EGYPT'S LOST FLEET ( FOUND)

The discovery of an ancient harbor on the Red Sea proves ancient Egyptians mastered oceangoing technology and launched a series of ambitious expeditions to far off lands.

A relief at the temple of the female pharaoh Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt, carved ca. 1480 B.B., shows a merchant ship on a trading expedition. Vessel artifacts match this depiction.

The scenes carved into a wall of the ancient Egyptian temple at Deir el-Bahri tell of a remarkable sea voyage. A fleet of cargo ships bearing exotic plants, animals, and precious incense navigates through high-crested waves on a journey from a mysterious land known as Punt or "the Land of God."

The carvings were commissioned by Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt's greatest female pharaoh, who controlled Egypt for more than two decades in the 15th century B.C. She ruled some 2 million people and oversaw one of most powerful empires of the ancient world.


The exact meaning of the detailed carvings has divided Egyptologists ever since they were discovered in the mid-19th century. "Some people have argued that Punt was inland and not on the sea, or a fictitious place altogether," ( Oxford Egyptologist John Baines says.

Recently, however, a series of remarkable discoveries on a desolate stretch of the Red Sea coast has settled the debate, proving once and for all that the masterful building skills of the ancient Egyptians applied to oceangoing ships as well as to pyramids.



Archaeologists from Italy, the United States, and Egypt excavating a dried-up lagoon known as Mersa Gawasis have unearthed traces of an ancient harbor that once launched early voyages like Hatshepsut's onto the open ocean.

Some of the site's most evocative evidence for the ancient Egyptians' seafaring prowess is concealed behind a modern steel door set into a cliff just 700 feet or so from the Red Sea shore. Inside is a man-made cave about 70 feet deep.

Lightbulbs powered by a gas generator thrumming just outside illuminate pockets of work: Here, an excavator carefully brushes sand and debris away from a 3,800-year-old reed mat; there, conservation experts photograph wood planks, chemically preserve them, and wrap them for storage...

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN GLASS MAKING RECREATED

A team led by a Cardiff University archaeologist has reconstructed a 3,000-year-old glass furnace, showing that Ancient Egyptian glass making methods were much more advanced than previously thought.

The reconstructed kiln built by Dr. Paul Nicholson of Cardiff University and Dr. Caroline Jackson of Sheffield University. (Credit: Cardiff University)



Dr Paul Nicholson, of the University's School of History and Archaeology, is leader of an Egypt Exploration Society team working on the earliest fully excavated glassmaking site in the world.


The site, at Amarna, on the banks of the Nile, dates back to the reign of Akhanaten (1352 - 1336 B.C.), just a few years before the rule of Tutankhamun.

It was previously thought that the Ancient Egyptians may have imported their glass from the Near East at around this time. However, the excavation team believes the evidence from Amarna shows they were making it themselves, possibly in a single stage operation.


Dr Nicholson and his colleague Dr Caroline Jackson of Sheffield University demonstrated this was possible, using local sand to produce a glass ingot from their own experimental reconstruction of a furnace near the site.

The team have also discovered that the glass works was part of an industrial complex which involved a number of other high temperature manufacturing processes.

The site also contained a potter's workshop and facilities for making blue pigment and faience - a material used in amulets and architectural inlays.

The site was near one of the main temples at Amarna and may have been used to produce materials in state buildings.

Dr Nicholson, who has been working at Amarna since 1983, said: "It has been argued that the Egyptians imported their glass and worked it into the artifacts that have been discovered from this time.

I believe there is now enough evidence to show that skilled craftsmen could make their own glass and were probably involved in a range of other manufacturing industries as well."

Dr Nicholson has now written a book detailing the discoveries made at Amarna.

Entitled Brilliant Things for Akhenaten, it is published by the Egypt Exploration Society (London) and available through Oxbow Books in the UK and The David Brown Book Company in the USA.

Exact Date Pinned to Great Pyramid's Construction?

Andrew Bossone in Cairo
for National Geographic News



The Egyptians started building the Great Pyramid of Giza on August 23, 2470 B.C., according to controversial new research that attempts to place an exact date on the start of the ancient construction project.



======================


A team of Egyptian researchers arrived at the date based on calculations of historical appearances of the star Sothis—today called Sirius.


Every year around the time of the Nile River floods, Sothis would rise in the early morning sky after a long absence.



"The appearance of this star indicates the beginning of an inundation period" for the Nile, said team leader Abdel-Halim Nur El-Din, former head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.


Throughout their history, "Egyptians … started their main buildings, the tombs, and the temples at the beginning of the inundation"—an auspicious time, since floodwaters brought fresh soil, maintaining the region's fertility.



In addition, pharaohs always started building their tombs at the starts of their rules. Khufu, the pharaoh meant to be buried in the Great Pyramid, took power in 2470 B.C., according to Nur El-Din and colleagues.


The researchers therefore compared the modern calendar, the ancient Egyptian calendar, and the cycle of the star to find the exact day Sothis would have appeared that year.


The team believes the ancient Egyptians observed the star from July 17 to 19, and the inundation period began 35 days later—on August 23.




Pharaohs Reset the Clock

Using Sothis's arrival to keep track of the annual Nile floods made sense, said Mark Hammergren, an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago who was not involved in the work.



"It happens at about the same time every solar year, so it corresponds to the seasons, and it provides them a good fixed date," he said.



Hammergren agrees with the days Nur El-Din's team calculated for Sothis, based on other researchers' estimates for the dates the star would have risen during ancient Egyptian times.



the "appearance" of the star is subject to weather conditions, which might have obscured its first rise in any given year.



Mahmoud Afifi, the general director of Giza antiquities, is also concerned about placing an exact year on the start of Khufu's rule.



Ancient Egyptian chronology reset to zero at the beginning of each pharaoh's reign, making it difficult to match Western calendar years with the dates given for ancient events.



What's more, dated lists of kings are unreliable, since the ancient Egyptians often had political motivations to alter the historical record.



Some unpopular pharaohs could have been left off the lists, for example, which would have changed the ruling dates of every pharaoh that followed.



Many scholars debate the precise year Khufu ascended to the throne, with some estimates as much as 139 years earlier than the date Nur El-Din and his team selected.



In addition, the design of the monumental Great Pyramid probably took considerable time to prepare, Afifi said, which might have delayed the start of construction beyond the first year of Khufu's reign.

Mayan 2012 And Quetzalcoatl Egypt Astronomy

The Mayans.

The Mayans developed astronomy to the point where they could predict eclipses hundreds of years in the future. Their legends say they obtained their astronomical wisdom from the Olmecs. Little is known about the Olmecs, though traces of their culture have been found dating to about 2000 B.C.E. A Mayan stone calendar is shown at left.

Diagram 1:
The sky on December 21st, 2012 A.D. showing a rare astronomical alignment -the winter solstice sun is right in the "dark rift" in the Milky Way.




This is a feature of the Milky Way anyone can see on a clear midsummer’s night, away from the light pollution of industrial society. At dawn on the winter solstice of A.D. 2012, the sun will be right in this dark-rift, and the orientation is such that the Milky Way rims the horizon at all points around.



Thus, the Milky Way "sits" on the earth, touching it at all points around, opening up the cosmic sky portal. The galactic and solar planes are thus aligned. "Sky portal" is just a term to describe the "opened sky" scenario apparent when the Milky Way rims the horizon. This is not to be confused with the "dark-rift" itself.





In Mayan myth, the winter solstice sun corresponds to the deity One Hunahpu, also known as First Father. The Mayan Sacred Book, the Popol Vuh, is all about setting the stage so that the Hero Twins’ father (One Hunahpu) can be reborn, thus beginning a new World Age.





The dark rift has many mythic identities: it is the Black Road; it is the xibalba be (the Road to the Underworld); it is a crevice in the branches of the cosmic tree (the Milky Way); it is the mouth of the Cosmic Monster (often portrayed as a frog, jaguar or snake with tree-like features); it is the birth canal of the Cosmic Mother.





Overall, the dark-rift is best understood as the birth canal of the Cosmic Mother, who we may call First Mother, to complement First Father. In this way we can trace how these various metaphors are found in Mayan Creation Mythology. And the date of this alignment is, again, the end date of the 13-baktun Great Cycle - a cycle of approximately 5125 years.




Earth's Wobble
==============



The slow process by which the winter solstice sun comes to conjoin the dark-rift in the Milky Way is a function of a phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes.



This involves the slow wobbling of the earth’s axis, which causes the stellar frame to slowly shift. To observers on earth, it causes the position of the winter solstice sun to slowly move in relation to celestial background features such as the Milky Way. A full cycle is completed in roughly 26,000 years.



Approximately 2100 years ago, when both the Long Count calendar and the Popol Vuh were devised by the early Maya, the dark-rift in the Milky Way could be observed some 30 degrees above the dawning winter solstice sun

Diagram 2:
Winter solstice sunrise from the early Mayan site of Izapa,
50 B.C. Notice the dark rift in the Milky Way, the
celestial birth canal of Cosmic Mother, some 30 degrees above the rising sun.







