Egyptology

Atlantis

Egyptology, the study of the culture and artifacts of the ancient Egyptian civilization, is a major branch of Atlantology.

The Giza pyramid complex is probably the finest known piece of early architectural planning, with the possible exception of the city of Babylon. The zodiac first evolved in Egypt. There was much talk in the 1960’s among Atlantologists about cosmic ray experiments that revealed unknown chambers in the Great Pyramid.

Egyptian Civilization

The Egyptian civilization was superimposed on a Stone Age one. We know very little about prehistoric or Stone Age man in Egypt, and there is nothing to indicate the sudden rise into a civilization higher than any other in antiquity. The Flood did not completely devastate Egypt, which may only have decreased somewhat in size as suggested by the Priests of Sais in speaking to Solon.

When Manetho says that Menes was the first man to rule over Egypt, he may mean the first aboriginal king. In Turrah, near Cairo, Herman Junker dug up in 1909-1910, a series of prehistoric tombs from the First Dynasty, in which were found the names of Den, Mersen, and others; and one piece was marked King Scorpion, who is usually considered as the King preceding Menes. Manetho places him in the epoch of the gods; thus, he may have been the last Atlantean ruler. The Atlantean Dynasties were said to have lasted over seven-thousand years.

Paul Hoffman raised a series of questions in Atlantis in November 1952 in A Possible Egyptian Time Scale, concerning the link between ancient Egypt and Atlantis: Was contact made in the pre-cataclysmic period when the Atlanteans were colonizing the Mediterranean basin? Was the Nile Valley invaded when the disaster was already beginning? Did the link occur in the post-diluvial period when a few refugees managed to reach Egypt?

In January 1956 in New World Antiquity, Sykes published an editorial Pushing the Threshold of History Back in which he stated, “Recent discoveries by Zaki Saad of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities in the neighborhood of Cairo, have not only shown that the then capital of Egypt was a flourishing metropolis of about a million people before the 1st Dynasty, but had its roots stretching back into a past of at least 1000 years before Menes, and probably even 2000 years before then.”

As the following two paragraphs reveal, other Atlantologists theorized Atlantean links to Egypt, including a reference to the Sea-People and Paul Schliemann’s reference to a papyrus.

The Medinet Habu in Egypt near Karnac, contains paintings on the wall of the temple erected by Ramses III to commemorate his 1195 BC victory over the attacking Sea-People (these inscriptions name the attacking tribes as the Phrest, the Saskar, and the Denen. Spanuth suggested Frisians, Saxons, and Danes. Muck suggested the Atlanteans). The inscriptions state that the Sea-People came from islands in the open sea when their land was destroyed.

Paul Schliemann spoke of a papyrus from the Pharaoh Senedi of the 2nd Dynasty, mentioning an expedition sent to the west to seek for survivors of Atlantis. The papyrus was stated to be in the museum at St. Petersburg.

In April 1961, Professor Fabrizo Mori, an Italian Paleontologist, reported that he discovered a number of prehistoric burial places in the Fezzan, where the dead were mummified with nitrates and exposure to the sun. The professor considered that in this region, in which the Tourages now live, was the home of the Egyptians six-thousand years before the increasing aridity forced them to emigrate to Egypt.

In November 1968 in Atlantis, Sykes published Egypt and Atlantis in which he stated,

"The proto Egyptians, after the fall of Atlantis, sought refuge in North Africa, at that time a fertile land with the Meropic sea stretching inland into what is now the Sahara Desert. At some period, probably about 5000 BC, the climate changed and they were obliged to seek refuge elsewhere. Some went southwards to the Ife Country in the hinterlands of Nigeria where they established the first Benin culture... The largest and most powerful group crossed the desert to Egypt where after a thousand years or more fighting with the local tribesmen, they managed to unite Egypt, the Upper and the Lower Kingdoms, into one at the beginning of the First dynasty. The great impetus which they gave to Egyptian culture gradually wore off and to those who go to Cairo Museum or to the Egyptian collections in London, Washington, Paris... it is possible to see the gradual erosion of the finer points over the years... The only structures in Egypt that may date back to the days of Atlantis are the three Great Pyramids, which may well have been put up before the disaster. This we shall only be able to tell when the subterranean passages have been discovered and explored, an event that may not occur for a long time... Having lived in Egypt for several years, I realize to the full the immense archaeological potentialities of the land, as also the fact that until the political atmosphere changes considerably, nothing is likely to be done about it."

