to know how to handle and tie mooring lines securely and safely": https://www.safe-skipper.com/competent-crew-skills-mooring-lines/

Supply ratings handling a coil of 16 inches (410 mm) towing hawser (rope) at the Royal Navy's Naval Stores Department, Nore, Harwich. Royal Navy official photographer, Russell, J E (Lt) - This is photograph A 16341 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawser

 

23.23  The squeaky mooring lines metaphor of the so famous "Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys"

Everything about the Osiris' festival is about the recreation of the operating of the Grand Gallery, and maybe the most important part of it is the famous "Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys".

Here, on the coast of Brittany France, boats are everywhere and most of the time moored at quayside, with the mooring ropes making all kind of sounds because of the high winds. Some people can say they are just squeaky and creaky dock lines, but others would say they are singing!

The "Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys" are simply, but beautifully reproducing the squeaky mooring sounds of the Isis impactor's Hauling rope. How's that for beautiful!

"she (Nephthys) certainly figured as a goddess of great importance in the annual rites conducted, wherein two chosen females or priestesses played the roles of Isis and Nephthys and performed the elaborate "Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys".

"Her magical skills were similar to those of Isis and some scholars see her as Isis' mirror image, Nephthys' darkness balancing Isis' light, and they are frequently pictured together as twin sisters. In the city of Heliopolis Nephthys and Isis were represented by two virgin priestesses at festivals who would recite the famous Lamentations of Isis and Nepthys at the Osiris' festival. The Lamentations is a long narrative poem recreating the moment Isis and Nephthys worked together to revive the god Osiris and bring him back to life. Her symbols are the hawk and the temple and the sycamore tree, one of the more popular trees depicted in inscriptions from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Prayers were offered to Nephthys at twilight for protection and also to aid her as she struggled with her husband Set to defend the Boat of Ra (the sun god) from the serpent Apophis as it made its journey through the realms of night."   https://www.worldhistory.org/Nephthys/

 

23.24  The multi-strand rope deterioration due to the squeaking internal friction

For someone who never had to sleep on a small boat moored at the quayside, the squeaking and creaking noises caused by multi-strands ropes could be easily seen as quite meaningless: everybody likes to have a walk along quayside. But if you do want to sleep on the boats, you will quickly change your mind: there is nothing more annoying that these squeaky noises.

But more important, these noises are also a sign that the ropes are deteriorating, from the inside; and this is maybe the reason why ancient Egyptians were so concerned about these noises, and the reason of the Isis and Nephthys Lamentations.

"The "squeak" frequently comes from the strands of line rubbing against one another as they stretch and retract. The process generates internal friction that heats the line up, causes the strands to expand slightly, increases the friction, etc. etc. etc. Several research studies that line failures are frequently caused by internal heating rather than chafe, particularly when lines are run through plastic tubing that prevents water getting to the line and acting as a coolant."

Post by svHyLyte, at: https://www.sailnet.com/threads/squeaking-and-creaking-of-docklines-and-fenders.46595/

 

23.25  Isis is indeed also known as the "Great Mooring Post"

The fact is that this "mooring" metaphor about Isis, is actually perfectly documented in ancient Egyptian literature: "Isis is not just about rebirth and sunrise. She is also the Great Mooring Post". https://isiopolis12.rssing.com/chan-10218340/all_p4.html

Also, a very detailed study "When Isis "Moored" Osiris", by L. D. Graham - JEOL. Excerpt: "The present paper, which is philological in nature, addresses a central event in the Osiris myth as it is narrated in the Great Hymn on the Stele of Amenmose. Specifically, the Great Hymn says (in line 15) that, when Isis eventually located Osiris’s body after his murder by Seth, she “moored her brother”. https://hcommons.org/deposits/objects/hc:47012/datastreams/CONTENT/content

 

If you want to have an idea of how the "Lamentations of Isis and Nephthys" sounded like, please listen to this short YouTube video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehVjrNqfVvc

 

Tape measure, by William Warby on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/4915969081

How a tape measure works: Why it is retractable? by Mift H: https://www.fullyinstrumented.com/how-a-tape-measure-works/

 

23.26  The Seshat/Nephthys ancient Egyptian goddess of architects… and the modern Self-Retracting Tape Measure

Once in a while throughout my study about ancient Egypt, I stumble upon a little jewel that I particularly enjoy; and there is one right there with the Nephthys glorification of the impactor's Hauling rope completely coiled around the axle beam.