When these early skywatchers discovered precession, they realized that every winter solstice the cosmic birth canal was moving closer and closer to the dawning sun.



The winter solstice sun was called the First Sun, the First Lord or First Father, because it is the first day of the year, the beginning of the sun’s annual rebirth into increasing daylight. They calibrated the process, and fixed their Creation Mythology to the future alignment as described.




Monuments from the early Mayan site of Izapa clearly portray, by way of mythological iconography, the anticipated astronomical alignment of the Long Count end date. In this way, the Long Count calendar and Popol Vuh Creation Mythology work together to describe the future astronomical alignment.

Diagram 3:
Stela 11 from Izapa shows Cosmic Father in the "mouth" of Cosmic Mother, the "dark rift" or "birth canal" in the Milky Way. This is an image of the celestial alignment which culminates in A.D. 2012.






The irony, perhaps, is that the impending solstice-galaxy alignment was first mentioned back in 1969 in Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend’s groundbreaking book Hamlet’s Mill.




the astronomical alignment itself (which targets the opening of the new millennium) and the established end-date of the Mayan Calendar in A.D. 2012.



The ancient Maya apparently understood that the future alignment would have apocalyptic effects, and designed their World Age mythology to remind us of something essential. Myth, legend, or ancient message, whatever it is, clearly, it means we must all remember where we come from, where everything comes from: Mother.





====================
The Mayans and Aztecs have a legend of learning great things from a bearded "white man" who came to them sometime after 500 B.C.E. The Aztecs named him Quetzalcoatl, which means "Plumed Serpent.



There is some speculation that Quetzalcoatl could have come from Egypt, and that the "Plumed Serpent" represented the cobra with its hood expanded.


Mayan legend says that the Yucatan was originally inhabited by "people of the serpent," and their leader's name was "Serpent of the East." Mayans claimed that they got their writing from the Tula, and that their leaders sailed over the sea to the East to learn their wisdom.




Ancient Cosmology Points To Our Immediate Future
Based upon these simple facts, ancient skywatchers in Mesoamerica were apparently aware of a subtle celestial process, the precession of the equinoxes.




Knowledge of that process, and the fact that a major alignment in that process culminates at the end of their Great Cycle, strongly suggest a cosmological understanding which modern scholars have yet to explore. While today the conjunction is hidden behind the rays of the solstice sun, to early skywatchers the future convergence would have been the focus of intense calendar calculations and eschatological myth-making.




Mayans counted using a base 20 system. Their numbers used three symbols: a sea shell for zero, a dot for one, and a bar for five. They also had a small curved symbol that served as a filler around a small number of dots, for aesthetics.


====================

The Mayan Long Calendar. The Mayan timeline began on 13 August 3114 B.C.E. (very near the start of the Egyptian Old Kingdom). This is the starting point of the Mayan Long Calendar. The time divisions in the long calendar were:



1 kin = 1 day
20 kins = unial (20 days)
18 unials = tun (360 days)
20 tuns = katun (7200 days)
20 katuns = baktun (144,000 days, about 394.25 years)
13 baktuns = a Great Cycle (1,872,000 days, about 5,125.25 years)



A Great Cycle, or Age, is also known as a "Sun." Their legends state that at the end of each Sun there is a catastrophe, followed by a renewal. They count time in a cycle of five Suns, which therefore spans 9,360,000 days, or about 25,627 years. Some cite this Five Sun cycle as evidence of Mayan knowledge of precession of the equinoxes.




Mayans believed that we are currently in the Fifth Great Cycle, which will end, and a new First Sun begin, on 23 December 2012. Popular literature abounds with speculation on this event, and its near-coinciding with ecliptic crossing to the north of the Solar System's orbit around the Galatic Center.



The Mayan Vague Year Calendar (Haab). Mayans knew that the length of the Solar Year was about 365.25 days long but, like the Egyptians, they used a calendar of 365 days and did not use leap years. Because this calendar does not follow the true Solar Year, is is referred to as the Vague Year calendar, or Haab.



The Vague Year Calendar is divided into 20 months of 18 days each (360 days total), followed by a five-day period. The days of the month are numbered from 0 to 19. Each month is named after a Mayan god. These are:

Pop
Wo
Sip
Sots'
Sek
Xul
Yaxk'in
Mol
Ch'en
Yax
Sak
Keh
Mak
K'ank'in
Muwan
Pax
K'ayab
Kumk'u
Wayeb
—




The Mayan Ritual Calendar (Tzolkin). The third Mayan calendar was the Ritual Calendar, or Tzolkin, which had 13 months of 20 days each (260 days total). This 260-day cycle was related to the period of Venus. They Mayans knew that he Evening Star and the Morning Star were the same object, Venus, and had accurate tables of the planet's motion. The 20 days were named as follows:


Imix
Ik
Akbal
Kan
Chicchan
Cimi
Manik
Lamat
Muluc
Oc
Chuen
Eb
Ben
Ix
Men
Cib
Caban
Etz'nab
Cauac
Ahau



The numbers 1 through 13 increased along with the days. So for example the first day in the cycle was 1 Imix, the second was 2 Ik, and so on. After 260 days, every combination of name and number (1-13) would repeat.




The Mayan "Calendar Round." Every 52 years, the Vague Calendar and the Ritual Almanac coincide at the same beginning day. The Mayans called this a Calendar Round. They considered this an auspicious time, where the old would end and the new would begin. They rebuilt houses, refaced templed, and performed other such acts on this day. This custom has allowed us to accurately estimate the ages of many of their temples.



Mayans followed a longer cycle of 22 Calendar Rounds, consisting of 13 Heavens (the first 13 Calendar Rounds) followed by 9 Hells (the last 9 Calendar Rounds). The last cycle completed in 1987, placing us now in the first Heaven.



Lost Mayan Culture. Today, much of the ancient Mayan culture is lost forever. Their beliefs conflicted in many ways with the Roman Catholic Church, and the first Archbishop of Mexico claimed to have burned tens of thousands of Mayan books in the 1500s. Apart from remaining temple inscriptions, only four books remain today as the remnant of this ancient culture: the Dresden Codex, the Grolier Codex, the Madrid Codex, and the Paris Codex.



=======================================
ref: History Of Astronomy - The Mayans
Spirit Of Sankofa*

Science of the Pharaohs

Mathematics
Measurements
Astronomy
Medical Composition
Magic
Agriculture





The scientific subjects that concerned the ancient Egyptian were confined to mathematics, medicine, chemistry, and astrology.

What we found shows the development and progress the ancient Egyptian achieved in these sciences. Accuracy was the most important characteristic, in addition to science that enabled him to build lofty edifice on scientific basis.



Mathematics:

What we found consisted of mathematical problems and exercises and its ideal solutions, but we found neither theories nor rules. For instance what we found in some papyruses such as in “ Rand’s Papyrus ” where there was a table to divide odd numbers on 2 and some mathematical.

Problems:


A circular piece of land its circumference is 9 khit (carat) find its area?


A circular vessel of 9 cubit height and 6 cubit circumference, what is the quantity of grains that fill it?



Measurements:


The standard dry measure was Bushel (a measure of grains equals 8 gallons nearly i.e. 32½ liters). As for liquid measure there were other measures of different names, but they did not match any measures that are used now.


To measure the length they used two kinds the first is the Royal cubit (long) which equals 52.3 cm and it was used in architecture, the second is the ordinary cubit (short) which equals 45 cm.


For distances they used a unit called fluvial unit equals 10305 km (20, 000 cubit).



Areas and weights:

Area unit is “ mest gat ” = 100 square cubit.

(⅔ Acre, acre = 4000 square meter).

Weight unit is “ dubn ” = 91 grams.




Time Measurement:


Time was measured by years, and the year was divided into 12 months, every month was 30 days, and the month was three weeks 10 days each. The year was divided into three seasons each was four months: - flood season, winter, and summer.


The length of an hour varied according to the seasons. To measure time they used sundials and water glasses which were accompanied by a graduation to set the length of an hour according to the months.



At the end of the year 5 complementary days were added so that the days of the year were 365 days. The day was 24 hours divided equally into day and night. The day was twenty four hours divided equally into day and night. The length of an hour varied according to the seasons.





To measure time they used sundials and water glasses which were accompanied by a graduation to set the length of an hour according to the month.







Astronomy:


The Egyptians were concerned about studying astronomy and due to the dry climate of Egypt and to the absence of fogs except rarely, the study of the skies was easy. The positions of the groups and the orbits of the plants were known because the observation processes began in as early time.


The most two important groups of stars were:

First: The Great Bear seven stars and they were known as the immortal stars.


Second: the Arion (Saho) group and it was worshipped.


The most important star they knew was (Sirus) or (Sotis) because its appearance was a sign of the flood. Its appearance was celebrated at dawn in summer as a religious feast.


