ancient egyptian boat building

In the following passage George Rawlinson described ancient Egyptian boat building.

Boat building must have been a flourishing trade, and have employed the
energies of a large number of persons. Besides their war vessels of galleys,
which were rather large boats than ships, the Egyptians made use of a
great variety of craft, adapted for peaceful purposes, and differing according
to the exact service for which they were wanted. A sort of light canoe, formed
(we are told) of the papyrus plant, and propelled either by a single paddle or a
punting pole, furnished the ordinary means of transport from one side of the
Nile to the other, and was also used by fishermen in their occupation, and by
herdsmen, when it was necessary to save cattle from an excessive inundation. The
stem and stern of these vessels rose considerably above the waters; they must
have been flat bottomed and broad, like punts, or they could have possessed no
stability. They are probably the "vessels of bulrushes ", spoken of by Isaiah,
which were common to the Egyptian with the Ethiopians.

But the ordinary Nile boat of Pharoanic times was built of wood.
Plancks of Acanta or Mimosa nilotica were cut with the hatchet, a yard or two in
length, and arranged in rows one above another, very much as builders arrange
their bricks. These plancks were probably united together by glue or by wooden
bolts or nails, in the same way as articles of furniture; but they were
sometimes further secured by means of a number of short poles or stakes, placed
internally at right angles to the planks, and lashed to them by means of a cord
or string. On a boat of this kind a sort of house of lattice-work was sometimes
raised, and cattle were embarked upon it and conveyed from place to place.
Occasionally the house was of a more solid character, being formed of boards
which were continuous and only pierced by a few windows. Some boats of this
construction had a mast and sail; others were without these conveniences, and
depended entirely upon the rowers. These varied in number from twelve to
forty-four; their oars were of rude construction, and they appear sometimes to
have rowed standing. Steering was managed by a rudder, worked through a notch in
the centre of the stern, or by two or more steering-oars on either side, each
entrusted to a seperate steersman. The only sail used was a square
sail and the rigging was of the most simple character. Sails were often colored,
and sometimes patterned, or embroidered with quaint devices.

History of ancient Egypt, Volume 1 , 1886

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Why do I quote Rawlinson on ancient Egyptian boat building ?

This quote will hopefully serve in a future post on the crossing of the sea to America by the Mormon Lehi and his family. Somehow Joseph Smith claims that Nephi, the son of Lehi, was led by a divine architect to build a boat unlike anything that was being built at the time. Lehi was living in about 600 BC which is during the time when Nebuchadnezzar was conquering the Phoenicians and was holding Zedekiah and Jehoiachin, the kings of Judah, captive in Babylonia. Nebuchadnezzar was also preventing Egypt and Syria from conquering more land in the Mesopotamian area. Nebuchadnezzar was empowering the New Babylonians or Chaldeans and through their military and political persuasion they forced the largest Jewish exile since the time of Moses who led the early monotheistic converts out of Egypt in the age of Ramesses II in circa 1250 BC.

Smith, the Mormon founder, claims Lehi, Nephi, Laman were divinely led to the Americas in circa 600 BC. All of this was written on gold plates which were transcribed by Joseph Smith supposedly.

elephantine

The first of six cataracts or shallows of the Nile is at Aswan and Elephantine Island is close by.

Elephantine island is perfectly located to allow tribes to build barriers of defense against people or animals. It has invited such people since the earliest of times. The ancient Egyptians called this large island Abu or Yabu. The Greeks called it Elephant Island (elephantine).

Khnum was the patron god of the island. Khnum, aka., Khnemu, Chnum, etal., had at least one temple built in his honour on Elephantine Island. Cults adopted a creation myth where Khnum was a ram headed potter, who moulded species on his divine potter's wheel.

John Anthony West explains it this way.

Khnum was the Great Artificer, carrying out the plans of Ptah, the Architect, which were in turn the commands of Re, as uttered by Thoth. By a chain of associations, then Khnum, was an aspect of Re. He is called Supreme One, the One Great God, etc...

West continues to explain the Khnum trinity that exists between Neith, and Satet. Satet is a form of Isis and associated to the star Sirius. In later myths Neith is substituted for Esna, and Satet is substituted for the lion-headed Menhyet.