Nowadays, if anyone on earth would have to metaphorically describe one more time everything that happened in the Great Pyramid, like ancient Egyptians did 4500 years ago, I doubt that a deity would be created to represent the impactor's rope, not Hauling anything, simply resting on her axle beam. I'm sure it would be completely disregarded.

Egyptians didn't, and they even used this particular aspect of the operating cycle to create what is still today the emblem of any architect in the world: a measuring tape!

In some way, we can even go further into the metaphor, because if you really think it through, the functioning of the axle beam/impactor's Hauling rope unit, was a perfect match with a very modern self-retracting tape measure.

In modern tape measures, it is the spring mechanism that is retracting the tape; in the Great Pyramid, it was the Hauling beetle that was retracting the impactor's rope and the latch bolts that were having the role of the modern lock button of the tape.

"How a tape measure works are basically not rocket science. It only depends on its two major features: lock and spring mechanism. The lock button behaves to stop the tape from retracting when you extend it. The spring mechanism plays as the automatic roller to retract the tape." https://www.fullyinstrumented.com/how-a-tape-measure-works/

 

Technical draw of a rope: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope

Seven strand hemp rope: https://www.corderie-lorenzi.fr/en/elementor-3554/

 

 23.27  The seven strand structure of the impactor's Hauling rope

Most probably, Seshat's emblem is a technical representation of the Hauling rope's structure: the rope would have had 7 strands.

The curious shape on top of the 7-pointed green emblem would be how ancient Egyptians have drawn our modern curly brackets: they are explaining that the 7 strands were combined to form one single rope.

"As Lady of Builders, one of Seshat’s main functions is to lay out the boundaries for new buildings, especially temples, via the ceremony of “stretching the cord,” which was a method of using a cord or rope to measure out straight foundations for a building."  https://isiopolis.com/2014/07/13/oh-yes-more-nephthys/

 

The impactor of the Great Pyramid, ready to be released into the slope of the Grand Gallery. Of course, the impactor is not really visible like shown on the draw: the impactor is hidden inside the fixed wooden caisson.

 

The top platform of the Grand Gallery has a very specific design, because it is actually made of one single giant block that goes way after the south wall of the gallery towards the antechamber: the block is way bigger than what we can see of it, exactly like it is for the girdle stones of the inclined well.

The southern part of the block was under tremendous charge, due to the enormous above structure weight, that perfectly anchored the block. This particular design was necessary to resist the huge structural stress induced by the endless operating of both the Hauling beetle and the impactor.

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

 

 23.28  Aker is the glorification of the axle beam, the one who "bends and imprisons the coils of the snake"

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. We've already seen that the beam was most probably made of Tamarix wood which is very resistant to tension.

That reference to the bending of Aker is easy to apprehend, and probably the reference to the imprisoned coils of the snake is simply referring to the winding of the ropes on the axle beam.

"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/

God Aker (Akeru, plural), drawing by Jeff Dahl : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aker#/media/Fichier:Aker.svg

 

23.29  The "grasp of the Akeru" and the hazardous work reference about the winding of the ropes

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 beetle 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

More on Aker, in Section 11 "The Hidden Hauling Cavern of the Underworld"

 

Api or Hapi (Apis, Taureau Consacré a la Lune)", 1823-25, by the French illustrator Léon-Jean-Joseph Dubois, at the Brooklyn Museum: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/archives/image/55326

"Poseidon" water coaster at Europa-Park, by Stefan Scheer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_ride#/media/File:Europapark_Poseidon.jpg

 

23.30  The Apis Bull is a representation of the impactor speeding in the Grand Gallery

I've been confused a long time about cows and bulls' meaning in the ancient Egyptian religion, probably because both have horns, and I associated them both with the ramming impactor.

But they are really different, even if they are complementary : while Bulls are about the power of the impactor, cows are about the power of the hauling.

Maybe the most beautiful representation of the impactor Bull I know of, is the one on the above image by the French illustrator Léon-Jean-Joseph Dubois. I'm sure the scene looks cute, even if you don't know what it is all about; the Bull is magnificent and the snake as well. The whole image is perfect, there is both balance and power; ancient Egyptian illustrators really knew what they were doing.

But if you understand it, the scene is like exploding to your eyes; it becomes like a 3D image and even a 3D movie; because the scene is about a "raging" Bull speeding and projecting water all around him.

