The Pyramids of the Cold sur le Blog Wiziboutique

Vertical elevation of the lower (northern) end of the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid of Giza, showing the joint-lines in the Western and Eastern walls, and in particular the continuous expansion joints that are suggesting thermal stress was applied on the structure : that is constraint due to a change in temperature.

 

1.02  The structural anomalies of the first 64 feet of the horizontal passage 

The following excerpt is from  "Great Pyramid Passages Vol 1, 1910 edition" by John and Morton Edgar, paragraph ref. 583, page 293 : https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n301/mode/2up

Paragraph. ref. 583 : "As I indicated in a former letter, the masonry of this Horizontal Passage is very symmetrical. For a length of about 64 feet from the beginning of the roof at the Grand Gallery end, each wall is built in two equal courses. In each of these courses there are 15 stones of one uniform size, namely, 41*4 inches in length, and half the height of the passage in breadth — Plate IX. The vertical joints in the upper course are in line with those in the lower ; and those on the east are in direct opposition to those on the west wall."

 

1.03  The wider and continuous joints filled with resin or tar

The following excerpt is referring to the initial observations made by Dormion, before discovering the fine sand lining behind the blocks of the horizontal passage. Source : https://www.greatpyramidexplanation.com/easyUp/file/10_07_horizontalcorridor.pdf

"One more detail from Dormion: some blocks of this part of the horizontal corridor have a wider gap in between (2-3mm). The external part has been filled by mortar, while the internal part by something black and rubbery, maybe coal tar or vegetal resin. Also the first part of the floor is atypical: the blocks are narrow and often side by side, showing a poor structural rigidity, almost a propensity to warp (dis. G19). These details may show the purpose of the architect."

 

The Dendera Light in the Hathor temple, is a representation of the fog of microdroplets of liquid water, transforming itself in vapor and by doing so, creating the evaporative cold. The Light Bulb shape of the Dendera Light is constrained by the shape of the horizontal passage.

The snake inside the Dendera Light is a representation of water (please read Section 5 on that matter : the waters of the inclined well). More on the Dendera Light in Section 2.

 

The evaporative cooling passage of the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Queen's chamber were discovered with a very hard encrustation of salt, up to one-half inch (1.3 centimeter) thick. That salt is the signature of the evaporative cooling process.

Please read Section 17, about Akhenaten and Nefertiti, for the explanations of the Ankh being the symbol of the evaporative cooling.

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

 

1.04  The horizontal passage was an evaporative cooling conduct

The first clue of the real function of the Great Pyramid of Giza, came from what we call today the horizontal passage. Actually, this passage is really not that horizontal at all. Inside, is a portion that is actually a ramp, a 32 meters long ramp with a 0,3% slope. And that puzzled me, because what the heck right. A ramp here?

And that ramp was not the only weird thing about it. There was, on the first half of the passage, many troubling things :

1/ the blocks were very small, and that is completely uncommon in all the pyramid, because it is the worst thing to do if in a "common structural sense" : you need to get every block resting on top of two different ones to maximize the strength of the structure. In that first part of the passage, every single block is perfectly fitted on top of another one, forming a continuous joint between them.

2/ These joints were not only continuous but also larger, and filled with a strange black filling resembling to resin or tar.

3/ Each side of the passage here, were also perfectly symmetrical to one another.

4/ Behind these blocks, we also discovered there was some sand.

That's a lot of uncommon things, and suddenly, I got it. Because, when you add up the fact that a few feet away you have the grand gallery, and just above of it something that is nothing else than a big water tank, and that is the King's chamber, you have water in mind now.

When I was younger, I used to have an air cooler, the one you just have to put water in it to get fresh air. And that was what this passage was all about. The slope was intended to get water flowing, very slowly, and evaporate itself. Because when the water transforms from liquid to gas, it does cool the air. It is actually called an air adiabatic cooling system. It doesn't cost a thing, and can be very effective when the air at the beginning of the process is very hot, and very dry (and that part is gonna be very important soon).

So know, we understand why we have so many oddities in the first part of the passage. This first half is where most of the cooling was taking place if we make some air coming from the very beginning of the passage. The joints, were expansion joints (large and continuous). The sand was here to absorb any expansion and distortion forces. The blocks were small because less susceptible to crack.

And at the end of the passage, we have a 50 cm step (that's a big step). But in fact that step is nothing else than a basin, for the water.

This water was here to accumulate and store the cold that was produced in this passage. Probably this basin was in fact covered with a wood casing, so it was perfectly waterproof.

This horizontal passage was designed to do 2 things : cool down the water temperature in the basin and let the air coming from the grand gallery, passing through the passage.

Because under the niche of the Queen's chamber was an air vent going to the subterranean complex allowing fresh air and cold water to flow to the complex.

 

Everything in the first part of the horizontal passage of the Great Pyramid is designed to reduce the stresses on the superstructure induced by multiple temperature variation cycles. It is difficult to say how long was the cycle, but let's say it was about 15 to 20 minutes. It means that during all this time, the first part of the passage had plenty of time to warm up back to the temperature of the grand gallery. And every 15 to 20 minutes, it was cooled down again. The problem is not the cooling down, but the endless cycle of cooling down and warming up again. That is what stresses the structure.

 

The Queen's chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Right image courtesy of University of California at Riverside, California Museum of Photography, Keystone-Mast Collection : http://www.oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt1h4nd3jb/?order=2&brand=oac4

 

1.05  The up to one-half inch thick salt incrustation in the Queen's chamber + horizontal passage

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.

There is no salt encrustation documented anywhere else, and 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

 

1.06  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

 

1.07  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.

 

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

 

1.08  The sarcophagus was a biosand filter for water softening

I first thought that the sarcophagus found in the King's chamber was a biosand filter for production of drinking water for the crewmembers of the Hauling Beetle, but I have to admit it was a little… romantic, I would say.

Nowadays, evaporative cooling is an extraordinary process, but like every process it has some disadvantages, and the most problematic is surely limescale : salt encrustation.

4500 years ago, ancient Egyptians had to deal with that same problem, and they did exactly what we do today : they softened the water coming from the King's chamber, and they used sand filtration.

The most amazing thing is that everybody knows the sand filter that was used inside the Great Pyramid to soften the water : it is the sarcophagus (more on the sarcophagus in Section 18).

 

1.09  What is a Biosand Filter?

A biosand filter (BSF) is an adaptation of the traditional slow sand filter, which has been used for community drinking water treatment for 200 years. The biosand filter is smaller (about 1 m tall, 0.3 m wide on each side) and adapted so that it does not flow continuously, making it suitable for use in people’s homes. The filter container can be made of concrete or plastic. It is filled with layers of specially selected and prepared sand and gravel. The sand removes pathogens and suspended solids from contaminated drinking water. A biological community of bacteria and other micro-organisms grows in the top 2 cm of sand. This is called the biolayer. The micro-organisms in the biolayer eat many of the pathogens in the water, improving the water treatment.

Pathogens: micro-organisms in water that make us sick
Suspended Solids: dirt and other small pieces in the water (may also be called “turbidity”)

Source : https://www.cawst.org/services/expertise/biosand-filter/more-information

 

"Modeling Improved Performance of Reduced-Height Biosand Water Filter Designs" by James A. Phillips and Samuel J. Smidt, and published on MDPI : https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/12/5/1337

 

1.10  Sand filter is the softening primary step N°1 for evaporative cooling systems

"How to fix hard water is a major question of water treatment or water purification process.  Water hardness test is a process of removing undesirable chemicals, materials and biological contaminants such as suspended particles, dissolved particles, iron content, bacteria etc. from contaminated water."...

And : "Sand filter is the primary step of WTP Water Treatment Process for collecting pure water system from water hardness. Sand filter remove water substance from water. Sand filter remove iron from hard water and it is used for water purification. This is very old technique so at present it is not developing broadly."  

Source : https://autogarment.com/wtp-remove-water-hardness-from-hard-water/

 

Also : "Effective water treatment works to control scale, corrosion, and microbiological growth within an evaporative cooling system. It also helps to ensure heat transfer efficiency and extend the service life of the equipment."

"When an evaporative cooling system rejects heat to the atmosphere, only pure water is evaporated. As this occurs, the dissolved ions—naturally occurring in the makeup water source—are left behind. Without proper water treatment, the dissolved ion concentration increases as evaporation continues and, at some point, will reach saturation of the ions, which can lead to scale. The most common form of scale is calcium carbonate. Preventing scale via water treatment impacts the efficiency of heat transfer, thereby reducing energy consumption of the entire system."

"Microbiological growth in evaporative systems can lead to accelerated corrosion rates, heat transfer deficiencies due to biofilm, as well as human health related concerns. There are a variety of reasons why one system may experience higher biological activity than another. Tower location, nearby construction or farming operations, the makeup water source, and more can all lead to an increased level of bacteria in the water."

Excerpt from the website of EVAPCO, Westminster, Maryland, United States : https://www.evapco.com/faq/answer/water-treatment-evaporative-cooling-system

 

The sarcophagus of the Great Pyramid of Giza was set in what is today a storage and electrical room that has a direct access to the King's chamber. For more on the sarcophagus, please read Section 18.

 

The junction of the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid of Giza with the inclined well and the horizontal evaporative cooling passage.

On the above image of the Great Pyramid Grand Gallery lower end, the opposite 5 pairs of holes in which the junction wooden ramp would have been set onto massive wooden beams are clearly visible, as well as the markings made by the ramp itself (Rm). On this picture though, the junction imprint (Ji) in the middle of the cut-off isn't visible.

 

1.11  The junction Grand Gallery / inclined well / horizontal cooling passage of the Great Pyramid

On the first above image, what is amazing to notice is that the modern layout that have been designed for the tourists to walk on the lateral ramps, is actually exactly reproducing the original design made by the ancient Egyptian themselves so they could operate the 2 hauling beetles.

It is true for the "modern walking trail" on the floor, and it is also most probably true for the safety rails. If you look closely at these rails, they perfectly fit with the height of the ascending passage ceiling.

On this particular image, it is then pretty easy to imagine the (most probable) fixed caisson in which the impactor was moving : just imagine that the safety rails are completely wooden boards covered both on the sides and on top of them, and you have the fixed wooden caisson.

 

The junction of the ascending passage of the Great Pyramid of Giza, with the horizontal passageway, showing the little imprint on the cut off and the holes in the walls. The holes allowed a wooden ramp set on massive wooden beams, to connect the central gutter of the Grand Gallery to the ascending passage. 

The only image of the Junction imprint that I was lucky to find, is from John and Morton Edgar in "Great Pyramid Passages Vol 1, 1910 edition", plate CXLIX, page 274 : https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n283/mode/2up

 

1.12  The junction wooden ramp : structural continuity but with water (and probably also air) exchanges towards the cooling passage

The junction wooden ramp would have ensure the structural continuity between the Grand Gallery and the inclined well, while the junction imprint would have allow the pressurized water to get out of the well.

The wooden ramp would have been supported by massive beams set in the 5 pairs of very impressive opposite holes in the walls of the junction area.

If the fixed caisson really existed, when the impactor would have moved inside, air would have been pushed in front of it and would have been redirected to the cooling passage to renew the air and get rid of the humidity without being forced into the well itself. Humidity is the evaporated water that resulted from the evaporative cooling process.

The ramp couldn't be in solid rock because they had to bring in all the equipment of the Queen's chamber and the fog nozzle, and because they needed to get it out after the shutdown procedure; but also because they most probably had to regularly get in the horizontal passage to check, clean and repair these same equipments.

 

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

 

1.13  The Zero Energy cool chamber sand of the horizontal passage of the Great Pyramid of Khufu

The idea that the horizontal passage of the Great Pyramid was designed as a part of a cooling unit, is reinforced by the fact that fine sand was found behind some blocks of the passage.

