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Comyns Beaumont on Egyptologists
Considerable license has been
permitted to Egyptologists because they concern
themselves with a form of scientific research
committed to a small body of archaeologists, who
seemingly agree tacitly among themselves to put
forward claims of which a great many are purely
hypothetical or based on false premises to an
earnest student of these antiquities. The innocent
Victorians swallowed with blind faith the surprising
ease whereby from Champollion onward Egyptologists
have professed to translate from hieroglyphics
monuments and papyri with almost as much certainly
as a modern linguist can translate one living tongue
into another. Behind it all, lay, and still does,
the object of throwing a clearer light on the
accuracy of Bible history generally, and to the
archaeologists for the most part to write anything
which confirms Moses and Bible history generally
induces pious folks to subscribe large sums for
excavation purposes to those who claim to be able to
reassure them from any agnostic doubts. In some
cases these archaeological claims are absolutely
dishonest; in others, excavators and so forth are
led astray by their own enthusiasm…For these reasons
any Egyptologists clam to interpret the past should
be looked upon with the utmost reserve.
Religious Intolerance
Imperialist
Suppression
In 356 C.E.
Constantinus II ordered the Egyptian temples of
Isis-Osiris closed and forbade the use of Egyptian
hieroglyphics as a religious language. In 380 C.E.
Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity to be the
official Roman state religion, and all pagan cults
were thereafter forbidden. These edicts were
devastating to Egyptian culture and religion, both
of which had been preserved over millennia through
the Egyptian language and the writing systems of
Egyptian priests. In 391 C.E. the Patriarch of
Alexandria, Theophilus, summoned the monks to arms
and turned them against the city of Memphis and the
great shrine of Serapis, the Serapeum, the main
temple of the Osirian-Isis religion. The attack was
akin to ordering the destruction of the Vatican.
Egyptian priests were massacred in their shrines and
in the streets. The ferocity of the violence
consumed priests, followers, and the Egyptian
intellectual elite of Alexandria, Memphis, and other
cities of Egypt who were murdered and their temples
and libraries destroyed. The institutional structure
of Egyptian religion, then more than four millennia
old, was demolished in less than two decades -
R. A. Gabriel (Jesus the Egyptian)
...The wave
of religious terrorism that swept Egypt for twenty
years seemed to some Egyptians to herald the end of
the world. "If we are alive," one wrote, "then life
itself is dead" - ibid
Old and New
The way of the Egyptian was to accept
innovations and to incorporate them into his thought
without discarding the old and outmoded. This means
that it is impossible to find in ancient Egypt a
system in our sense, orderly and consistent. Old and
new lie blandly together like some surrealist
picture of youth and age on a single face –
(Before Philosophy)
Magic and Ritual
Pharaonic Egypt in its entirety,
from beginning to end as well as it all its works,
is a ritual gesture – R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz
(Egyptian Miracle)
The Trinity
Each neter…is a trinity, comprising a
masculine and feminine aspect, and their product, such
as Amon-Mut-Khonus
– R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz
Age of Egypt
Today, historians ascribe the
foundation of Egyptian civilization to approximately
3100 BC
–
Lorraine Evans
The Labyrinth
...the famous labyrinth of Egypt
represented the twelve houses of the Sun, to which
it was consecrated by twelve palaces, which
communicated with each other, and which formed the
mass of the temple of that luminary, which engenders
the year and the seasons in circulating in the
twelve signs of the zodiac
- Dupuis (The Origin of all Religious
Worship)
The Sphinx (Akar)
When amongst the Egyptians there is
any King chosen out of the Military Order, he is
forthwith brought to the Priests, and by them
instructed in that Arcana Theology, which conceals
the Mysterious Truths under obscure Fables and
Allegories. Wherefore they place Sphinxes before
their Temples, to signify that their Theology
contained a certain Arcane and Enigmatical Wisdom in
it
– Plutarch (Greek Historian)
The secrets of enlightenment are to
be found symbolized in the Great Sphinx at Giza,
Egypt –
Peter Dawkins
The date of 8700 BC for the Sphinx
closely matches the time given by Plato for the
establishment of Egypt by “the Goddess”. In his
Timaeus,
it is related that the wise Solon visited Egypt and
talked with the priests, who told him, “The age of
our institutions is given in our sacred records as
eight thousand years....” Athens, they said, was a
thousand years older than that. The date of this
conversation, which is best known as being the
earliest known discussion of Atlantis, was about 593
B.C., which puts the establishment of Egypt around
8600 B.C. The confirmation of this date provided by
the Sphinx, which obviously celebrated the
“foundation” of Egypt as it commemorated the earlier
“foundation” of the Earth, erases all doubt about
the truth of Plato’s account - Huffman (End
of the Mysteries)
The True King David
In an
Eighteenth Dynasty hymn, Tuthmosis III (c.
1490-1436 BCE) is identified as the son of God.
He is "begotten by Amon-Re." In a first-person
address to this famous king, the supreme god
ascribes him with many of the characteristics
that later appear in Psalm 2 and in the
Psalter's presentation of David
- Professor Thomas L. Thompson (The
Messiah Myth)
Heliopolis
The oldest seat of the cult of the
Sun-god was the famous city of Anu, the On of the
Bible, and the Heliopolis of Greek and Latin writers
- E. A. Wallis Budge
St. Michael and Anubis
Archaeological explorations have
indicated him as identical with Anubis, whose effigy
was lately discovered upon an Egyptian monument,
with a cuirvass and holding a spear, like St.
Michael and St. George. He is also represented as
slaying a dragon, that has the head and tail of a
serpent – Madame Blavatsky (Isis Unveiled)
Anubis
Anup was the type-figure of our inner
divinity that senses the straight road through the dark
night of human life, when the god is in the
Goetterdaemmerung on earth - Gerald Massey
Imperishable Stars…I have found
you knit together, your face is that of a jackal,
your hinder-parts are the Celestial Serpent –
(Egyptian Pyramid Text)
Horus the Balancer
I am the god who keepeth opposition
in equipoise –
(The Ritual of Ancient Egypt)
Horus and the
Cross
Horus was
also crucified in the heavens. He was represented
like...Jesus Christ, with outstretched arms in
the vault of heaven - T.
W. Doane (Bible Myths and their Parellels in
Other Religions)
Osiris and
Horus were crucified as 'saviors' and 'redeemers;'
the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Osiris
forming the great mystery of the Egyptian religion.