The Apis Bull is a metaphor, a representation of the impactor speeding within the slope of the Grand Gallery after its release. We've seen that the impactor was moving inside a fixed caisson that perfectly extended the inclined well inside the Gallery; and for the impactor to move, water had to be poured in the caisson, so that it could slide in the caisson.

It means that water was pushed ahead of the impactor, creating a wave in front of it; but it also means that water was projected behind its path, creating huge splashes like cars would do on a wet road, or like the boats of water coasters would do.

 

23.31  The Flail is all about projected water and with a directional arrow

Because the impactor is moving onto wooden boards covered with water to reduce the friction, water is violently pushed forward in front of Apis' front hooves : both hooves are pushing the snake's body forward. But water is also projected backwards, creating fabulous plumes of water in the path of the speeding impactor : the flail is these plumes of water, and if it looks "broken", it is only an artistic rendering of the idea of water projected backwards. The flail is exactly like a directional arrow, pointing towards where the water is coming from and in which direction it is projected to.

 

Relief at Wadi Hammamat showing that the flail symbol is all about water. Middle Kingdom Dynasty 11, Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II. Photographed by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/25932728632/in/photostream/

Stone relief at Wadi Hammamat, Dynasty 17 by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/25999304796/in/photostream/

Wooden coffin-shape base of a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. Dedicated to a temple musician named Ihet, it is inscribed with offering prayers and texts glorifying the gods: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/553823

 

23.32  The wooden coffin made to fit Osiris exactly and thrown into the Nile

We've already seen in the Osiris myth (Section 21), that Osiris was the granite stone lodged inside the wooden impactor of the Great Pyramid :

"In the Osiris myth, Osiris was killed by Set by being tricked into a coffin made to fit Osiris exactly. Set then had the coffin with the now deceased Osiris flung into the Nile."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djed

In this excerpt, the mention of the Nile is of course referring to the waters of the inclined well which were indeed waters from the Nile. In some ways, the impactor was thrown into 'the Nile'.

On the above image of a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure at the MET, what is interesting to note is not really the hollowed cavity in which the human figure is normally inserted in, but the area all around this cavity : if there is no hieroglyphic text all around the cavity in a perfect rectangular shape, it is because what really is depicted is the original shape of the Osiris stone cavity

 

23.33  The "sacred chest containing a small golden coffer" in Osiris' worship are replicating the impactor's design

It is mentioned that, in honor of Osiris, "ceremonies were performed inside the temples by priests. Plutarch mentions that […] two days after the beginning of the festival "the priests bring forth a sacred chest containing a small golden coffer". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris

The sacred chest containing a small golden coffin is the representation of the impactor containing the Osiris stone.

 

Bronze seated figure of Imhotep at the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA40666

 

23.34  The boat race and the dual wooden and stone composite design of the impactor

The inspiration of the boat race in the next excerpt is clearly the dual composite design of the impactor, both in wood and in stone. Most probably the stone is made of granite, as this rock is the most valuable and the most shock resistant. 

"… 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." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus

We'll talk later on about these 80 years of 'challenge' in paragraph 23.34

 

23.35  The 'creator of everything' god Ra

I really got confused about Sun god Ra, because of his Solar barque. I knew that this barque, the Solar boat or Solar barge was representing the endless cycle of the impactor's operation inside the Grand Gallery, but I've always wondered who really was Ra representing himself; until I realized that they was no such thing as Ra and his Solar barque: Ra is the barque. Ra is the impactor, the one piece of equipment of the Great Pyramid that pressurized the inclined well and the one piece of equipment that created the evaporative cold, because of the power of the Osiris stone.

In other words, Ra was the primary god who created everything :

"Ra (Re) was the primary name of the sun god of Ancient Egypt. He was often considered to be the King of the Gods and thus the patron of the pharaoh and one of the central gods of the Egyptian pantheon. He was also described as the creator of everything."  https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/ra/

 

Banebdjedet wielding a scepter of the Was-sceptre, Djed, and Ankh. From the Tomb of Mentuherkhepeshef in the Valley of the Kings. Photograph thanks to kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/3331554556/in/photostream/

 

23.36  Osiris as Ram-headed Banebdjedet is the one who is giving life, power and force to Ra

The idea that Osiris (i.e. the granite stone weight), 'merged' with Ra in the Underworld (i.e. who was inserted into Ra, the impactor), and that it is him, Osiris who actually gave all his force and power to Sun god Ra (i.e.his potential energy), is actually perfectly depicted into Banebdjed, the soul of Osiris, or rather his Ba which had been associated with the ram.