Sirius is the dog star and the brightest star in the night sky. It goes on to play a big role in the Giza pyramids with the Isis chamber.

Elephantine Island holds clues from as early as the 3rd and 4th dynasties about the offerings made to the Khnum triad. The earliest inhabitants would have been of Nubian decent and most likely influenced by the bird clans who came from the south more than the serpent or lizard lower nile clans who'd moved closer to the Mediterranean. Just speculation.....

eight Ogdoad deity

Who were the eight gods of the Ogdoad ?

The major cult center of the eight Ogdoad deity was Hermopolis. However a popular website called tourEgypt states Heliopolis as the primary place of worship. In Egyptian myths by Hart it states that the Ogdoad predates the Ennead of Heliopolis. On nemo.com they claim that the Ogdoad were eight reptiles.

Hermopolis was named by the Greeks as the city of Hermes and Hermes was the messenger of the Gods and a guide to the Underworld. The Greeks don't form a culture for thousands of years after the beginning of the Egyptian dynasties however.

The Egyptian creation myth of Ogdoad emphasizes that eight primeval forces or primordial essences or states of chaos were the elements of life which preceded all other life in Egypt and on earth.

So who were the formulators of the Hermopolitan cosmogeny ?

Here's how Hart describes it.

The number of either gods or goddesses in the Hermopolitan myth is far from fortuitous....

The eight of Hermopolis were(structured as four couples) were personified entities within the primeval matter, with the gods envisaged as frogs, and the goddesses as snakes.......

The names of these eight deities survive, but it is difficult in some cases to conjure the exact mental image which ancient Egyptians would have seen.

One frog god and one snake goddess unite in a concept of male/female principles.

The four gods of the Ogdoad are Nu, Heb, Kek, Amun.
The four goddesses of the Ogdoad are Naunet, Haubet, Kauket, Amaunet.

Nu and Naunet unite in primordial waters, Heb and Haubet unite in kinetic flood forces, Kek and Kauket form in darkness, and Amun and Amaunet form in concealed dynamism. All this cosmic energy is dividing the singularity into duality in bursts of energy that occur before the rising of the first sun or the time before the genesis of the solar system. Thus the chaos gods or the eight Ogdoad deity create the Isle of Flame or the fire in the sky. In the Ogdoad myth therefore
Atum is created after the chaos gods explosive dynamo of duality. Like Hart states, they are the father's and mother's of Atum.

The Ogdoad gods were worshipped during the Old Kingdom. During this 550 year period their were cults within united Egypt who worshipped Hathor and Ra, while others moved towards Hathor and Thoth. By 2400 BC when the Old Kingdom is failing as a united kingdom under one Pharoah the emergence of a nine Ennead deity belief is gaining momentum. The Ennead cults are focused in Heliopolis in Lower Egypt, near present day Cairo.

Old Kingdom Egypt

After the Archaic Period comes Old Kingdom Egypt.

The Thinite period covered 400 years from 3100 BC onwards and the rise and fall of over a dozen kings and the vizier order.

In the Old Kingdom the unity of Egypt grows initially but comes to a revolutionary end with the kings of the sixth and seventh dynasties.

Some egyptologists, people who study egyptian history, consider dynasty 3 to be part of the Archaic period or early dynasties. Others set the beginning of Old Kingdom Egypt at the beginning of the the third dynasty. The first king is called a Pharoah until the fourth dynasty.

The Egyptians under their new one king ruled by Horus who represented in a human god is the divine being of Ptah and rules from "the house of god", the Pr'aa, in the city of the white walls which is Memphis. The king is Pharoah by the fourth dynasty.

Old Kingdom Egypt is the time when the pyramids are believed to have been constructed. The alternate historians might not agree with the conventional egyptologist on this and they might tell you that while the power of the pyramid builder was reawakened in the Old Kingdom, the ideology or the knowledge behind the pyramidal structure holds it's roots in a much...much older world order.

Who's right ? Only time will tell.

