Original discovery from the Pyramid Texts
by James Bowles
Author of The Gods, Gemini, and the Great Pyramid
Today we know that our solar system is part of a galaxy we call the Milky Way, and we know our approximate location is out on one of the far-flung spirals.
The Milky Way is made up of a hundred-billion stars whose light forms a brilliant band of color from horizon to horizon. Another distinguishable band is the Ecliptic. The Ecliptic is that imaginary plane on which the Earth and our Moon and all the planets of our solar system travel their orbital route about the Sun. Further out, but just as distinct, are the 12 Constellations of the Zodiac.
The Ecliptic is easily seen by simply looking up .. and following the path of the Sun by day, and the Moon by night.
What we'll see now is that this is not modern discovery, rather it was known by the oldest civilization to have ever recorded their presence.
This photo of the western night sky, complete with celestial grid, stars, constellations, and the paths of the Milky Way and the Ecliptic, was reproduced from a computer program called SkyChart III. SkyChart III can chart the skies from any viewing direction, and for any date from {for-ever ago .. into the far distant future}.
I chose this particular view and time {looking west at 8 P.M. c3000 B.C.} because the ancient Egyptians described this very moment in full detail in what is now the oldest written record in the world, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. Note in the SkyChart photo: that Orion and Sothis {i.e., Sirius in the constellation Canis Major, and the brightest star in the sky} are just setting below the western horizon. Gemini is following close behind {it's feet in the Milky Way and virtually atop of Orion}.
This is how the Ancients, speaking of Orion and Sothis 5000 years ago, described this event: Utterance 216: § 110 - from the Pyramid Texts
Remember me. Orion is swallowed up by the Netherworld, Pure and living in the horizon. Sothis is swallowed up by the Netherworld, Pure and living in the horizon.
Then, speaking of Gemini, the Ancients wrote this: Utterance 625: § 1763
I have gone up upon the ladder with my foot on Orion!
We're going to be looking at other passages that relate to this western sky, but before we do let me introduce you to the way the Ancients wrote. So bear with me as some of the phrases won't make immediate sense as they relate to passages we'll be discussing further along.
DEFINITIONS
Pyramid Texts, .. are those 4000 lines of hieroglyphic texts found scribed on the walls of the pyramids of Saqqara, Egypt. This form, long forgotten, was deciphered by means of the Rosetta Stone by Jean Francois Champollion {c1821}. As such they are the oldest written record in the world.
Writing Style .. it is typical in the ancient texts, for a star or a god, or a constellation or even an event .. to speak for themselves. So it is that Gemini spoke for itself when saying: I have gone up upon the ladder with my foot on Orion!
Interpreting the Pyramid Texts - the commonest English translation of the Pyramid Texts was by the late R. O. Faulkner, formerly of the British Museum in London. They contain thousands of themes, or story lines, told by gods speaking to gods. The Texts are incomplete and out of sequence, and speakers frequently interrupt one another. And it should be noted that there are no people in the Pyramid Texts.
Story lines invariably refer to {events or objects} outside the Pyramid Texts .. they are explicit on this point in {§ 141} There is no star-god who has no companion, have you your companion?
Read :: There is no star-god who has no companion -- to mean that all star-gods are associated with a real world {event or object}
Read :: have you your companion? – to mean that they are cautioning you to have the real world {event or object} at hand to render meaning.
Orion .. {like Sirius and Gemini} .. Orion is visible only in the late fall, winter, and early spring. It lays close to the Ecliptic and is one of the most recognizable constellations in the sky.
Sothis - is the Greek name for Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. It is often called the dog star because it follows Orion as it's swallowed up by the Netherworld!
"The earth speaks" - is one of the rarest of expressions, because speakers in the Pyramid Texts are almost never introduced.
The Two Wands are the Ecliptic and the Milky Way. An animation of the night sky {available with SkyChart} would show that these two nightly features actually swing back and forth across the horizon! The ancient Egyptians write specifically of this unique phenomenon in a manner as though the speaker {in this case "the starry night sky"} was a conductor before a symphony orchestra {Utterance 263} .. "my panther-skin is on me, my sceptre is in my arm, my baton is in my hand!"
The reader might find it of interest that in the minutes following the SkyChart image above, the line of the Milky Way moves downward as though Gemini has used it's feet to see that Orion goes into the Netherworld!
"It is well with me and with them" - The ancient Egyptians recognized that Orion and Sothis {following their entering the Netherworld} would return to the night skies in late fall, and this expression, It is well with me, is declaring that nothing bad was going to happen to them. Interestingly, that same phrase is also declaring their knowledge of heliacal setting and heliacal rising -
"The earth is hacked {ploughed} up for me" - in the course of a single night, the lines that the Milky Way and the Ecliptic form in the sky, will appear angled or vertical, and partially hidden below the horizon, as they swing back and forth with the apparent intent of plowing {or hacking up the earth}.
More on the writing style of the ancient Egyptians - we'll see that the ancient Egyptians will change the names of gods or events at will and without warning. So we shouldn't be surprised when the Two Wands suddenly become the two domains. Or that an expression like: The doors of the earth-god are opened for you would suddenly mean that {§ 821}: you {Sothis} will regularly descend with Orion into the western region of the sky!