And there is the ramming metaphor I've been using all along. The power of Ra comes from the power of Osiris, and it is about the force and the power of a ram : both Ra and Osiris were ramming into the inclined well waters.

 

"Osiris' soul, or rather his Ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god […] This aspect of Osiris was referred to as Banebdjedet. […] As Banebdjed, Osiris was given epithets such as Lord of the Sky and Life of the (sun god) Ra."

"Ba does not mean "soul" in the western sense, and has to do with power, reputation, force of character, especially in the case of a god. Since the ba was associated with power, and also happened to be a word for ram in Egyptian, Banebdjed was depicted as a ram, or as Ram-headed."  Osiris "Ram god": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris

Ram fighting on Wikimedia Commons thanks to Brahim Djelloul Mustapha:  https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ram_fighting

 

Le réveil d'Osiris (the Awakening of Osiris) at the Exposition Osiris, Institut du Monde Arabe, by Denis and Gautier Poupeau

Skeleton infographic by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation: https://www.ibsf.org/en/our-sports/skeleton-info-graphics

 

23.37  The force and power that Osiris is giving to Ra is all about his high-speed 'skeleton position'

If you don't know what really was representing Osiris, there is very little chance that you can understand his 'awakening' face-down and head-first riding position. But if you know that Osiris was a metaphoric glorification of the stone weight that was giving speed and energy to Ra, the impactor that was ramming into the inclined well of the Great Pyramid, then you can understand his very peculiar 'skeleton position' and why he also has rams' horns.

The Osiris granite weight was the one which gave speed and energy to the wooden impactor, but this Osiris stone couldn't have been operated without the wooden impactor : there had to be a 'vessel' for the Osiris stone. The wooden impactor, Ra was this vessel.

 

If Ra is represented into a falcon, it is because of its speed and the way it is hitting its prey at high velocity : "The peregrine falcon is renowned for its speed, reaching up to 320 km/h (200 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop (high-speed dive), making the peregrine falcon the fastest member of the animal kingdom." Ra, as a falcon is all about this high-speed dive and the force of the impact with its prey.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peregrine_falcon

Ra-Horakhty is a combined deity of Horus and Ra, and is usually depicted as a falcon-headed man. Draw by Jeff Dahl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra#/media/File:Re-Horakhty.svg

Photograph of a high-speed diving falcon by Lassannn, on imgur and also at  https://www.facebook.com/wildlifeatrisk/photos/a.442972959170883/1593597324108435/

 

23.38  The high-speed that Osiris is giving to Ra is all about the force of impact ramming

If Ra is represented into a falcon, it is because of its high speed and the way it is hitting its prey at high velocity : "The peregrine falcon is renowned for its speed, reaching up to 320 km/h (200 mph) during its characteristic hunting stoop (high-speed dive), making the peregrine falcon the fastest member of the animal kingdom." 

Ra, as a falcon is all about this high-speed dive and the force of the impact with its prey. The below images are coming from a video where a prairie falcon is hitting a duck at about 90 km/h. On the right image, the falcon is long gone but the duck is already dead : the impact alone killed it.

 

Prairie falcons are famous for their hard-hitting hunting tactics. Here a wild juvenile female finishes off a drake mallard with a high-speed headshot. Analysis of the video tells us she's moving close to 90km/h when she hits the mallard. Prairie falcons frequently employ this hunting method when dealing with field-feeding waterfowl. The duck is heavier and stronger, therefore the ground struggle is minimized when the smaller falcon delivers a knockout punch. Screenshots from a video posted by falcorusticolus77 on YouTube (contains shocking images): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73OvZ_l35Sw

 

23.39  The impactor ramming into the inclined well waters (Nun) to produce pressurized water (Apep)

I've already talked about the distinction that has to be made between the waters of the well before the pressurization and the pressurized waters strictly speaking.

The 'plain still' waters had been glorified into what have been called the primordial waters of Nun, while the pressurized waters had been represented into the Great Serpent Apep (also Apophis).

"At the beginning of time, when there was nothing but chaos, the sun-god existed alone in the watery mass of Nun which filled the universe. "I am Atum when he was alone in Nun, I am Ra when he dawned, when he began to rule that which he had made. This passage talks about how Atum created everything in human form out of the chaos."

