Egypt and egypts past.
I really want people to enter this confrence who want to know, and can
help with understanding egyptian history and its facination.

26 responses total.

I think I've found the right place... <grin>  My main fascination
with Egypt is the religion, which I admit I don't know all that
much about....  I'll get back to this and say more...

I don't know all that much about Egyptian history and religion
either, so the most I can do in this item is be in the cheering
section.  (Ra! Ra! Ra!)

(Sorry 'bout that, couldn't resist.)

Or is it Re Re Re??  <grin>

Actually in a few weeks I may be better able to answer this question-
I am taking a course at U of M about Eygptian history. :)

Yay!! <anne cheers>

I really like the Egyptian religion, especially the different Gods. Like
Re' or Ra' the Sun god.  Did you know that Ra' was not a God by the Egyptians
until around the Second Dynasty (2920 B.C.-2649 B.C.) when the Pharaoh
Ra'djedef, added it to his name.  The other God I especially like is Osiris,
he is the God of the underworld, His wife was Isis whom put him back  together
and wraped him like a mummy,to bring him to live as a spirit among the Stars.
That is why Egyptians and their Pharaohs are wrapped like mummy's and put in
sarcaphougus, and buried with all their belongings, in hopes like Osiris they
will come to afterlife and join Ra' and Osiris.
  I hope I can help in any way in the future on Egyptology, or give info where
it is needed.

The main religion in Egypt today is Islam, and there are also some coptic
Christians. These religions came to Egypt at different times in history.

My favourites of the Egyptian deities are Sekhmet and Bast. :)

Tell us about them.

Sekhmet:
 A lion headed goddess who was part of the Memphite triad as the wife of
Ptah and the mother of NEFERTEM.  Sekhmet,who represented the powers of
the sun's rays, fought against the enemies of Re' and once nearly destroyed
all of mankind.

Bastet:
A goddess with an ancient cult center at BUBASTIS in the DELTA, depicted
as a cat-headed woman or as a lioness. She was at times a war goddess
and at other times the protector of pregnant women.

I hope that's a start.

That's a little less then I have- however, I don't have the books with
me...  I'll entermore when I'm back at my apt.  where all my info was.
I do know that Sekhmet is also known as "Re's Avenger" <grin>  And
the bit about her destroying mankind... Re asked her to kill some
people and she went a little nuts with it, they had to trick her with
red beer (she thought it was blood) and she drank it all and fell into
a drunken sleep. <grin>  After that things were cool.

More later-

"Yeah"... Some one who knows more than just,what the books say about
Ancient Egypt.  It was found on the tomb walls of Seti I, that Ra' did
indeed ask her to kill the people of the HYKSOS as they were a danger
to the Pharaoh, God on earth, and his people.  I watched two shows
on the Arts and Entertainment channel, 1. Hatshepsut the Woman who would
be Pharaoh. 2. The secrets of Karnak. I would recommmend these to be watched
they should be in bookstores in video section.
   I'll be looking forward to our next chat, keep up good work <grin>,<smile>.

One of the books I have says that Sekhmet is "one of the oldest Neteru
known to Kemet, a strong mother, a protector and an earth Neter.  Her
priest(ess)hood served the people of Kemet as trained surgeonds and
doctors...  Like a lioness, Sekhmet is a huntress- but an appropriate
huntress, who hunts only for food and then brings it back to share with
the rest of the pride.  This concept of "appropriate action" is central
to the essence of Sekhmet- She acts only where appropriate, in 
appropriate fashion.  Her destructive vengeance is never chaotic or 
random; it is always what is necessary and it always just enough."
                _The Neteru of Kemet: An Introduction_
                                Rev. Tamara Siuda-Legan

What kind of book is that? You've been discussing mythology more than
history - what is the current interest in Egyptian mythology?

For me it's a religious search... I'm very attracted to the two deities
I've mentioned and I want to learn all that I can.  The book that I
quoted is put out by a group in Chicago that researches and practices
the religion of Kemet (now called Egypt.)