".. he makes a spirit of you" simply means {that due to the Earth's orbit, and the relative positions of the Earth about the Sun} that a particular constellation {or star} will become a phantom {so to speak} and will not be visible for a few months. This is a direct reference to heliacal rising and heliacal setting!
Netherworld - there can be no question that the ancient Egyptians knew the world was round and anything seen to set below the western horizon was going to reappear on the eastern horizon. They called that unseen place {and the elapsed time} the Netherworld. By example {§ 821} You will regularly ascend with Orion from the eastern region of the sky, you will regularly descend with Orion into the western region of the sky
{§ 209 edited} Ascend and descend; ascend with Re .. descend with Nephthys; the Night-bark .. ascend with Isis; the Day-bark.
"Within the arms of my father" - the term "father," as used here, is in reference to the sun. This is meaningful within the concepts of (heliacal rising and setting} because it's the sun that is blocking earth's view of the heliacal stars and constellations, hence, putting them {almost literally} within the arms of the sun a.k.a., father!.
Poetic Prose - the Pyramid Texts are written in {past-present-and future tense} using a unique Poetic Prose style .. and they change their descriptive names at will: hence both the Ecliptic and the Milky Way {because they undulate and swing back and forth in the course of a single night} will be called variously: a snake, a sceptre, a baton, or the Two Wands.
As we read on from the Pyramid Texts we'll see that the COMPANIONS that rendered meaning (where prior - there was no meaning) are the Milky Way, the Ecliptic, the star Sothis, and the constellations Orion and Gemini.
Sample I :: References to the Ecliptic and Milky Way from the Pyramid Texts
{Utterance 437; § 796} The earth speaks: The doors of the earth-god are opened for you .. the doors of Geb are thrown open for you .. he makes a spirit of you like Thoth, you judge the gods, you set bounds to the celestial expanses between the Two Wands in this your spiritualized state.
{Utterance 382; § 670} O wandering snake, plough up the earth.
{Utterance 733; § 2261} Get back, snake which attacks in the night O Thoth, the night-snake! the night-snake!
{Utterance 560; § 1394} The earth is hacked up by the hoe
{Utterance 509; § 1111} The sky thunders, the earth quakes, Geb quivers, the two domains of the god roar, the earth is hacked up
{Utterance 524; § 1241} I sit on your great throne, you gods, and I am side by side with Atum between the Two Wands.
Sample II :: References to Orion and Sothis entering the Netherworld of heliacal setting and heliacal rising!
{Utterance 442; § 821} You will regularly ascend with Orion from the eastern region of the sky, you will regularly descend with Orion into the western region of the sky, your third is Sothis
{Utterance 216; § 110} Remember me. Orion is swallowed up by the Netherworld, Pure and living in the horizon. Sothis is swallowed up by the Netherworld, Pure and living in the horizon. It is well with me and with them. It is pleasant for me and for them, Within the arms of my father.
{Utterance 466; § 882} O King, you are this great star, the companion of Orion, who traverses the sky with Orion, who navigates the Netherworld with Osiris; you ascend from the east of the sky, being renewed at your due season and rejuvenated at your due time.
A FINAL NOTE:
In the PREFACE to the Pyramid Texts {see Epilogue below}, R. O. Faulkner makes a defining statement: .. the grammar, vocabulary and orthography in the Pyramid Texts, is apt to be unusual .. of that there can be no question, but my discovery of the significance of a single passage {§ 141} that renders unique meaning to these ancient Texts {and to my knowledge I am the first to recognize it} .. I believe that I've added greatly to the understanding of the ancient world!
{§ 141} There is no star-god who has no companion, have you your companion?
EPILOGUE
In the PREFACE to The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, {ISBN 0 85668 297 7}, Aris & Phillips Ltd., 1969, author R. O. Faulkner wrote:
The Pyramid Texts of Ancient Egypt were carved on the walls of the pyramids of King Wenis of the end of the Fifth Dynasty and of the rulers of the Sixth Dynasty, and constitute the oldest corpus of Egyptian religious and Itinerary literature now extant.
Furthermore, they are the least corrupt of all such collections of funerary texts, and are of fundamental importance to the student of Egyptian religion. Despite the comparative rarity of corruptions, however, the Pyramid Texts provide problems and difficulties of their own. They include very ancient texts among those which were nearly contemporary with the pyramids in which they were inscribed, imposing on the modern reader problems of grammar and vocabulary; the orthography is apt to be unusual; and there are many mythological and other allusions of which the purport is obscure to the translator of today.
One must wonder at his wording .. for in his use of the phrase Itinerary literature {i.e., itinerary as in course or curriculum} he was clearly suggesting that these Texts were of extraordinary content.
Further, in using the phrase {They include .. texts .. which were nearly contemporary with the pyramids} .. Faulkner opened the door to the suggestion that the Pyramid Texts may well have preceded the Fifth & Sixth Dynasty pyramids in which they were found.
The conclusion one might draw from this is that we may be witness to the fruits of a very ancient civilization.
The celestial science of the ancient Egyptians©JamesBowlesMar2006
all rights reserved and all use without specific permission is strictly prohibited.