Prometheus, of Greece, was with chains nailed to the
rocks of Mount Caucasus, 'with arms extended,' as a
savior; and the tragedy of the crucifixion was acted
in Athens 500 years before the Christian era -
William W. Hardwicke (The
Evolution of Man)
...in the
version by Church father Hippolytus...the Aeon Horus
is called by his "primary title," Stauros, meaning
"cross." Hence, in ancient times - during the second
century, precisely when Christianity was finding its
footing - there existed in Egypt the concept of
Horus as the Cross personified
- D. M. Murdock (Christ in Egypt)
Anubis, Thoth,
and the Cross
Anubis is also the messenger of the gods, equivalent
to the Greek god Hermes or Mercury, the counterpart
of Egyptian lunar god Thoth...Moreover, like Those,
whose emblem is the Tau or T, Anubis is "never
without a cross," specifically the life-giving ankh,
one of the holiest symbols in Egyptian
religion..."The cross with a handle which Tot holds
in his hand was none other than the monogram of his
name" - D. M. Murdock (Christ
in Egypt)
Motto of the Magi
Ntef anuk anuk ntef –
"He is I and I am He"
The All Seeing Eye
I am the all-seeing eye of Horus,
whose appearance strikes terror - (Egyptian
Text)
Serpent Wands
And it is admitted that Pharaoh
had wise men, sorcerers, “magicians of Egypt,” who
had rods which became serpents as types of
transformation. These rods are to be seen in the
hands of the wise men portrayed in the Ritual, but
not for any such fool’s play as is described in the
book of Exodus - Comyns Beaumont
Astrology and the Pyramid
On the Eastern or Great Pyramid,
built by the ancients, the celestial spheres were
inscribed, likewise the positions of the stars and
their circles, together with the history and
chronicles of past times, of that which is to come,
and of every future event. Also one may find there
the fixed stars and what comes about in their
progression from one epoch to another
- Masoudi (Tenth Century Arabian
author and historian)
Mer
This was a common word in Egyptian meaning Pyramid.
Book of the Dead
Purportedly predates the period of King
Menes, the first historical monarch. It is dated to
roughly 5867 BC or 8,000 years ago.
Khonsu
...was
depicted as a handsome youth, and he symbolized, in
the Theban group of gods, certain specialized
influences of the moon. He was the love god, the
Egyptian Cupid...he
was also an explorer (the root khens signifies "to
traverse") and the messenger and hunter of the gods
– Mackenzie (Egyptian Myth and Legend)
Osiris
The story of Osiris is nowhere
found in a connected form in Egyptian literature,
but everywhere, and in texts of all periods, the
life, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Osiris
are accepted as facts universally admitted
- E. A. Wallis Budge (The Book of the Opening of
the Mouth)
The Egyptians of every period in which they are
known to us believed that Osiris was of divine
origin, that he suffered death and mutilation at the
hands of the powers of evil, that after a great
struggle with these powers he rose again, that he
became henceforth the king of the underworld and
judge of the dead, and that because he had conquered
death the righteous also might conquer death...In
Osiris the Christian Egyptians found the prototype
of Christ, and in the pictures and statues of Isis
suckling her son Horus, they perceived the
prototypes of the Virgin Mary and her child -
E. A. Wallis Budge (Egyptian
Religion)
It must not be forgotten that at
this period the Osirian religion was extremely
popular. The king and his subjects became Osiris
after their death. Osiris was the Dead God and the
God of the Dead. During his life on earth the
sovereign had been the tangible and glorious
representative of Horus, or of Ra the sun god. But
after passing into the kingdom of the shadows, he
assumed the form of the divine mummy, Osiris, before
being born again resplendent with youth. Therefore,
to represent truly the two aspects of the gods (Ra
and Osiris, the living and the dead, the future and
the past, the day and the night, in one
word--eternity), the kings had to go through these
two essential stages, youth and old age, which
assured them of a long solar existence and brought
them close to the brief Osirian night--death. This
doctrine is inherent in the phrase from The Book of
the Dead, "as to Osiris, it is yesterday; as to Ra,
it is tomorrow." The sculptured faces of the
sovereigns were, therefore, intentionally aged,
even, as one sometimes finds them, in buildings
erected during their youth. This would assure them,
by "sympathetic magic", a reign that would enable
them to complete the necessary full cycle of life,
to assure them of the Osirian "passage" and thus
affirm at one stroke their divine being and eternal
life. A bas-relief in the Louvre bearing the name of Sesostris
III shows two effigies of the same king, the one as
a young man, the other, not retouched after the
event, as a typical old man. Here again it was
necessary to imagine the features of the sovereign
in advance by exaggerating them; the image is more
one of old age than an image of the sovereign when
he was old
- F. L. Kenett and Christiane Desroches Noblecour (Ancient
Egypt: The New Kingdom and the Amarna Period)
Osiris (and Easter)
The ceremony of Osiris was a four day
event which took place on the week after the full moon,
during the vernal equinox season.
Easter meaning and Easter ecstasy
will forever elude us if we can not understand it as
the drama, not of one man's history long passed and
historically demonstrated as powerless to give us
the immortality it has been presumed to promise, but
of our own life history, the scenario of our
transfiguration yet to come -
Alvin Boyd Kuhn (Easter: Birthday
of the Gods)
Osiris as Son and Husband
…as Bunsen shows, Osiris was represented
in Egypt as at once the son and husband of his mother;
and actually bore, as one of his titles of dignity and
honour, the name "Husband of the Mother." * This still
further casts light on the fact already noticed, that
the Indian God Iswara is represented as a babe at the
breast of his own wife Isi, or Parvati
– Alexander Hislop (The Two Babylons)
The Scorpion
The scorpion was also the symbol
of wisdom, for the fire which it controlled was
capable of illuminating as well as consuming.
Initiation into the Greater Mysteries among the
pagans was said to take place only in the sign of
the scorpion. In the papyrus of Ani (The Book of the
Dead), the deceased likens his soul to a scorpion,
saying: "I am a swallow, I am that scorpion, the
daughter of Ra!" Elizabeth Goldsmith, in her
treatise on Sex Symbolism, states that the scorpions
were a "symbol of Selk, the Egyptian goddess of
writing, and also [were] revered by the Babylonians
and Assyrians as guardians of the gateway of the
sun. Seven scorpions were said to have accompanied
Isis when she searched for the remains of Osiris
scattered by Set" (Typhon)
- Manly Palmer Hall
Isis
Long before St. Paul spread the good news to the
Christians, the priests and lay followers of Isis
had spread their gospel to the people of the
Mediterranean basin - R. A. Gabriel (Jesus
the Egyptian)
Isis came to be regarded as the most
powerful of all the gods. By Roman times she had
become the Egyptian deity par excellence and was
known across three continents, even reaching
northern Britain. In fact she was at one point
neck-and-neck with Jesus Christ, who only just beat
her in the race to become Rome’s ‘official’ deity,
and her temple at Philae in Egypt remained a bastion
of the ancient religion until AD 550
- Dr. Joann Fletcher (The Search
for Nefertiti)
Neith
Neith, a goddess closely associated
with warfare who came to be symbolized by a shield
and crossed arrows. A very androgynous figure, Neith
was referred to as ‘the male who acts female, the
female who acts male,’ although she also shared many
of the characteristics of Egypt’s mother goddesses,
being both nurturing and destructive - Dr. Joann
Fletcher (The Search for Nefertiti)
Although Neith is certainly the most
appealing of the great creators, ancient Egypt’s
multi-faceted religion had at least three more
creation myths. IN the most graphic version, the sun
god Atum masturbated to produce two children, Shu
and Tefnut, although in some versions he simply
sneezed out his appropriately named son – ‘Shuu!’