This star was considered Isis’ soul and there is a fable that says that the tears shed by Isis on the anniversary of her husband’s Osiris death were the source of the flood.



Texts were found on tombs from the mirth dynasty and these texts were known by diametrical calendar or the diametrical star clock, these texts were given the names of the “ dicons ”

i.e. the stars that appear every 10 days at the time of the rising of the sun and they counted 36 stars of it. The texts were put on the tomb to help the dead distinguish the day from the night.


These texts developed and became more accurate as in Ramsis’ the sixth tomb. In the tombs of some of the kings of the modern state we found a statue of a sitting man who has a net of stars.


Also we found in the attached texts, concerned with the first and the sixth day or every month, the position of the stars in every hour: a star over the left ear then a star over the right ear and etc.


As for the position of the Zodiac it joined the Egyptian astronomy in the Ptolemaic and the Greek era.



Concerning the year and its length astronomers eliminated the lunar year which consisted of 360 days yet they preserved the division of the year into 12 months each of 30 days then they added 5 false days to make the year correspond with the feats of astronomy.


During the harmonic era there were 2 calendars: The civil calendar (the formal) and the solar calendar (The astronomic).

In the formal calendar the year consisted of 365 days and there were no leap years, this means that the year missed a day every four years. This calendar (in respect to Julius Caesar) on the 19th of June.


As for the astronomic calendar (the solon) it consisted of 365 ¼ days therefore by the passage of the time a day was added every 4 years to the calendar and this the formal year (the civilian) precedes the astronomic year by a month every 120 years, and the two calendars correspond every 1460 years for four days.


The astronomic calendar was used in agriculture and appointing the religious feasts. One of the Greeks called Censorious deduced two dates in two years in which a simultaneous rising of Sirius and the sun happened during the days of the pharaohs, and we reached texts which tell us the days of the rising of Sirius.


The importance of these texts lies in determining the periods of the rule of the kings during whose role a rising of the star Sirius.




Medical Composition:


It is well known that the ancient Egyptians worked with medicine and anatomizing the human body and as well treated a lot of diseases compositions we found were written on papyrus and three of them go back to the time of the twelfth family and they are of the oldest papyri.



Some of these compositions were written in hieroglyphic and not in Hieratic as usual (this shows that it was made up before it was written by a long time). One dealt with the hard limbs and another contained amulets and prescriptions for the pregnant and the nursing woman.


I respite of what the ancient Egyptians had reached in medicine, magic was from the essential matters in treat neat for them. They believed that most of the diseases were caused by the devils, thus medicine was used along with the amulets.


Medicines contained bloods and fats of the animals, herbs, honey, and known liquids. They also made ointments and it was mixed with honey or with the fats of the animals like geese fat.


The Egyptians practiced surgery and were excelled at it but they did not recourse to it except for treating injuries.



Edwer Smith’s papyrus was found explaining the right surgery to treat the injuries of the head and the chest. Another papyrus called after I Bris Blizbeg contained information about the surgical treatment of first blisters and cysts caused by burns, sound, on obstetrics and gynecology.



Do not you agree that the ancient Egyptians had studied and penetrated many fields that were complex, difficult to comprehend and mysterious for old nations and in spite of that the ancient Egyptians excelled in it?





Magic:


Like all the ancient nations the ancient Egyptians believed in magic and in the presence of mysterious forces that controlled them. Thus they practiced magic and excelled in it. Different kinds of magic were mentioned in many of the ancient Egyptian literature.



We found that the ancient Egyptians devoted whole papyri to talk about nothing but magic. We also found records that contain amulets against diseases and maladies. The ancient Egyptians made for everyday in the year a magic characteristic which nukes bad luck or an in between one. Thus, they made up a calendar of good fortune days and misfortune days to refer to when they need.



We find in a papyrus a group of dreaand their interpretations each dream starts by “ if a man sees himself in a dream ” then follows a brief description of the dream then a phrase shoring whether the dream is a good one or a bad one and finally comes the interpretation of the dream.

For example.....

If a man sees himself in a dream eating the meat of a donkey, good it means his promotion.


If staring in a deep well repaired.


If staring in a deep well, bad, it means the ruin of his possessions, that is cannot be repaired.



If sitting on a tree, good, it means curing of diseases.

According to this papyrus, the Egyptians practiced the interpretation of dreams penetrating the psychiatry of the dreamer and interpreting what he sees in his dreams.



Problems were solved by consulting fortune tellers. The high positions in the state, even the position of the king was decided sometimes through the inspiration of a fortune teller. Disputes between the opponents were solved by fortunetellers as many papyri stated.



There are also long amulets which contain small wraps of papyrus, with mysterious texts for protection from din asters written on. The pharaonic magic continued even after Egypt’s merge into the Roman Empire.


The ancient Egyptians used magic in life necessities:



To stop the hurricane and the storm, to protect one in the desert against the beasts or in water against the crocodiles, and every where in Egypt against snakes and scorpions and therefore the pyramids of the king were supplied with amulets against hazards.



Magic as well helped on giving birth was recited while preparing medicine and it fought all poisons and diseases. It fought the evil dead who were believed to leave the tombs and look for eirl spreading diseases. Therefore, the ancient Egyptians used amulets for protection from hazards. As well mothers used to hang amulets to their young for their protection.







Agriculture:



Discovering the agriculture was from the most important matters that changed the course of life of the ancient Egyptians before Christ, in that manner man transferred from life of hunting to the life of agriculture, and the ancient Egyptian transferred from life of wandering to the life of residence and settling.

The agricultural era started 8000 or 10,000 years ago (i.e. since the Neolithic period). And as we know Egypt’s culture was an agricultural first and the circumstances of the ancient Egyptian were better than the circumstances of other nations.






Although his life was hard he reaped the fruits of his work this satisfactory situation was due to the river Nile and to the stable climate. With the renewal of the flood, the ancient Egyptians had to plow the land, then to sow the seeds and to look after the yield until its harvest.




The agricultural year started after the retreat of the water of the flood. The land was prepared quickly before cultivation in order not to dry and solidify. This process included: cleaning the irrigation canals, filling up the holes, replanting the hand and putting limit signs in the fields.

This enormous work needed collective efforts and therefore. This work was inevitable that the Egyptians thought that it is a necessity in the After life, and since the Middle state the rich out Oshbanic statues, as we mentioned before to substitute them in the after life.




After preparing the land cultivating the crops starts sometimes they used canals for irrigation but almost they lift the crops to grow without more irrigation. Then in the modern state they used the continuous irrigation system.




Spring was the season of the harvest that usually ended in may then the land was lift uncultivated for two months before the arrival of the new flood and if the land was high it was irrigated by the Archimedean screw (shadoof) which raised water.



The most important crops were grains (like wild wheat, ordinary, and barley corn, and flax) flax was one of the important crops and was cultivated to get fibers for making linen cloth. Papyrus was one of the most important crops and it was used in writing.



The Egyptians used ploughs to breakup the land and as for the solid soil for which the plough is nit suitable it was broken up by axes and hocs. At the harvest time the grains were collected by wooden sickles then gathered in big baskets and transferred to stores on donkeys.



After collecting the grains the processes of threshing and hulling then storing comes. Cattle did the threshing, and it means separating the grains from straw, and during threshing the dead spikes were eliminated.


Hulling took place using wooden fans where the air resulting form the fans hulls the grains and at last the grains were transferred to silos for storage.


After the harvest, taxes must be paid, theoretically all Egypt’s lands were owned by the pharaoh but there were lands owned by individuals.


The pharaoh bestowed lands to temples, nobles, and some individuals. Therefore they had to pay the taxes.



In addition to the abovementioned important crops, there were tow more important crops: Oil and wine, and infect they were extracting industries. Oil substituted grains in barter and it was used in cooking, lighting and in the manufacture of perfumes ointments and mummifying. Oil was extorted from jerboa fruits, castor Oil plant, flax, sesame, radish, and as for wine it was extracted from grapes and dates.



Breeding and taming cattle and birds were the results of agriculture. It was not bred only for food but also because it had an important role in worship purposes and religious rituals where sacrifices were given everyday.



In addition to cattle the animals of the desert were bred like dears and gazelles. The cattle were tattoo marked using a two horn shaped instrument. The Egyptians peasant was proud of his cattle.


As for the birds, they tamed ducks and geese in addition to wild birds. Hunting the birds was a sport practiced by using a hooked hunting stick. As for cats it roused the birds in order to hunt them easily.





HOTEP

Egypt Astronomer Priestesses

World-renown historians of Egypt's early history trace the background of the three astronomer-priestesses who gave to the world higher mathematics.


English historian, Gerald Massey Ancient Egypt, The Light of the World tells us that they were of a long line of distinguished African women who would lead the travel of civilization from its southern origins until it arrived in the north in a land now known as Egypt.


This upper Nile was where the goddess Ater-Tshema-T is credited with having created calculus over 4700 years ago.


