How old is Ancient Egypt?

Dr. Dickie participated in the field studies of the Sphinx showing its age to be 10,000 BCE at the end of the last ice age. Check out this Youtube video on the work and the conclusions of the scientists involved:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWonNtXu8nE

Blog #1: The Greeks we love, e.g. Plato & Pythagoras, gained wisdom from Egypt. They weren't interested in dead people.

In contrast to the prevailing view that texts found in the Old Kingdom Egyptian Pyramids of the fifth and sixth Dynasty were addressed to the dead Pharaoh, there is evidence that the writings played a role in the development of the Pharaoh himself while he was still alive. While the writings in the Pyramid Texts may contain funerary themes, it is likely that they also carry the symbolism of initiation, mysticism and shamanism for use by the living Pharaoh (Naydler 2004).

Although the three Great Pyramids of Giza are often seen as the iconic buildings of the Ancient Egyptians, it is lesser-sized pyramids, beginning with that of the Pharaoh Unas at the end of the Fifth Dynasty, which contain the Pyramid Texts engraved into the walls of the chambers and on the sarchophagi (http://www.pyramidtextsonline.com/index.html).  These pyramids are said to be built over a relatively short, early 175-year period of the 3-millenium duration of the Ancient Egyptian culture. There is very little evidence that any of these pyramids contained human remains. In fact, several of the sarcophagi found in the pyramids, which had their ancient seals intact, when opened were found to be empty.

Beginning circa 2345 BCE with the Pharaoh Unas, various compilations of Texts were carved in ten major pyramids. In succession, these are the pyramids of:

•       Unas
•        Teti,
•        Pepi I,
•        Ankhesenpepi II (wife of Pepi I),
•        Merenre,
•      Pepi II,
•        Neith (wife of Pepi I),
•        Iput II (wife of Pepi),
•        Wedjebetni (Wife of Pepi II) and
•        Ibi a Pharaoh of the Eight Dynasty circa 2170 BCE (Allen 2005). 

While the Pyramid Texts are the second oldest text ever written in the world (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_literature), they present a well developed, expansive list of over 750 well-developed phrases or recitations such as Recitation 536 from (Naydler 2004) that reads:

    "My death is at my own wish, my spiritualization is at my own will."

 The Pyramid Texts contain many such images and themes that are also found in later Egyptian writing. There is a danger in compressing history and considering all texts written over 2500 years as the same: a) Old Kingdom texts engraved in Pyramids, b) Middle Kingdom texts written on coffins and c) texts of the later New Kingdom included in temples and tombs. The Coffin Texts were first written on coffins in the first Intermediate Period circa 2181–2055 BCE. The best known of Egyptian literature, the mis-named. “Book of the Dead”, more properly entitled “The Book of Coming Forth by Day”, was written at the beginning of the New Kingdom around 1550 BCE, 600 years after the last use of Pyramid texts.  While the later writings of Middle Kingdom Egypt are said to include wisdom literature, the Pyramid Texts continue to be considered as funerary in nature (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom_literature). E. Wente (1982) explored the evidence in the writing of the Book of Coming Forth by Day for mysticism in Pharaonic Egypt. He finds multiple references to the phrase “upon earth” in this later Text. It is difficult to imagine this phrase applying to a dead person who has moved off to another world after death.

It is also important to recognize that the pyramids that contain the Texts are found within complexes with several recognizable building structures. On the banks of the River Nile there is a Valley Temple that is the beginning of a long enclosed corridor built on top of a man-made causeway leading up a mortuary temple. This temple attaches to a walled area within which the pyramid proper is built (Naydler 2004). The presence of a mortuary temple within the larger complex is not sufficient to believe that the whole complex is of a solely funerary nature. It is possible to consider multiple uses throughout the complex.  For instance, in the modern Western World we would not maintain that a church and its associated graveyard as being strictly funerary, even though they are found in close proximity of one another and present similar images.  Similarly, even though the structures within the pyramid complex might use some of the same images, concepts and themes, they may have performed different functions for the pharaoh throughout their lives and after their deaths. It is most likely that the Egyptians buried their dead in tombs, celebrated in their temples and used the great pyramids for their own directed purposes that we are still trying to fully understand. 

Dr. Jeremy Naydler (2004) explores the evidence for a mystical tradition in the Pyramid Texts in more detail.  His book “Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts: The Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt” is a follow-up to his PhD. thesis. In his book he follows two lines of argument for a more-than-funerary application for the Pyramids and their Texts in the: 1) repeated references to the well-known Sed festival that was led by a living Pharaoh and 2) repeated references to mystic themes.