If my theory is right, then that same sand would have been probably set all around the entire structure [horizontal passage + Queen's chamber] ; exactly like it is shown on the above photographs of the construction of Zero Energy Cool Chambers, in India.

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

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

 

1.14  The Dormion and Goidin discovery on the fine sand lining of the horizontal passage of the Great Pyramid

Excerpt from the Los Angeles Times article "Scientists Seeking Hidden Vaults in Great Pyramid Find Only Sand", written by Michael Ross, September 1986 : https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-09-09-mn-12810-story.html

 

"A team of French scientists searching for hidden, treasure-filled rooms in the Great Pyramid of Cheops suspended work Monday after drilling three holes through an interior wall and finding only sand. But the French team and the head of the Egyptian organization supervising the work said they believe that the presence of a powder-fine lining of sand between the interior stones of the Great Pyramid supports their theory that secret chambers lie deep within the 4,600-year-old tomb of the Pharaoh Cheops.

“The sand means the ancient Egyptians are protecting something, something very serious and meaningful,” said Ahmed Kadry, head of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization. He said that although the French team failed to find and penetrate the cavities, samples taken from the wall beyond the sand lining indicate that it is made of a fine, soft limestone used by the ancient Egyptians for ornamental carvings on royal tombs.

“We can be sure now that there are cavities, and not just structural or stress cavities but something much more mysterious,” he said.

The French mission, headed by Gilles Dormion and Jean-Patrice Goidin, two architects who postulated the existence of secret rooms in the Great Pyramid on the basis of architectural anomalies in the interior stonework, had hoped to bore four holes through the wall of a gallery leading to the so-called Queen’s chamber. The plan then was to observe and photograph the interior with an endoscope, an optical instrument developed for viewing the interior of human organs.

However, the work was suspended after five days when, after boring three holes through more than eight feet of hard limestone, the drills hit the fine sand lining. Jacques Montlucon, an engineer with the French National Electric Company, which is providing technical expertise for the project, said the work was suspended because the drills being used are not suitable to bore through sand.

The existence of hidden chambers in the Great Pyramid has long been suspected, but there was never any real evidence until last May, when the French found what they said appeared to be three spaces, measuring 6 feet by 9 feet, off of the Queen’s gallery. The discovery, which the French said could indicate the presence of hidden storerooms, created a flurry of excitement among Egyptologists, who for the most part have assumed that all the treasures of Cheops were plundered long ago.

Not all the experts share Kadry’s conviction that there are secret chambers, but discovery of a sand lining about 10 to 17 inches thick between the great stones is regarded as a puzzling and exciting find in itself."

 

The Carrier diagram, or "Carrier psychometric chart", is used for determining the temperature and humidity properties of a constant pressure air-water mixture. Thanks to Arthur Ogawa : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Psychrometric_chart.png and posted on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychrometrics

 

1.15  The Carrier psychometric chart

The dryer the air is at the beginning of the cooling process, the greater amount of water it would be able to take, and the colder it is gonna get. For example, if you have an air at 0% humidity and you know you can get to 100% humidity, then the temperature can be cooled down from 20°C  to 6.5°C (68°F to 43.7°F).

Of course, this is only true for an adiabatic cooling, at atmospheric pressure. The fact is that the evaporative cooling is pressure dependant : if the fall of the impactor was also used to push air into the horizontal passage, then the pressure would have increased and the evaporative cooling would have get more efficient.

In my opinion, in regards of all the structural particularities of the horizontal passage and the massive anti-thermal shock layout, this is what they did, and I suspect they were able to cool down the Queen's chamber at about 5°C (41°F), whatever the ambient air temperature was.

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

Nefertem amulets showing the Khepesh (right hand and shoulder). From left to right © British Museum EA64480, Le Louvre E 10665 and Le Louvre ME 299 (Nefertum emblem)

 

Nefertem is the glorifying representation of the hardware that was installed inside the horizontal cooling passage : the fog nozzle + the supply pipe + the fittings and their spanner wrenches

1.17  Nefertem 1 • The "close or not close" reference

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

And that echoes to the Nefertem description :

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

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

 

1.18  Nefertem 2 • The "who had arisen from the primal waters" reference

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

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

 

The Khepesh Scimitars of the Nefertem amulets were spanner wrenches for pipe connecting fittings.

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

 

1.19  The Khepesh Scimitars of the Nefertem amulets were spanner wrenches for pipe connecting fittings

According to scholars, ancient Egyptian God Nefertem (also Nefertum, or Nefertemu) was the god of the lotus blossom who emerged from the primeval waters at the beginning of time. That would explains the huge lotus blossom that Nefertem amulets displayed on their heads.

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

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

 

1.20  Ancient Egyptians were using spanner wrenches

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

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

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

 

On certain representations of Nefertem, like E 10665 from the Louvre Museum (photograph above), we can also see on top of the Khepesh, a circular form in direct contact with the tool (though apparently not to scale). Could that round form be the copper fittings ?

 

1.21  The higher position of the tooth could indicate that the hook system was different from modern screw fittings

We can see on the ancient Egyptian Khepeshes that the tooth is placed higher in relation to the handle axis than on the modern spanner wrenches and it could mean that the hook system was different : on the modern tool, the tooth is designed to hook to an external piece of the screw fitting, but it is possible that on the ancient Khepeshes, there were sockets carved inside the fittings instead or that it wasn't at all screw fittings.

 

 

What is remarkable with these Khepeshes, is that they can probably indicate what was the pipe diameter they were designed for, and we can find out if different diameters were used or not. We also know they were probably using screw-type fittings.

 

1.22  Nefertem is the personification of the horizontal passage fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid

To be convinced of this, please note that on these pictures above of 2 different Khepeshes, one is engraved with the lotus flower, while a snake appears on the other one, showing the 6 teeth / needles.

Both elements, the circular shape of the snake and the lotus flower, are representing the same thing : the fog nozzle.

 

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

 

1.23  The representations of quick-release clamping rings 

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

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

These clamp rings were quick-release clamps

 

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

 

1.24  The representations of permanent clamping rings

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

 

Diagram of the Great Pyramid of Giza in operation.

 

Very quick abstract of the study

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs used chemistry and physics to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt, and they forged an entire religion for that matter : gods were self-glorification metaphors of their scientific accomplishments. The end game of this technological program was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid, using the power of water, most probably as suggested by the strong ammonia smell in the Red Pyramid, to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs.

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, and that plate is precisely what is the disc of Sabu.

If mastering the Solvay-process was important, it actually looks like the cold was the most magical phenomenon worshiped by ancient Egyptians, as suggested by Akhenaten and Nefertiti who represented themselves as Shu and Tefnut, the deities that combined together were creating the evaporative cold (Shu = dry warm air, and Tefnut = spat water).

Also, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods".

 

© 2022 Copyright milleetunetasses.com. All rights reserved.

The evaporative cooling passage of the Great Pyramid of Giza

 

2.02  The ancient Egyptian Dendera Light "protective magical energy in liquid form" is the evaporative cooling fog

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 double outline of the characters holding the Dendera Light because they are cold and they are having goose bumps.

 

2.03  The double outline of the characters holding the Dendera Light bulb and having goose bumps

This "double outline" isn't discussed at all by anybody, though it is the most important element of the Dendera reliefs. The fog is made of microdroplets of liquid water and it would evaporate itself, taking the necessary energy from the air. The result is the cooling down of the air. The character is offering cold, and he is cold himself.

The "double outline" of the offering fog character of the Dendera Light reliefs, shows the goose bumps. He was cold himself.

Actually, everything depends on the capacity of the air to absorb humidity. The example shown on the Carrier Diagram below, tells us that it was probably very easy to cool down the air next to 10°C, if the air started at a 10% humidity rate, and got to 90% at the end of the process.

But, I think they could cool down the air a lot more than that. Because at the entry of the pyramid, was certainly installed a liquid dehumidifier, working with a salt brine solution. The air at the beginning of the cooling process was probably close to 5% humidity or lower ; and the air inside the horizontal passage probably closer to 100%.

In my opinion, in regards to the extensive efforts to minimize the thermal stress on the first part of the horizontal passage, and the first part only, particularly the sand added behind the blocks and the large expansion joints, I wouldn't be surprised they got close to 5°C in the Queen's chamber (41°F).

 

2.04  The "Power of Water" and the "Bristling Hair" reference in the Book of the Dead of Ani

That double outline of the Dendera relief character, being a representation of the goose bumps that results of cold temperatures induced by the association of air and water, is actually present in the Egyptian Book of the Dead of Ani.

The following excerpt comes from the papyrus of Ani, Egyptian Book of the Dead (240 BCE), translated by E.A. Wallis Budge (last third of the page) : http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/egyptian/bookodead/book5.htm

 

"The Chapter Of Breathing The Air And Of Having Power Over Water in Khert-Neter."

"The Osiris Ani saith: Open to me! Who art thou? Whither goest thou? What is thy name? I am one of you. Who are these with you? The two Merti goddesses (Isis and Nephthys). Thou separatest head from head when [he] entereth the divine Mesqen chamber. He causeth me to set out for the temple of the gods Kem-heru. "Assembler of souls" is the name of my ferry-boat. "Those who make the hair to bristle" is the name of the oars. "Sert" ("Goad") is the name of the hold. "Steering straight in the middle" is the name of the rudder; likewise, [the boat] is a type of my being borne onward in the lake. Let there be given unto me vessels of milk, and cakes, and loaves of bread, and cups of drink, and flesh, in the Temple of Anpu."

 

The Dendera Light is "produced" by the sprayed venom of a spitting snake.

Dendera Light relief drawing on the left : please notice that what seems to be important here isn't the snake, but the spat venom of the snake. Also, you can see that the characters holding the snake are showing a double outline, the same way that the character holding (or offering) the Dendera Light does, on the right part of the drawing. The Dendera Light is produced by the snake, or as explained : by the venom of the snake. This particular relief is describing how was produced the microdroplets fog of sprayed water. Dendera Light drawing from the New York Public Library (Digital Collections). Author : Auguste Mariette, 1821-1881

 

2.05  The venom spray of a spitting snake : the fog of microdroplets of pressurized liquid water

In my theory, the ascending passage of the Great Pyramid, is flooded and the fall of an impactor (wooden cradle float + granite block), pressurizes the ascending passage (the inclined well) and so generates high-pressurized water that is sprayed inside the horizontal passage into a microdroplets fog, that instantly vaporizes itself and by doing so, cool down the air temperature. This is an adiabatic cooling process, that can cool down the air very effectively, with a 15 to 20°C drop.

That fog of liquid water microdroplets, is the Dendera Light.

 

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

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

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

 

On these Dendera Light Bulbs reliefs, it is worth noting that the entire shape of the micro-droplets cooling fog entirely fits in a space that has the exact height of the passage where the process starts on the drawing it is on.  Dendera Light drawing from the New York Public Library (Digital Collections). Author : Auguste Mariette, 1821-1881

 

2.06  The height of the Dendera Light Bulbs

On the left drawing, 1 and 1' have the same height. On the right drawing, 2 and 2' have the same height as well. And same thing on the drawing above, with the venom coming out of the snake : the height of the starting passage equals the maximum height of the fog.

The fog of microdroplets was limited by the height of the passage.

It is still unclear to me if that means that 1 and 2, strictly represent the horizontal passage of the Great Pyramid, where the cooling fog was created, or if it also includes the inclined well (the ascending passage) from where the pressurized water was coming from.

 

The evaporative cold is powered on the fact that when liquid water is in presence of warm and dry air, it is transforming itself naturally into evaporated water by taking the energy into the air. The air ends up with less energy : it cools down. The dryer is the air at the beginning of the process, the more water it will be able to accept : the air is progressively charging himself in humidity along the process.