The first pyramid definitely demonstrated advancements in the knowledge base and skillset of the Old Kingdom Egypt society. The mud brick huts and structures of the Archaic period has given way to neolithic/ bronze age fine stone cuts along with the smeltering of and crafting in of malleable ores and minerals.

The burial chambers and tombs of the Archaic age and the predynastic Egypt have also been upgraded. This is evident in the pyramids of the Old Kingdom.

Archaic Period

The Archaic Period of Egypt is when small settlements positioned along the Upper Nile and Lower Nile are unified under the rule of a centralized government with the Pharoah being the god man ruler.

The Archaic period is not well understood but it involves the rise of names like Narmer, Menes, Den, and others. By some accounts there are eight kings who rule the first dynasty and eight kings who ruled the second dynasty.

These kings lived in great palaces albeit structures made of mud bricks which have been lost to time. These two dynasties lasted from 3100 BC to 2700 BC approximately.

The Archaic Period is sometimes referred to as the Early dynastic period or the Thinite. It gets the name Thinite from Thinis which was situated near Abydos.



The city of Memphis also took form in the Archaic period. Memphis becomes the throne capital of Egypt. It is fortified by white walls and becomes known as the city of the white walls.

Ptah was the great creator and as the great commander of the pantheon of overlords it was he who manifested other deities.

In the great house inside the white walled city a god man elect would rule Egypt. It was the will of Ptah.

Pr'aa is symbolic of "the great house" and Pharoah is a derivative of Pr'aa and a title that would later be given to the king of all of Egypt.

In predynastic Egypt people used pictographs to communicate. The hieroglyphs were an improvement in communication most likely invented in these early dynasties. The hieroglyphic alphabet was the divine word or the language of the gods.

The entourage of the king priest included a priest class of elite minor rulers who were skilled scribes and highly trained in all types of arts and sciences. The priest class kept the masses convinced that the king was the elect god appointed figure head. They did this through the use hieroglyphic propaganda.

Of course, not all hieroglyphic scribbles were meant to be a means of controlling and while some scribes and artisans continued to serve the king, others would revolt.

These revolts led to seperation and to the decentralization of Egypt but not until the seventh dynasty.

Evolution of the Egyptian king list

The evolution of the Egyptian king list moves through several periods.

In approximately the year 3100 BC the Archaic Period begins. This is when names likes Menes, Narmer, and others get entangled into what become Egypt dynasties 1 and 2. The Old Kingdom of the Egyptian timeline involves dynasties 3 though 6 and by the end of this unified Egypt period we get a Intermediate Period where major dissidence occurs. During this first Egyptian intermediate period loyalty to the Pharoah fades and central government is all but abandonned. This goes on through dynasties 7 through 10.

The Middle Kingdom is a reunificated period of Pharoanic rule and the evolution of the Egyptian king list sees names like Amenemhet, Senwosret, and Nefrusobek, added to it. The Middle Egyptian Kingdom covers dynasties 11 through 13. The centralized government again breaks apart and dynasties 14 through 17 are a Second Egyptian Intermediate Period.

A New Kingdom once again reunifies the centralized one ruler Egypt in dynasty 20 and the following names are added to the evolution of the Egyptian king list.

• Ahmose
• Amenhotep 1, 2, 3
• Thutmose 1, 2, 3, 4
• Khenmetamun
• Akhenaten
• Smenkhkare
• Tutankhamen
• Meryamun 1, 2
• Ramesses
• Seti
• Setepenre

As before the central power of a Pharoanic god man leader can't hold the Egyptians from revolting and a Third Egyptian Intermediate Period seperates the kingdom where dynasty periods 21 through 25 are played out.

Late Period Egypt brings in the Ptolemy rulers and the Greeks influenced followed by Rome and Ceasar. During dynasties 21 through 30 the Cleopatra's and other names are added to the evolution of the Egyptian king list.

Temple of Edfu

The year is 237 BC and the Temple of Edfu honoured to Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, is designed and ready to be built in Egypt, between the cataract at
Aswan and Luxor.

In 237 BC is in Cleopatra VII's Ptolemaic dynasty. In 57 BC when the Temple of Edfu is completed.