G. Michanowsky tells us that about 4000 B. C. there was a giant supernova in the southern constellation Vela.


This and other celestial phenomena inspired these southeastern African people to move to a part of Africa which afforded an unobstructed view of the heavens they found in the barren ground of what-is-now Egypt.


They constructed telescopes and observatories to record precise movements of heavenly bodies.


They drew the land as a right triangle of thirty-six, fifty-four and ninety degrees. Livio C. Stecchini says that this allowed these astronomer-priestesses to calculate all of the trigonometric functions of angles between zero and thirty-six degrees.



The astronomer-priestess Sheshet is credited with the creation of trigonometry.


According to Livio Stecchini, priestess Sheshet analyzed curves by dividing the area under a curve into a series of rectangles which is the basis of integral calculus. In analyzing the curvature of the earth she used rectangles six feet wide.



Geometry, created by the astronomer-priestesses Tekhi, evolved with the object of controlling the flow of the Nile River, so that maximum enrichment of the land would result.



According to E. A. Wallis Budge, Keeper of the Antiquities of the British Museum, in his book, The Gods of Egypt, and Moses Cotsworth say that these priestesses were the most learned of Egypt.



They say that they could measure the length of the year to 365.24219 of days. They were credited with placing the granite slab into the great pyramid, which, according to the French mathematician, Abbe Thomas Moreau, in his book The Mysterious Science of the Pharaohs, is the basis for the metric system.



This is due to the fact that the length of this granite slab is exactly one meter in length which is one ten-millionth of the distance from the North Pole to the Equator.



hotep*

Housing in Ancient Egypt

Houses in Ancient Egypt were made out of mud bricks. Mud was in abundance after the annual flood. Brick makers placed the mud into wooden molds and let them bake and harden in the sun. After hardening, the bricks were stacked to be used for building.


The homes of the wealthy were made of double-thick walls that increased the security of the house. The homes of the poor were only one brick thick.




The average Egyptian home had four rooms—a central room with smaller rooms joined to it. The central room was usually higher than the other rooms so that small openings for air could be placed high in the wall. The average person had four rooms in the house.


A family spent most of their time in the central room and used it for sleeping quarters at night. Off of this central room was a kitchen and another room that was used for storage or as an extra bedroom. Off the street was an entry room, which led into the central room.




A nobleman’s house also had a central room in its building plan. There were more rooms surrounding the central room in a nobleman’s home, and the furniture was much more ornate. Flooring was made of mud tiles or covered with a plaster-like material.



Suitable wood for building was very rare in Ancient Egypt. Much of the wood had to be imported since the trees that grew naturally in the dry Egyptian climate did not produce good boards. Wood was used to support doorways, steps, and ceilings.


The roof of a house was frequently used as living space in Egypt, since the insides of houses were dimly lit. Stairs to the roof were part of most every home.

KEMETIC COSMIC VIEW - THE BOOK OF NUT

This book itself is pictured in nature, and resembles to some degree the Book of the Heavenly Cow. There are brief captions that seems to overwhelmed by the huge image of the sky.



We have a few examples of the Book of Nut. There are exanples in the cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos and the tomb of Ramheesses IV, through the latter is abbrieviated.



The only other evidence of this book is a commentary written in the Roman Period, and an incomplete version in the tomb of Mutirdis (TT410) dating from the 26 Dynasty. The longer appended text that accompanies the captions was reproduced in the Papyrus Carlsberg in Demotic script.




It was Jean-Francois Champollion and Hippolito Rosellini who published the earliest drawing of the representation of the sky goddess.
================



These, and some investigations that followed, were all from the versibauer on found in the tomb (KV2) of Ramesses IV, for the Osireion in Abydos, for it had not been discovered at that point.


The commentary from the Roman Period was published by H.O. Lange and Otto Neugebauer in 1940.
=============


Nut is shown as a woman supported by God Shu who holds her body aloft. Interesting, in the tomb of Seti I, she is oriented correctly for the swallowing and birth of the sun, but not in tomb of Ramesses IV.



Other motifs within the scene includes several sun disks, a winged scarab in front of the knees of the goddess, a vulture atop the heraldic plant (lotus flower)of Upper Egypt behind her legs, and nest of migratory birds next to her arms. The captions on the scenes are also accompanied by a longer appended text.

===============



The book itself is intended to provide both a topography of the sky and greater understanding of the sun's daily course. The brief captions augment this understanding and are distributed over the entire scene, describing its detail as well as the actions of the sun god, the decans and other divine beings.



O. Neugebaum set out and coded the various captions within the depiction. For example; Text L provides a definition of the "Far regions of the sky", that are in the primeval darkness and waters, not touched by the sun.



They have no bounaries or cardinal directions. A list of decans that may orginate in the Middle Kingdom are provided in Text S through X. These captions tells us the decans work and their periodic invisibilitey, including thier transit through the meridian.


The text labeled Dd through FFf explains migratory birds and their nests.

============

In the cenotaph of Seti I at Abydos, we find a text reporting a quarrel between Geb and Nut because she is swallowing their children, the stars.


The dispute is settled by their father, Shu who advises that Nut gives birth to the stars each time so they might live.




Hotep*

KMT BOOK OF THE HEAVENS

During the late New Kingdom, a book was developed by the Kemet's, describes the sun's passage through the heavens.


There are actually a number of individual books, but the better documented of these include the Book of the Day, the Book of the Night, and the Book of Nut. Closely Related is the Book of the Celestial Cow.




For example; The Book of the Night, like other books, documented the sun's journey but set within Nut, goddess of the heavens. She swallows the sun at the close of the day and gives birth to it each morning.




Pasages from these books are mostly found in Ramessid period tombs.
======================



The Book of the Divine Cow begins with "The Myth of the Destruction of Mankind", the KMT (EGYPTIAN) version of the story of the flood.

======================



In the beginning daylight was always present, and humans and gods cohabitated on earth. This was depicted as paradise, but humans rebelled against the aging sun god, Ra. Ra sent Hathor as his eye (cobra snake) to punish the rebels, who begain to destroy them with fire.




However, Ra ended up feelimg sorry for them and so deceived Hathor into thinking some humans live. Ra then rearranged heaven and the underworld and left earth on the back of the celestial cow.




After the death of Akhenaten, signaling the end of the Amarna Period, we find a new set of books related to the afterlife. These books centered around Nut, who swallows the sun god in the evening, only to give birth to him in the morning.




During the day the sun god passes visibly along her body but during the night, He travels through her body, back to the place where he will rise once more.




Beginning with Ramesses IV, two of the Books of the Sky were usually placed next to each other on the ceilings of royal tombs.



They depicted a double representation of Nut, back to back. The main focus is on the sun god, other heavenly bodies are also included.



For the most part, these writings emphasize's the cosmography and topography of the now, through the astronomical ceilings found in the tombs of Seti I (KV17) Through Ramesses III (KV11)can also be viewed as precursors to the Books of the Sky,(HEAVENS).




These books are generally considered to consist of the Book of Nut, the Book of the Day and the Book of the Night.
===============




Hotep*
======





ref: crystalinks*

Ancient Egyptian Medicine Pt 1

In Sickness and in Health: Preventative and Curative Health Care
============================================


If one had to be ill in ancient times, the best place to do so would probably have been Egypt. Not that an Egyptian's chances of survival would have been significantly better than those of his foreign contemporaries, but at least people had the satisfaction of being treated by physicians whose were renowned all over the ancient world.

Unlike the injuries caused by accidents or fighting, which were dealt with by the zwn.w (sunu), or scorpion stings and snake bites for which the xrp srqt (kherep serqet), the exorcist of Serqet, knew the appropriate spells and remedies, illnesses and their causes were mysterious. The Egyptians explained them as the work of the gods, caused by the presence of evil spirits or their poisons, and cleansing the body was the way to rid the body of their influence.

Incantations, prayers to the gods - above all to Sekhmet the goddess of healing, curses, and threats, often accompanied by the injection of nasty smelling and tasting medicines into the various bodily orifices, were hoped to prove effective.

Montemhet, 4th prophet of Amen, put his faith in the god he served:
==================================

I bow down to your (i.e. Amen's) name
May it be my physician,
May it drive pain away from me.
Statue inscription of Montemhet, Third Intermediate Period

M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume III, p.30
==========================================

Preventive measures included prayers and various kinds of magic, above all the wearing of amulets. The importance of the diet was partially recognized [30], and the natural human craving for diversity and rich well-irrigated soil resulted in a diet which was mostly reasonably balanced: carbohydrates from cereals, vitamins from fruit and vegetables, and proteins mostly from fish. Milk and milk products were just occasionally consumed, as were legumes, seeds and oil.


The Healers and Their Art
================

The Egyptian priest-physician, wab sxmt (wab sekhmet), had a number of important functions. First, to discover the nature of the particular entity possessing the person and then attack, drive it out, or otherwise destroy it. This was done by some powerful magic for which rituals, spells, incantations, talismans and amulets were used. Sekhmet priests seem also to have been involved in the prevention of plagues, inspection of sacrificial animals and even veterinary medicine. Other healers like the zwn.w (sunu) and the za.w (sau) seem to have had recourse to the same methods and scriptures as the wab.