The sun god’s two children were also perfect models
for the king and queen, and Akhenaton and Nefertiti
were shown as this god and goddess due in their
‘grotesque’ statues of Karnak. And, as daughter of
the sun, Tefnut was often merged with Sekhmet, whose
destructive powers she shared
- Dr. Joann Fletcher (The Search
for Nefertiti)
Female Pharaohs
Neithikret –
Sixth Dynasty
Sobeknofru –
Twelfth Dynasty
Hatshepsut – Eighteenth Dynasty
Nefertiti - Eighteenth Dynasty
Tawosret –
Nineteenth Dynasty
Cleopatra – Ptolemaic Dynasty
Equality for Women
Surviving records also show that men
and women seem to have received the same pay rations
for doing the same work…Some royal women are known
to have controlled the treasury as well as owning
their own palaces estates and workshops, and women,
as independent citizens, could own property, buy and
sell it, make wills and choose which of their
children would inherit from them
- Dr. Joann Fletcher (The Search
for Nefertiti)
Incest
…royal incest between full siblings
really only became policy with the later Ptolemaic
pharaohs, who were in fact European –
Dr. Joann Fletcher (The Search for
Nefertiti)
No Marriage Ceremonies Recorded
…there is no evidence for any kind
of legal or religious marriage ceremony in ancient
Egypt. If a couple fell in love and wanted to be
together, the families would hold a big party,
presents would be exchanged and the couple set up
home - Dr. Joann Fletcher (The Search for
Nefertiti)
Pharaoh Meretseger
Her title was “She who loves silence”
Sekh Shat
Name of the common language of Egypt.
Language of Egypt
Academic Egyptologists claim that
they have deciphered and understand the ancient
Egyptian language. But do they? Deciphering the
ancient Egyptian language began with Champollion
(ca. 1822), but practically ended then…One can
easily see the struggle of academia, to understand
the ancient Egyptian language, which reached a dead
end, as is reflected in an apparent “deciphering” of
no more than 1500 words that have contradictory and
confusing meanings…Even if we accept academically
deciphered ancient Egyptian terms and names, which
is equivalent to about 1500 English-language words
and terms, this number is less than 1% of the
vocabulary listed in an average English language
dictionary. With such a small fraction, the evidence
is clear that their whole effort was a sham
- Moustafa Gadalla (Exiled Egyptians)
The Alphabet and Language
Egyptology is just guessing in
many respects, for we do not know the phonetic value
of any of the vowels in these names. The vowels of
each word are not given in any of the hieroglyphs;
as in many ancient languages, they were simply not
written down and had to be remembered, but the
spoken language of the Egyptians died out about a
millennium ago. In the absence of any firm data on
how these names are to be pronounced and in a
somewhat cavalier fashion. Egyptology simply states
that where a vowel sound is unknown, and “e” should
be inserted into the word. Take a look at the
Egyptian names; there are an awful lot of e’s
around. This convention has also hit
long-established pharaonic names, so that Akhenaton
has become Akhenaten in many texts…We are not
entirely certain of the phonetic value of each of
the consonants in these Egyptian names either. The
Greeks came to Egypt in the centuries before the
Christian era, when the Egyptians were still
speaking their original language. Yet the Greeks
sometimes tended to give very different sounds to
Egyptian names. They often differ considerably from
what has been teased out of the texts by modern
comparisons with the Coptic language
– Ralph Ellis
Egyptian is first attested in written
form around 3300 BC, and survived as a spoken
language until the fifteenth century –
Lorraine Evans (Kingdom of the Ark)
Hieroglyphs
Nothing stood in the way of inventing
a system of writing akin to the Babylonian, the
Hindu, or the Hebrew. In the light of the refinement
brought to their thinking by the ancient Egyptians,
such as we see it in their works and such as it is
epitomized and proved in our study of the temple of
Luxor, only one conclusion can be drawn. It is of
their own free will that they fostered this ode of
writing, whatever its consequences -
R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz (Egyptian
Miracle)
Egypt and Christianity
Egypt was one of the first countries
in the world to become Christianized…When, on the
orders of Constantine the Great, Christianity became
the state religion of the Roman Empire, Alexandria
was already one of the major patriarchies. With the
closure of the pagan temples, the Church
consolidated its power
– Adrian G. Gilbert (Magi: The Search for a
Secret Tradition)
Temple of Horus at Edfu
On the new temple is pictures and
information about all the previous temples which
occupied that spot. Many of the temples are built on
sites of many previous ones. This disguises the nature
of the temples that were of earlier design.
The Dynasties
Egyptologists divide the history of
Egypt into thirty-one separate dynasties, grouped
into three major periods when stable and unified
government presided over the land. These periods are
usually termed the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms
–
Lorraine Evans (Kingdom of the Ark)
Manetho’s King Lists
In this history of Egypt, Manetho
gave a list of the kings of Egypt, which he divided
into three parts, each containing several groups of
kings which he called "dynasties," but it is not
quite clear what he meant by the word "dynasty."
Though his history is lost, four copies of his
king-list are preserved in the works of later
writers. The oldest of these is that which is said
to have been written by Julius Africanus, in the
third century of our era, which is preserved in the
"Chronicle of Eusebius," bishop of Cęsarea, born
A.D. 264, and died about 340
– Brian Brown (Wisdom of the Egyptians)
Spurious King Lists
Sadly, as a historical chronology
these lists are inadequate on their own as they fail
to provide the length of each individual pharaoh’s
reign –
Lorraine Evans (Kingdom of the Ark)
A royal list was discovered in the
temple of Karnak at the turn of the century. Now in
the Louvre Museum, it included the names of those
kinds who had preceded Tutmosis III around 1500 BC.
