THE SOLAR (ECLIPSE) GODS
OF
ANCIENT EGYPT
PART III
THE BLACK BIRD
The author presents his translations of the hieroglyph 'kheper'.
The author presents his interpretation of Egyptian royal titles.
INTRODUCTION
This series is a critics and revision of the older interpretations of the Egyptian solar gods, in the light of my discovery that the Egyptian hieroglyph akhet does not stand for 'horizon', but it stands for 'solar eclipse', the setting and rising of the Sun in the sky on the eastern and western lunar limbs respectively. This discovery has yielded many more discoveries, I have discovered a wealth of Egyptian eclipse records, on which this series is based.
In Part I of this series, I showed that the primal gods Atum and Re were the eclipsed Sun at the second and third contact of a total solar eclipse respectively. In Part II, I showed that the Sun god Horakhty was an image of the eclipsed Sun, and why was it represented as a hawk. It is important, if you have not read the previous two parts, to read them first!
This part is for the wonderful bird, the winged scarab Khepri, the god of creation, transformation, and resurrection. In most text books Khepri is defined as the rising Sun at morning, in this part I show that this is not entirely accurate! A coming part is devoted to the role of Khepri in the Book of the Dead.
Also, I showed in my studies on the Egyptian cosmogony in the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom the rule of Khepri in the creation myths of Hermopolis and Heliopolis. The studies are available through the links indicated below.
In the texts cited below, please replace "horizon", and "horizon of heaven" by 'eclipse'.
WHO WAS KHEPRI?
The scarab beetle was the manifestation of the creator god Khepri. Its name means 'he who comes to being' (1). Khepri was deified from as early as the Old Kingdom (2700-2190 BC), and played a primary role in the Heliopolitan cosmogony of the Pyramid Texts (2). As a solar deity, Khepri was associated with Atum and Re, the primal Sun gods (3). Plutarch, the ancient Greek writer who lived in the Roman period, gave a plausible interpretation of the origin and role of Khepri:
As for the scarab beetle, it is held that there are no females of this species; they are all males. They place their seed in a round pellet of material which they roll up into a sphere and roll along, pushing it with their legs, imitating by their action the course of the Sun from east to west.
(Source: B. Watterson, The Gods of Ancient Egypt, p. 51, Sutton Publishing, 1996.)
Thus, in most text books on Egyptology we find that the role of Khepri
was to push the Sun disc in its diurnal circle, and the emergence of larva
inspired its action of spontaneous creation. However, I disagree with Plutarch!
My objections are:
The solar eclipse is a more powerful phenomenon, it must
have greatly influenced the Egyptian solar theology.
I rather, believe, the belief in Khepri was inspired by the dark New Moon, seen during the totality phase of a total solar eclipse.
A BLACK BIRD!
The solar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun, becomes visible to the unaided eye only at the totality phase of a total solar eclipse. This is because its light is very faint compared to the Sun's disc, which is a million times brighter! The corona takes varied shapes. It may look circular or pentagonal or irregular. It is sometimes impressive, and sometimes is feeble. In some eclipse photos, I have found, it looked much like a pair of unfolded wings. That is, inspired by my work on the Hermopolitan cosmogony, I envisaged the dark disc of the New Moon in some eclipse photos, through totality as a black bird with glowing wings. Thus, I believe, the view of the New Moon through the totality of some ancient (or even prehistoric) solar eclipse must have inspired the AEs to believe in a divine scarab (Khepri), soaring in heaven with stretched shining wings. I recommend the reader to have a look at the following eclipse photos:
BIRD OF CREATION
Scant sources of the Heliopolitan cosmogony, the creation myths of the
city of Heliopolis, are available in the Pyramid Texts. Utterance 600 of
the Pyramid Texts mentions the cosmogonic role of Khepri:
O Atum-Kehpri (the Sun), You became high in the height.
You rose up as the Benben Stone in the mansion of the Phoenix in Heliopolis,
(Source: Ancient Cosmologies, edited by: C. Blacker and Michael
Loewe, p. 29, Goerge Allen & Unwin Ltd,
London, 1973.)
I have already interpreted this text in the two versions of my study the Heliopolitan Cosmogony, available at the bulletin board of Guardians Egypt (www.guardians.net.). I do have some new thoughts about Utterance 600.
Having showed in Part I of this series that the Sun god Atum is the eclipsed Sun, I like to introduce a new look at the spell:
The Sun was totally eclipsed high in the sky to become Atum. A scarab (the dark New Moon) with impressive, glowing wings (the solar corona) appeared spontaneously, quite as if it were self-created. Soon, this scarab transformed into the Benben (the Diamond Ring occurs), the first manifestation of the god Re, shining on the Primeval Hill (the western lunar limb).