Egyptian Myth And Legend

In the March 1957 issue of Atlantis, Sykes published Some Notes On Egyptian Myth And Legend. Egyptian myth and legend had already solidified before the 1st Dynasty came into power (3500 BC) after uniting the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. It is certain that the system of names and clan insignia or totems had been in existence for several thousand years before 3500 BC.

Throughout the Near East, the source of everything is the primeval chaos monster whose name is Tamtu, Tiamat, or Tiawath to the Babylonians; Tohu or Tchom to the Hebrews; and Atmu the Nu or Nun to the Egyptians. All of the deluge monsters date back to the waste of waters after the great deluge. The earliest Egyptian deluge legend tells that the God Atmu caused the waters of the great deep and drowned everybody except those who were with him in his boat. Another legend tells how Ra ordered Hathor and Sekhmet to destroy mankind, which they did with fire, and afterwards when they were wading in human blood, he told them to stop. They would not do so, so Ra flooded the world with beer. Hathor and Sekhmet became drunk and forgot about killing mankind. The beer may have been the smelly muddy flood water as it subsided. There is the story told by Manetho and Josephus, of Thoth and the Siriadic Columns, which he set up to survive both flood and fire, being of stone and brick respectively. The story of the Siriadic Columns fits in with the various Arab legends about the pyramids, which were set up by the wisemen before the flood. The tale was told by Abou Balkh, who said that two pyramids were four-hundred cubits in height and that on the casing, charms and wonders were inscribed.

Perhaps the most important Egyptian legend is that of the Shipwrecked Traveler and the Serpent King, which tells how the Traveler left Egypt in a ship two-hundred-and-twenty-five feet long and sixty feet wide, and was wrecked on an island where he found a huge serpent, the king of all the serpents. The Traveler stayed on the island until one day a star fell and killed everybody except himself. The story is in the Arabian Nights and is entitled Yamilka. The papyrus from which the original was taken is in the Leningrad Museum.

Other links with Egypt and the past mentioned in the Arabian Nights, include the City of Brass and the City of Many Columned Iram. Those tales show that before the first Egyptian dynasties arose, there was a tradition of ancient culture in the deserts to the West and the East of Egypt, which seems to be linked with the arrival of the first Atlantean refugees.

Egyptian Calendar

The lunar calendar was introduced to Egypt by the Arabs in AD 641. The old Egyptian calendar was based on the first appearance of the star Sirius, named Sothis by them. A Sothis Cycle was equal to fourteen-hundred-and-sixty solar years, but even this Sothis Cycle was ultimately based on the old Assyrian lunar year. This Assyrian Lunar Calendar was used by all the other Mediterranean cultural peoples of ancient times including the Greeks.

Menes ascended the throne in 3188 BC in Upper Egypt. The Priests of Menes had writing in its infancy but knew that the year consisted of 365 1/4 days. Their forefathers, prior to the First Dynasty in about 3500 BC, had already made a star map which enabled us today to identify some of the star groups. It took the Chaldeans nineteen-hundred years of observations to arrive at the series of lunations we now call a Saros.

Pyramids Of Egypt

In 1952, in Atlantis, Paul Hoffman stated about the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt, "I am perfectly convinced that the solution of a good deal of our problems concerning the Egyptian-Atlantean connection lie buried there.”

Egerton Sykes studied ancient Egypt; 1945

The Giza pyramid complex layout shows no resemblance to any of the other pyramid groupings in Egypt such as Sakkarah or Meydum. The Pyramids, dubbed Cheops, Chephren, and Mycerinus (also known as Rhodopis) in descending order of magnitude, together with the Sphinx and its Temple, stood on a rock plateau overlooking the waters of the Nile, in the days before the Aswan Dam was built. Access to the pyramids was through the Temple of the Sphinx. Sykes believes that the pyramids were never intended as burial places but as depositories of ancient lore, to preserve it from the deluge.