Lords of Defense
Egyptian
Priests were known as “Lords of
Defense” - Lana Cantrell
The Ebers Papyrus
Which is reminiscent of the word
Ibaru/Hebrew – is “a compendium of prescriptions
directed at the first effects of EMR and warfare at
its absolute worst and is the property of someone
very much in direct contact with it who had a high
knowledge of the human body and its functions
-
Lana Cantrell (The Greatest Story
Never Told)
I came forth from Heliopolis with
the priests of her-aat, the Lords of Defense, the
Kings of Eternity and of Protection. I came forth
from Sais, with the Maternal Goddess who grant me
protection. Words were given me by the Lord of the
Universe wherewith to drive away the inflictions of
all the gods, and deadly diseases of every sort –
(The Ebers Papyrus)
Pharaoh Psammetichus I
Psammetichus
I, twenty-sixth dynasty, was considered by the
people as a usurper who delivered Egypt “to the
dregs of the nations,” to foreigners, by
facilitating their installation. In particular, he
surrounded himself by Greek mercenaries and
conferred upon them highest civil and military posts
in the court - Cheikh Anta
Diop (African Origin of Civilization: Myth
or Reality)
Ahmose I
Sekenenra
appears to have been a handsome and dashing soldier.
He was tall, slim, and active, with a strong,
refined face of dark Mediterranean type. Probably he
was a descendant of one of the ancient families
which had taken refuge in the south after the Hyksos
invaders had accomplished the fall of the native
monarchy. His queen, Ah-hotep, who was a hereditary
princess in her own right, lived until she was a
hundred years old. Her three sons reigned in
succession, and continued the war against the
Hyksos. The youngest of these was Ahmes I, and he
was the first Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. Ah-hotep
must have followed his career with pride, for he
drove the Asiatics across the frontier. She survived
him, and then lived through the reign of Amenhotep I
also, for she did not pass away until Thotmes I
ruled in splendour over united Egypt, and caused its
name to be dreaded in western Asia
- Donald MacKenzie (Egyptian Myth and Legend,
1907)
The Eighteenth Dynasty was a
period when Egypt was experiencing its greatest era
of prosperity. The countries success lay in the
activities of its first ruler and founder, the great
military leader Ahmose who, in around 1550 BC,
successfully rid the land of the loathed Hyksos
rulers, and united Egypt once more –
Lorraine Evans (Kingdom of the Ark)
Tell-el-Amarna Tablets
Although the Tell-el-Amarna
tablets give much information regarding Canaan at
about the period of the Exodus, they make no
allusions to the Jews in Egypt or to the great
catastrophe caused by the events preceding their
escape - Ernest Busenbark
(Symbols, Sex and the Stars)
The Twin Scepters
The Hekat (a hook, held in the left
hand), and the Nekhakha (whip, flagellum, held in the
right hand)…the flail was the symbol of knowledge and
discrimination, similar to Thor’s Hammer, it was the
remover of obstacles, the thresher, divider, discerner.
Precious
Records Damaged
…one ancient text has survived: a
list of some 300 kings, written on a long sheet of
papyrus dating from 1200 BC. Though damaged and now
incomplete, it is the finest record of the
chronology of the Egyptian kings. Originally, in the
possession of the King of Sardinia, it was sent to
Turin in a box without any packing for protection.
Consequently, it arrived at its destination broken
into innumerable fragments. Called the Royal Canon
or Turin after the museum in which it is housed, it
not only gives the order of succession, but also
provides the exact period of each reign, right down
to the months and days –
Lorraine Evans (Kingdom of the Ark)
Separatism and Incest
They were unique and it appears that
during the Eighteenth Dynasty the royal family had
no desire either to increase its umbers or to unite
with any other families. Incestuous marriages were
therefore the most suitable means of ensuring the
purity of the royal line
- Lorraine Evans (Kingdom of the
Ark)
Hermes
It is highly probable that the Greek
initiates gained their knowledge of the philosophic
and therapeutic aspects of music from the Egyptians,
who, in turn, considered Hermes the founder of the
art. According to one legend, this god constructed
the first lyre by stretching strings across the
concavity of a turtle shell. Both Isis and Osiris
were patrons of music and poetry. Plato, in
describing the antiquity of these arts among the
Egyptians, declared that songs and poetry had
existed in Egypt for at least ten thousand years,
and that these were of such an exalted and inspiring
nature that only gods or godlike men could have
composed them
– Manly Palmer Hall
Vizier
From the Egyptian wsr, another
name for Osiris, king of the underworld. This became
wasir, later the Turkish version vizier,
which got picked up in the English.
The
Five Names of Pharaoh
There were five names. But before the
Third Century all Pharaohs were known by only one, their
Horus Name, the most important one.
Isis of the Seven Veils
Was originally a reference to the weaver
goddess Neith.
Amen Ra
Dating to somewhere in the
prehistoric era, the cult of Ra had developed
primarily at Heliopolis in the north. He was
effectively the god of the king and was embraced for
the most part by the Royal Family and the higher
echelons of Egyptian society. Accordingly, he had no
appeal to the general masses. Nevertheless, by
openly uniting the two gods, the Middle Kingdom
rulers hoped to spark a move towards a more personal
piety. In Amun, the people of Egypt had discovered a
deity that was sympathetic to all levels while the
Ra element appeased the higher nobility
– Lorraine Evans (Kingdom of the
Ark)
Tatenen
Egyptian term for the creator God.
Serekh
The precinct or enclosure that housed the
chief gods, Osiris, Isis and Nephthys. This can
represent the Human Brain with its three principle
centers, the Pineal, Pituitary and Hypothalamus.
(Thalamus in Greek means bridal chamber)
Khen Khat
the couch upon which the dead are laid. A
symbol of resurrection.
Tept
The abyss, same as Nun.
Makhu
The
scales of the goddess Maat.
Makara
Name for the sign of Capricorn
The Bull
A chief symbol of the Pharaoh.
Horus Horakhti
This does
not mean Horus of the two Horizons, but of the “Two
Gates.”
Apta
The primordial mound. Also the equator.
Considered the highest rise from the waters.
Tesherit
– Place of Set. The barren desert regions.
Kamit
– the fertile regions.
Uraeus
The Hebrews follow the Babylonians in
confusing the Uraeus Serpent with the serpent of
death -
Gerald Massey (Ancient Egypt Light
of the World)
Menat
An ornament sacred to Hathor, seems to be
shaped to represent the male sperm. It was worn by the
gods, like Khonsu (aspect of Horus).
The Sekhemti
The twin serpents of the goddesses Isis
and Nephthys (Uatchet and Nekhebet).
The Uatchet
In the Book of the Coming Forth by
Day, Uatchet is the destroyer of the evil forces
which try to defeat the initiate. In the Osirian
resurrection story she assists Isis when she is
fleeing from Set
- Muata Ashby (Serpent Power)
Nehebka
The serpent goddess who assisted Anubis
during the reconstitution of Osiris.
Rekhit (or Rekh)
Means the sage or holy one.
Hekau
The sacred call or utterance.
Amenta
Same as Tuat, namely, the Underworld.