Once the well is pressurized, a small amount of that water is ejected into the horizontal cooling passage, and that is Atum : about 200 liters of pressurized water which every 15 minutes or so passes through the fog nozzle to create a fog of microdroplets of liquid water. This very particular form of water had been glorified into goddess Tefnut (Tef, or 'tf', meaning to spit, Section 5).

"He (Ra) created Shu, god of air, and the goddess of moisture, Tefnut." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ra

The above excerpt is by the way, another confirmation that the purpose of the impactor was not limited to produce pressurized water, just like the "awakening" Osiris figure already have suggested it (previous Section 21).

If Ra is the one creating Shu, the god of dry and warm air, it is because the fall of the impactor is taking place inside a fixed wooden caisson that was perfectly extending the inclined well, probably to the top of the Grand Gallery.

 

Khepri, an ancient Egyptian deity often represented with the head of a beetle. Based on New Kingdom tomb paintings and drawn by Jeff Dahl: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khepri

Image of the dung beetle, thanks to Kay-africa

 

23.40  The reattachment of the impactor with the Hauling Beetle "at the twelfth hour"

In the day and night  metaphoric representation of the operating cycle of the impactor, it is interesting to note that at the twelfth hour, Ra is "reborn as the scarab Khepri" : this is the beginning of a new cycle of Hauling and releasing the impactor.

And this is amazing, because not only it is the description of the impactor being retrieved from the waters of the well, but it is also describing its reattachment with the Hauling Beetle.

When I started to call the Hauling gantry, the Hauling "Beetle" it was only because it would have move backwards down the Grand Gallery, like a scarab does when he is pushing his dung ball; but here this is the confirmation that the Scarab amulets are representations of that Hauling gantry.

"The worship of the Egyptian God Ra was at its peak during the New Kingdom. Many of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings (dating from this period) included depictions of Ra’s journey through the underworld over twelve “hours” or stages. In the fifth hour, Ra dies and is reunited with Osiris in the underworld, but in the twelfth hour he is reborn as the scarab (Khepri)."  https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/ra/

 

Egyptian Old Kingdom Dynasties: https://discoveringegypt.com/ancient-egyptian-kings-queens/egyptian-old-kingdom-dynasties/

 

23.41  The 80 years of mythological trials vs. the 78 years of the great pyramids Era (Djoser to Khufu)

One of the most interesting question that would have to be resolved in the future, will be to determine, as much as possible, whose pharaoh was responsible for every step of scientific and technological discoveries which ended up with the masterpiece of engineering that is the Great Pyramid of Giza.

We can assume that it all started with the very first Dynasty, but it is legitimate to say that everything could really have gotten serious with pharaoh Djoser, from the Third Dynasty, and the construction of the first real pyramid, the Step Pyramid.

Djoser would be the pharaoh who started the most ambitious technological research program since the beginning of what we can call the Engineer Pharaohs' Era; and probably what triggered this acceleration in the research could have been the quest for the mastering of the Solvay process for natron manufacturing.

But, the one pharaoh who really massively invested in the program was Sneferu with his 3 pyramids. Most probably, Sneferu is the one who also ended the research phase, and it is logical to imagine that it also was the end of his own reign around 2589 B.C.E.

Djoser's reign and the first pyramid started around 2667 B.C.E and Sneferu's reign ended up around 2589 B.C.E. That would be 78 years of research, that would have most probably been dedicated to the Solvay process alone.

Amazingly, there is a myth about Horus and Set, that is referring to 80 years of conflict, and 80 years of trials : "These contests go on for over 80 years and Ra continues to deny Horus his right to the throne […] In another version of the story, the trial lasts for 80 years until the frustrated gods turn to the wise goddess Neith, mediator of disputes, who rules in favor of Horus."  https://www.worldhistory.org/Horus/

What are the chances that these 80 years of trials are or aren't referring to this 78 years of Egypt history from the beginning of Djoser's reign to the end of Sneferu's? Go figure…

But this would be a formidable confirmation that the Great Pyramid was just the next step : Sneferu finished the research program on the Solvay process, and Khufu would have taken over to put everything together in one single gigantic pyramid where the Solvay chambers would have been finally efficiently cooled down; exactly what couldn't have been achieved in the Red Pyramid (Section 14 and 15).