Most of our information about the Pyramids are from a group of Arab writers living between AD 870 and 1050: Abou Balkh, 970; Masoudi, 923; Muterdi, Johan L. Burkhardt refers to Sherif Edrys (Edrisi) as the author of a History of the Pyramids (a book which Sykes cannot trace); and Al Beruni, 950.

The Great Pyramid was built about 12,000 BC and altered by the IVth Dynasty Pharaoh Cheops in 3200 BC. This pyramid contains the Grand Gallery, the Queen’s chamber, the King’s chamber, the Ascending Gallery, the Descending Gallery, and the Well.

The Second Pyramid of Chephren was probably built before the First. It has two entrances, one on the North Face, and one in the open a few yards away, that meet inside. There is a mysterious gallery going westward.

The Third Pyramid of Mycerinus, although the smallest, is structurally the most interesting as it is superimposed upon a smaller pyramid and has a curiously unbalanced series of chambers cut into the rock (as if the original plan had been altered at a later date). It was probably built about the same time as the two Great Pyramids, adapted as a tomb for Mycerinus, and reconstructed by Rhodopis, the Queen of Amasis, in BC 620.

All three pyramids were attributed to Pharaohs of the IVth Dynasty — Khufu (Cheops), Khafre (Chephren), and Menkure (Mycerinus).

The Temple of the Sphinx was connected by a wide causeway to the Second Pyramid. The Sphinx may be earlier than the Pyramid Complex. The Sphinx, a man-headed lioness with outstretched paws, was a monument carved in rock at the base of the rocky escarpment. Egyptologists have different ideas as to why the Sphinx was erected and what it was supposed to signify.

An early Arabic manuscript named the Pyramids in descending order of magnitude as the Eastern, the Western, and the Colored. The Eastern or Great Pyramid contained astronomical data, models, and copies of ancient books; the Western Pyramid had numerous treasure chambers filled with jewels, bronze weapons, glass, and drugs; and the Colored Pyramid was used for the burial of priests (no trace of the color exists now).

In July 1968, Sykes published The Three Pyramids of Giza in New World Antiquity, in which he stated,

"... the three Pyramids plus the Temple of the Sphinx are interconnected by a network of subterranean passages, the entrances to which are now concealed under the piles of rubble which have been carefully placed in the various bits of tunneling since the days of Vyse and Perring. These communicating subways, being underneath the rock surface of the plateau on which the three Pyramids stand, are unlikely to be discovered by placing expensive equipment above that level in the hope of checking by cosmic-rays or muon particles... There is also the fact that the study of the Classical Arab literature on the subject no longer attracts the best brains in the Anglo Saxon academic world, and has practically ceased to be of interest to the Al Ahazar University as it has neither religious nor political connotations..."

In September 1977 in New World Antiquity, Sykes published L.M. Young’s review of Sykes’ book, Pre-Dynastic Egypt And The Great Pyramids. In his book, Sykes explained that documentation related to the earliest phase of Egyptian history and mythology was meager. There was the fragmentary account of Manetho, the Ptolemaic historian, obtained his material from pillars on which portions of the Book of Thoth were inscribed); the Turin manuscript compiled during the reign of Ramses II; and The Pyramid Texts, the earliest known Egyptian writings inscribed on the walls of the Vth and VIth dynastic tombs. The frescoes containing lines of accurately designed hieroglyphics (fragments of myth, legend, cosmology, astronomical lore, history, geography, religious concepts) indicated that there must have been archetypes from which the texts were prepared and copied. This implied the existence of an elaborate and extensive literature in the early dynasties. Thoth, the Egyptian god, was the reputed inventor of hieroglyphic writing. There are several indications that the hieroglyphic system preceded the First Dynasty, and that Thoth adapted it to a set system and so it remained for three-thousand years.