Geb
Father of Osiris, husband of Nut
Asten
– One of the gods of the Judgment, along with Anubis,
and so on.
The
Letter "T"
In Egyptian the letter signified the sun.
BA Self and the Bee
Again the bee and the ba stand in a striking
similitude in that both perform the function of the
priest as marriage officient. As the bee, by introducing
the fertilizing pollen of the male organs of the flower
into the female organs and thus marries the two for the
birth of seed, so the ba, by his intermediary
offices in the psychic economy of human life, marries
the two forces of the polarity, soul and body - Alvin
Boyd Kuhn
The KA Self
“…the Egyptian speaks about his Ka
very much the same way as we do about “my vitality,”
“his will power” - Henri Frankfort (Kingship
of the Gods)
The Ka, Ba and Akh
They represent different aspects
of the dead, one of which, the Ka, belongs to man in
this life as well as in the Hereafter - Henri
Frankfort (Kingship of the
Gods)
Ka as Ruach
Now it is possible to identify the Ka
with the life-spirit (which the Old Testament calls
ruah or nephesh) which returns to God
after death - Henri Frankfort (Kingship
of the Gods)
…the Ka, as a vital force, supports man upon earth
as well as the Beyond - Henri Frankfort (Kingship
of the Gods)
Hemsut
Rarely mentioned feminine aspect of the
Ka.
The AB
This is the Conscience, the manner in
which a man judges himself.
Secret Tradition
Von Mosheim says (Vol. I, 21) that
the Egyptian priests had a sacred code of their own
"founded on very different principles from those
which characterized the popular religion, and it was
studiously concealed from the curiosity of the
public by wrapping it up in characters the meaning
and power of which were only known to themselves.
Secrecy
The Egyptians do not reveal their
Religious Mysteries promiscuously to all, nor
communicate the knowledge of divine things to the
Profane, but only to those who are to succeed in the
kingdom, and to such of the Priests as are judged most
fitly qualified for the same, upon account of their
birth and Education
– Clement of Alexandria (Early Christian Theologian)
Serapeum
There is something almost unnatural
and something almost superhuman here. For what is
seen all along the huge tunnels and corridors are
dozens and dozens of enormous sunken niches, the
size of large living rooms, in which were inserted
massive granite sarcophagi that once contained the
mummified corpses of the Apis bulls. The size and
weight of these sarcophagi – some over 60 tons and
cut from a single block of granite – fire the
imagination for, at least, on face value, it is very
difficult to see how they were brought down there in
the first place let alone maneuvered into the niches
–
Graham Hancock & Robert Bauval (Talisman)
Division of Ten
C. Piazzi Smyth favors the Coptic
meaning, "a division into ten." - Manly Palmer
Hall
Red and Black Lands
Deshret - Red Crown of Lower Egypt
Hedjet - The White Crown of Upper Egypt.
Shmty – Combined Crowns
Kemet – The Black Land
House of the Serpent
The origin name of the pyramid according
to the Sumerians
Eleusinian Rites
Probably the most famous of later
Mysteries were the Eleusinian, whose rites were
celebrated mainly in the village of Eleusis near
Athens to honor Demeter. In 1374 BC, the King of
Eleusis, Eumolpos, spent seven years at the Great
Pyramid in Egypt completing his initiation and,
after returning home, started his Mystery School
patterned on Egyptian teachings. For the next twelve
hundred years, his descendants, the Eumolpidae,
presided over the Eleusinian Mysteries as
Hierophants
– Tony Bushby (The Secret in the Bible)
They were famous throughout Greece
for the beauty of their philosophic concepts and
their high standards of morality that they
demonstrated in their daily lives –
Tony Bushby (The Secret in the
Bible)
The Khuti
The four children of Horus. Children of
Light.
The Nile
The river Nile...was also honored
as a god, or as one of the beneficent causes of
Nature. It had its altars and temples at Nilopolis
or at the city of the Nile. Near the cataracts,
above Elephantis, there was a college of priests,
appointed to its worship. The most magnificent
feasts were given in its honor...All other active
parts of Nature received respectful homage of the
Egyptians. There was an inscription on an ancient
column in honor of the immortal Gods, and the Gods
which are mentioned there, are the Breath, or the
Air, Heaven, Earth, the Sun and the Moon, Night and
Day - Dupuis (The Origin
of all Religious Worship)
The Red Sea (Reed Sea)
The translation of iam suph (Hebrew)
as the "Red Sea" was a hint of ancient esotericists
to that effect, as the original sea water of the
biological evolution had become red. As a matter of
straight fact, the translation as "Red Sea" has no
other warrant, since iam suph does not translate as
"Red Sea" at all, but as "Reed Sea," several later
Bible translations having made the true translation
back to the true one, the "Reed Sea" -
Alvin Boyd Kuhn
The Egyptian
Year
Egyptians divided their year into three seasons:
Akhet - The Inundation
Per - Emergence
Shemu - Growing
The Nile Complex
Behdet
(Heliopolis) – Crown Chakra
Heliopolis – Brow
Memphis – Throat
Hermopolis – Heart
Abydos – Solar Plexus
Thebes – Sacral
Philae Island (Elephantine) – Root
Giza
Situated between Memphis and Heliopolis
Suspended Phase
The pyramid’s construction appears to
have been suspended for some time at the half way stage,
at half its height.
Psychostasia
weighing of the heart in Egyptian myth.
The
Heart
We know from numerous other texts
that “heart” stands for “intellect,” “mind” and even
“spirit” - Henri Frankfort (Kingship
of the Gods)
Hieraconopolis
Egypt’s oldest city.
Alpha Draconis
It has been found that 3,400 years before
Christ the ascending gallery was aligned with Alpha
Centauri and the descending gallery one aimed at Alpha
Draconis, the polar star of that time.
Isis and Typhon
The sistrum is designed to
represent to us, that every thing must be kept in
continual agitation, and never cease from motion;
that they ought to be mused and well-shaken,
whenever they begin to grow drowsy as it were, and
to droop in their motion. For, say they, the sound
of these sistra averts and drives away Typho;
meaning hereby, that as corruption clogs and puts a
stop to the regular course of nature; so generation,
by the means of motion, loosens it again, and
restores it to its former vigour. Now the outer
surface of this instrument is of a convex figure, as
within its circumference are contained those four
chords or bars [only three shown], which make such a
rattling when they are shaken--nor is this without
its meaning; for that part of the universe which is
subject to generation and corruption is contained
within the sphere of the moon; and whatever motions
or changes may happen therein, they are all effected
by the different combinations of the four elementary
bodies, fire, earth, water, and air--moreover, upon
the upper part of the convex surface of the sistrum
is carved the effigies of a cat with a human visage,
as on the lower edge of it, under those moving
chords, is engraved on the one side the face of
Isis, and on the other that of Nephthys--by the
faces symbolically representing generation and
corruption (which, as has been already observed, is
nothing but the motion and alteration of the four
elements one amongst another) – Manly Palmer
Hall (from From Plutarch's Isis and Osiris)
God Rested
This was Ptah, who rested after making
the creation.