If the air starts at 10% humidity and will not be able to go farther than a 90% humidity rate at the end of the process, then starting at 25°C it will cool down to 11.5°C (diagram below).

But in the pyramid, the temperature is a steady 20°C and in my opinion would have start the process at close to 0% humidity to end up at 100% humidity.

Starting at 20°C it would have end up at 6.5°C if the process was adiabatic (atmospheric pressure), but if the air pushed by the impactor also pressurized the horizontal cooling passage, it would have been more efficient.

I personally think they could have cool down the Queen's chamber around 5°C (41°F).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychrometrics#/media/File:PsychrometricChart.SeaLevel.SI.svg

 

The Dendera Light Bulbs were producing cold and the adiabatic Carrier diagram can help us to evaluate how effective and efficient the cooling process was.

 

2.07  The character with the 2 knives

The Carrier diagram above, shows us that they probably didn't have any trouble getting to a 10°C inside the Queen's chamber (50°F) ; but like I said I wouldn't be surprised they could get to 5°C (41°F).

That minimum temperature is actually very important, because it could tell us precisely what process was used to make the sodium carbonate. It could have been the Solvay process, or the Hou process, which is a variant more effective.

For what I know, but I'm not a chemist, the cold could have been used for 2 major reasons : cool down the ammoniated tower where the brine (around 50% salt solution) was saturated with the ammonia NH3 and the carbonation tower where the ammoniated brine got saturated with CO2 coming from the kiln.

The character with 2 knives and a frog face, could maybe point to the good direction, because in the Hou process, a 10°C temperature is enough to cool down the carbonation tower and the ammonium chloride precipitate into the sodium chloride solution (the brine).

The precipitation of the ammonium chloride from the sodium chloride solution, results in a separation of the 2 components. And in my opinion, the separation of these 2 components is exactly what the 2 knives mean.

The knives are not here to protect anybody or anything, they don't even really mean cut.

The knives mean separate. There are 2 knives because 2 components needed to be separated.

 

2.08  The frog face of the character with the 2 knives

This is maybe a little far-fetched, but this frog face could also perfectly fit in the theory. Because, the precipitation of the ammonium chloride in the brine, is the separation of a solid component from a liquid phase.

And that is precisely what a frog do when passing from a tadpole living in the water, to an adult frog living in the air.

The frog face means separate from a liquid phase.

 

 

2.09  The Lotus Flower of Nefertem real meaning : the fog nozzle

Because the Dendera Light bulb is originating from the Lotus Flower, we know that the Lotus flower was another representation of the fog nozzle : most probably the metaphor about this Lotus Flower is about the very particular structure of its seed head that looks like a perfect shower head, and its roots that are showing many tubes, a perfect metaphor of the water supply pipe of the nozzle.

 

2.10  The shower head like lotus seed head

These images of sacred lotus are probably more than I did before explaining the reason why the lotus, or "sacred lotus" has been chosen by ancient Egyptians as a metaphoric representation of the fog nozzle of the Great Pyramid.

Not only the lotus seed head looks like a perfect shower head, but the inside of the lotus root is also showing many tubes. Most probably this is purely metaphoric, and the real fog nozzle was like I've already suggested before, very close to the design of a modern firefighter fog nozzle, with many "teeth" that would have been represented into the petals of the lotus flower.

Left image : Nelumbo nucifera seed head. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Nelumbo_nucifera

Right image : lotus root internal structure. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera#/media/Fichier:Lotus_root.jpg

 

Ancient Egyptian representation of a basic fundamental principle of physics and its application for the production of evaporative cooling in the Great Pyramid of Giza.

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

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

More on Nut, please read Section 3.

 

2.11  Nefertem : the mediator in which Atum is passing through

Excerpt from Michael J. Masley : "Meeks points out that the relationship between the sun and the lotus-Nefertem is well attested in the Pyramid Texts but the birth of the sun-god in the lotus blossom is known only after the Amarna period. Pyramid Texts Spell 249 (Pyr. § 266a): xa (wnjs)| m nfr-tm m zSSn r Srt ra “Unis will appear as Nefertem, as the lotus at the sun-god’s nose” corresponds to the image of the Egyptian deities giving life (anx) to the nose of the king and thus the life-force of the creator god Atum is transmitted to the sun-god Re through Nefertem. As such, Nefertem is a mediator that connects the two great gods."

 

The ancient Egyptian god Horus, holding the fog nozzle of the evaporative cooling passage of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Horus images : E3752 from the Louvre Museum and figurine of Horus DUT162 also from the Louvre Museum ; Paris, France, Hauteur : 9 cm ; Largeur : 2,7 cm ; Profondeur : 6 cm. Date de création/fabrication : Basse Epoque (664 - 332 BCE).

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

Hypothetical influence of Imhotep on pharaohs Djoser (Dynasty 3) and Sneferu (Dynasty 4) that could explain the fact he was represented with the wooden cradle float and/or the granite block weight.

 

2.14  Imhotep's "Refreshment of the Gods" Pyramid : the solution was here from the very beginning

Imhotep biggest influence was not in the medicine field, but in architecture. He is the one who built the first true pyramid in ancient Egypt, made of stone blocks and not dried mud bricks : the Djoser's Step Pyramid. Interestingly, this unprecedented step pyramid was called "The Refreshment of the Gods" ; and that obviously echoes the evaporative cooling process used in the Great Pyramid.

My conviction is that the term "refreshment" is not fully accurate: Imhotep's first pyramid was certainly not the "refreshment pyramid", but "the Pyramid of the cold".

 

Ancient Egyptians didn't master an ammonia Solvay-like process overnight : it had to be a long experimental journey, over many generations (the Disc of Sabu is dated from the First Dynasty, 3100 BCE to 3000 BCE ; and the Djed Pillars from even before that). Most probably, their biggest challenge from the beginning was cooling down the reaction chambers.

It is certainly not by accident that Imhotep not only was the first one to build structures out of limestone blocks, but also the first one to add columns to their design. Columns echoes to the Solvay towers but also to modern cooling towers (read the post about Sneferu's Red and Bent Pyramids for more on the subject).

 

2.15  Was Imhotep the real mastermind behind Sneferu's and Khufu's pyramids?

From Wikipedia : "Very little is known of Imhotep as an historical figure, but in the 3,000 years following his death, he was gradually glorified and deified. It appears that this libation to Imhotep was done regularly, as they are attested on papyri associated with statues of Imhotep until the Late Period (c. 664–332 BCE). Wildung (1977) explains the origin of this cult as a slow evolution of intellectuals' memory of Imhotep, from his death onward". 

 

When Djoser died, Imhotep is thought to have gone on to serve his successors, Sekhemkhet (c. 2650 BCE), Khaba (c. 2640 BCE), and Huni, possibly Sneferu's father (c. 2630-2613 BCE). Scholars disagree on whether Imhotep served all four kings of the Third Dynasty but evidence suggests he lived a long life and was much sought after for his talents.

Maybe his ideas have been burrowed by his successor during the Fourth Dynasty, but most probably, in my opinion, he might as well also served Sneferu himself.

 

Ancient Egyptian stone relief showing chemistry equipment (unknown location).

In most of the Dendera Light reliefs, also appear arms and Djed pillars. They are not mythological symbols. On that picture, we can see what is the real secret of the ancient Egyptians : chemistry. We can also see that the Djed pillars and the temples were both part of it. The magical part of the temples came from the chemistry craft.

 

2.16  The arms represent the Queen's chamber shafts for the cold transfer

Once the cold is produced inside the horizontal passage of the great pyramid, and stored inside the Queen's chamber, the sodium carbonate Solvay towers had to be cooled down. In my theory, the pyramid wasn't finished when operating : it had a flat roof at the Lady Arbuthnot level. The natron production site was situated at that level, and the towers probably cooled down by pumping water or directly a saline solution into the Queen's chamber where the copper serpentine cold exchanger was set.

The arms of the Dendera reliefs are the Queen's chamber shafts, and the Solvay towers are the Djed pillars.

 

Diagram of the Great Pyramid of Giza in operation.

 

Very quick abstract of the study

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs used chemistry and physics to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt, and they forged an entire religion for that matter : gods were self-glorification metaphors of their scientific accomplishments. The end game of this technological program was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid, using the power of water, most probably as suggested by the strong ammonia smell in the Red Pyramid, to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs.

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, and that plate is precisely what is the disc of Sabu.

If mastering the Solvay-process was important, it actually looks like the cold was the most magical phenomenon worshiped by ancient Egyptians, as suggested by Akhenaten and Nefertiti who represented themselves as Shu and Tefnut, the deities that combined together were creating the evaporative cold (Shu = dry warm air, and Tefnut = spat water).

Also, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods".

 

© 2022 Copyright milleetunetasses.com. All rights reserved.

Papyrus mythologique de Tanytamon, Egyptien 172. Bibliothèque nationale de France, département des manuscrits (color and luminosity modified on gimp) : https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8304598h

 

3.02  Shu is not separating Geb from Nut, Shu is holding Nut in the air : Shu is absorbing moisture and accumulating humidity

In my opinion, that scene of Geb and Nut separated from each other by Shu is actually representing the cycle of water between its liquid form and its evaporated form.

Nut is getting out of the water (her lower body) and then comes back in with her upper body.

 

3.03  So why Nut is described as the goddess of the sky and Geb as the god of the earth ?

We've just seen that Nut and Geb were both representing water, but in two different forms : liquid water (Geb) and evaporated water (Nut). Once you take the water out of the equation, the only elements remaining is the earth (where the liquid water is) and the sky (where humidity and moisture are).

This is why today, egyptologists say that Geb is the god of the earth and Nut the goddess of the sky.

They are just missing the water.

 

Scene showing Geb (back swimming into liquid water), Nut (represented diving into the water), and Shu in the center, "holding" goddess Nut : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Geb_and_Nut03.png.

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

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

 

3.04  Why nobody is describing the relation of Nut with water despite her water-pot emblem and the name similarity with Tefnut ?

I think the reason is that nobody really wants to talk about the water. It is that simple. But if you do that, not only you can't understand the Dendera Light, but you can't understand "god of the earth" Geb either.

For egyptologists, water doesn't deserve to be studied for anything else but agriculture, even though the expression "the power of water" appears in many occasions in the Book of the Dead, as well as the one we've just seen : "the protective magical energy in liquid form" about the Dendera Light.

If you don't think about water in the famous Geb and Nut paintings where Shu is represented "separating" them both, you can't understand their respective postures.

 

If you do think about water you understand that :

1 • Geb is swimming : Geb is a representation of liquid water (on earth) = god of the water on earth

2 • Nut is diving into the water from the air : Nut is a representation of humidity / moisture = goddess of water in the sky

3 • Shu (god of dry warm air and fog) is the one receiving / holding / sustaining / supporting that humidity and he is the one separating them both

 

In short, the Geb and Nut scene is all about the evaporative process that is the motor of the evaporative cooling.

 

Ancient Egyptian representation of a basic fundamental principle of physics and its application for the production of evaporative cooling in the Great Pyramid of Giza.

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

3.08  The water cycle of the evaporative cooling

Not only ancient Egyptians represented the creation of the evaporative cooling in the famous Dendera Light reliefs in the Hathor temple, but they also represented the theoretical part of the process in the famous scene showing Geb, Nut and Shu.

This scene is reproducing the water cycle from its liquid form (GEB) to its evaporated form (NUT) that is sustained by the dry warm air (SHU).

 

3.09  No one ever questioned the fact that Nut, the "goddess of the sky" had a water-pot emblem ?

According to Wikipedia's page on Tefnut, 'tfn' means 'to spit : "Literally translating as "That Water",[2] the name Tefnut has been linked to the verb 'tfn' meaning 'to spit'[3] and versions of the creation myth say that Ra (or Atum) spat her out and her name was written as a mouth spitting in late texts [4]". Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tefnut

But according to https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tfn, 'tfn' means orphan : "Conventional anglicization: tefen. orphan".