Of course, if we are interested in the total duration of the Engineer Pharaoh's Era, it would be 534 years from the beginning of Dynasty I, to the end of Khufu's reign (3100 B.C.E. to 2566 B.C.E.).

 

Diagram of the Great Pyramid of Egypt in operation for evaporative cold production, most probably for industrial cooling of Solvay process manufacturing of sodium carbonate (natron) and sodium bicarbonate

 

23.42  Summary of the study: hidden behind the academic vision of the ancient Egyptian religion, a vast number of metaphors are describing some of the most advanced science and technological knowledge of that time : ancient Egyptian gods were nothing else than pharaohs' metaphoric self-glorifications of their theoretical and experimental scientific accomplishments in physics and chemistry.

Pharaohs used the power of Science to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt : they forged an entire religion, based on science to rule their kingdom, and they presented that science as Magic.

The end game of this technological program that probably started on the very first Dynasty, was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid from the pressurized water produced in the inclined well, known today as the ascending passage.

The evaporative cold simply took advantage of the power of water, and was most probably necessary to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate produced by an ammonia-soda Solvay process, as suggested by the very strong ammonia smell and the limestone kiln in the so-called burial chamber of the Red Pyramid. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs (Sections 14, 15 and 16).

The cooling seems to have represented the most difficult part of the process, as suggested by the Step Pyramid's official name : according to scholars, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods". No doubt that a more accurate translation would certainly be "the cooling of the Gods".

It means that ancient Egyptians were the first civilization to master a Solvay-like process for sodium carbonate manufacturing, long before it got reinvented in the 1800's in Europe. The key elements of that process is the temperature control of the chemical reactions (the cooling), and the dome shaped plate necessary for the counterflow chemical reactions to occur in an efficient way. That counterflow reaction plate is what really is the disc of Sabu.

As shown with Akhenaten and Nefertiti, the creation of the evaporative cold was the most sacred accomplishment of all (Section 17), and this is exactly what the Dendera Light is all about : the Dendera Light is the fog of microdroplets of liquid water that evaporates and creates the cold. Talking 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, Section 2).

Everything that had been done in the Great Pyramid of Giza inspired most of the ancient Egyptian religion, and it had been glorified into what we know today as the Underworld.

The Underworld is referring to the chambers and passages of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and in particular to the Grand Gallery where a hauling gantry beetle operated a wooden coffin shaped impactor that had a small nested granite block inside it. The impactor generated endlessly, over and over, maybe every 15 minutes the pressurized water that was then transformed into a fog of microdroplets inside the horizontal cooling passage.

The Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid where the act of hauling was done, is the "Secret Hauling Cavern of the Underworld" described in the Amduat "Book of the Hidden Chamber".

The most important chamber of the Great Pyramid wasn't the King's chamber that only was the main water tank of the pyramid, but the Queen's chamber, the only one on the central axis of the pyramid. Because the Queen's chamber was inaccessible from the rest of the pyramid, it was glorified into the "Hidden Chamber of the Underworld" (Section 11), and because the Queen's chamber was the coolest place in the pyramid (about 5°C / 41°F), and with a constant 100% Humidity rate, this chamber was the one where the biggest amount of very hard salt encrustation had been documented by the first explorers of the pyramid in the 1800's and before it had been removed in 1998 by Zahi Hawass (Section 1). Very hard salt encrustation is the signature of the evaporative cooling process, even nowadays.

The most incredible thing is that pretty much everything I've just said, actually appears in many myths, and they don't even originate from ancient Egypt : the "Churning of the Ocean" Hindu myth that produces the immortal nectar Amrita, the Tibetan Prayer Wheels operated to give small amounts of 'merit' to too lazy Naga snakes, and the entire Norse mythology with Thor's magical hammer endlessly fighting another Great Serpent of the Underworld and producing a mist of cold from a mysterious well that would be opposed to hellishly hot heat waves.

I'm talking a lot about the impactor of the Great Pyramid, but it is nothing compared to the tremendous impact caused by what the ancient Egyptians had accomplished within the 78 years of the Great Pyramids Era, from Djoser to the Great Pyramid: the entire ancient World had been shaken up in their deepest beliefs beyond all comprehension; and we are still talking about it today.