First of all, the Sed festival was an important jubilee ceremony for the Pharaohs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sed_festival).  It served to confirm their place in Egyptian culture, and seems to have been celebrated over much of the Egyptian cultural period. This is definitely evidenced in structures that date from the reign of Pharaoh Pepi I, who was the third to build a Pyramid containing the Pyramid Texts. The Sed festival was certainly undertaken by a living Pharaoh. The many references to the Sed festival in the Pyramid Texts, such as written references to the ritual running of the “boundary markers”, the Pharaoh taking on the power of a bull, and the joining of the Pharaoh with the gods.  This combination strongly suggests that the Texts in the Pyramid are dealing with a living person, not a corpse. Dr. Naydler suggests that the Pyramid complexes, which include the temple, the causeway, the surrounding walls and the Pyramid proper were associated with the Sed festivals of the Pharaohs who built such structures for use while they were alive.

Secondly, Dr. Naydler finds in the Pyramid Texts repeated themes of mysticism and shamanism. Shamanism is recognized as involving an individual entering a spiritual world or dimension - while alive (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamanism). The Pyramid Texts contain many phrases concerning the passage of the intended participant into other dimensions, joining with the gods, etc.  Within the context of mysticism and shamanism, the Texts clearly state: “You have not gone away dead, you have gone away alive.” (Faulkner 1969).

Naydler’s two lines of argument strongly suggest that the Pyramid Texts and the Pyramid structures, were prepared for use by a living Pharaoh. It is easy to imagine the dark isolated chambers of a Pyramid Complex with its Valley Temple, enclosed connecting corridor and Pyramid to be excellent venues for an initiation process to assist the Pharaoh in communing with the gods. Texts written on the walls would support a pharaoh in his transformation from the earthly world to another dimension, and back, while alive.

Another piece of evidence that suggests the role of a more-than-funerary wisdom in Ancient Egypt comes to us through the Greeks.

Secret initiation rights were well known throughout the Middle East at the time of Middle Kingdom Egypt. For example the Eleusinian Mysteries are said to be the “most famous of the secret religious rites of ancient Greece" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleusinian_Mysteries). They began as early as 1600 BCE corresponding to end of the Middle Kingdom and the time of the writing of the Book of Coming Forth by Day. It is certainly conceivable that both of these important ancient cultures were aware of religious motivations and the need to address man’s relation to higher levels while alive.

Greek philosophers, who are much revered by the present day western world, have strong connections with Ancient Egyptian wisdom through reports of their training in Egypt. Thales, who lived circa 624 – c. 546 BCE and considered the first philosopher in the Greek tradition, was trained by an Egypt priest (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thales).  Although the philosophers from the Classical Greece culture lived much later in time from that of the writing of the Pyramid Texts, it is important to note that they seem to have been drawing from the same Egyptian traditions and teachings as the Pyramid Texts. It is very difficult to think that the Greek philosophers who have so directly influenced later Western culture would have been so interested in a culture solely focused on death and life after death such as is represented in the writings of the Late Period Egypt tombs from 664 BCE until 332 BCE (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Period_of_ancient_Egypt). It makes much more sense that they were trained in the secret mysterious Egyptian wisdom that related to the higher levels of the Egyptian thought - including mysticism and initiation of the living.

Clearly it is ironic that we revere the Egyptian-trained Greek philosophers, yet relegate the Ancient Egyptian culture to “the graveyard.”

In conclusion, while the Pyramid Texts do contain funerary images appropriate for the final resting place of a dead pharaoh, it can also be seen that they contain images, concepts and themes relating to initiation, mysticism and transformation of a living pharaoh into a person who has experienced the gods.

References:                                                                                                            

Allen, J.P., 2005. The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts.

Faulkner, R.O., 1969. The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Pyramid Text 213; Unis Text 146.

Naydler, J., 2004. Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts: The Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt. Inner Traditions.

Wente, E., 1982. Mysticism in Pharaonic Egypt?” Journal of Near East Studies. 41, 161-79.

Table of Contents & Extract on line!