This is a time of great change in Egypt. In 320 BC the city of Alexandria replaces Memphis as the capital of Egypt as the Greeks were shifting the paradigm of Pharoah rule. Alexander the Great had removed the Persians from Egypt rule in 332 BC. He was named Pharoah of Memphis but found the land which became Alexandria more accomodationg to his style of rule. Part of the Greek changes can be seen in the

infrastructure such as the roads and the methods of travel and trade up and down the Nile and through Greek style canals.

The Greek Pharoah of Memphis dies at the age of 38 (323 BC) and his generals split up his Empire amongst them. Ptolemy takes Egypt as his heritage. Thus we get Ptolemy I Soter. Ptolemy I's rule of Egypt was a transition which took a few decades. The next few centuries of Egypt are a mixture of Egyptian ancient beliefs and Greek philosophy and pantheonic influence.

Ptolemy I Soter's Egyptian monicker was Meryamun Setepenre or "Beloved of Amun, Chosen of Re".

The transition to power was a merger between Monarch Hellenistic rule and Pharoanic god-king rule.

Ptolemy I Soter, the saviour, created a new god named Serapis made up of Greek Egyptian deity rituals. The Egyptian rituals he supposedly learned under the advice of Demetrius Phalereus who was head of the Alexandria Library and the mind behind the Mouseion ( the University of Alexandria). The Serapeion of Alexandria was a temple dedicated to the new god. The Serapis cult seems to have taken off with Greeks but not so much with Egyptians.

Meanwhile back in Edfu, or Edfou as the french would have it.

Can we see this Greco influence in the relatively small city of Edfi and in the Horus Temple of Edfu ?

The Temple of Edfu faces North to South and is built above a New Egypt kingdom smaller temple which faced east to west. A much older structure called the Tell Edfu (tell being synonymous to settlement ). Historians believe this settlement contains evidence that this Wedjeset-Hor Tell was a province and capital of the Second Upper Egypt nome. Such influence goes back all the way to predynastic Egypt or eras predating 3100 BC.

Seven small pyramids dating back to Egypt dynasty 3 and attributed to King Huni are situated 5 kms south of Edfu.

The Greco influenced Temple of Edfu is sometimes referred to as the Temple at Apollonopolis Magna (Edfu to the Greco-Roman) dedicated to the chief god Horus-Apollo.

This size of this Egyptian Temple to Horus Apollo at Edfu is second only to another Temple in Karnak.

more on the Temple of Edfu at wikipedia

Extant pieces of the Royal Annals

What are the extant pieces of the Royal Annals ?

The Royal Annals are lists of Egyptian King's that were carved on stones during the Fifth Dynasty. These stela are fragmented or worn by time.

The Palermo stone or Palermo Stela for example is a piece of black basalt dated to the 25th century BC which is a portion of a wall which had inscriptions on both sides.

There are several fragments but whether all of these fragments are from the same wall is debatable since they were found in antique markets. The largest of these fragments is called the Palermo stone because it is held in a museum in Palermo. There are five other fragments called Cairo stones held in Cairo. The last of the seven fragments is called the London Fragment and held at the University College of London.

The list of king's names inscribed on the stones dates back to pre dynastic Egypt or some time before 3100 BC.

The portions of the wall which held information on the first few Egypt dynasties are missing.

Other similar stones such as the Turin Canon dated to the 13th century BC and the Karnak list of Kings exist.

The Palermo stone and the other fragments are important for scholars and Egyptologists. The debate argues the true role of the Kings of the first dynasty of Egypt. It is possible that King Menes who is often credited as unifying Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt was simply the war strategist who re - unified the bonds of older pre dynastic kings.

Dynasties in Egypt

The dynasties in Egypt is where it all begins for the Pharoah.

The first dynasty in Egypt rises when King Menes unifies regions above Aswan, Upper Egypt, and the delta kingdoms that dot the lower Egyptian lands towards the Meditteranean sea. King Menes is a mythical figure by some accounts and probably an analog of King Narmer.

Narmer was a southern African ruler who began conquering the tribes to the North. The north of Egypt is considered lower Egypt because it lies on land situated down stream on the Nile.