The correct translation for 'to spit' would be 'tf' and not 'tfn' : "Etymology 2 : (intransitive) to spit (+ m: to spit (something) out) [Pyramid Texts, rarely later]". https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tf

 

3.10  Tefnut = 'to spit' + Nut. It means that Nut is referring to water

If Wiktionary is right over Wikipedia, that means that Tefnut, 'tfnwt' is 'tf' + 'nwt' = to spit + 'nwt'

If Tefnut means "that water" and is referring to spat water, then Nut 'nwt' is referring to water itself. Hence the water-pot emblem of goddess Nut.

 

3.11  The theoretical evaporative process of the cold production

What is remarkable with the Geb and Nut scene, is that it is a representation of the evaporative process that is producing the cold inside the Great Pyramid.

We've already seen in the first post about the Dendera Light (June 5th 2021), that ancient Egyptians loved to show and explain what they were doing, in their own way of course : they've represented a snake spitting out its venom on one side of a relief, and just next to it, they've represented the Dendera Light with the same snake inside the bulb, and by doing so they were saying that the Dendera Light was created by the venom of the snake, as a metaphor of the spat water getting out of the fog nozzle, under pressure and in the form of microdroplets.

 

3.12  The sociological modern drama interpretation of Geb and Nut

"There is speculation between Shu and Geb and who was the first god-king of Egypt. The story of how Shu, Geb, and Nut were separated in order to create the cosmos is now being interpreted in more human terms; exposing the hostility and sexual jealousy. Between the father-son jealousy and Shu rebelling against the divine order, Geb challenges Shu's leadership. Geb takes Shu's wife, Tefnut, as his chief queen, separating Shu from his sister-wife. Just as Shu had previously done to him." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_(goddess)

 

3.13  God of magic Heka's role was "to proclaim the pharaoh's enthronement"

The idea that pharaohs used scientific knowledge to legitimate their position as Kings of Egypt, is exactly what is said about the ancient Egyptian god of Magic, Heka (ḥk3w).

"The Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts depict ḥk3w as a supernatural energy that the gods possess. The "cannibal pharaoh" must devour other gods to gain this magical power. Eventually, Heka was elevated to a deity in his own right, and a cult devoted to him developed. By the time of the Coffin Texts, Heka is said to have been created at the beginning of time by the creator Atum. Later Heka is depicted as part of the tableau of the divine solar barge as a protector of Osiris capable of blinding crocodiles. Then, during the Ptolemaic dynasty, Heka's role was to proclaim the pharaoh's enthronement as a son of Isis, holding him in his arms."

Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heka_(god)

Of course, you'll have noted that Heka is holding snakes : Heka's magic was coming from snakes, meaning that magic was coming from water. Snakes = water.

Remember, Atum is the representation of the small amount of pressurized water coming from the inclined well. Atum is liquid water ready to be transformed into vapor and this is this transformation that is creating the evaporative cold.

When it is said that "Heka existed before duality had yet come into being", the duality is about water. Duality is about liquid water and evaporated water that are engaged into the water cycle depicted into the famous Geb, Shu and Nut scene.

 

Amun as Amun-Min drawing : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Min_(god)

Stone reliefs at Wadi Hammamat, Dynasty 11, Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II. Photographed by Kairoinfo4U and posted on flickr : https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/25932728632/in/photostream/

 

On the two stone reliefs on the right, Amun as Amun-Min, is clearly referring to water getting out of some kind of tube. These kind of reliefs are exceptional, because they also were clearly made by some kind of "street artist" who took the liberty to show something that is appearing in no other "official" relief I know of. These "unofficial" and probably "forbidden" reliefs are showing the true nature of Amun : he was referring to water droplets, because of the dotted line.

 

3.14  Amun is the personification of the fog of microdroplets evaporating and creating the cold

Amun, being the fog of liquid microdroplets that was created by the fog nozzle of the horizontal cooling passage, to evaporate and create the cold, is explaining of Amun's epithets : "Great Honker/Great Shrieker" .

"Amun’s many epithets included : Great Honker/Great Shrieker (An allusion to his mythological role as the goose whose cry created the universe)." https://mythopedia.com/topics/amun

This reference to the sound that would have created the pressurized water passing through the fog nozzle, isn't the first one we've seen about the functioning of the nozzle, and that was personified into god Nefertem (Section 1.17) :

• The Nefertem "close or not close" reference. 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

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

 

Wadi Hammamat: Dynasty 11, Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II. Photographed by Kairoinfo4U and posted on flickr : https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/25932728632/in/photostream/

 

Heka figurine E4875 from the Louvre Museum : https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010011666

Unmanned RB 6 fog nozzle monitor for firefighting and cooling from Rosenbauer International AG, Leonding, Austria.

 

"Heka is said to have been created at the beginning of time by the creator Atum."

Diagram of the Great Pyramid of Giza in operation.

 

Very quick abstract of the study

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs used chemistry and physics to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt, and they forged an entire religion for that matter : gods were self-glorification metaphors of their scientific accomplishments. The end game of this technological program was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid, using the power of water, most probably as suggested by the strong ammonia smell in the Red Pyramid, to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs.

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, and that plate is precisely what is the disc of Sabu.

If mastering the Solvay-process was important, it actually looks like the cold was the most magical phenomenon worshiped by ancient Egyptians, as suggested by Akhenaten and Nefertiti who represented themselves as Shu and Tefnut, the deities that combined together were creating the evaporative cold (Shu = dry warm air, and Tefnut = spat water).

Also, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods".

 

© 2022 Copyright milleetunetasses.com. All rights reserved.

The polygonal arrangement of the blocks of the ascending passage / inclined well of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

 

4.01  The polygonal arrangement of the blocks of the ascending passage

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

 

The layout of the girdle stones in the inclined well of the Great Pyramid of Giza (top view). 

Original of the Diagram of the First Ascending Passage, by John and Morton Edgar, in "Great Pyramid Passages, Volume 1 (1910 edition)", plate CX, paragraph ref. 460, page 230 : ​https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n239/mode/2up

 

4.02  The girdle stones of the ascending passage indicate that it was an inclined flooded well

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

It is like the 2 sets of blocks are opening up to reveal a dormant breach. More amazing is that at the exact location where the breach is positioned, we can find a tiny squared imprint in the floor with a granite plug stuck inside !

 

Contrary to what seems to suggest all the ascending passage drawings mentioning the girdle stones, there is not just 3 or 4 of these huge blocks in the passage. Actually, the entire passage, from the G4 girdle (the lower of the usual girdles) to the lower part of the passage, is nothing else than 100% girdle stones. The fact is that when the Edgar brothers tried to understand the role of these girdle blocks, they couldn't make any sense of this lower part of the passage and all these girdles. They were only interested in finding distances between blocks in order to associate these distances to Bible or other historical events. Girdle stones from G5 to G14 are completely pressed against each other. They couldn't measure anything so they didn't talk about it (this is precisely what they wrote themselves), and they didn't draw them either. And since, everybody did the exact same thing.

 

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

Source : https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n239/mode/2up

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

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

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

 

The problem is that this part of the passage, from G4 to G14 is so more protected with these girdles, that it makes the usual ones look like insignificant.

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

The pressure inside the well was probably perfectly distributed on all its surface by a another complete wooden casing, that also allows the well to be waterproof. It is possible though, that the seal between the blocks was sufficient enough so that no casing was needed. Probably the center part of the floor casing part is thinner than the rest of it, and it makes a kind of gutter inside the casing allowing air and water to get out of the well, into the entry of the horizontal cooling passage.

 

The layout of the girdle stones in the inclined well of the Great Pyramid of Giza. 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

During the entire operating period of the pyramid, the bottom of the inclined well was sealed by the Taweret blog : the upper granite plug. Taweret was maintained in position by a wedging block presenting an easy to break protruding part, getting out of the floor of the well. The breaking of that fragile part released the Taweret block and the waters of the well were drained through the dormant breach, between the Girdle Stones G8 and G9.

 

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

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

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

 

4.04  The breach opening for the shutdown procedure of the pyramid

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

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

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

 

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

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

 

 

4.05  The Junction imprint between the inclined well and the horizontal cooling passage

the Junction imprint was connecting the inclined well waters with the horizontal evaporative cooling passage. Without it, there wouldn't be any pressurized water ejected from the inclined well towards the evaporative cooling passage.

This little imprint was absolutely essential once the wooden ramp would have been in place.

 

Image of the Junction imprint, taken by John and Morton Edgar and published  in "Great Pyramid Passages Vol 1, 1910 edition", plate CXLIX, page 274 : https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n283/mode/2up

 

4.06  The only known photograph of the Junction imprint ?

The only image of the Junction imprint that I was lucky to find, has been taken by John and Morton Edgar and published  in "Great Pyramid Passages Vol 1, 1910 edition", plate CXLIX, page 274.

Excerpt from "Great Pyramid Passages" : "Our photograph of this lower part of the East Ramp where it butts against the north wall of the Grand Gallery (Plate CXLIX), shows also the abrupt cut-off of the smooth sloping floor, a short distance up (south) from the line of the north wall of the Gallery."

It looks like the floor of the ascending passage has been pretty rapidly covered with wooden boards to facilitate the tourists' progression in the passage, and that the Junction imprint in now hidden underneath.

It is also possible that it had been filled up with cement, like it had been done in the cut-off of the top platform of the Grand Gallery.

 

Diagram of the Great Pyramid of Giza in operation.

 

Very quick abstract of the study

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs used chemistry and physics to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt, and they forged an entire religion for that matter : gods were self-glorification metaphors of their scientific accomplishments. The end game of this technological program was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid, using the power of water, most probably as suggested by the strong ammonia smell in the Red Pyramid, to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs.

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, and that plate is precisely what is the disc of Sabu.

If mastering the Solvay-process was important, it actually looks like the cold was the most magical phenomenon worshiped by ancient Egyptians, as suggested by Akhenaten and Nefertiti who represented themselves as Shu and Tefnut, the deities that combined together were creating the evaporative cold (Shu = dry warm air, and Tefnut = spat water).

Also, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods".

 

© 2022 Copyright milleetunetasses.com. All rights reserved.

Wall relief of Apep cut into pieces, temple of Edfu (author : Rémih, on Wikipedia). Serpent artifacts from the Louvre Museum, with the body of the snake taking the shape of the "water ripple" hieroglyph sign. Inventory number E4851. https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010038229

 

5.03  [Snake = Water]  2 • The snake "water ripple" hieroglyph shaped body

The snake artifact E4851 from the Louvre Museum, is showing a unique design : the tail of the snake is nothing else than a continuous succession of "water ripple" signs, clearly highly suggesting that the snake is actually made of water.

Most probably, the "water ripple" sign and the representation of Apep with multiple cuts, as shown on the wall relief left photograph above, together, one above each over, is actually representing the same thing : the "water ripple" sign is the representation of Apep being cut, over and over again.

 

Apep (also Apophis) was the Great Serpent ancient Egyptian god of Chaos (isfet) that reigned over the Underworld and fought sun and creator god Ra in his solar barque (also solar barge), in endless fights, night after night. Image from Wikimedia Commons, author : Soutekh67

 

5.04  [Snake = Water]  3 •  The boats sailing onto snakes

As seen on this representation of Seth attacking Apep, the body of Apep is actually fully supporting the barque. Apep is painted in blue, and his body is also suggesting the waves : the barque is sailing onto the snake representation of Apep.

 

5.05  The Great Serpent Apep of the Underworld is a metaphor of the pressurized Waters of the inclined well

I've been looking for evidence of the reality of the flooded inclined well and its water for quite a while now, until I really started to work on Apophis (Apep), the famous Snake of the Underworld.