Herodotus referred to vaults underneath the Great Pyramid. Masoudi and other Arabic writers describe the subterranean chambers as being one-hundred-and-forty cubits below ground level. Herodotus also referred to inscriptions on the outside face of the Great Pyramid; however, since the outer casing has long since disappeared, it is impossible to know if this statement of the historian is correct. Roman historian, Ammianus Marcellinus, affirmed that the ancient wisdom was inscribed on the walls in order to be preserved from the deluge. Inscriptions are entirely absent from the pyramids of Gizeh, at least the interior as far as it is presently known (1977).

Biruni, Edrisi, Masoudi, Muterdi, et al, compiled descriptions of the Gods beneath the pyramids, mainly from the records salvaged from the burning of the great Library at Alexandria in AD 650 by the Muslims. Their works have only one thing in common with the Gods of Egyptian myth and legend — the Uraeus, the symbol of power consisting of a Cobra head mounted on a jeweled head band. The Uraeus is the only connecting link between the insignia of Egyptian rulers and the period when the Pyramids were built.

Tradition has ascribed the architectural knowledge and the geometric skills needed for the erection of pyramidal structures to Imhotep, reputed advisor to King Zoser of the IIIrd Dynasty. Imhotep also wrote The Book of the Foundation of the Temples, which was ritually consulted by the king when it was decided that an edifice should be erected. Sykes believed that there was a corpus of literature in earliest dynastic times, and it contained a wisdom that was already old and could only be utilized by an elite that was initiated in the mathematical and geometric lore (that, at least in Egypt, survived in part through the whole of the dynastic period).

Johann L. Burkhardt, the famous Africanist, died 1811-12 in Cairo. Letter 79 of his Travels in Nubia published in 1817, mentions that he purchased Edrisi’s History of the Pyramids in Cairo, and the book mentioned passages and ruins in the Second Pyramid. Burkhardt’s manuscripts were left to Cambridge University, and unfortunately, where they are now is uncertain. In the September 1968 edition of Atlantis, Sykes wrote about this issue in The Secrets Of The Giza Pyramid Complex.

The Siriadic Columns

According to Manetho (who lived in 300 BC and was the High Priest of Thoth at Sebennytos), the Siriadic Columns were set up by Thoth (6111 BC), the original Hermes Trismagistus, who brought knowledge of writing, science, and astronomy to the early Egyptians. Josephus reported that one of the columns was still standing in his time. The date of Thoth must have been sometime before the First Dynasty, no later than 3000 BC, but the date is uncertain. Thoth (6111 BC) and Agathodaemon (5600 BC) were contemporaries of other post-diluvial kings of Sumeria and Babylonia, i.e., Tammuz and Gilgamesh. There was one column of brick and one of stone, and the information was transcribed into the Book of Thoth which was placed in the penetralia of the Temples of Egypt (which at that time covered an area from Damascus to Thebes) by Agathodaemon (the son of the second Hermes and father of Tat). The Thothic records were well known in remote antiquity; two references of 2500 BC were catalogued in the library at the Temple of Edfu — Laws of Periodic Appearances of the Stars and Scriptures of the House of Life. Biblical archaeologist Sir Charles Marston thought that several early historians had access to the texts: Santhuchiathon, 1193 BC; Moschus, 1100 BC; Manetho, 300 BC; Berosus the Babylonian priest, 28 BC; Philo Byblos, AD 150; and Damascius, AD 510. In 650 BC, when Solon visited the Priestly College at Sais, he was shown copies of these records by Psonchis, the High Priest (Plato referred to this fact in 350 BC). Writing in AD 390, Ammianus Marcellinus, mentioned inscriptions in certain underground galleries of the Pyramids, which were intended to prevent ancient wisdom from being lost in the flood. The only other Latin writer to mention the Pyramids was Pliny. It is probable that the last person to have actually seen the Books Of Thoth was Nicolas of Damascus, although Arab historians of the 10th century AD in Spain and Syria had access to fragments from the Library at Alexandria.

The term Sothic is based on the name Thoth plus Sirius, and it may be taken that Thoth emerged at the time of the first appearance of Sirius in the skies of Egypt and initiated the Sothic period.