inheritance.’ Geb’s words to the Nine Gods: ‘To this heir, my inheritance.’ Geb’s words to the Nine Gods: ‘To the son of my son, Horus . . .’ Then Horus stood over the land. He is the uniter of this land, proclaimed in the great name: Ta-tenen, South of his Wall, Lord of Eternity. Then sprouted the two great magicians (crowns) upon his head. He is Horus, who arose as king of Upper and Lower Egypt, who united the Two Lands in the nome of the Wall (Memphis), the place in which the Two Lands were united. Reed and Papyrus were placed on the double door of the House of Ptah (a creator god). This means Horus and Seth, pacified and United. They fraternised so as to cease quarrelling in whatever place they might be, being united in the House of Ptah, the ‘Balance of the Two Lands’ in which Upper and Lower Egypt had been weighed. This is the land (of) the burial of Osiris . . . 10
It does not require much imagination to see that the ‘unification’ of Upper and Lower Egypt as described in the Memphite Theology has both a mythical and a cosmic ring to it. The land of the ‘burial of Osiris’ which is the Memphite region is almost certainly also the Duat, the starry underworld containing Orion, which, as we have seen, is the celestial form of Osiris. Bearing this in mind, the words of the Canadian Egyptologist Samuel Mercer have a particular resonance when he informs us that ‘the Duat was a kind of duplicate of Egypt. There was an Upper and Lower Duat, and it had a great river running through it.’ 11
The King and Seshat performing the Stretching the Cord ceremony, Temple of Karnak.
Reconstruction of the Stretching the Cord ceremony, Hilversum Studios, Holland.
Seshat counting the years on the palm branch,Temple of Seti I at Abydos.
The Stretching the Cord ceremony, Edfu temple.
Horus figure marking a spot in the Big Dipper with a spear.
The Giza necropolis from the east.
The author.View from the roof of the building where he lives.
Overhead view of Giza (south at top).
Giza Pyramids looking south-west.Note the offset of the smaller pyramid.
Orion. Note offset of smaller star ( Mintaka ) in Orion’s belt.
Orion’s belt showing offsetof smaller star Mintaka .
Star-shafts in Great Pyramid.
Angle of Orion’s belt at meridian in c. 11,500 BC.
Author at Abusir pyramids.
View of the Abusir pyramids from the sun-temple at Abu Ghorab. Note the alabaster sacrificial altar on lower left of plate.
Author at the Temple of Karnak, west entrance.
Sir Norman Lockyer c . 1899.
Elephantine Island at Aswan in the background. Author and view from the gardens of the Old Cataract Hotel.
Sunrise at winter solstice, Temple of Karnak.
This surely raises a question: could the idea of an Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt be rooted in astronomy?
Waiting for the New Age
On the afternoon of 31 December 1999 in Cairo, millennium hysteria was peaking. As midnight approached, people from all walks of life began to gather by the thousands at the Giza pyramids to witness the opening of a new age. Several months earlier, Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) had announced that it was going to place a golden capstone on the top of the Great Pyramid to mark the occasion, claiming that this was Egypt’s seventh millennium. The world’s media prepared itself by sending hundreds of television crews and journalists, all falling over one another for the exclusive rights. Then, at the last minute, the whole thing went pear-shaped. The placing of the golden capstone was cancelled for fear of ‘damaging the pyramid’, and to make things worse, the smoke from the fireworks mingled with the heavy humidity causing a thick mist that blotted the pyramids from sight. The new age began not with a bang but with a whimper. I happened to be at Giza during this night of madness. In vain I tried to explain to friends
It does not require much imagination to see that the ‘unification’ of Upper and Lower Egypt as described in the Memphite Theology has both a mythical and a cosmic ring to it. The land of the ‘burial of Osiris’ which is the Memphite region is almost certainly also the Duat, the starry underworld containing Orion, which, as we have seen, is the celestial form of Osiris. Bearing this in mind, the words of the Canadian Egyptologist Samuel Mercer have a particular resonance when he informs us that ‘the Duat was a kind of duplicate of Egypt. There was an Upper and Lower Duat, and it had a great river running through it.’ 11
The King and Seshat performing the Stretching the Cord ceremony, Temple of Karnak.
Reconstruction of the Stretching the Cord ceremony, Hilversum Studios, Holland.
Seshat counting the years on the palm branch,Temple of Seti I at Abydos.
The Stretching the Cord ceremony, Edfu temple.
Horus figure marking a spot in the Big Dipper with a spear.
The Giza necropolis from the east.
The author.View from the roof of the building where he lives.
Overhead view of Giza (south at top).
Giza Pyramids looking south-west.Note the offset of the smaller pyramid.
Orion. Note offset of smaller star ( Mintaka ) in Orion’s belt.
Orion’s belt showing offsetof smaller star Mintaka .
Star-shafts in Great Pyramid.
Angle of Orion’s belt at meridian in c. 11,500 BC.
Author at Abusir pyramids.
View of the Abusir pyramids from the sun-temple at Abu Ghorab. Note the alabaster sacrificial altar on lower left of plate.
Author at the Temple of Karnak, west entrance.
Sir Norman Lockyer c . 1899.
Elephantine Island at Aswan in the background. Author and view from the gardens of the Old Cataract Hotel.
Sunrise at winter solstice, Temple of Karnak.
This surely raises a question: could the idea of an Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt be rooted in astronomy?
Waiting for the New Age
On the afternoon of 31 December 1999 in Cairo, millennium hysteria was peaking. As midnight approached, people from all walks of life began to gather by the thousands at the Giza pyramids to witness the opening of a new age. Several months earlier, Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) had announced that it was going to place a golden capstone on the top of the Great Pyramid to mark the occasion, claiming that this was Egypt’s seventh millennium. The world’s media prepared itself by sending hundreds of television crews and journalists, all falling over one another for the exclusive rights. Then, at the last minute, the whole thing went pear-shaped. The placing of the golden capstone was cancelled for fear of ‘damaging the pyramid’, and to make things worse, the smoke from the fireworks mingled with the heavy humidity causing a thick mist that blotted the pyramids from sight. The new age began not with a bang but with a whimper. I happened to be at Giza during this night of madness. In vain I tried to explain to friends
Similar Books