Egypt Dynasty 1 starts in 3050 BC and goes to 2890 BC.

Then there are 30 more dynasties in Egypt followed by the GrecoRoman period that present the Macedonian Kings and the Ptolemaic Dynasties. Inside the Ptolemaic dynasties we find the story of Cleopatra and Ceasar.

Names of importance in these dynasties in Egypt.

See Dynasties in Egypt

coming......

Abydos

Relief on Temple of Seti Wall at Abydos. This image is often used to support theories of advanced knowledge of flight.


Abydos city, or royal necropolis, was built to honor Egypts first kings.

The Greek word Abydos in Egyptian is Abdju and it is an ancient city is located 11 kms west of the Upper Nile.


Abdju is more of a reference to the eight nome and it's capital city of Abydos. The hieroglyphic equivalent of Abdju is 3bdw.

isis leads nefertari

Isis leads Nefartari by placing an Ankh to her mouth.

This symbolic ritual will have her take in the breath of the afterlife.

Nefertari was one of the wives of Ramesses II who ruled Egypt from about 1279 to 1213 BC. Ramesses the Great was 3rd King of the 19th dynasty.

Abu Simbel are two temples erected to honor Nefertari and Ramesses II, the great Egyptian ruler of the 13th century BC.

Anubis and the Ankh

Anubis and the Ankh are found in old Kingdom Egyptian writings.

Anubis to the the Greeks is Inpu. The jackal headed deity of the old kingdom (c. 3100 BC ) is associated to burial ceremonies and mummification rites. Somehow his magical essence summons some spirit of the afterlife.

The old kingdom cult to lord Anubis is moved over to Osiris in the Middle Kingdom Egypt dynasties.

Anubis symbols often depict the jackal head in the color black but by some accounts this is a reference to the black earth found in Nile Valley. It might also be a reference to the rotting dark flesh of the dead.

However arguments have it that the dark headed figure symbolizes the original Kemet Africans who inhabit the Upper Nile area.

Anubis is also often shown carrying an Ankh symbol by the eye.

The eye of what ??????

This could be answered as the Eye of Ra but that would only be speculation.

Anubis was the son of Osiris and Nephtys....read on.

The color of Egypt

What was the skin color of Egypt humans before the kingdoms and dynasties came along ?

Black Africans built and ruled Ancient Kemet states the following youTube vid.





The argument is that the original Kemet culture was suppressed into slavery and that any roots of their existance was covered up as best as possible.

The word Kemet is the root of Kemetic.


KM.T is believed to be the Hieroglyphic symbol which developed into the word Kemet (Kermit).

From the abarim publications name vault we are given the following etymology of the title Egypt.

The name Egypt is an English rendering of the Greek name Aiguptos, which in turn is a transliteration of the Egyptian Hwt-Ptah, which means Temple of Ptah. The Egyptians themselves named their country Keme, which means the Black Land. In the Bible the country of Egypt is always denoted by the name Mizraim.


So where is this going ?


The color of Egypt is a follow up post. In the initial post we were looking for similarities between the Ankh and the Chi Rho symbols. The Ankh is Egyptian while the Chi Rho is a later appearance and Christian.

The origin of the Ankh symbol is not fully understood. What is known is that it predates the Christian period by many centuries and likely can be traced back to the religious rituals of the pre dynastic Kemet tribes.

So we continue to dig......
















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Sites of interest

Kemet Online



Kamitic TV

Comparing the Ankh symbol to the Chi Rho

The Ankh symbol is an ancient Egyptian Symbol.

The Chi Rho symbol is more closely related to Christianity.

The Ankh and the Chi Rho have many things in common.

The Ankh has a staff which is completed by a circular eye similar to the eye in a sewing needle. This staff is broken below the eye by an horizontal line and the whole thing form a bit of a cross.

The Chi Rho is a Greek symbol made up of the Greek letter P and X where the X serves to cross the P in a similar was as does the horizontal line on the Ankh.

The Ankh is much holder than the Chi Rho.

Both symbols represent eternal energy or great energy - chi and rho.

Interestingly the word Egypt is a Greek invention which represents the land of the black.

Kemet.....