The role deities and their servants played in the healing process is described in the apocryphal story of Bentresh, a daughter of the chief of Bekhten, who fell ill, and Ramses II sent her Thutemhab, a scribe experienced in his heart, who can write with his finger. After Thutemhab had seen the princess and concluded that she was possessed of a spirit, he returned to Egypt, and Khonsu-in-Thebes-Beautiful-Rest agreed [51] that Khonsu-the-Plan-maker, the great god, smiting the evil spirits should be sent to Bekhten:


This god arrived in Bekhten in a full year and five months. Then the chief of Bekhten came, with his soldiers and his nobles, before Khonsu-the-Plan-Maker. He threw himself upon his belly, saying: "Thou comest to us, thou art welcome with us, by command of the King Usermare-Setepnere (Ramses II)."

Then this god went to the place where Bentresh was. Then he wrought the protection of the daughter of the chief of Bekhten. She became well immediately.


Tale written down in the late first millennium BCE
James Henry Breasted Ancient Records of Egypt, Part Three
============================================

Physical medicines such as herbs were mostly expected to assuage the pain only, while magic effected the cure. A section in the Papyrus Ebers is about charms and invocations used to encourage healing. One spell, recited before taking an herbal remedy, reads as follows: "Come Remedy! Come thou who expellest (evil) things in this my stomach and in these my limbs!"

The wording of these spells is often followed by a recommendation, such as: "Truly excellent. Millions of times."

Not all of Egyptian medicine was based on wishful thinking (moreover we should never disregard the effect faith can have on our health), much was the result of experimentation and observation, and physical means supplemented the magical ones:
Magic is effective together with medicine. Medicine is effective together with magic.


From the Ebers papyrus
================

Apart from spiritual healing and herbal medicine, they practiced massage.

Examination of a woman aching in her legs and her calves after walking
You should say of it 'it is discharges of the womb'.
You should treat it with a massage of her legs and calves with mud until she is well.

Kahun Medical Papyrus
=================

Manipulation made extensive use of therapeutic herbs and foods, but surgery was only rarely part of their treatments. According to Herodotus there was a high degree of specialization among physicians:

The practice of medicine is very specialized among them. Each physician treats just one disease. The country is full of physicians, some treat the eye, some the teeth, some of what belongs to the abdomen, and others internal diseases.

Herodotus, Histories 2,84
=========

Nothing certain is known about the way physicians acquired their medical knowledge, but one surmises that after (or in parallel to) their formation as scribes they were apprenticed to practicing healers. It has also been suggested that the Houses of Life, associated with Sekhmet, were teaching centers for physicians.

When Harsiese, the fictional physician in the prologue to the Instruction of Ankhsheshonq was called to the royal court he underwent some quizzing by the king himself and then became a member of the medical team looking after the pharaoh:

Pharaoh asked him many things and he answered them all. of the chief physician; and the chief physician did nothing without consulting Harsiese son of Ramose about it. A few days later it happened that the chief physician went to his fathers (i.e. died) Harsiese son of Ramose was made chief physician, and he was given everything that belonged to the chief physician entirely...

The Instruction of Ankhsheshonq
M. Lichtheim: Ancient Egyptian Literature Vol. 3, p.161
===================================


Like all scribal professions medicine was a domain dominated by men. But occasionally women succeeded not just in acquiring medical knowledge but also in climbing to the top of the scribal hierarchy.

An Old Kingdom female physician named Peseshet left a stela which recorded her positions of Overseer of Funerary Priestesses and of Overseer of Female Physicians.

Many of the poorer Egyptians probably had little contact with real physicians and called for the local medic, a workman like Paheripedjet at Deir el Medina who was frequently excused from his normal duties to attend to the sick. He seems to have had some medical knowledge, knew how to prepare medicines and made home visits.
The medical knowledge.

A few papyri have survived, from which we can learn about Egyptian medicine:

The Edwin Smith Papyrus
=======================

Describing surgical diagnosis and treatments;

the Ebers Papyrus on ophthalmology, diseases of the digestive system, the head, the skin and specific maladies like aAa, which some think may have been a precursor of aids and others, perhaps more reasonably, consider to have been a disease of the urinary tract, a compilation of earlier works that contains a large number of prescriptions and recipes,

the Kahun Gynecological Papyrus,
the Berlin Medical Papyrus,
the London Medical Papyrus.

the Hearst medical papyrus repeats many of the recipes found in the Ebers papyrus.
the Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden contains a number of spells for treating physical ailments.

The treatments in these texts are often organized into groups. The Edwin Smith Papyrus for instance opens with eight texts concerning head wounds, followed by nineteen treatments of wounds to the face (forehead, eyebrows, nose, cheeks, temples, mouth, chin), six descriptions of how to deal with injuries to throat and neck, five dealing with collar-bones and arms, and seven with chest complaints.

===================

It appears that all this knowledge dates to the third millennium BCE, even though the papyrus itself is of a much later date. Some important notions concerning the nervous system originated with the Egyptians, a word for brain is used here for the first time in any written language: ... the membrane enveloping his brain, so that it breaks open his fluid in the interior of his head.



The Edwin Smith papyrus, case 6
================

Acting conservatively, they knew how to treat injuries to the brain without killing the patient, but on the whole their understanding of the brain and its functions was superficial: they considered thinking to be a function of the heart.

Their dissection of bodies during mummification seems not to have added greatly to their knowledge of the inner workings of the human body. Possibly because mummifiers and physicians did not move in the same circles, but also because of the way the organs were removed; ripped out through a small incision in the corpse's flank or, in the case of the brain, scooped out in small portions through a nostril.

They had some anatomical knowledge though, had made the connection between pulse and heart. They also had understanding of the circulation of the blood, thank to head physician and genius Imhotep.

Now if the priests of Sekhmet or any physician put his hands (or) his fingers upon the head , upon the back of the head upon the two hands , upon the pulse , upon the two feet , he measures (h't ) the heart , because its vessels are in the back of the head and in the pulse ; and because its pulsation is in every vessel of every member.


The Edwin Smith papyrus, case 1
==================

This knowledge reached Greece through the doctors of Alexandria. The anatomical properties they were best aware of were superficial, pertaining to accessible body parts such as bones of limbs or the infants' fontanelles
fluttering under the fingers like the weak place of an infant's crown before it becomes whole


The Edwin Smith papyrus, case 6
===================

Often we cannot translate the specialist expressions used in the medical texts, both of the affected body parts such as the mt.w, generally translated as "vessels" or the like and apparently comprising blood vessels, sinews and nerves, and the ingredients of their medicines. Sometimes their knowledge was either not very exact or unfortunately expressed. One will wonder for a few moments underneath what the bronchi were to be found:


"A dislocation in his two collar-bones" means a displacement of the heads of his sickle-bone(s). Their heads are attached to the upper bone of his breast to his throat, over which is the flesh of his gorge, that is the flesh that is over his bosom. Two ducts (i.e. the bronchi) are under it: one on the right and (one) on the left of his throat (and) of his bosom; they lead to his lungs.


The Edwin Smith papyrus, case 34
======================

That this theoretical knowledge was often successfully applied is proven by archaeological finds in the workers' tombs at Gizeh for instance. Skeletons with broken arms that had been set, a man who had survived the amputation of a leg by fourteen years and another brain surgery by two years.


The diseases
============

Everyday complaints like stomach upsets, bowel trouble and headaches went probably mostly untreated, even if the physicians could offer remedies:
For the evacuation of the belly:
Cow's milk, 1; .grains, 1; honey 1; mash, sift, cook; take in four portions.

To remedy the bowels:
Melilot (?), 1; dates, 1; cook in oil; anoint sick part.

To refresh an aching head:
Flour, 1; incense, 1; wood of wa, 1; waneb plant, 1; mint (?), 1; horn of a stag, 1; sycamore (?) seeds, 1; seeds of [ (?)], 1; mason's plaster (?), 1; seeds of zart, 1; water, 1; mash, apply to the head.

To renew bowel movements in a constipated child:
An old book, boil in oil, apply half on the belly to reestablish evacuation.

Ebers Papyrus
============


G. Maspero, Etudes de mythologie et d'achéologie égyptiennes III, 1898, pp.289f.
The common cold plagued the ancient Egyptians as it still does us today, and their remedy, the milk of a mother who has given birth to a boy, was probably as effective as anything we have got today. Moreover they had a tried and true spell to go with it.


May you flow out, catarrh, son of catarrh, who breaks the bones, who destroys the skull, who hacks in the marrow, who causes the seven openings in the head to ache.


Ebers Papyrus

While some Egyptians lived to a ripe old age like Ramses II or Psalmist I's daughter Nitocris who reigned as God's Wife for more than sixty years, the age at death was only in a minority of cases above thirty-five years, with bilharziasis (schistosomiasis) - a disease difficult not to contract in a country flooded for months every year - a common cause of anemia, female infertility, a debilitating loss of resistance to other diseases and subsequent death.