Sorry now I understand.  I thought we were discussing the Gods and history
of the Egyptians and there belief's.  Kemet was called the "Black Land"
because of its rich black silt soil.  The book that I have called
The British Museum Book Of Egypt.  Offers this description of Sekhmet
in the religion section.  Sekhmet the wife of Ptah was the Lioness-Headed
"the mighty one".  She introduces us to the dual character shared by 
virtually all Egyotian goddesses, a feature which allows them to exchange
places and iconography with alarming ease.
   The goddess at once defends the soveriegn of creation and attacks his
enemies; she is love and hatred combined. Sekhmet is the leonine fury
that needs to be appeased, and manifests itself in plague, known in 
Egypt as the "year of Sekhmet".
  I will try and find more out, and come back to this also will find some
about other god.

One fascinating book I read not long ago was "Fingerprints of the Gods"
by Graham Hancock.  In this book, Hancock theorizes that the ancient
Egyptians did not have the technology to build certain monuments,
specifically the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid.  He says the 
Egyptians did not have the ability to so precisely syncronize the 
positions of the pyramids with the stars in the Big Dipper. Hancock thinks 
that there was another race of people who lived on the Earth 80,000
years ago, a super race that history has forgotten.  He points to many
unexplained phenomena, like walls with huge boulders in South America
that date back thousands of years to before the wheel was invented or
any hydraulic mechanisms that could have lifted those boulders.  LIke
those lines drawn in the ground in Peru that defy explanation.  Like
ancient records describing Caucasian-like people having been in South
America during the time of the Old Testament.  

Anyway, Hancock's idea is based on his "Crustacional Shift Theory"...
he builds a case that a great civilization once exsisted in what is
now Antartica, and parts of South America and Africa.  That during the
ice age, the crust of the earth shifted and Antartica was pushed
further south and laid waste under ice caps.  He points to the fact that 
ancient maps found in Rome in the 1400's, long before Antartica was 
discovered by europeans, were a few years ago identified positively as 
maps of what we now know to be Antartica.  Only in the last 50 years have 
we had the technology to map antartica extensively.  The maps found in 
Rome in the mid 1400's are exacting in detail and match our current 
antartica maps.

So his theory his that Earth's original race of men evolved on the 
Antartic continent before the ice age, and migrated through South America 
and Africa.  The Sphinx and The Great Pyramid and several other 
presumably man-made wonders, are the legacy of this race.  He speculates 
that this race passed on its knowledge of science and mathamatics to the 
Anceint Egyptians, who passed them on to the Ancient Greeks.  This race 
he speculates must have died out during the ice age, when the earth's 
crust shifted causing worldwide weather catastrophes.  He points out that 
the Sphinx shows evidence of thousands of years of water 
damage...unexplainable since its in the middle of the desert.  Unless the 
earth's crust shifted and the Sphinx was previously in a different climate!

Most ominously, speculation that the earth's crust shifted during the ice 
age is likely to be cyclical he says, and based on an estimation of the 
earth's age and when the ice age occurred, the next likely crustacional 
shift has been calculated to occur around 2010.  When such a shift occurs 
it will be armageddon, with unmanagemable weather catastrophes that might 
wipe out mankind.   

The key to our future, Hancock says, is not in predicting the future, but 
understanding the past, and remembering what we've forgotten.  If he's 
right, we've forgotten a large part of our history.

The crust has shifted, alright.  What are the geologists, missing?  What 
does Hancock say to the paleomagnetic keys to our demonstratable  past?   

Yeah. Well, the crust did not shift during the "ice age", except a few
decameters (vertically, and locally). Hancock is another in a long line of
catastrophists, spouting variations on Atlantis, Mu, the Flood, etc. If
you would like a really interesting book about all that bunk, read
_Fantastic Archeology_, by Stephen Williams (Curator of North American
Archeology for the Peabody Museum at Harvard). He "reviews the colorful
characters and misguided theories which have excited the public and
exasperated mainstream archeologists". It was published in 1991, so
Hancock didn't make it in, being a newbie in this hocum. 

I too have read a book written by Dr.David Rhol, about how the pyramids
are built according to the stars of the Orion belt, and the Sphinx was
built during the Leo Epoch of 12,000 years ago.  Under the front paws
of the sphinx there seems to be a large under ground chamber, that is
nothing like what the Egyptian civilization would have built, according
to the ultra sounds taken.
  I have also been aware that the Great Sphinx did not look as does
now, that it once was a head of a great lion god of a civilization of
about 26,000 years ago. It then was recarved by the pharaoh Chepheren.
Thanks for the other information I will look up and check out the
one book you suggested.
  They also say that the errosion on the Sphinx is of a water nature
and not of a wind and sand erosion, so mabey the monument was in a
different climate, could it be that the dessert was once lush and green?
I don't see why not.