Ptah Lord of the risen land
…works through the other gods, who
are animated, like the rest of the universe, by the
mysterious life-force emanating from the Creator -
Henri Frankfort (Kingship
of the Gods)
Isis and the Throne
…Isis was originally the deified
throne…The throne is shown by various expressions
which have become established to have been an object
of veneration in Egypt in early times. We have seen
that Memphis was called “The Great Throne” in the
Memphite theology - Henri Frankfort (Kingship
of the Gods)
Shu and Tefnut
Thou didst spit out Shu, thou
didst spew forth Tefnut - (Egyptian Creation
Text)
Pharaoh's Twin Self
It seems that each Pharaoh was
considered a twin: his “brother,” however, was
stillborn and passed immediately into the Beyond,
for it was the placenta, the afterbirth - Henri
Frankfort (Kingship of the
Gods)
Nun and Naunet (The Ogdoad)
Primeval matter and space. They gave rise
to Kuk and Kauket, the Illimitable and the Boundless.
From these came Huh and Hauhet, Darkness and Obscurity,
they gave rise to Amon and Amaunet, the Hidden and
Concealed ones.
Boats
These seem to represent birth. Cancer was
often shown as a boat, which is seen in the
constellation Argo in Cancer.
Shetaut Neter
The ancient Egyptian religion (Shetaut
Neter), language and symbols provide the first
“historical” record of Yoga Philosophy and Religious
literature. Egyptian Yoga is what has been commonly
referred to by Egyptologists as Egyptian “Religion”
or “Mythology”…Yoga, in all of its forms…was
practiced in Egypt earlier than anywhere else in
history
- Muata Ashby (Serpent Power)
Min
Also the protector and defender of Horus.
He hold the penis in one hand to indicate the vital, or
natural, energies and in the other he holds the flail,
to represent his mastery and control over those same
forces.
Kundalini Energy
Kundalini
energy, known as Prana, Chi, and Ra-Sekhem, flows
throughout thousands of “nadis” or energy channels.
If any of the channels are blocked or
over-sensitized, a disbalance can arise, causing
illness in the mind and physical body. There are
three most important channels through which the
Serpent Power flows. In India these are known as the
Sushumna, Ida, and Pingala - Muata Ashby (Serpent
Power)
In ancient Egyptian mythology and
yoga these two opposites are known as “Uadjit” and
“Nekhebet” or Isis and Nephthys, or the “Two
Ladies”…The serpents Uatchet and Nekhebet are equal
to the Ida and Pingala respectively…They are both
related to the left (lunar) and right (solar)
nostrils…The interaction of these two forces…cause
movements in the Life Force energy that is available
to each living being and supports their practical
existence in the physical realm
- Muata Ashby (Serpent Power)
Cleansing Ritual
This is known in Sanskrit as the Bhuta
Shudhi, in which the elements of the body are
cleansed. The subtle body’s cleansing is called Nadi
Shudhi. This process is known to take months, years,
or even lifetimes.
Origins of the Church in Egypt
Frustratingly, it is impossible to be certain about
the exact nature of the earliest form of
Christianity in Egypt, although it is know that it
arrived in Alexandria very early – probably even
before its advent in Rome itself. In fact, the
curious absence of references to such a major city
as Alexandria in any of the New Testament books has
often been remarked upon
– Pickett and Prince (Masks of Christ)
The
origins of the Church in Egypt are enveloped in a
deep mystery. When it was that Christianity was
first introduced into Egypt, and by whom, is totally
unknown – Bruce
Metzger (The Early Versions of the New Testament:
Their Origins, Transmission, and Limitations)
◊ ◊ ◊
From
Jesus the Egyptian
by Richard A. Gabriel

In
his excellent book, Gabriel shows that Christianity did
not evolve from Judaism but Osirianism.
However, he fails to show that ancient Judaism was also
a version of Egyptian theology and, for some
inexplicable reason he does not once reference any
master (such as Gerald Massey, Sigmund Freud, John
Remsberg, Conor MacDari, or Reverend Robert
Taylor) who comprehensively dealt with this subject matter in
ages past. Nevertheless, academic arrogance aside,
Gabriel's Jesus the Egyptian is highly
recommended:
Christianity is
Egyptian
...Christianity
derives the major premises of its theology from the
Egyptian religious tradition, specifically the
Osiris-Isis beliefs, that predated Christianity by
several millennia. The protestations of some
theologians to the contrary, Christianity did not
derive from the Judaism of its day...
Awakening to the Suppressed Truth
...the soul,
resurrection, judgement beyond the grave, and
eternal life. Egyptian thinking on these subjects
appeared to me to be theologically indistinguishable
from the beliefs that formed the core of my own
religious faith
Virgin Birth
Duplicated
Now the birth
of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When
his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but
before they lived together, she was found to be
with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband,
Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to
expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss
her quietly - (Matthew
1:18-19)
Here we
encounter elements of the Isis myth. Isis too,
conceived the god Horus after her husband, Osiris,
was dead leaving her open to the charge of
infidelity and her son to the charge of
illegitimacy. Even Joseph believed that Mary had
been unfaithful, for he "planned to dismiss her
quietly," that is, to divorce her, only to be talked
out of it by an angel who convinced him that Mary
was impregnated by the Holy Spirit
Baptism, not
Christian
Baptism is
the most fundamental Christian rite insofar as one
must be baptized to become a full participant in the
rituals of the Christian faith...The origins of
baptism are Egyptian...
...The
Egyptian baptismal rite has its origins in the
Heliopolitan worship of the sun early in the Pyramid
Age. The Egyptians believed that each morning the
sun passed the waters of the ocean before being
reborn each day and emerging purified and
revitalized. The ritual baptism of the pharaoh each
morning symbolized this event and renewed the life
and vigor of the recipient. At the start of each day
pharaoh entered the temple called the House of
Morning where the king prepared to make himself
worthy to greet the sun god. Two priests of Toth and
Horus sprinkled him with water from the Sacred Lake
of the temple. This holy water was believed to
possess special properties for it was believed to be
the body fluid of Osiris himself...
...As if to
insure that observers understood that the king was
being transformed and reborn, portrayals of the
pharaoh's baptism show a water jug held over his
head with water pouring from it. The water is
depicted not by the hieroglyph for water, but with
the ankh, the hieroglyph that symbolized life...