The Ebers Papyrus addresses some of the symptoms of the disease and in two columns discusses treatment and prevention of bleeding in the urinal tract (haematuria) [6]. The Hearst Papyrus cites antimony disulfide as a remedy.

Insect borne diseases like malaria and trachoma, an eye disease, were endemic; plagues spread along the trade routes and a number of yadet renpet (jAd.t rnp.t) epidemics reported in Egyptian documents are thought by some to have been outbreaks of bubonic plague.


The following charm has been interpreted as referring to the plague, as one of its symptoms is a dark discoloration of the skin:

Spell for the disease of the Asiatics: Who is all-knowing like Re? Who is thus all-knowing? This god who blackens the body with char-coal? May this Highest God be seized!
pHearst 11,12



After a German translation in Jürgen Kraus, Die Demographie des Alten Ägypten, Göttingen 2004, p.187


Mosquitoes also spread filarial worms which caused the disfiguring elephantiasis.
This disease was not very prevalent but caused immense suffering to its victims.
Infectious diseases were rampant in the relatively densely populated Nile valley, where practically the whole population lived within a narrow strip of land along the river, which at times was only a few hundred metres wide, and their incidence was dependent to some degree on the seasons.


Smallpox, diarrhea, dysentery, typhoid, jaundice and relapsing fever were responsible for many deaths, above all during spring and summer. The ubiquity of water during the inundation brought with it a different set of ailments, chief among them probably malaria, which were the main cause for mortality in late autumn; while the cooler weather of autumn and winter seems to have favored the outbreak of respiratory illnesses.


A child's vertebra showing signs of tubercular infection
Source: V.Easy

Trichinae afflicted the pigs, parasitic worms and tuberculosis the cattle and were occasionally passed on to the human population. Human tuberculosis was widespread; Leprosy on the other hand, caused by bacteria similar to the tubercle bacillus, is badly documented and was apparently relatively rare, possibly because of an immunity TB sufferers acquired. Some think that leprosy originated in Egypt and spread to the Levant and Europe along the migration and trade routes, others contend that there is no proof of its existence in ancient times.


Silicosis of the lungs, the result of breathing in airborne sand particles, is documented and was a frequent cause of death, as was pneumonia.
The various kinds of malignant tumors were almost as frequent then as they are nowadays in comparable age and gender groups.


Eye infections are a common complaint in Africa. In ancient Egypt they were at least in part prevented by the application of bactericidal eye paint. The ingredients of some of the remedies may not have been as difficult to come by in a civilization, where the brain of the dead was removed in little bits from the skull during mummification and discarded, as it would be in a modern western country:
Prescription for the eye, to be used for all diseases which occur in this organ:
Human brain, divide into its two halves, mix one half with honey, smear on the eye in the evening, dry the other half, mash, sift, smear on the eye in the morning.


Ebers Papyrus
G. Maspero, Etudes de mythologie et d'achéologie égyptiennes III, 1898, p.290.

The hard physical toil, often repetitive, caused great harm to the bones and joints of the labourers after only a few years of being subjected to it. Those who survived into old age were victims of the same infirmities that still plague the aged like cardio-vascular diseases, arthritis, from which Ramses II suffered, and probably dementia.


Congenital diseases were not infrequent and often brought about early death as the burials of infants bear out. Their causes may have been environmental, nutritional or social.

Inbreeding, not infrequent among the royals, was probably also not rare among the common people largely bound to the soil: the occurrence of a sixth finger or toe in mummies, interpreted by some as the result of inbreeding, has been noted a number of times, as has the high incidence of spina bifida occulta in the Bahariye Oasis during Graeco-Roman times; but there is no evidence that the union of healthy close relatives would result in defective offspring in populations which are not isolated.


Open wounds were often treated with honey, but sepsis was one of the commonest causes of death. When lockjaw set in due to a tetanus infection, physicians knew they were powerless against this affliction:


Thou shouldst say regarding him: "One having a gaping wound in his head penetrating to the bone, perforating the sutures of his skull; he has developed ty, his mouth is bound, (and) he suffers with stiffness in his neck. An ailment not to be treated."


The Edwin Smith papyrus, case 7

Instances of diseases, which are rare today, were also found: in a First Intermediate Period cemetery at Abydos the skeleton of a child has been discovered which had suffered from osteoporosis.

Little is known about pregnancy and childbirth in ancient Egypt, and on the basis of a few literary hints one surmises that, unless there were extraordinary problems, physicians were not involved. There was a store of knowledge concerning women, as is reflected in the Kahun Gynecological papyrus, the Greater Berlin Papyrus and others, which dealt with urinary problems, pains in the abdomen, legs and genitals, fertility and conception.


Dietary deficiencies


A restricted diet caused or aggravated a number of ailments, some with fatal outcome. There were times when malnutrition was widespread. Prehistoric dental records suggest that health was poor during much of that period, and improved with the increasing adoption of agriculture; but even in historic times when the supply of food was generally assured, the growth of the population was often stunted. Grown males reached a height of about 1.60 m and females 10 cm less during the early Middle Kingdom. Because of vitamin and other deficiencies.


Herbal Medicine

Herbs played a major part in Egyptian medicine. The plant medicines mentioned in the Ebers papyrus for instance include opium, cannabis, myrrh, frankincense, fennel, cassia, senna, thyme, henna, juniper, aloe, linseed and castor oil - though some of the translations are less than certain. Cloves of garlic have been found in Egyptian burial sites, including the tomb of Tutankhamen and in the sacred underground temple of the bulls at Saqqara. Many herbs were steeped in wine, which was then drunk as an oral medicine.



Egyptians thought garlic and onions aided endurance, and consumed large quantities of them. Raw garlic was routinely given to asthmatics and to those suffering with bronchial-pulmonary complaints. Onions helped against problems of the digestive system. (e.g. Ebers 192


Garlic was an important healing agent then just as it still is to the modern Egyptian and to most of the peoples in the Mediterranean area: Fresh cloves are peeled, mashed and macerated in a mixture of vinegar and water. This can be used to gargle and rinse the mouth, or taken internally to treat sore throats and toothache. Another way to take garlic both for prevention as well as treatment is to macerate several cloves of mashed garlic in olive oil.

Applied as an external liniment or taken internally it is beneficial for bronchial and lung complaints including colds. A freshly peeled clove of raw garlic wrapped in muslin or cheesecloth and pinned to the undergarment is hoped to protect against infectious diseases such as colds and influenza.


Coriander, C. Sativum (e.g. pHearst 102, 124 was considered to have cooling, stimulant, carminative and digestive properties. Both the seeds and the plant were used as a spice in cooking to prevent and eliminate flatulence, they were also taken as a tea for stomach and all kinds of urinary complaints including cystitis.

Coriander leaves were commonly added fresh to spicy foods to moderate their irritating effects. It was one of the herbs offered to the gods by the king, and seeds were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen and in other ancient burial sites.
Cumin, Cumin cyminum (e.g. Hearst 28, 55, 125 is an umbelliferous herb indigenous to Egypt. The seeds were considered to be a stimulant and effective against flatulence.

They were often used together with coriander for flavoring. Cumin powder mixed with some wheat flour as a binder and a little water was applied to relieve the pain of any aching or arthritic joints. Powdered cumin mixed with grease or lard was inserted as an anal suppository to disperse heat from the anus and stop itching.


Leaves from many plants, such as willow, sycamore, acacia (e.g. Ebers 105, 415 or the ym-tree, were used in poultices and the like (e.g. Smith 46. Tannic Acid derived from acacia seeds commonly helped for cooling the vessels (e.g. pHearst 95, and heal burns. Castor oil, (e.g. Ebers 25 and 251 figs (e.g. Ebers 41 and dates, were used as laxatives.

Tape worms, the snakes in the belly, were dealt with by an infusion of pomegranate root in water, which was strained and drunk. The alkaloids contained in it paralyzed the worms' nervous system, and they relinquished their hold. Ulcers were treated with yeast, as were stomach ailments.


Some of the medicines were made from plant materials imported from abroad. Mandrake (e.g. pHearst 109, 168, 185, introduced from Canaan and grown locally since the New Kingdom, was thought to be an aphrodisiac and, mixed with alcohol, induced unconsciousness.

Cedar oil, an antiseptic,originated in the Levant. The Persian henna was grown in Egypt since the Middle Kingdom, and - if identical with henu mentioned in the Ebers Papyrus - was used against hair loss. They treated catarrh with aloe which came from eastern Africa. Frankincense , containing tetrahydrocannabinol and used like hashish as pain killer (e.g. Kahun 12, was imported from Punt.

Minerals and animal products were used too. Honey and grease formed part of many wound treatments, mother's milk was occasionally given against viral diseases like the common cold, fresh meat laid on open wounds and sprains, and animal dung was thought to be effective at times.