First of all, I must admit I should have known better and find out about Apep way sooner, because I've already found out about another snake : the Dendera snake.

On the Dendera reliefs, the snake represents the way that water, coming from the inclined well of the theory, is transformed into a fog of microdroplets of liquid water. That water evaporates and cool the air.

The Dendera snake is a small snake, and it is a small amount of water coming from the inclined well. Well, guess what metaphor ancient Egyptians used to represent the inclined well water : yep, a big snake.

 

The small Dendera snake is a portion of the big Apep snake, so how did they represent that portion : they cut a piece of the big snake. Once again here, everything is nothing else than metaphors. There is no snake and no killing or slaying of the snake : they just represented the fact that maybe about a few hundred liters of water from the pressurized well was injected into the horizontal evaporative cooling passage.

Like for the explanation of the knives of the Dendera reliefs, the knife used here on the Great Serpent Apep is also metaphoric. The knife isn't here to kill the snake, it doesn't even really mean cut. The knife, like in Dendera, means separate.

A small quantity of water had to be separated from the rest and injected, through the Nefertem pipe to the Horus fog nozzle of the horizontal cooling passage.

 

The Underworld (the Duat) represents the inclined well.

The primordial waters Nu (Nun, Nunet) represent the waters of the inclined well

The big Serpent Apep (Apophis) represents the water of the inclined well pressurized by the impactor.

The solar barque represents the impactor.

The night and day cycle represents the impactor operating cycle (in and out of the well).

The overthrowing of Apep is the ejection of a small amount of pressurized water from the well towards the horizontal cooling passage, and the recovery of the impactor from the well.

 

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

 

5.06  The Apep myth is the representation of the inclined well operating

The key element of the evaporative cold production was the ascending passage : it was flooded and every 15 to 20 minutes, its waters were pressurized by the fall of the impactor, operated from the grand gallery. Every time it got pressurized, a small amount of its waters were ejected into the horizontal passage where the fog nozzle(s) was (were) set to create the fog of microdroplets that would evaporate and cool the air.

 

The Sycamore tree putting its weight upon Apep and pressurizing the waters of the inclined well.

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

 

5.07  [Pressurization of the inclined well] 1 • The Sycamore tree is putting all its weight upon Apep

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

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

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

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

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

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

The sycamore fig tree is the impactor.

 

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

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

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

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

"The grain is interlocked."

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

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

 

The pressurization of the waters of the well by the legs and paws metaphors.

Image on the left : the snake god Nehebkau (also spelled Nehebu-Kau), Spell 87 from the Book of The Dead. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehebkau. Center : The Spearing of Apep (From the Papyrus of Nekhtu-Amen).

 

5.09  [Pressurization of the inclined well] 2 • The legs onto or under the snake

It is the same kind of association with the legs and the snakes : legs are also referring to the weight that is putting pressure upon snakes (upon water), whether they are onto the snake, or under the snake, like with Nehebkau (above).

It is amazing and fascinating to see that logic can be completely forgotten and different pieces of the puzzle voluntarily misplaced. This treachery obviously has the only intent to give us misleads. The positions of the legs under the snake and the Sycomore tree just next to Apep instead of onto Apep, in many representations are precisely that : misleads.

One could try to decipher the serpent walking on human legs, forever, he'll never understand the trick : the real meaning of the legs are about pressure upon something. Legs should be represented onto the serpent like on the second above image, not the opposite.

 

The restraining of the Great Serpent Apep is a metaphor of the containment of the pressurized waters of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The restraining of Apep in the above relief from Ramesses KV19 tomb, is another representation of the containment of the inclined well pressurized waters. Once pressurized and contained into the well, a small amount of the "powered" waters can be redirected towards the evaporative cooling passage.

 

5.10  The restraining of Apep is the representation of the containment of the inclined well pressurized waters

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

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

 

5.11  Apep worship is a gradual process of dismemberment and disposal, with water references

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

The multiple cutting of Apep is a representation of the multiple ejection of a small amount of pressurized water from the inclined well, towards the evaporative cooling passage.

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

The ancient Egyptian Mehen "board games" showing coiled snakes cut into equal size pieces, are representations of the endless ejection of a small amount of pressurized water from the well.

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

5.14  The link between Mehen artifacts and Apep cutting : water distribution

• The Ballas Mehen was found covering a pot…

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

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

 

• And another one was most certainly also a jar lid

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

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

 

5.15  Were any of the Mehen artifacts designed as game boards?

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

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

 

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

 

5.16  The discontinuous high pressurized water injection towards the fog nozzle

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

5.18  Apep and the combination of 4 different metaphors

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

In all honesty, we should be ashamed of ourselves.

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

• The barque is the impactor

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

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

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

 

The sequence of events, involving snakes (water) for the production of evaporative cold, in the ancient Egyptian metaphoric style.

 

5.20  Every snake representation in ancient Egyptian religion is about water

One of the most recurrent appearances in ancient Egyptian religion is about snakes : they include the snake in the Hapi's cavern, the great serpent god of the Underworld Apep (Apophis) and the most important of all : Atum.

All these snake gods are metaphors of the water used to "power up" the Great Pyramid of Giza.

 

 

5.21  Apep giving birth to Atum

I know that the myth about Atum says he is a self-created god, but this part is incorrect : when Atum is represented in front of the great coiled serpent Apep, the real meaning of the scene is about his creation.

Both Apep and Atum are snakes, and both are water metaphors.

Once the waters of the well (represented by Nun, the primordial waters) get hit by the impactor (represented by the Sycomore tree putting its weight upon Apep), the well is pressurized and a small amount of water is ejected towards the horizontal passage and the fog nozzle.

That small amount of pressurized water is Atum.

 

5.22  The misleading puzzle pieces

What is interesting to see, is how hard it is to decipher ancient Egyptian metaphors. For example, the sycamore tree in the first image is clearly put onto the body of the snake : all the weight of the tree is supported by the snake who is totally nailed on the ground.

Of course, the paw of the cat is also reinforcing this idea of putting weight upon Apep. But this is maybe the only time where the tree is so clearly set : most of the time, the sycamore tree is not onto the snake, but just next to it (photograph on the right, above).

Of course, the fact that the sycamore tree isn't onto the snake but just next to it doesn't matter if you know the real story.

 

The Great Serpent Apep giving birth to Atum and Atum looking back at where he is coming from.

 

Atum "defeating" Apep, the ancient Egyptian great serpent god of Chaos of the Underworld, as explained by scholars. Atum is also frequently represented as a snake and his real meaning is that he is a portion of Apep. Atum is a metaphor of every buckle of the coiled snake Apep : a small amount of Apep, a portion of its water.

It is the association of dry warm air (personified in god Shu) and spat water in the form of droplets (personified in goddess Tefnut), that is producing the fog of cold in the horizontal passage of the Great Pyramid of Khufu

Center relief from the Tomb of pharaoh Ramses I. Thebes West, near 1307 BC.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apep#/media/File:Apep_1.jpg

 

5.23  The secret real meaning of Atum defeating Apep : the creation of Atum himself

1 • The theoretical part : "Atum is said to have ascended from chaos-waters with the appearance of a snake."

2 • The illustration : the relief depicting Atum "defeating" Apep, the ancient Egyptian great serpent god of chaos of the Underworld (above photograph), in the Tomb of pharaoh Ramses I, Thebes.

If Atum emerged from chaos waters, and is looking to Apep without doing anything to him (no knife and no blood), what is Atum doing is looking back at himself : Atum is looking at where he is coming from.

Apep is the chaos waters and Atum is made of that water.

This idea that Atum is actually made of water is reinforced by his representation in an human form with the skin painted vivid blue (above right photograph).

Also, it is said that "Atum was […] the first being to emerge from the darkness and endless watery abyss that existed before creation" . "Darkness" and "abyss", would be very appropriate talking about the inclined well, where Atum is coming from.

 

5.24  Atum is the representation of the small amount of pressurized water ejected from the inclined well

Among all gods, Atum really is of great importance, and some would say he is the most important of all, the first creation god as explained by every scholar.

My theory explains why he was so important, why he was seen as the first god of creation.

Just think of "cold production" when you read "creation" in academic articles and everything will come into place : Atum, as the small amount of pressurized water ejected from the waters of the inclined well, was the last step of the process, just before the creation of the cold.

Excerpt from Wikipedia's page on Atum : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atum

"Atum was a self-created deity, the first being to emerge from the darkness and endless watery abyss that existed before creation. A product of the energy and matter contained in this chaos, he created his children—the first deities, out of loneliness. He produced from his own sneeze, or in some accounts, semen, Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. The brother and sister, curious about the primeval waters that surrounded them, went to explore the waters and disappeared into the darkness." 

 

Atum had in him, all the energy of the inclined well waters and all the energy of the impactor that constantly rammed into the well. This is only because the small amount of water representing Atum, was under pressure, that the fog of microdroplets could have been created ; hence the reference to the fact that Atum created Shu and Tefnut from his own sneeze or his own semen.

And all that vocabulary, about energy, creation, liquids under pressure and water is present in every description of Atum we can find. The only reason why it doesn't matter that Atum created Shu and Tefnut from his own sneeze or his own semen, is because it is only a metaphor referring to the spray of a liquid under high pressure.

 

Atum represented in an human form (left) and as a snake in snake coffin artifacts from the Brooklyn Museum : Snake Coffin Accession Number 36.624 (center) and Snake Coffin (Atum) Accession Number 16.600 (right).

 

5.25  Atum ascending from the chaos waters

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

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

Of course, the "chaos waters" are directly referring to the pressurized waters, after they have been hit (rammed) by the fall of the impactor.

The constant reference to the day cycle is a little more tricky to understand : the cycle is not about the Sun, but about the impactor getting in and out of the well. The real cycle is about the operating of the impactor. When it got into the well, it was like going into the night and when it got back into the Grand Gallery, it was like going back into the day, into light (whether it was light from the Sun or from lamps).

 

5.26  Atum, the first creation god, father of Shu and Tefnut, was also represented as a snake

Atum was the first creation god of ancient Egypt and the father of Shu (the god of dry and warm air) and Tefnut (the goddess of spat water and humidity).

During the Amarna period, if Akhenaten and Nefertiti represented themselves precisely in these two particular deities while all the other traditional gods were banished, it is because they wanted to be associated with the creation of the most magical part of the Solvay process : its evaporative cooling.

 

Mehen board game photographed by ©Rowan Millar, and posted on flickr : https://www.flickr.com/photos/126337530@N04/28294095688

 

5.27  Atum in front of the coiled serpent Apep : Apep has already been cut multiple times

As we can see on the above image, the character "defeating" Apep is Atum.

This scene is very important because it shows the continuity between these two characters : Atum is actually coming from Apep : Atum is the small amount of pressurized water ejected out of the inclined well by the fall of the impactor.

The first thing to note on the scene where Atum stands in front of Apep, is that Atum doesn't have any knife : Atum is not killing or cutting the snake. Actually, Apep is already cut. That is the meaning of the coils of the serpent : each buckle represent a cycle of water pressurization and ejection, and Atum is a representation of each of these buckles.

The Mehen artifacts, showing a snake that has been cut multiple times in equal size portions, are exactly describing that part of the real explanation of the myth about Apep and Atum.

 

 

Right : Nefertem emblems from the Louvre Museum : inventory number N 5118 © Musée du Louvre / Christian Décamps : https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010008518 and ME299 © Musée du Louvre : https://collections.louvre.fr/ark:/53355/cl010337234

 

5.28  Atum passing through Nefertem : the "life force of the creator god Atum transmitted through Nefertem" reference

What I'm saying is that Atum was a representation of the pressurized water ejected from the inclined well, and that it was transformed on the lower platform of the grand gallery into a fog of microdroplets of liquid water inside the horizontal passage. For that to happen, a pipe had to be set on that platform, as well as a fog nozzle.