Thus, interpreting Utterance 600 of the Pyramid Texts as an eclipse record enables us to explain the merger 'Atum-Khepri', why did the AEs believe Khepri to be a creator god and to have 'come to being of himself', and the association of Khepri with resurrection.
BIRD OF RESURRECTION
Therefore, the cosmogonic role of Khepri was to start the action of creation process in the primeval time. I have shown that in Egyptian mythology, a total solar eclipse was the end of the world, the day on which Atum returns to its serpentine form (solar prominence). Thus, as a god of resurrection, Khepri plays a similar role when a solar eclipse (Dooms Day) occurs: Khepri begins life anew! It is a bird of renewal and regeneration.
TWO BIRDS
I have found a text that associates the Black Bird with the bird of
the previous part of this series, Horakhty the luminous hawk:
Hail to you,
O Horus of the Two Horizons,
Khepri that is, who come to be by himself.
How beautiful is your rising from the Horizon
to illuminate the Two Lands with your sunlight,
with all the gods rejoicing
when they see you as king of the heavens.
(Source: J Foster, Hymns, Prayers and Songs, p. 91, Scholars Press,
1995.)
We can now interpret the text as:
The Sun was totally eclipsed (Khepri), then it rose gradually in the sky, like a soaring, luminous hawk (Horus).
KING OF SCARABS
One of the superlatives of King Amenhotep III, the emperor who ruled the largest, and wealthiest empire in the ancient Near East, was the production of a large number of scarabs. The most impressive of them is the colossal granite scarab of Karnak (4). This has a cosmogonic significance, as the temple was regarded the island of creation (5). This is consistent with my interpretations of the meaning of the Egyptian temple and the role of Khepri.
A ROMAN SCARAB
Another colossal scarab probably representing Khepri was found in Constantinople (6). It is thought to have been taken from Egypt (7). I have shown that the Egyptian obelisks that are in Rome and Constantinople were probably taken there in response to solar eclipses. (The study can be found through weblinks listed below.) I believe the same could be true for this Roman scarab!
ROYAL TITLES
We can now appreciate the extreme influence of solar eclipses on many royal titles that had been favored by mighty pharaohs like Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC) and Senusert I (1971-1928 BC).
Also, I have shown that the hieroglyph ka depicts the thin crescent Sun shining forth after totality, the hieroglyph kha depicts the partially eclipsed Sun and means 'luminous' or 'to appear'. The arguments are available at my study 'The Heliopolitan Cosmogony, a Revised Edition'.
Having demonstrated the role of Khepri as a god of resurrection, I introduce new interpretations of the hieroglyph kheper as 'to resurrect', 'resurrection', 'to come to being', 'to become', 'to transform', 'renewal', and 'manifestation'.
My interpretations of the names are:
Kheper-Ka-Re (Senusert I)
Interpretation: 'The Ka of Re Comes to Being'
The name also depicts three phases of a total eclipse:
Kheper the dark disc of the New Moon, Ka the crescent Sun, and Re the
appearance of the full solar disc.
Aa-Kheper-Ka-Re (Thutmose I)
Interpretation: 'The Great Manifestation of the Ka of Re'.
Aa-Kheper-en-Re (Thutmose II)
Interpretation: 'The Great Resurrection of Re'
Hedj-Kheper-Re (Shishonq I)
Interpretation: 'The Resurrection of Re is Brilliant'
Aa-Kheperu-Re (Amenhotep II)
Interpretation: The Manifestations of Re are Great'
Nefer-Kheperu-Re (Akhenaten)
Interpretation: 'The Renewals of Re are Beautiful'
Neb-Kheperu-Re (Tutankhamun)
Interpretation: 'Re is the Lord of Resurrection'
Djoser-Kheperu-Re (Horemheb)
Interpretation: 'The Resurrection of Re is Divine'
Kha-Kheper-Re (Senusert II)
Interpretation: 'The Resurrection of Re is Luminous'
Men-Kheper-Re (Thutmose III)
'Re is Continually Renewing', 'The Renewal of Re is Everlasting', 'The
Manifestation of Re is Everlasting', 'The Resurrection of Re is Everlasting'.
Nub-Kheper-Re (Intef)
Interpretation: 'The Golden Resurrection of Re', 'The Golden Manifestation
of Re'.
Kha-ef-Re (Khafre)
Interpretation: 'Re is Luminous', the name depicts the appearance of
the Sun past totality.
Men-Kau-Re (Menkaure)
Interpretation: 'The Kas of Re are Enduring'.