A cosmetics jar at the Cairo Museum bears the legend: "Eye lotion to be dispersed, good for eyesight." An Egyptian papyrus from 1500 BCE discusses recipes for treating conjunctivitis and cornea, iris, and eyelid problems. Lead-based chemicals like carbonates and acetates were popular for their therapeutic properties.


Malachite used as an eye-liner also had therapeutic value. In a country where eye infections were endemic, the effects of its germicidal qualities were appreciated even if the reasons for its effectiveness were not understood.




hotep:

4 Symbolic Elements

In these four elements symbolic of four supreme beings combined with the fifth element, The Human being (a source of creative will) (Hu). This is the source of all life forms on this great planet.

Ta (Earth), with Ma (Water) , ¾ of the planet earth surface is occupied by water. And re-aligned ourselves with Neteru, and even “Mother Nature”.


All from the primordial waters. And our etherian parents the (8) Eight Rashunaat (Ogdoad).

The life forces, Sekhem and find our way home, through the energies as ether on into the boundless universe as cell life forms beings. Universal Ba (inner soul) to give or sustain life Neb (spiritual masters of individuals) Bes. (Master, physical image of a deity.

Protected by the Ba (inner soul) Ba gives life and Neb (spiritual masters) sustains Ka. (Etheric double, spiritual body) , Sa (protect , guard), Hu (The Neter of offering) Khaibit (shadow).

Sekhem – Chi, energy from the root seat, Setekht , Khu (fire, flame) sustains Neb (spiritual master). The Khat (physical dead body). To our physical parent Sedjet (Enneads).

==================
We must attune ourselves with the elements that are in and around us daily. Through each awakening , sleeping and fleeting moment. As we elude ourselves that time is in motion. Time does not move forward, nor has it come from behind.

It has always been. Time does not ascend upward; nor has it descended from above. Time is now, now is the time, time is.
==================


We must learn the realities of existence and reverse the process of self deterioration. , both physically and mentally, and with the “confirmed fact” become a part of all. The essence of our being is that we exist and with that confirmation existence is as we are. Time is as we be. All is , all acts, all does, all things are a part of all on into allness.

===============


The baby of (Allness) is found in the womb of Quantum Physics, born inside-out in Ethernic existence.

So as a devoted Kemetic of the ancient Egyptian and order of Neter A’aferti known as…. Atum Re.

Sekhem – Chi Tepi – Hesp (Aura)


Each time you begin this journey it’s the first time.....
A Neter yourself , from which derives the word 'Nature'.

You maybe initiated, and re-initiated until Meskhenet vibrating all 4 Tepi Hespaat (Auras).

1. Blue, 2. Yellow, 3. Green, 4. Red

===========================

And then you may reverse the cycle, until the ancient ones arrange your existence in the great sight to flow in order. Once that perfected state has been reached. The inner being begins to elevate itself back into Kuluwm (All).

And back to Meshenet short paths of faith, belief and your diligent quest for facts and confirmation, has led you to the end of belief, faith and to the beginning journey on the path of truth and facts and Rennet - fortune.

=================




The Golden City , Egypt


(Tama-Re)
(Egypt of the West)

==============

The Great Re Sun (Ra) with its thousands (1000’s) of Rays (‘Re’) of mental energy protecting each era of what’s called time.

A great crystal city must be born, on earth as it is in heaven, for the higher learning when the spiritual Neteru (Masters) must descend and ascend to seek those worthy of the best kept secrets; best kept sacred.

Atum-Re. I am he who will harold in this great resurrection of the children of the Neter (Deity’s) with the great alignment of the planet at the millennium 5/5/2000 A.D.



The element site, this like El Maguraj is not a new rite, A fabricated initiation, but a long thought forgotten rite,, that was a part of our ancient but now resurrected to present day culture.

When we ruled....... in the heavens and came to the earth, and in due respect of utilizing the provisions of this new environment, we gave thanks and showed appreciation through this most sacred and ancient ritual.

If you prove to be worthy, you many continue to walk the path, stand amongst the Nebu, Neteru, the Anunnagi, the Nommo, the Eluls.

It is these four ancient and supreme races of beings who are responsible for bringing the Homo Sapien into existence and clicking on the light called Ba (soul).

Which is that state of expression that was needed to show through, Taful (prayer) , Through Maguraj, (the journey within) and again through this great ritual.

Our appreciation for the boundless gifts, and our willingness to cooperate, participate in nature and its generosity. The Source, which is ever nourishing us with the fruits in which they bring forth from Ta, (Earth), substance, and the Mu (water).

Which through moistness germinates and kindles life in Nature, and the Nefu (Air) which transports the seeds for growth, to sustain the body and trigger the ether, through proper breathing.

Through Sutukh (fire) the sun that stimulates growth, and the flames that cooks our food, we must remember we were not alone, we are never alone.

El Juzrun Dakka – The element site.

The Maguraj site, is directly aligned with the star constellation Sabtu (Orion)

It is no coincidence that the element sight, El Juzrun Dakka is directly aligned with the Taurus star constellation consists of the Zeta star, Al Natu, Alderbaran, Pleiades, Hyades and Lambda.

The key to measure the distance of star’s in star clusters, Taurus is the symbol of “The bull”.



It is also the Greek symbol of Tau, which was adapted from the Egyptian symbol the Shen. (Refer to amulets.

Taurus the bull is one of the 12 constellations of the zodiac, which is Mentu. Its brightest star Kiymah ‘pleiades’ is positioned approximately 500 light years away from Ta (earth).

Pleiades is the 7th star system in Orion,the 16th galaxy. The brightest star of Pleiades is called ‘Eta Tauri”.

The star cluster of Taurus constellation

1. Zeta Star 2. Al Natu 3. Alderbaran 4. Pleiades 5. Hyades 6. Lambda ….

Is the key to measuring the distance between stars.




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Did you know?
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How Halloween started….
Halloween custom goes back 2,000 yrs. It was based on a ceremony that was held around the first of November. The ceremony was led by Druids, who were Celtic priests in Great Britain, Ireland and parts of France.

During the event, they honored the souls of the dead who returned to Earth that night. As part of the celebration, people burned bonfires and wore costumes.

In some parts of the world, black cats are thought to be good luck.






hotep!

Ninetjer (Nynetjer) The Third King of Egypt's 2nd Dynasty

by Jimmy Dunn


As we descend into the murky far past of Egypt's history, there is no surprise that historical details become blurred, and this certainly applies to the period between the death of Qaa at the end of the 1st Dynasty and the accession of Netjerikhet Djoser in the 3rd Dynasty. Most of the kings of the 2nd Dynasty remain obscure, and we frequently know little more about them than Egyptologists of a generation past. However, the identity and order of the first three kings is certain, thanks to an inscribed statue in the Cairo Museum, and other contemporary monuments and later kings lists can be reconciled with reasonable certainty for the first five rulers.



However, the Palermo Stone records a significant drop in the average height of the annual inundation of the Nile River, and therefore it is possible, if not likely, that ecological factors may have produced tensions and for a while, at least towards the end of the Dynasty, Egypt may have even been divided. Yet, up until and through the reign of Ninetjer, the Two Lands seems to have been ruled as one.



A granite statuette of the mortuary priest named Hetepdief, implies (because their names are listed on his shoulder) that there was continuity between the first three kings of the 2nd Dynasty, for their mortuary cults were served by only one individual, and it is known that Ninetjer maintained the mortuary cult of at least one predecessor.An inscribed stone vessel discovered in the Step Pyramid juxtaposes the serekh of Ninetjer and the ka-chapel of Hetepsekhemwy.


Ninetjer (Nynetjer) was this kings Horus name, and simply means "godlike", or "He Who Belongs to the God". The term god probably in this instance references Re, the sun god.

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Ninetjer is actually by far the best attested king of the early 2nd Dynasty. Given the position of his titulary on the Palermo Stone, he must have ruled Egypt for at least thirty-five years, though Manetho gives him forty-seven.


In fact, most of what we know of this king is derived from the annals recorded on the Palermo Stone, where the whole fourth register records events between his fifth or sixth year through his twentieth or twenty-first.


However, the king is also evidenced by three fine tombs in the elite cemetery at North Saqqara containing sealings of Ninetjer, as well as one across the Nile in the Early Dynastic necropolis at Helwan.


There were additionally five different jar-sealings of the king discovered in a large mastaba near Giza. However, more sealings of Ninetjer eventually led to the identification of the king's own tomb at Saqqara (though some scholars doubt that this is clearly his tomb).


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From the Palermo Stone, we learn of the foundation of a chapel or estate named Hr-rn during the king's seventh year on the throne. Otherwise, most of the events evidenced on that record are regular ritual appearances of the king and various religious festivals.


A festival of Sokar apparently was held every six years during his reign, and the running of the Apis bull was recorded twice during years nine and fifteen of his reign. Most of the festivals recorded during his reign were held in the region of Memphis, with the exception of a ceremony associated with the goddess Nekhbet of Elkab during year nineteen.