...The
Egyptian rite of baptism's emphasis upon
transforming the recipient so that he is acceptable
to god is almost identical in meaning to what
Christians attribute to Jesus when he was
baptized...Through his baptism Christ is reborn in
that like the Egyptian king his divinity is
reaffirmed and his powers drawn from god are
confirmed once again. Neither Jesus' baptism not
Egyptian baptism were about washing away sins or
seeking forgiveness for them
The Eucharist
The Eucharist
sacrifice is the most magic-soaked ritual in
Christianity and is most likely of Egyptian origin,
although elements of it can be found in other pagan
rituals
Morton Smith
suggests that accounts of the Eucharistic ritual
found in surviving magical texts "have their closest
parallels in Egyptian texts." Smith draws upon the
material contained in the Demotic Magical Papyrus
for examples of eucharistic rites that are similar
to the text of the institution of the Christian
eucharist. The Demotic Magical Papyrus was written
in the third century C.E., but its content is much
older.
I am he
of Abydos...I am this figure of one drowned that
testifieth by writing...as to which the blood of
Osiris bore witness...when it was poured in this
cup, this wine. Give it, blood of Osiris that he
gave to his Isis to make her feel love for
him...give it, the blood of (magician's name) to
(recipients name) in this cup, this bowl of
wine, today, to cause her to feel a love for him
in her heart, the love that Isis felt for Osiris
Imperialist
Suppression
In 356 C.E.
Constantinus II ordered the Egyptian temples of
Isis-Osiris closed and forbade the use of Egyptian
hieroglyphics as a religious language. In 380 C.E.
Emperor Theodosius declared Christianity to be the
official Roman state religion, and all pagan cults
were thereafter forbidden. These edicts were
devastating to Egyptian culture and religion, both
of which had been preserved over millennia through
the Egyptian language and the writing systems of
Egyptian priests. In 391 C.E. the Patriarch of
Alexandria, Theophilus, summoned the monks to arms
and turned them against the city of Memphis and the
great shrine of Serapis, the Serapeum, the main
temple of the Osirian-Isis religion. The attack was
akin to ordering the destruction of the Vatican.
Egyptian priests were massacred in their shrines and
in the streets. The ferocity of the violence
consumed priests, followers, and the Egyptian
intellectual elite of Alexandria, Memphis, and other
cities of Egypt who were murdered and their temples
and libraries destroyed. The institutional structure
of Egyptian religion, then more than four millennia
old, was demolished in less than two decades
...The wave
of religious terrorism that swept Egypt for twenty
years seemed to some Egyptians to herald the end of
the world. "If we are alive," one wrote, "then life
itself is dead."
The Trinity
Among the
most amazing and important events of the Ptolemaic
period was the establishment of the cult of the
Egyptian Osiris trinity as the official religion of
a state ruled by Macedonian Greeks with the result
that the cult of Isis spread throughout the
Mediterranean world becoming the most popular
religion of the age. The cult of Isis, Osiris, and
Horus was transmitted to Rome where, by the time of
Christ, it had become the most popular religious
faith of Romans, especially Roman soldiers
Long before St. Paul spread
the good news to the Christians, the priests and lay
followers of Isis had spread their gospel to the
people of the Mediterranean basin.
The Concept of
Soul
Egyptian
theologians appear to have been the first people to
conceive of the idea of a soul as an animating
principle of human material existence that was, in
itself, immaterial in substance and immortal in
nature so that its existence persisted beyond the
death of the material body. The idea was a soul was
among the earliest theological concepts invented by
the Egyptians, appearing for the first time in
written form during the Pyramid Age but having
existed for at least a millennium before that in
Egyptian religious thinking as contained in the
Osiris myth
First Ethical
Books and Philosophy
There are only two civilizations sufficiently old to
qualify as the source of ethical thinking: Egypt and
Mesopotamia. Both emerged about six thousand years
ago and developed writing and man's first serious
theologies at about the same time. But it was Egypt
that gave the world the gift of conscience
While other cultures had their theologies, the
depth, breadth, complexity, and level of abstraction
of Egyptian religious thinking make it difficult to
escape the impression that Egyptian theologians gave
the world the first theology worthy of the name
Virtue
Not Judeo-Christian
The Old and New Testaments
were plagiarizations and adaptations of the following
Egyptian documents on morality and right living:
The Book of Coming Into Life (or
Coming Forth by Day)
The Pyramid Texts
Memphite Drama: (From the
Pyramid Age, 2780 BC)
Maxims of Ptahhotep (by priest of King
Isesi, Fifth Dynasty)
Instructions of Kagemni (by Vizier of Pharaoh
Sneferu, 2700 BC)
Instructions of Amenemhat
Instruction of Amenemope
Maxims of Ani
Dialogue of a Misanthrope With His
Own Soul
Song of the Harp-Player
(2100 BC)
Admonition of Ipuwer
Reading any one of
these hoary manuscripts, let alone all of them, lays to
rest forever the nonsensical propagandist idea that the
world only learned how to be moral and righteous after
the Moses and his Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai
where they received the Ten Commandments. (Here
for a list of Egyptian wisdom texts predating the
rise of Judaism and Christianity.)
Direct Plagiarization
Have I not written for thee thirty sayings, of
counsel and knowledge! That thou mayest make known
truth to him that speaketh, That thou mayest carry
back words to him that sent thee -
(Proverbs 22:20-21):"
Consider these thirty chapters:
They delight, they instruct. Knowledge how to answer
him that speaketh, And how to carry back a report to
one who sent him - (Amenemope,
ch30)
Incline thine ear,
and hear my words, And apply thine heart to
apprehend; For it is pleasant if thou keep them in
thy belly, that they may be fixed like a peg upon
thy lips - (Proverbs
22:17-18)
Give thine ear,
and hear what I say, And apply thine heart to
apprehend; It is good for thee to place them in
thine heart, let them rest in the casket of thy
belly; That they may act as a peg upon thy tongue
- (Amenemope, ch1)
Rob not the poor, for he is
poor, neither oppress the lowly in the gate -
(Proverbs 22:22)
Beware of robbing
the poor, and oppressing the afflicted
- (Amenemope, ch2)
Man - His Own Savior
Unlike the Israelites and early Christians, the
Egyptians did not believe that sin represented a
transgression of divine law nor was sin a personal
ritual affront to the god as the Babylonians
believed. There was no expectation that the gods
would punish sin on this earth. There are no
instances in Egyptian theology that parallel the
murderous punishments of Yahweh against the sinners
among his own people...No one but the individual
himself caused sin and no one but the individual was
responsible for it. The idea of a sinful human
nature central to Christian ethics but unconvincing
to Judaism was absent from Egyptian moral thinking
Life Beyond the Grave
The Egyptians believed in a life beyond the grave
from very earliest times and the doctrine of eternal
existence became a leading feature of their
religious life history. It was an idea that greatly
affected Egyptian thinking about ethics, for if life
was possible beyond the grave, then the question of
who was to be saved and how became a central moral
question. Breasted rightly claimed that "among no
people, ancient or modern, has the idea of life
beyond the grave held no prominent a place as among
ancient Egyptians"
Cult of Osiris
The principles of Egyptian theology were all derived
from the incorporation of the Osiris myth into the
body of traditional Egyptian religious thought, a
process that began even before the First Union (3200
BC).