 

Detail of an image from the ARCE (American Research Center in Egypt in partnership with the American University in Cairo Egyptology Department), in the tomb of Rameses III, KV 11: side chamber, right wall. Valley of the Kings, East Valley, West Bank, Luxor. Image #21077 by Matjaz Kacicnik, taken on December 2005 : https://thebanmappingproject.com/index.php/images/21077jpg

 

23.43  Ptah the patron of craftsmen and architects because of the inclined well design

As the representation of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid, the creator god Ptah has been identified with the patron of craftsmen and architects.

The well was the most advanced piece of equipment ever built, in some ways it could be compared to a modern engine cylinder, and the impactor to the piston of that engine. The structural integrity of the well was ensured by the 14 Girdle stones that probably are the biggest blocks of the pyramid, even bigger than the top platform of the Grand Gallery.

But this particular aspect of the engineering of the well was minor : there are only 3 girdles in the upper part of the well; and the impactor certainly didn't go much farther down.

All the other face to face Girdles at the bottom of the well were only there to ensure that the draining of the well wouldn't be jeopardized by the constraints supported by the structure. This part can be compared to modern reinforced concrete : nothing could have been allowed to move even an inch so that the Taweret block could free the drain hole. The Taweret block absolutely needed to slide freely towards the 'Savior' shock absorber granite plug #2.

Please, take just one minute to imagine the whole thing : the Bes block had to break under a precise amount of pressure to let the Taweret block slide with the water… then the tremendous sound when Taweret hits the Savior block… and the sound of all that water gushing out of the well into the Al-Ma'mun cavity.

No wonder Ptah had been identified with the patron of craftsmen and architects and was linked with Imhotep, sometimes himself represented on the Osiris' stone weight.

"Ptah (Ancient Egyptian: pth) is an ancient Egyptian deity, a creator god and patron of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the husband of Sekhmet and the father of Nefertem. He was also regarded as the father of the sage Imhotep."

 

Statue of god Ptah, photographed by kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/26774477850/in/photostream/

"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

 

More on the ancient Egyptian god of Creation Ptah, in previous Sections 21 (Tibetan Prayer Wheels) and Section 22 (Thor and Norse mythology)

 

23.44  Ptah's hollow scepter is the inclined well representation

In the above image and in most of his representations, Ptah is holding a blue and yellow scepter or staff that bears the combined ankh, djed and was symbols.

This blue and yellow 'staff' is actually the representation of the inclined well of the pyramid, and the reason why the ankh, djed and was symbols seem to be nested into that 'staff' is only to indicate that it is hollow : the 'staff' is the inclined well and the dotted blue line is about the movement of water .

The representation of the well held by Ptah is always in a perfect vertical position, but its true nature is shown in the tomb of Ramesses III : it has pretty much the same slope than the Grand Gallery/ascending passage layout.

 

23.45  The design of the fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid of Egypt

First suggestion of the design of the eleven mouth-holes fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid of Egypt, based on the eleven rivers from the well of Élivágar of the Norse mythology.

 

The ancient Egyptian Shabaka Stone which record the 'Memphite Theology' or creation myth, a text perhaps originally composed during the New Kingdom, in which Ptah is responsible for the creation of all things by means of the spoken word. The Shabaka Stone at the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA498

 

23.46  The ancient Egyptian Shabaka stone and the 11 lines

 It really has to be pointed out that when ancient Egyptians used the term "creation", it isn't referring to the creation of the world. "Creation" is about the evaporative cold, created from the primordial waters of Nun, the waters of the well.

It means that creator god Ptah is about this creation of the cold, and that the Shabaka stone is also referring to that creation; if there are 11 lines separated from the central rectangular shape, it also has to refer to that creation.

 

23.47  Norse mythology vs. the operating of the Great Pyramid of Egypt

Everything in Norse mythology is a complete reinterpretation of the operating of the Great Pyramid of Egypt (previous Section 22).

 

23.48  The limits of the fog nozzle with 11 mouth-holes hypothesis

I strongly have to point out that the hypothesis of an eleven mouth-holes fog nozzle is clearly highly questionable, because it is only coming from the Norse Eleven Rivers coming out of the Well of  Hvergelmir that are creating the mist of cold in Niflheim.

Anyway, the idea of flooding entirely the space at the entry of the ascending passage, just below the junction ramp Grand Gallery/Ascending Passage, could be a solid hypothesis, even it would rule out the idea of a central pipe, as represented on the Nefertem emblems at the Louvre Museum.

Nefertum at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551300

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

 

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