I'm also saying that these two pieces of hardware were represented into Nefertem's emblems : a pipe and a lotus flower. The lotus blossom being the fog nozzle.

In other words, we can say that Atum (the water) was passing through Nefertem (the hardware).

 

Amazingly, this idea of Atum passing through Nefertem is already well known :

Excerpt from Michael J. Masley : "Meeks points out that the relationship between the sun and the lotus-Nefertem is well attested in the Pyramid Texts but the birth of the sun-god in the lotus blossom is known only after the Amarna period. Pyramid Texts Spell 249 (Pyr. § 266a): xa (wnjs)| m nfr-tm m zSSn r Srt ra “Unis will appear as Nefertem, as the lotus at the sun-god’s nose” corresponds to the image of the Egyptian deities giving life (anx) to the nose of the king and thus the life-force of the creator god Atum is transmitted to the sun-god Re through Nefertem. As such, Nefertem is a mediator that connects the two great gods."

https://www.facebook.com/groups/619881488204420/permalink/639962346196334/

 

I've highlighted in bold the important parts of the above text that allows us to understand the fine relation that exists between Nefertem and Atum : they are both connected to the cold production but each one is a very particular aspect of it.

We need to keep in mind that all the efforts on the evaporative cooling, were for one reason only : the chemical "magical" manufacturing of sodium carbonate, the natron that would be used for the mummification of the pharaoh ; hence the reference to the "life-force" and Sun god Re.

 

Diagram of the Great Pyramid of Giza in operation.

 

Very quick abstract of the study

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs used chemistry and physics to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt, and they forged an entire religion for that matter : gods were self-glorification metaphors of their scientific accomplishments. The end game of this technological program was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid, using the power of water, most probably as suggested by the strong ammonia smell in the Red Pyramid, to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs.

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, and that plate is precisely what is the disc of Sabu.

If mastering the Solvay-process was important, it actually looks like the cold was the most magical phenomenon worshiped by ancient Egyptians, as suggested by Akhenaten and Nefertiti who represented themselves as Shu and Tefnut, the deities that combined together were creating the evaporative cold (Shu = dry warm air, and Tefnut = spat water).

Also, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods".

 

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Hatshepsut’s birth scene, from Édouard Naville "The Temple of Deir el Bahari" (London, 1896), vol. 2, pl. 50. Image courtesy of the University Library Heidelberg : The Ebony shrine, northern half of the middle platform. https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/naville1896bd2/0050

 

6.01  The Hatshepsut’s birth scene, from Édouard Naville "The Temple of Deir el Bahari"

I really didn't expect to find any kind of proof that would validate the fact that the Taweret block was maintained in its position for the time being of the operating of the Great Pyramid, by a wedging block , but not only the immobilized Taweret/Bes scene is that proof and Bes that particular wedging block, but also we have to note the position of that scene within the entire relief : it is located at the very end of the story.

Whatever the story is exactly, the scene showing that Taweret was blocked by Bes is at the very end of it.

We can imagine 2 different approaches :

1 • Time related approach : the story ends up when it is time for Bes to break and stop immobilizing Taweret. It would be the end of the operating period of the pyramid.

2 • Space related approach : this is a plan of the entire ascending passage that starts with the Grand Gallery and the 4 crewmembers of one hauling beetle, and end with the Taweret/Bes couple at the bottom of the flooded part of the first ascending passage : the inclined well.

Between the 4 crewmembers and the Taweret/Bes couple, there is a bizarre empty space, but again it can be interpreted with both approaches : time and space related.

 

The inclined well of the Great Pyramid of Giza, during its operation period, showing the Taweret granite sealing block and the small Bes granite wedging block.

 

6.02  Taweret and the water breaking metaphor

The draining of the inclined well would have result in a huge amount of water gushing out of the bottom of the well after the upper granite plug had moved down and revealed the breach. The metaphor with the water breaking is the origin of the Taweret goddess of childbirth.

"In Ancient Egyptian religion, Taweret is the protective ancient Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility. The deity is typically depicted as a bipedal female hippopotamus with feline attributes, pendulous female human breasts, the limbs and paws of a lion, and the back and tail of a Nile crocodile.[...] She commonly bears the epithets "Lady of Heaven", "Mistress of the Horizon", "She Who Removes Water", "Mistress of Pure Water", and "Lady of the Birth House" [...] The name "Taweret" (Tȝ-wrt) means "she who is great" or simply "great one". Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taweret

 

As clearly said by Anneke Stracke in her thesis "The Hippopotamus of Deir el-Medina", goddess Taweret was clearly associated with water :

Excerpt from page 30 of her thesis : "Of the twelve objects within this catalogue that include hieroglyphic epithets of Taweret… three of them make clear mention of her role as a goddess of water. While it is not unthinkable that a hippopotamus goddess should be associated with water, it is still quite unusual that a quarter of all epithets of the goddess which survive from Deir el-Medina feature this role so heavily. The epithets preserved in Deir el-Medina refer to “the pure water”, “lady of the well” and “Taweret, who is in the midst of the purification waters of Nun”.    https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2624829/view

 

In short, some of Taweret's epithets are : "the Lady of the Well", "the Big One", "the Great One" and "She Who Removes Water", and she is referring to the upper granite plug (block #3).

In other words, Taweret is the upper granite plug : "The Great One", "The Big One", "The Lady of the Well" and "The One Who Removes Water".

 

The fact that both Bes and Taweret, as the wedging block and the sealing of the well block, were both associated with the draining of the well, explains why both were associated with childbirth : the metaphor is about the water breaking.

 

The ascending passage of the Great Pyramid of Giza showing the little imprint with a small block of granite still present today and that was the anchor for the Bes wedging block.

 

The upper granite plug of the Great Pyramid of Giza was the sealing block of the inclined well. This block had been glorified into the "Lady of the Well" Taweret goddess and represented into the hippopotamus, a huge semiaquatic animal that loves to stay, walk and even sleep completely submerged underwater.

 

6.03  The completely worn out upper granite plug is Taweret : the "Lady of the Well"

If you compare the two blocks appearing on the above photograph from the Edgar brothers, you can immediately see that if the lower block (this is the middle plug #2) looks like new, this is not true for the upper block that appears completely worn out.

Also its upper face looks curved, like something was stuck to it, but maybe this is only an illusion.

This Taweret block had a story completely different from the other granite plugs. The only logical explanation about the fact it appears so worn out, is that this block, and only this one, did moved or should I say forced its passage, on a short distance. It only could have been on a short distance, because many Egyptologists said that farther away up, the dimensions of the ascending passage wouldn't allow the block to pass through.

It is important to say that this upper block #3 would have only move a few meters and that it would have been most probably forced to do it by the huge pressure caused by the "explosive" opening of the King's chamber : if I am right about this, the man inside the grotto, not only triggered the last release of the impactor, but the impactor itself triggered the opening of the chamber.

 

 

6.04  Why goddess Taweret is represented as an hippopotamus

When the Great Pyramid was operational and the ascending passage flooded to form an inclined well, in the continuation of the Grand Gallery's central gutter, the upper granite plug was sealing the well.

Consequently, this sealing block would have been permanently underwater : it explains why ancient Egyptians chose to personify this block into the hippopotamus : a huge semiaquatic animal that loves to stay, walk and even sleep completely submerged underwater.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_WikiFundi_Content/Hippopotamus#/media/File:Hippopotamus_in_San_Diego_Zoo.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hippopotamus_amphibius_-San_Diego_Zoo,_California,_USA_-under_water-8a.jpg

 

Taweret giving birth to snakes = Taweret giving birth to water (the water breaking metaphor).

 

6.05  Taweret : the "Lady of the Well" and "She who Removes water"

EA11862 from the British Museum is a very unusual figure that is depicting Taweret "giving birth" to a snake. To my knowledge, this is the only representation of Taweret associated with a snake.

We've seen in the previous post that snakes in ancient Egypt, were representations of the water from the annual inundation of the Nile : the very first snake is created by Hapi himself (relief of the Philae temple).

Here, with Taweret, we have the representation of the "last" snake, so to speak : Taweret is the representation of the draining of the inclined well that preceded the final shutdown procedure of the Great Pyramid.

Another outstanding figure of Taweret is the amulet 48.1555 from the Walters Art Museum, in Baltimore : it is the only figurine I know of Taweret that is revealing that the Sa sign is actually set on the figure so it is hiding from view a "secret pouring hole".

 

Amulet of the Goddess Taweret 48.1555 from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore : https://art.thewalters.org/detail/11051/amulet-pendant-of-taweret/

Blue glazed steatite figure of Taweret and a snake EA11862 from the British Museum : https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA11862

 

Tthe emblem that Taweret is wearing on her head is the wedging block that maintained her into position before the draining of the well procedure. That emblem is Bes, the wedging block of the well.

 

6.06  The small granite block that was set in the floor imprint between the G8 and G9 girdle stones

In my opinion, the emblem that is showing Taweret on her head is the granite wedging block that was set on the floor of the ascending passage/inclined well, right between the G8 and G9 girdles.

Academic explanation is that this emblem is probably a "mast" that would have been needed to put a special headdress. But if you look at the last above photograph of a Taweret figure from the Artemis Gallery, in Louisville (CO), the "mast" is way to tiny to do the job. This cannot be a supporting "mast".

More about the Bes wedging block in the next Section.

 

Accession Number: 26.7.1193 from the Metropolitan Museum in New York : https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544864

Glencairn Museum's Taweret figurine E66. Late Period : https://glencairnmuseum.org/newsletter/september-2014-the-goddess-taweret-protector-of-mothers-and.html

Faience Statuette of Taweret Ref.1352 from Christoph Bacher Archäologie Ancient Art, Vienna : https://www.cb-gallery.com/en/produkt/fayence-statuette-der-taweret/

Artemis Gallery, Louisville CO : https://www.bidsquare.com/online-auctions/artemis-gallery/impressive-detailed-egyptian-faience-votive---taweret-1396924

 

Diagram of the Great Pyramid of Giza in operation.

 

Very quick abstract of the study

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs used chemistry and physics to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt, and they forged an entire religion for that matter : gods were self-glorification metaphors of their scientific accomplishments. The end game of this technological program was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid, using the power of water, most probably as suggested by the strong ammonia smell in the Red Pyramid, to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs.

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, and that plate is precisely what is the disc of Sabu.

If mastering the Solvay-process was important, it actually looks like the cold was the most magical phenomenon worshiped by ancient Egyptians, as suggested by Akhenaten and Nefertiti who represented themselves as Shu and Tefnut, the deities that combined together were creating the evaporative cold (Shu = dry warm air, and Tefnut = spat water).

Also, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods".

 

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Hatshepsut’s birth scene, from Édouard Naville "The Temple of Deir el Bahari" (London, 1896), vol. 2, pl. 50. Image courtesy of the University Library Heidelberg : The Ebony shrine, northern half of the middle platform. https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/naville1896bd2/0050

 

7.02  The Hatshepsut’s birth scene, from Édouard Naville "The Temple of Deir el Bahari"

I really didn't expect to find any kind of proof that would validate the fact that the Taweret block was maintained in its position for the time being of the operating of the Great Pyramid, by a wedging block , but not only the immobilized Taweret/Bes scene is that proof and Bes that particular wedging block, but also we have to note the position of that scene within the entire relief : it is located at the very end of the story.

Whatever the story is exactly, the scene showing that Taweret was blocked by Bes is at the very end of it.

We can imagine 2 different approaches :

1 • Time related approach : the story ends up when it is time for Bes to break and stop immobilizing Taweret. It would be the end of the operating period of the pyramid.

2 • Space related approach : this is a plan of the entire ascending passage that starts with the Grand Gallery and the 4 crewmembers of one hauling beetle, and end with the Taweret/Bes couple at the bottom of the flooded part of the first ascending passage : the inclined well.