Once the Osiris myth asserted its importance within
the state solar theology, it was a matter of time
before it would spread to the rest of the populace.
The great attraction of the Osiris myth was its
promise of life after death
Osiris and Jesus
The story of Osiris, his death, resurrection, and
reward of eternal life has all the characteristics
of a dynastic struggle with historical roots that
was later infused with theological substance. The
legend begins with a conflict between two brothers,
Osiris and Set, who because they were kings or,
perhaps, aspirants to the same throne, were regarded
as sons of god who had taken on a human nature upon
their birth, an idea that pharaohs adopted to
explains their own divine origins. The divine Osiris
became man and suffered a human destiny by becoming
moral. He endured evil, torment, and death as the
experience of his humanity, and because the only
Egyptian god to suffer death and rise again from it,
events that make him from all the other gods of
ancient Egypt. The parallel with the Christian
doctrine concerning Jesus' human nature and
incarnation is obvious...
The
Coptic Church
The ancient Coptic Christians, familiar with much of
the evidence presented in these pages, concluded
long ago that God had prepared the land of Egypt in
a special way for his Christ. The Copts may be
justified in their conclusion, for Egyptian religion
more than Judaism seems the more appropriate
well-spring of Christianity...Jesus' teachings and
rituals did not represent a unique theological
creed, and certainly not an historical singularity
as theologians sometimes claim. Jesus' teachings and
his ritual practice were indistinguishable in every
important detail from those espoused and practiced
by the Osiris-Isis faith that had existed for
thousands of years before Jesus was born, and which
was the dominant pagan cult in Palestine and
throughout the Roman world at the time that Jesus
lived
Conflict Between Horus and Set
Christine
Hobson argues strongly for the view that the Osiris
myth has historical roots. She notes that in
pre-dynastic times there were few major cities along
the Nile. One of these cities was Nubt (near modern
Naqada), whose priesthood was dedicated to the local
god Seth. Nubt was an idea marketing center standing
on the banks of the Nile bank near Wadi Hammamat...The
other town located south of modern Luxor was the
town of Nekhen (modern El Kab). Its local god was
the falcon or Horus, a fact that gave rise much
later to the Greeks calling it Hieraconopolis of
Falcon city. The ancient story of the battle between
Horus and Seth that was folded into the Osiris myth
was probably a folk memory of a war between these
two cities. The victory of Horus over Seth, that is
of Hieraconopolis over Nubt, gave the former
authority over all of Upper Egypt as well as
southward to the Nubian border
Massacre of the
Innocent
When Set
learns that the child he knows that Horus will
someday attempt to revenge his father. Set sets out
to kill Horus. Isis hid in the reeds and swamps of
the Nile Delta where she nursed and raised her son
◊ ◊ ◊
From
Kingship and the Gods
by Henri Frankfort

Osiris
“Now if Osiris was originally a mythological figure
expressing the Egyptian conception of kingship, it
remains to explain in more detail…how this dead
chieftain, worshipped because the community viewed its
leader as an intermediary between man and nature, became
a god with whom every Egyptian identified himself in
death and in whom he placed reliance for his personal
salvation."
“It is obvious that the king who in life
had “kept the hearts alive” could lead his faithful
subjects through the crisis of death into an orderly
Beyond. In those days men based their own expectations
for life in the Hereafter upon their former relationship
with the deceased monarch. But, with the weakening of
kingship, toward the end of the Old Kingdom, the
reliance upon individual rulers was no longer justified.
The anarchy of the First Intermediate Period, while
defying understanding, destroyed Egyptian complacency.”
It has been shown that the
disillusionment of this age led to searching inquiries
into ultimate values and ethical standards which had up
until that time been implied and taken for granted
rather than proclaimed. In any case, while the
individual kings lost authority so that they could not
even maintain dominion over the whole of Egypt and the
claim that their power extended beyond the grave seemed
altogether preposterous, the traditional figure of
Osiris, the dead king resurrected in the Beyond and
living in the varied life that forth from the earth, was
not affected by the turmoil.”
Then he goes into the more psychological
reasons for the reverence toward Osiris. These reasons
are identical to those that we still see experienced by
those involved with the Christian ethos today.
“ Since the Egyptians could conceive
order only in terms of kingship, they now saw the
Hereafter under the guidance of Osiris. While the state
was disintegrating and Pharaoh disqualified, the dead
king, in his most general form, became king of the dead:
Then comes a passage that could be comparable to any
found in the Christian scriptures”
They are all thine, all those who come to
thee
Great and small, they belong to thee,
They who live upon earth, they all reach
thee,
Thou art their master, there is none
outside thee.
(Louvre stela C 218 )
The Commoners began to assiduously revere
the rites of Osiris. But we also read of the need,
arising out of the disillusion and fear, to make the
qualities of a god conform to fit the needs all too
human. This projected anthrocentricity prefigures the
modern theocracies.
“The smaller officials and the burghers,
in so far as they could own tombs substantial enough to
come down to us, show the new allegiance to and
identification with Osiris from the Middle Kingdom
onward…the identification with Osiris, which was, in
fact, the central feature of the funerary cult of the
Egypt after the Old Kingdom. It is a peculiar
innovation, but it can well be understood. When
confidence in the living ruler as a champion of his
followers here and in the Hereafter was shaken, Osiris
was not entirely adequate as a substitute. He was a
passive figure, not an aggressive leader likely to keep
back the hostile powers lurking in the Beyond. A change
of attitude toward the king of the dead was therefore to
be experienced.”
“Identification with Osiris led to a desire to imitate
as closely as possible the means by which he had
achieved the transition from life through death, unto
rebirth.”
With the interest in funerary rites of the new cult of
Osiris of the commoners there came the vulgarization of
the once sacred rites of the Old Kingdom.
“In the Middle Kingdom we find painted
within his coffin objects which he may need in the
Hereafter. And a little later, and especially in the New
Kingdom, this vulgarization of the royal rite goes so
far that we find figures wearing the crown of Lower
Egypt carried in the funerary procession of any
well-to-do Theban, while the mourners, or possibly hired
performers, bear titles which had been reserved for the
highest officials of the state in the time of the
pyramid builders.”
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Sources and References
Ancient Egyptian Wisdom Texts
Additional Reference
Material
Irish Origins Appendices Page
Irish Origins References
Atlantis Appendices Page
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