Kha-Kau-Re (Senusert III)
Interpretation: 'The Kas of Re are Luminous'.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION
I am pleased and honored that the scarab of King Amenhotep III (1386-1349 BC) at Karnak has spoken to me . . . I believe I am the first human to hear his voice, he said:
I am Khepri, the primal, black bird. I came to existence before any
other creature! With glowing purple
wings, I fly and soar, when Nun prevails (when the Sun gets eclipsed),
to become a blazing Sun, to dispell
the dark, to begin life anew!
The ancient Egyptians did not deify the tiny dung insect, rather they deified what looked like a celestial, divine scarab (the New Moon), which soars when the Sun is concealed from sight through totality.
Utterance 600 of the Pyramid Texts is an ancient solar eclipse record, it illustrates the role of Khepri as a god of creation and resurrection.
On the coffins, the scenes showing the transformation of Khepri into the Sun disc (e.g., those seen in plates 17 and 18 of R. Clark, Myth and symbol in Ancient Egypt, Thames and Hudson LTD, 1959) in the solar bark is an eclipse record. It depicts the totality phase and the gradual appearance of the Sun disc past totality.
The influence of the charming eclipse phenomena in ancient Egypt was so powerful that their hieroglyphs appeared as royal boosts.
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Email: aymen_ibrahem@hotmail.com
*The material is a property of the author. Cannot be reproduced without
permission.
Copy Rights: Aymen Ibrahem, December 25, 2001.
THE CHRONOLOGY USED IN THIS STUDY
The text on the base of the standing obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut (1479-1458 BC) at Karnak represents to me an enlightenment! The text has helped me to decipher the way the ancient Egyptians described solar eclipse, and to discover the Egyptian hieroglyph for 'solar eclipse'. Then it became easy for me to find many ancient Egyptian solar eclipse records. A surprising discovery was the Great Hymn to Aten describes a total solar eclipse [Aymen Ibrahem, www.eclipse-chasers.com/egypt2.htm]. This has paved the way to me to obtain an absolute, eclipse-based New Kingdom and Hittite chronologies.
The author uses his eclipse-based New Kingdom and Old Kingdom chronologies, in which Year 9 of King Amenhotep I = 1517 BC, Year 15 of Queen Hatshepsut = 1464 BC, Year 4 of King Akhenaten = 1352 BC, Year 9 of King Seti I = 1285 BC, Year 8 of King Ramesses the Great = 1271 BC. Also, the author has demonstrated that the advent of Dynasty IV was in 2625 BC, with an error of a few years due to the uncertainties of the lengths of some of the reigns of the pharaohs of the Old Kingdom. Also, a margin of error of only a few years exists in the dates of Dynasty XXI (1070-945 BC).
The author's related studies are:
MORE STUDIES BY THE AUTHOR
Dr Eric Flescher (KCStarguy@aol.com) has kindly established an archive,
which includes many of the
author's work, at his website at:
http://members.aol.com/KCStarguy/blacksun/egyptianeclipse.htm
Those studies were also kindly published by Dr Flescher through his
NL.
Also, more of my studies are available at [please have a look at each]:
1. www.infis.org/aymenibr.htm
2. www.jas.org.jo/article.html
3. www.vhs.gilching.de/phorum/
4. www.eclipse-chasers.com/egypt1.htm
5. www.eclipse-chasers.com/egypt2.htm
6. www.eclipse-chasers.com/egypt3.htm
7. www.eclipse-chasers.com/egypt4.htm
8. www.eclipse-chasers.com/egypt5.htm
9. www.eclipse-chasers.com/akhet.html
10. The archives (on the web) of the Solar
Eclipse Mailing List.
11. The discussion forum of Akhet Egyptology
at:
12. www.akhet.co.uk/index.htm
13. The discussion forum of Guardian's Egypt
at:
14. www.egyptologist.org/
REFERENCES
1. Ian Show and Paul Nicholson, The British
Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, p. 150, AUC Press, 1996.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., p. 151.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., p. 150.
7. Ibid.
8. Lewis Spence, An Illustrated Guide of Egyptian
Mythology, Studio Editions, 1996.
9. Harris and Panberton, The British Museum
Illustrated Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, the British Museum Press,
1999.
10. Ahmed Fakhry, The Pyramids, Chicago University
Press, 1962.
11. A. Erman, The Religion of Ancient Egypt,
Arabic translation, EGBO, 1997.
12. W. Budge, The Egyptian Religion, p. 148,
University Books, NY, 1959.
13. J Foster, Hymns, Prayers and Songs, p.
91, Scholars Press, 1995.
14. B. Watterson, The Gods of Ancient Egypt,
Sutton Publishing, 1996.
15. Alan Shorter, The Egyptian Gods, Routledge
and Kegan Paul, 1985.