The fact that most activity associated with this king occurred in the region of Memphis may be important. Little evidence of the king is found outside of this region and it may be that his activities was largely, if not completely confined to Lower Egypt. Towards the end of his reign, there was a good deal of internal tension in Egypt, perhaps even civil war.


The Palermo Stone tantalizes us with the possibility of this beginning in Ninetjer's thirteenth year. It records the attack of several towns including one who's name means "north land" or "House of the North" (the other city was Shem-Re). Some have interpreted this entry in the Palermo Stone to mean that Ninetjer had to suppress a rebellion in Lower, or Northern Egypt.



Unfortunately, the Palermo Stone ends with the nineteenth year of his reign. However, inscriptions on stone vessels, which probably date to the latter part of his reign, appear to record several other events, such as a four occurrence of the Sokar Festival, which probably took place in year twenty-four, and the "seventeenth occasion of the [biennial] census", which may have occurred in his thirty-fourth year on the throne.


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Other than the various inscribed stone vessels, only two other artifacts have been unearthed that bear the king's name. One of these is a small ivory vessel from the Saqqara area, but the other is a small statue of considerable significance, both to the king's history and especially Egyptian art.


The statuette is made of alabaster, depicting the king on his throne and wearing the close fitting robe associated with the Sed-festival. Upon his head rests the White Crown of Lower Egypt.

This crude stone statuette of unknown provenance, now in the Georges Michailides Collection, represents the earliest complete and identifiable example of three-dimensional royal statuary from Egypt.



It also provides evidence that the king celebrated at least one Sed-festival, which would have been likely given the apparent long reign of Ninetjer.

While no contemporary inscriptions evidence this celebration, there was also a stock of stone vessels discovered in the Step Pyramid galleries that may have been prepared for this event.


Some scholars theorize that this further evidences the difficulties late in the king's reign, suggesting that these were never distributed due to domestic unrest which disrupted communications and weakened the authority of the central administration. Hence, the stone vessels were later appropriated by subsequent kings of the late 2nd and early 3rd Dynasties.



The name of Ninetjer's successor to the throne, Peribsen (Seth-Peribsen), unusually referencing the god Seth, is another piece of evidence indicating unrest. However, it is likely that Peribsen did not directly replace Ninetjer.


It is likely that as many as two or more shadowy rulers (Weneg, Sened and Nubnefer) took the throne of perhaps a divided Egypt. in the interim. However, most modern kings' lists do not reference all of them, and some list only one or two.


Atlas of Ancient Egypt

Ash

Ash was the ancient Egyptian god of oases, as well as the Vineyards of the western Nile Delta and thus was viewed as a benign deity. Flinders-Petrie in his 1923 expedition to the Saqqara (also spelt Sakkara) found several references to Ash in Old Kingdom wine jar seals: I am refreshed by this Ash was a common inscription.

In particular, he was identified by the Ancient Egyptians as the god of the Libu and Tinhu tribes, known as the people of the oasis.

Consequently Ash was known as the lord of Libya, the western border areas occupied by the Libu and Tinhu tribes, corresponds roughly with the area of modern Libya. It is also possible that he was worshiped in Ombos, as their original chief deity.

In Egyptian Mythology, as god of the oases, Ash was associated with Set, who was originally god of the desert, and was seen as protector of the Sahara.

The first known recorded mention of Ash dates to the Protodynastic Period, but by the late 2nd Dynasty, his importance grew, and he was seen as protector of the royal estates, since the related god Set, in Lower Egypt, was regarded as the patron deity of royalty itself. Ash's importance was such that he was mentioned even until the 26th Dynasty.

Ash was usually depicted as a human, whose head was one of the desert creatures, variously being shown as a lion, vulture, hawk, snake, or the unidentified Set-animals. Indeed, depictions of Ash are the earliest known depictions, in ancient Egyptian art, to show a deity as a human with the head of an animal.

On occasion, Ash and Set were depicted similarly, as the currently unidentified Set-Animal.

Some depictions of Ash show him as having multiple heads, unlike other Egyptian deities, although some compound depictions were occasionally shown connecting gods to Min. In an article in the journal Ancient Egypt (in 1923), and again in an appendix to her book.

The Splendor that was Egypt, Margaret Murray expands on such depictions, and draws a parallel to a Scythian deity, who is referenced in Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia universalis.

The idea of Ash as an import God is contested, as he was the God of Ombos far before Set's introduction sometime in Dynasty II. One of his titles is "Nebuty" or "He of Nebut" indicating this position.


Ash is sometimes seen as another name for Set-- similarly as one might give the name Ta-Bitjet for Serket, Dunanwy for Anti, or Sefkhet-Abwy for Sheshat.

King Tutankhamen’s Funerary Mask

King Tutankhamen’s Funerary Mask



Icon of ancient Egypt, the teenage pharaoh's funerary mask immortalizes his features in gold, glass, and semiprecious stones.

This and other treasures from his tomb, now in Cairo's Egyptian Museum, attract a constant swirl of visitors.

See more photos from the September 2010 story "King Tut’s Family Secrets."




See more photos of Egypt »



Photograph by Kenneth Garrett, National Geographic

Khaba, Shadowy King of the Third Dynasty

We know very little about the King, who probably occupied the throne of Egypt near the end of the 3rd Dynasty, named Khaba, who's name means "The Soul Appears". His nswt-bity and nbty names are unknown. It has been suggested that the king's birth name might have been Teti.



In the Turnin King List, this king's name is marked as "erased", but is credited with a reign of six years. The fact that his name was marked as "erased" may mean that there were dynastic problems, or simply that the scribe who composed the Turin King List was unable to read his name from more ancient records.



Khaba is attested to at four, and perhaps five sites in Egypt, including a mastaba (Z-500) at Zawiyet el-Aryan, where eight alabaster bowls inscribed with the king's serekh in red ink were unearthed. This mastaba is located in an area about two kilometers south of the Giza Plateau, halfway between Giza and Abusir on the west bank of the Nile, adjacent to the so-called "layer pyramid". While there is no evidence from this unfinished pyramid itself to link it with Khaba, it is generally attributed to him on the basis of the inscribed stone bowls found nearby.


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Evidence of Khaba in Southern Egypt is attested by sealings found at Hierakonpolis and Elephantine. Those from Hierakonpolis come from the Early Dynastic town, either from houses or from the Early Dynastic stratum beneath the Old Kingdom temple of Horus.

The Elephantine sealing was unearthed from the eastern town, and depicts a divine figure, perhaps the god Ash, holding a long scepter, flanked by serekhs of Khaba. There is also a diorite bowl of unknown provenance inscribed with the serekh of Khaba that is now in London's Petrie Museum, and another diorite bowl now in a private collection which is said to have come from Dahshur is likewise inscribed.



Unfortunately, even Khaba's position within the order of succession has not been established beyond doubt, though he most certainly ruled in the latter part of the 3rd Dynasty. Most scholars appear to believe that he was the next to last king of the dynasty, though it has been suggested that Khaba could be the Horus name of the last king, Huni. Stone bowls inscribed with the name of a king were common during the 1st and early 2nd Dynasties ending with the reign of Khasekhemwy, but are not attested to again until the reign of Sneferu. Hence, this appears to suggest that Khaba preceded Sneferu of the 4th Dynasty by only a short period.

Furthermore, the sealings of Khaba come from two sites where Huni erected small step pyramids, which also tends to suggest that Khaba might be identified as Huni.

Nevertheless, most scholars identify Khaba as one of Huni's predecessors. Because of the close architectural similarity between Sekhemkhet's unfinished pyramid and the one at Zawiyet el-Aryan, Khaba may be most plausibly identified as Sekhemkhet's immediate successor, provided that the layer pyramid indeed belongs to Khaba. The substructure of this pyramid is so very similar to the pyramid of Sekhemkhet that it must have been built very near in time to his.




Little else is know about this king, one of many Egyptian rulers who remain mostly anonymous. However, as a king ruling within a major dynasty, Khaba actually stands out for our lack of knowledge about him. Though almost always listed as one of the last kings of the 3rd Dynasty, many modern references otherwise ignore his reign. We know nothing of his family, or for that matter, any of his building projects beyond the uninscribed Layer Pyramid, nor do we have much idea about his foreign or domestic policies.

This is perhaps another reason that it is tempting to equate him with Huni. He was apparently never buried in the layer pyramid, and his body has never been identified. While we may never know much about this king, hopefully archaeologist will someday provide us with more information than is now currently available.


James Dunn



References:
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Title Author Date Publisher Reference Number
Atlas of Ancient Egypt Baines, John; Malek, Jaromir 1980 Les Livres De France None Stated
Chronicle of the Pharaohs (The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt) Clayton, Peter A. 1994 Thames and Hudson Ltd ISBN 0-500-05074-0
History of Ancient Egypt, A Grimal, Nicolas 1988 Blackwell None Stated
Monarchs of the Nile