There is and has been for a long time moisture in the sands around
and below the Sphinx. This moisture "wicks" up into the stone from
which the Sphinx was carved, evaporates, and deposits salts. The
crystallization of the salts causes crystal wedging of the rock, making
it flake off. Hence, the erosion. The other stuff about the antiquity
of the Sphinx (beyond when it was built in ca. 3500 BC) is more
"fantastic archeology". It is interesting that people want to believe
a lot of fantastic superficial invention. I suppose it is because it
takes more mental effort to learn in detail all the historical details
that establish the history of a period or of an object.

I find your theories interesting, and wondered if you could give us the
documentation so we could explore this avenue a little better, to futher
our mental efforts as you have suggested.  I think we might be suprised
as to the outcome.  As for "fantastic archeology", all of Egyptology I
feel is and has been pretty much a trial by error situation, only to
the point it was a dead culture and language for 3000 years. 

I attended a lecture by Graham Hancock, whose book was a best seller and
he made the talk show rounds including Larry King a couple years ago, and
he's very detailed in his presentation.  He believes that most Egyptologists
and many archaeologists are egotistical boobs who wont accept findings made
possible by modern technology because they are full of themselves.  He
regards many of them like techies who can write code but lack the imagination
to decipher the broader meaning of their work.

He's also highly critical of the Egyptian government which he says wont 
let scientists explore a newly discovered tunnel in the great pyramid.  
His previous book was about his search for the Lost Ark of the Covenant, 
which he claims to have found being hidden in Ethiopia by the Ethiopian 
government, who fear a religious war.

Start with an encyclopedia, and follow the cited references. I think I
can imagine what archeologists think of Graham Hancock - a self-important
snake-oil salesman, making bucks on public gullibility.

I just received a copy of The Royal Canon of Turin, by Alan H. Gardiner.
It's a copy of the papyrus of the kings list of the Pharoahs and dynasties
of Egypt, It looks pretty fragmented, Does anyone know how many Kings the
list contains?  Ive tried to get other lists of the Pharaohs written by
Manetho's a priest of egypt, but no such luck. This copy is dated 1959,
also are there any newer copies, and under what names?  Id appriciate
the help.

   Edward Said would be proud.  Orientalism is alive and well.  :)

   What's the fascination with ancient Egypt?  What's wrong with
   the rather incredible story of Caliphate and Ottoman Egypt?
   And the tragedy of Ismaili Egypt, leading into British Egypt
   and finally to Farouk?  Heck, the RCC story is pretty good
   too--so I wonder why that's somehow not the first "Egypt" of
   which people think?  Or why they believe it's a "lost civil-
   isation?"  The people are still there---all around--although
   the Upper Nile groups, especially the Nuba, have been pushed 
   out.  It should be taken as a continuum, IMHO.

   Er, okay...off the soapbox.  :)  More Egypts, please?

We went to see the exhibit "Splendors of Ancient Egypt" at the Detroit
Institute of Art. It is there 16 July 1997 to 4 January 1998. Don't miss
it!  This is not the "King Tut" exhibit that was at the Metropolitan, but
a collection of materials from mostly German museums. It covers the period
from 5000 bp to the Roman occupation. 

I obtained a fascinating book in the "shop" - _Egyptian Hieroglyphics -
Reading the Past_, by W. V. Davies.  It traces the languages and scripts
of Egypt from Dynasty I to the Arab period. What I had not realized is
that hieroglyphics was not the dominant script of the language, but was
essentially restricted to ritualistic use. The main written script, up
through Dyns XX1-XXIV,is called Hieratic, which is a cursive form of
hieroglyphics. It looks rather "Arabic", to me.  Hieratic was replaced by
demotic at the same time that writing in columns was abandoned. The
Rosetta Stone has the same text written in hieroglyphic, demotic, and
greek. The book describes the languages and scripts, their historical
associations, their principles and grammar, the history of decipherment up
through Champollion's success, and has an extensive bibliography and is
well illustrated - all in 64 pages. Highly recommended!

The liturgical (sacred) language of the Egyptian Coptic Christians is Coptic,
a form of Middle Egyptian written in a semi-greek alphabet; the form of the
cross used in Coptic Christianity is the "ankh", which is a cross with a loop
instead of an upper vertical bar; this is an ancient Egyptian symbol of life.

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