Between the 4 crewmembers and the Taweret/Bes couple, there is a bizarre empty space, but again it can be interpreted with both approaches : time and space related.

 

7.03  Bes is always depicted facing forwards to show he will not be moved

Bes depicted facing forwards is the main characteristic to understand about him.

In the previous post about Taweret, I suggested the idea that the bottom of the inclined well was sealed by the granite plug that is today at the beginning of the ascending passage and that this block (plug #3) was set higher in the passage : the ascending passage was not completely flooded.

That granite plug #3 has been deified into goddess Taweret, that had been called "the Lady of the Well" by ancient Egyptians themselves. I also suggested that, during the operational period of the well, that Taweret granite plug was maintained in its position by a wedging block that would have been set in the floor of the well, between the G8 and G9 girdles.

Bes is that wedging block.

This Bes block was designed to fight the pressure of the water of the well. It was designed to immobilize the Taweret block.

This is why Bes is depicted facing forwards. Bes' posture is saying : I'm invincible, I'm unmovable. Nothing will pass through me.

On the Hatshepsut’s birth scene, the rectangular block that is immobilizing Taweret, is purely metaphorical : that is actually Bes himself that is blocking her.

 

Original of the Diagram of the First Ascending Passage, by John and Morton Edgar, in "Great Pyramid Passages, Volume 1 (1910 edition)", plate CX, paragraph ref. 460, page 230 : ​https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n239/mode/2up

 

7.04  The "bit of granite cemented to the floor" of the ascending passage described by Petrie is Bes

The following excerpt is from "The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh", by W. M. Flinders Petrie, first published in 1883, page 21 : http://gizamedia.rc.fas.harvard.edu/images/MFA-images/Giza/GizaImage/full/library/petrie_gizeh.pdf

Talking about the Taweret granite block : "The present top one is not the original end ; it is roughly broken, and there is a bit of granite still cemented to the floor some way farther South of it."

 

The dormant breach of the inclined well, revealed by the 2 sets of girdle stone orientations. 

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

During the entire operating period of the pyramid, the bottom of the inclined well was sealed by the Taweret blog : the upper granite plug. Taweret was maintained in position by a wedging block presenting an easy to break protruding part, getting out of the floor of the well. The breaking of that fragile part released the Taweret block and the waters of the well were drained through the dormant breach, between the Girdle Stones G8 and G9.

 

The inclined well of the Great Pyramid of Giza, in operation. Figurine of Heka, the ancient Egyptian god of magic, from the Louvre Museum E 4875 : https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010011666

 

7.05  The inclined well of the Great Pyramid in operation

 The exact position and extent of the drain hole, as well as its real fine opening apparatus are still to be determined.

 

Māori ceremonial dance Haka performers are replicating Bes' posture and gestures : the "I won't move attitude", the "tongue out " and the knife cutting. What Haka performers are saying to their adversaries is : "I'm invincible, I'am unmovable, you'll not pass through me".

Image of the All Blacks, performing the "Kapa o Pango" (a pre-match haka) at the rugby world cup 2011 New Zealand / Argentina, thanks to Jean-Francois Beausejour : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rugby_world_cup_2011_NEW_ZEALAND_ARGENTINA_(7309674588).jpg

 

7.06  Bes' posture and the Māori ceremonial dance Haka

This is certainly not by accident that there is a perfect match between Bes's posture and the attitude of rugby players performing the famous Māori ceremonial dance Haka.

Both Bes and the Haka performers are saying the exact same thing : "you will not pass through me, I won't move."

The thing is that the posture similarity is not the only one : even the stories sound familiar.

Ancient Egyptians were engineers, transforming (hot) warm and dry air into cold air. That was the all point of the known part of the Great Pyramid : creating cold air for "sun god Ra".

 

This is an excerpt from the Wikipedia's page on the Māori ceremonial dance Haka :

"According to Maori scholar Tīmoti Kāretu, the haka has been "erroneously defined by generations of uninformed as 'war dances'", while Māori mythology places haka as a dance "about the celebration of life". Following a creation story, the sun god, Tama-nui-te-rā, had two wives, the Summer Maid, Hine-raumati, and the Winter Maid, Hine-takurua. Haka originated in the coming of Hine-raumati, whose presence on still, hot days was revealed in a quivering appearance in the air. This was the haka of Tāne-rore, the son of Hine-raumati and Tama-nui-te-rā. Hyland comments that "[t]he haka is (and also represents) a natural phenomena [sic]; on hot summer days, the 'shimmering' atmospheric distortion of air emanating from the ground is personified as 'Te Haka a Tānerore'".

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

 

Of course, even if Māori mythology perfectly borrowed god Bes from ancient Egyptian religion, they also adapted everything around him to create their own mythology.

But still, this is amazing to see they are still referring to a Sun god, including "rā" in his name, or even the idea of hot and cold air (summer and winter). Maybe the reference to a "quivering appearance in the air" is about the creation of the evaporative cold itself...

 

Also, the Māori name haka itself sounds pretty similar to the ancient Egyptian word for "magic" heka, and the name of the god of magic himself "Heka".

About the Egyptian god Heka : "Heka was the deification of magic and medicine in ancient Egypt. The name is the Egyptian word for "magic". According to Egyptian literature (Coffin text, spell 261), Heka existed "before duality had yet come into being." The term ḥk3w was also used to refer to the practice of magical rituals".   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heka_(god)

 

Haka performers replicating the tongue out gesture of the ancient Egyptian Bes deity.

Cook Islands national rugby league team performing it’s war cry, haka, before a test match against Niue in 2015, thanks to Naparazzi : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka

Étui à kohol simple N 4469 from the Louvre Museum : https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010007062

Details of a protective sculpture of the god Bes on one of King Tut's six chariots (18th dynasty, New Kingdom Egypt), photographed by Mary Harrsch at the Discovery of King Tut exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, Oregon (2016) : https://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/44741722010/in/photostream/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/33783844026/in/photostream/

 

The tongue out and the "throat slitting" gesture in the "Kapa o Pango" Haka

7.07  The tongue out and the spitting water

Not only the Māori ceremonial dance Haka reproduce Bes' posture, but also his tongue out. By doing so, it is obviously a reference to the spitting water that accompany this gesture, and so to the draining of the well.

 

Haka performers replicating the throat slitting gesture of the ancient Egyptian Bes deity.

The "throat slitting" gesture done by the Māori Haka performers, has been completely misunderstood, because it really is a "throat slitting" gesture! But it is absolutely not a provocation towards adversaries : it is a gesture towards themselves.

By "throat slitting" themselves, the Māori Haka performers are only replicating the gesture that Bes is doing by holding his knife over the head, as a metaphor of the breaking off of his upper part. Haka performers are only cutting off their own heads : there is no taunt of any kind towards their competitors in that gesture.

 

7.08  The "throat slitting" gesture done by Haka performers really is about throat slitting, but it is about themselves

Another strong similarity is the famous "throat slitting" misunderstood gesture that the Haka performers are doing at the very end of the "Kapa o Pango".

"Kapa o Pango" concludes with a gesture which, according to Lardelli, represents "drawing vital energy into the heart and lungs". The gesture has been interpreted as a "throat slitting" gesture that led to accusations that "Kapa o Pango" encourages violence, and sends the wrong message to All Blacks fans." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapa_o_Pango

If Lardelli is wrong about his interpretation of the "throat slitting" gesture, nethertheless it is absolutely not a violence reference aimed to Māori competitors. Once again, the Haka performers are reproducing the story of the drainage of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid of Giza : during all the performance they are showing their strength, they are saying that they will not move an inch, that nobody will pass through them, but at the end, they let it go and they are using the exact same knife metaphor that the one used for Bes. Knives and "throat slitting" are metaphors for the breaking off of the wedging block.

Bes, the temporary wedging block was responsible of the draining of the well, he took all the water out of the well and he was worshiped as the god who was responsible of getting all demons out of households.

 

When Haka performers are "throat slitting" themselves, they are considering their adversaries as demons who should only stay away from their part of the field. That is the real profound meaning of the Haka.

 

To summarize :

• Haka performers are reproducing the holding posture of Bes : "I'm unmovable, you won't pass through me".

• Haka performers are reproducing the tongue out of Bes : the water reference.

• Haka performers are reproducing the cutting off of their upper part : the release of the Taweret block, the end of the story and the end of the performance.

Don't ask me why and how Māori people did, in some ways, honor and celebrate the ancient Egyptian religion, but the facts are here : the Haka is referring to the Great Pyramid and the draining of its inclined well.

 

Please note that when represented with 4 knives and the Sa symbol, Bes is not facing frontwards anymore : his holding posture has been broken off by the knives. We'll see farther down this post that the Sa symbol is the representation of the drain hole of the well.

 

Above Bes-image on the right, from the right panel of triptych on footboard of bed (CG 51109) in KV46. Figure uploaded by Kasia Szpakowska, © Felictas Weber : https://www.researchgate.net/figure/a-Bes-image-from-right-panel-of-triptych-on-footboard-of-bed-CG-51109-in-KV46-b_fig2_312627388

 

Bes grabbing a snake in his hand and redirecting it towards a hole where his penis should be, is a representation of the draining of the waters of the well through the drain hole.

Stela of the God Bes, 4th century B.C.– A.D. 1st century, from the Metropolitan Museum, New-York : https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/547866

Dancing Bes and Beset, ca. 664 BCE–ca. 331 BCE, from the Allard Piersonmuseum, Amsterdam and posted on livius : https://www.livius.org/pictures/a/egypt/dancing-bes-and-beset/

Egg-shaped bell EA6374 from the British Museum : https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA6374

Relief or Votive Plaque of the God Bes A48 from The Barnes Foundation collection. 664–30 BCE, Limestone with red and black pigment : https://collection.barnesfoundation.org/objects/6670/Relief-or-Votive-Plaque-of-the-God-Bes/

 

7.09   Bes grabbing the snake in his left (West) hand

In many representations, god Bes is depicted having a firm grasp of a snake, with his left arm. If we look closely to the stela from the MET and the relief from the Barnes Foundation, we can see that the head of the snake is pointed to the same place : a hole where his penis should be.

Because snakes are representations of water, the meaning of this aspect of Bes can be reconstructed : Bes, is catching the water and redirecting it towards the drain hole. And because the left arm is also somehow, the West arm, it also refers to the fact that what I called "the breach" in previous posts, was actually a drain hole located on the West side of the well.

"Bes was a household protector, becoming responsible – throughout ancient Egyptian history – for such varied tasks as killing snakes, fighting off evil spirits, watching after children, and aiding women in labour by fighting off evil spirits, and thus present with Taweret at births."

The draining of the well is the origin of the main metaphor about why Taweret was worshiped as the goddess of childbirth : the water breaking.

 

7.10  The knife over Bes's head = breaking off the wedging block upper part

We've already seen in the posts about Dendera and Apep, that when ancient Egyptians represented knives in their religious scenes, it wasn't about killing anything or anybody.

Knives mean separate. Here, a better term would be "breaking off". When Bes is holding a knife over his head, it is the representation of the breaking off of the upper part of the wedging block.

 

Bes Mask from the Walters Art Museum : https://art.thewalters.org/detail/27895/bes-mask-2/

Amulet of the Head of Bes, 664–332 B.C, from the Metropolitan Museum, New-York. Accession Number: 10.130.2057 : https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/549188

Bes Head Amulet 51.2542 from Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest : https://www.mfab.hu/artworks/bes-head-amulet/

 

The representations of Bes with his head cut off : as a result of the breaking off of the wedging block upper part, many representations of Bes only show he's upper part : his head.

 

The knifes are metaphors of the breaking off of the Bes wedging block, and the release of the Taweret block. It is a representation of what triggered the draining of the well.