A working version of the Table of Contents and an extract is available online. Download as a PDF @ Inner Traditions: click here

Table of Contents

> Introduction - The Origins of Our Questions

> Chapter One - Life and Meaning in Myth

Unearthing the Evidence and the Methodology of Initial Study

> Chapter Two - Myths of Creation and the Arising of Self

Origins and Evolution of the Sumerian Creation Myths

The Beginning in Sumerian Creation Myths

Comparisons between Egyptian and Sumerian Creation Myths

The Sumerian Creation of Men and Women The Egyptian Creation of Men and Women

The Summing-Up

> Chapter Three - A Dialogue of the Ages

A Conversation between Friends

Final Comments

> Chapter Four - Gilgamesh: The Struggle for Life

The Meeting of Gilgamesh and Enkidu and the

Two-sided Nature of Being

 The Character of Enkidu

Aspects of the Foundation of Personality in Gilgamesh and Enkidu

The Partnership Continues

Further Illusions in the Land of the Living

Difficulties of Matching Aspirations with Abilities

The Power of Discrimination; The Story of the Flood

An Important Aspect of the Love of Self

> Chapter Five - Ancient Egyptian Myths of the Arising of Self

Our Basis of Understanding of the Osiris Myth

Myths of the Mystery of Existence in Ancient Egypt

Symbols of Family Relationships

The Myth of Osiris and Isis

The Roles of Osiris and Isis

The Continuing Situation of Osiris in Relation to the Egyptian Experience

A Bald Generalization from the Egyptian Myths of the Mystery of Existence

> Chapter Six - Journeys through the Netherworld

Ancient Egyptian Literature and Tradition on Consciousness

Creation Symbols That Accompany the Creation of Atum The Dwat

Reflections on the Nature and Effects of Entropy Continuation of the Main Theme

Concepts of the “Afterlife” in the Sumerian Tradition

Evaluation of Differences between the Sumerian and Egyptian Netherworld

Egyptian Symbolism of Time A Summary

> Chapter Seven - Search for Wholeness and the Self

Two Principles of Creation: The Personifications of Heka and Maat

The Case for the Importance of Heka

Characteristics of Heka Relating to the Arising of Self

The Relationship between Heka and Maat

The Need to Awaken to the Larger View of Reality

A Final Word 

> Appendix 1 - Lineage of Myth

The Egyptian Lineage

The Sumerian Lineage

The Potential for Some Shared Influences Distinguishing Ancient from Primitive

 > Appendix 2 - Meanings Contained in Glyphs

> Appendix 3 - Creation Represented in Number Systems

> Notes

> Bibliography

> Index

Very excited to share the first excerpt from our book!

https://www.innertraditions.com/books/awakening-higher-consciousness

Pre-orders now available.

Book Excerpt

A Dialogue of the Ages

 The idea of an arising of Self within us is as old as the stories of the gods themselves. That the concept should appear new in our time is a sobering reminder of how limited our culture is to the difficult questions of reality. We seem confined to differentiating between “reality” and “illusion” behind our perceptions of that special part of our natures that might be considered “spiritual” there is an unrecognized fear of the illusory. The solid ground of reality is clearly not easy to discover, and our desire for a better understanding of reality is one of the reasons for studying ancient myths.

 One of the oldest of the Hebrew myths is the story of Adam and Eve, which relates the story of the creation of humankind. By paying special attention to some of alternative translations, we may be able to discern what constitutes illusion and what is true knowledge.

 From the Upanishads of India to the dialogues of Plato, an important literary vehicle has been the presentation of ideas in the form of conversations between a pupil and teacher. We therefore propose to listen in on a conversation between two friends--Aquarius and Pisces.

> For the full extract go to: 

https://www.innertraditions.com/books/awakening-higher-consciousness#excerpt

Hamlet's Mill - a book exploring the effectiveness of myth in communicating through millennia

While we don't agree that all myths are based in archaeoastronomy, we do agree with de Santillana and von Dechend in their book Hamlet's Mill that myths contain information on important themes relevant to modern day societies.

The time keepers Saturn and Jupiter in conjunction in December 2020.

Here is an excellent link presenting the conjunctions surrounding the "Birth of Christ": https://uofgts.com/Magi.html.

Peter Kingsley's book entitled Reality

The book "Reality" by @Peter_Kingsley provides us with insights into Ancient Greek concepts which link directly to the myths of Sumer and Egypt.

The Hebraic Tongue Restored by Fabre d'Olivet

We use d'Olivet's "The Hebraic Tongue Restored" in our exploration of the Garden of Eden story in the Hebrew/Christian Genesis: https://www.facebook.com/groups/antoine.fabredolivet/