 

7.11  The breaking off of the wedging block and the release of the Taweret sealing block. Knives = CUT, BREAK

This is breathtaking to think that during the entire operating of the Great Pyramid, the Taweret block was actually only maintained in position by a temporary wedging block (first above image). Its release is what is depicted on the center images.

Like in other occasions, ancient Egyptians used many different ways of depicting this release :

In the lower center image, we have Bes holding the knife over its head to represent the fact that the fragile upper part of the temporary wedging block had to be broken off : the metaphor is directly referring to the original wedging block. In other words, by lifting up the knife over his head, Bes isn't trying to cut the plumes of his headdress, he is just cutting off his upper part.

But on the upper center image, the metaphor is much more elaborate : it’s a metaphor on another metaphor. Bes is the metaphor of the wedging block, and by cutting off every single arm and leg, the other metaphor is that he isn't able to hold Taweret anymore. The most important thing about Bes is his "holding" posture with strong arms and legs, but if you take these elements out of the way, if you cut out his limbs, there is no "holding" posture possible anymore : the Taweret block is then released.

 

The original design of the Bes wedging block. On this incredible picture, the wedging block is actually represented twice : not only we have the original design of the real block, but we have also its metaphorical representation in the god Bes. Image courtesy of Dosseman, from Two Bes-shaped legs for a bed, wood, New Kingdom :   https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allard_Pierson_Museum_Bes_Legs_for_bed_7603.jpg

 

7.12  The actual original design of the Bes wedging block

More than just being able to validate the couple Taweret/Bes as the 2 blocks sealing the inclined well, we can do even better and have a pretty good idea of the real design of the Bes wedging block, thanks to the "Two Bes-shaped legs for a bed", at the Allard Pierson Museum and Knowledge Institute in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

As I have already said, the simple solution that I came up with, is most certainly wrong or at least incomplete.

The major problem is that the little imprint in the floor of the well between G8 and G9 is located against the West wall. If my idea was correct, this imprint would have been located right in the middle of the width of the well, so that there wouldn't have been any force applied against the wall.

Obviously, something is missing, and the wedging block was only part of the solution, but at least, we can start with something and we now also have what is most probably very close to the real original design of that wedging block : a very large base (A) that would have anchored the block into the floor of the well, and a very fragile protruding upper part (B), that was immobilizing the Taweret block, but which was also ready and easy to break on demand.

 

The representation of the drain hole of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid of Giza, on Bes deity.

Detail of Statue of the half-god Bes photographed by Sandstein. Limestone, Amanthus (Cyprus), Roman copy of the Archaic style. Istanbul Archaeological Museums, inv.no. 3317 T : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IAM_3317T_-_Statue_of_Bes.jpg

 

7.13  The drain hole of the well and the water plumes

We've already seen that the flail was actually made of water, and this is the same thing here with Bes' plumes : they aren't feathers but water plumes, and they are getting out of the drain hole that is often represented onto Bes' head.

On the above photographs, the question is : are we looking at the drain hole from the inside or from the outside of the well ?

Also you'll note on the first photograph, that the hole in Bes' body is entirely passing through the statue.

 

 

7.14  Bes represented with the drain hole of the inclined well

Vessel modeled in the figure of the Egyptian god Bes. Punic-Hellenistic art in Agrigento. Archaeological Museum of Agrigento thanks to Zde : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Egyptian_god_Bes,_clay_vessel,_Hellenistic,_AM_Agrigento,_120888.jpg

Ancient Egypt Faience Bes photographed by Gary Todd at the Ancient Egypt Gallery, Louvre Museum, Paris : https://www.flickr.com/photos/101561334@N08/28066484040/

Ancient Egyptian Steatite Figure of Bes, God of Merrymaking and Protection, Cosmetic Vessel from catawiki.com : https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/36111955-ancient-egyptian-steatite-figure-of-bes-god-of-merrymaking-and-protection-cosmetic-vessel

 

The Bes water plumes as a representation of water gushing out of the drain hole of the well.

Cromo Chocolat de la Compagnie Française, Pierrots opening a giant bottle of chamagne © patrick.marks, posted on flickr : https://www.flickr.com/photos/16691383@N06/49891752078/

Bes with a tambourine from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York. Accession Number: 23.6.16 : https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/570703

 

The facetious metaphoric use of the well water draining power by King Tut on his "Ferrari" racing Chariots.

Details of a "protective" sculpture of the god Bes on one of King Tut's six chariots (18th dynasty, New Kingdom Egypt), photographed by Mary Harrsch at the Discovery of King Tut exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, Oregon (2016) :  https://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/33783844026/in/photostream/

Bes figurine thanks to ©JLNicolas from world-in-words.com : https://www.world-in-words.com/news/lilla-del-deu-bes/

Spillway on the Monticello Dam, Lake Berryessa, Napa County California after heavy rains, March 2017, thanks to Phoebe : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monticello_Dam,_Lake_Berryessa_spillway.jpg

 

7.15  The facetious metaphoric use of the well water draining power by King Tut on his State Chariots

King Tut died around 18 or 19 years old, and he was not different from kids of the same age today : the same way they are putting hot rod flames stickers on their beloved cars, King Tutankhamun did the exact same thing on his State Chariots.

Except it wasn't flames stickers he put on his chariot, but representations of Bes. Because Bes was a metaphor of the draining of the well, it was associated with the power of the water gushing out of the drain hole.

If protective figures like figureheads on sailing ships are always set at the prow for obvious reasons, the "jet reactor-like" protruding elements under the representations of Bes, are for what it's worth, set at the exact perfect location where a couple of metaphorical pump-jets generating a "magical thrust power out of water" would be installed today : the closest to the axle and the center of gravity of the chariot.

King Tut wanted to get this power for his chariot. So yes, in some way King Tut invented the first metaphorical "pump-jets".

How about that !

 

The facetious metaphoric use of the well water draining power by King Tut on his "Ferrari" racing Chariots.

Photograph of a Tut's "State Chariot" at the 2010 Tutankhamun Exhibition in Hamburg, thanks to Hendrik Plank : https://www.flickr.com/photos/7501487@N08/4489917981/

 

7.16  King Tut's "State" Chariots really were racing Chariots

These excerpts are coming from an article written by Rossella Lorenzi / Discovery Channel and available on nbcnews : https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna38545625

"According to Bela Sandor, professor emeritus of engineering physics at University of Wisconsin at Madison, King Tut's chariots surpass all monumental structures of the pharaohs in engineering sophistication."

"There is no evidence of chariot racing from that era, but these chariots have many technical features that imply a pedigree based on racing," Sandor said."

"In a study on the chariots' engineering, Sandor concluded that the vehicles were the earliest high-performance machines, boasting a complex suspension system of springs and shock absorbers. They even featured wheels with aircraft-like damage tolerance."

"They were the Ferrari of antiquity. They boasted an elegant design and an extremely sophisticated and astonishingly modern technology," Alberto Rovetta, professor in robotics engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan, told Discovery News."

 

King Tut's chariots were all about performance, based on both real and metaphorical technology.

 

Close-up on the "reactor-like" elements at the back of the racing "State" Chariots of King Tut. They cannot be protective elements, because they would have been set at the front of the Chariots. Against all odds, these elements really are reactors, but it is no air passing through, it is water : these elements, at the back of the Chariots were "metaphorical water jets".

Details of a protective sculpture of the god Bes on one of King Tut's six chariots (18th dynasty, New Kingdom Egypt), photographed by Mary Harrsch at the Discovery of King Tut exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland, Oregon (2016) : https://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/44741722010/in/photostream/ and https://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/33783844026/in/photostream/

Detail of Bes and the drain hole (with the snake in an improperly position, facing front), thanks to ©flydime and posted on flickr : https://www.flickr.com/photos/flydime/3940873078/

 

7.17  The snakes next to Bes's heads on King Tut's chariots

Just next to the Bes representations on the back of King Tut's chariots, we can see snakes. These snakes are explaining that water was gushing out of Bes's heads. Remember : snakes are representations of the water from the annual inundation of the Nile, and they were created by Hapi.

 

The archaic look of the Bes deity is referring to the grotto and the Al-Ma'mun cavity of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Stela for a lion god with Bes and Beset, limestone, Roman Period (NCG 314), photographed by Dosseman : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allard_Pierson_Museum_Bes_and_Beset_stela_7605.jpg

Cosmetic Container in the Form of a Bes-image, 525–404 B.C. Accession Number: 1989.281.94 from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New-York : https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544908

Soft tissue reconstruction of a Paleolithic hunter (homo sapiens) with a spear-thrower and spear (Cro-Magnom 1, Les Eyzies de Tayac, France). Natural History Museum, Vienna (Austria). Photographed by Wolfgang Sauber : https://fr.vikidia.org/wiki/Homme_de_Cro-Magnon#/media/File:NHM_-_Homo_sapiens_Modell_1a.jpg

 

7.18  The archaic look and the animal skins

In the above relief showing Bes and Beset, one important thing to note is that both are set inside grottos. These grottos are referring to the grottos of the Great Pyramid : the grotto next to the well-shaft and the cavity supposedly digged by the Caliph Al Mamoun.

These grottos explain why Bes was represented wearing animal hides.

Ancient Egyptians were looking at their ancestors, exactly the same way we do ourselves today : they were imagining them with an archaic kind of "animal" look, wearing animal hides and living into grottos.

Because the draining of the inclined well started and finished into grottos, Bes as a metaphor of that draining was depicted exactly like these ancestors, having a very archaic look and wearing animal skins.

 

7.19  Bes as a dwarf because of the grotto

We've seen in previous posts that it is in the grotto of the Great Pyramid of Giza (next to the well-shaft), that was initiated and triggered the breach opening and the draining of the inclined well.

For that to happen, someone had to get to the grotto and secure himself from the inevitable part of the water from the King's chamber tank that would find its way to the grotto : both the King's chamber and the inclined well were drained during this unique operation. Most probably, the Davison chamber was as well drained at the same time.

Whoever was the one who accomplished this task from the shelter in the grotto, he (but it could also had been a woman of course), would have been most certainly chosen for his small size.

He could have been a dwarf, but it is also possible that the dwarf reference is only another metaphor for the small size of the person who did the job.

 

7.20  The Demons and the Party

"He scared away demons from houses, so his statue was put up as a protector. Since he drove off evil, Bes also came to symbolize the good things in life – music, dance, and sexual pleasure." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bes

One of the most important things about Bes concerns demons and what we could summarize as "partying".

If Bes was "scaring AWAY demons" and "DROVING OFF evil" is clearly referring to the fact that he was actually the one who THREW OUT all the waters of the well, the "partying" thing is completely different in the interpretation.

The draining of the well was the very last stage of the Great Pyramid operating : it was its conclusion. And what do we do today in this situation ?

Yes, we party !

 

Diagram of the Great Pyramid of Giza in operation.

 

Very quick abstract of the study

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs used chemistry and physics to legitimate themselves as kings of Egypt, and they forged an entire religion for that matter : gods were self-glorification metaphors of their scientific accomplishments. The end game of this technological program was the Great Pyramid of Giza where evaporative cooling was engineered in the known part of the pyramid, using the power of water, most probably as suggested by the strong ammonia smell in the Red Pyramid, to cool down chemical manufacturing of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. At that time, sodium carbonate was called natron, and it was the salt used for the mummification of the pharaohs.

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, and that plate is precisely what is the disc of Sabu.

If mastering the Solvay-process was important, it actually looks like the cold was the most magical phenomenon worshiped by ancient Egyptians, as suggested by Akhenaten and Nefertiti who represented themselves as Shu and Tefnut, the deities that combined together were creating the evaporative cold (Shu = dry warm air, and Tefnut = spat water).

Also, the very first pyramid complex, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was called "the refreshment of the Gods".

 

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