Black Genesis (32 page)

HATHOR, ISIS, THE BIG DIPPER, AND SIRIUS

The entrance to the temple of the cow goddess Hathor at Dendera faces north. The huge gate is flanked by six imposing columns whose four sided capitals are decorated with faces of Hathor, here a woman's face with cow's ears. Beyond the entrance is the hypostyle hall with a further eighteen similar columns, thus equaling a total of twenty-four columns. The whole temple is a maze of rooms, chapels, corridors, underground crypts, and stairs leading to the roof. On the roof, in one of the chapels, was found the famous Zodiac of Dendera, which we encountered in chapter 1, and which is now at the Louvre Museum in
Paris.
⁸⁸

The Zodiac of Dendera

The main Hathor temple is famous for having housed the so-called round Zodiac of Dendera (as well as a lesser known rectangular zodiac located on the ceiling of the first hypostyle hall). The round Zodiac is really more a
planisphere,
or sky map, that shows the whole celestial landscape from the perspective of having the north celestial pole near its center. The actual zodiac, which was fixed on the ceiling of a chapel on the upper floor of the temple, is made from the twelve familiar Babylonian-Greek astrological signs, which are scattered in a rough loop around the celestial pole. In a larger loop are scattered the thirty-six decans of ancient Egypt, which were used for timekeeping and rebirth rites (because they contain Orion and Sirius). It is worth reminding ourselves that the decans were known from at least the pyramid age, which suggests that the Dendera planisphere has incorporated elements of great antiquity. Here, Orion-Osiris is represented by a striding man who wears the royal crown, and Sirius-Isis is shown as a recumbent cow with a five-pointed star above her horns. Interestingly, behind the Isis-Sirius cow is the figure of a woman holding a bow and arrow, almost certainly Satis of Elephantine, whom, as we have already seen, was also identified with Sirius (particularly with its heliacal rising and the Nile flood). Very near the center of the zodiac is the figure of a small jackal on what looks like a hoe. To its left is a large standing hippopotamus that represents the constellation Draconis, and to its right is the familiar bull's thigh that represents the Big Dipper. These last two constellations, as we have already seen, can be traced back to the pyramid age, again giving the Dendera planisphere links to the distant past.

The rounded planisphere that is seen today at Dendera is not the original one but a facsimile made in the 1920s. The original was taken to France after the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt in 1798, and it is now displayed at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Books and articles abound on the meaning and date of the planisphere of Dendera. It is well outside the scope of this investigation to review them all, but there is little doubt that the planisphere dates from the time when the temple was built—circa 54 BCE . It is much less clear whether the planisphere represents the sky at that time or, as some have suggested, a much older sky. In other words, we may wonder if the Dendera planisphere is a copy of a much older one on which was incorporated the Babylonian-Greek astrological signs. If this is the case, then there is no question that this artifact is a symbol of the precession of the equinoxes, which sees the astrological signs transit the east-west axis of the planisphere in a neverending cycle of twenty-six thousand years. The first scholar to suggest that this indeed was the case was the French astronomer Jean-Batiste Biot, who argued that a careful study of the position of the constellations and planets on the Dendera planisphere indicates a much older sky and, by extension, knowledge of the precession. Such ideas are usually vehemently rejected by Egyptologists and historians of science. Outside the temple on its west side

Outside the temple on its west side are a series of
mammisi,
or “birth houses,” built in Roman times. And farther still along the west side of the temple is a deep, artificial sacred lake, which is now dry and has palm trees growing in it. At the back of the temple is a small chapel known as the Birth Place of Isis, sometimes also called the temple of Isis.

This temple of Isis has its outer area aligned toward the east and its inner area aligned toward the north and parallel to the axis of the main temple of Hathor. The distinct impression it conveys is that observations toward east and north were carried out simultaneously. An inscription at the temple reads: “She [the star of Isis—that is, Sirius] shines into her temple on New Year's Day, and she mingles her light with that of her Father Ra on the
horizon.”
⁸⁹

This inscription clearly refers to the heliacal rising of
Sirius.
⁹⁰
Yet we have seen how the conjunction of the heliacal rising of Sirius with New Year's Day can take place only at the start of a Sothic cycle. With this in mind, the astronomer Edwin Krupp pointed out, “some traditions preserved at Dendera are thousands of
years old,”
⁹¹
and he goes on to say that the inscriptions “describe metaphorically the heliacal rising of Sirius . . . certainly this astronomical event was watched from the roof of Dendera
temple . . .”
⁹²

The British astronomer Sir Norman Lockyer
^*62
first noted that the axis of the temple of Isis at Dendera had an azimuth of 108 degrees 30 minutes, which corresponded to the azimuth of Sirius when the temple was constructed, circa 54
BCE.
⁹³

Thus Lockyer concluded correctly, “the temple of Isis at Dendera was built to watch it [Sirius].”
⁹⁴
On the other hand, inscriptions at Dendera confirm that the axis of the main temple of Hathor was aligned northward, toward the Big Dipper, using the traditional stretching the cord ceremony. Lockyer determined that it was aligned 18 degrees 30 minutes east of north. According to Lockyer, the temple was aligned to the star Dubhe in the Big Dipper.
^*63

It seems clear that the axes of both temples—that of Hathor and of Isis—were aligned simultaneously, the latter toward Dubhe in the north and the former toward Sirius in the east. Inscriptions at Dendera suggest this simultaneous sighting and, furthermore, that the observations were made at dawn.

Figure 6.5. Cow head, probably Hathor, on the so-called Narmer Palette, first dynasty circa 3000 BCE

[East alignment toward Sirius]: The great goddess Seshat brings the writings that relate to your rising, O Hathor [as Sirius], and to the rising of Ra [the sun at
dawn] . . .
⁹⁵

[North alignment toward Dubhe]: The king joyously stretches the cord, having cast his gaze towards the Big Dipper [
Meskhetiu
] and thus establishes the temple in the manner of ancient
times.
⁹⁶

So disdainful are most Egyptologists at possible astronomical alignments of temples and pyramids that one senior Egyptologist, Cathleen A. Keller of UCLA, even openly admits that “sometimes I think that the more resistant Egyptologists are more afraid that connections
do
exist between the orientation and plans of Egyptian temples and the heavens, than they
do not.”
⁹⁷

The fact is that no Egyptologists approved of Sir Lockyer's finding at Dendera, at least not until nearly an entire century later. In 1992 the French Egyptologist Sylvie Cauville, who is well-known for her extensive work on the inscriptions of Dendera, undertook a detailed study of the astronomical orientation of the temple of
Isis.
⁹⁸
She, too, felt that its alignments had been greatly ignored and that no one had given much currency to the findings of Lockyer. Cauville boldly solicited the collaboration of an astronomer, Professor Eric Aubourg, to examine again the orientations at Dendera, especially those at the temple of Isis.

As we see it today, the temple of Isis was erected in 30 BCE under the directive of the Roman emperor Augustus (Octavian) Caesar. It was built over the foundations of a much older temple, which are clearly visible even now. Recent excavations by the French team showed that there had been several interventions at vastly different epochs. In the foundations of the Roman temple, blocks belonging to the penultimate native pharaoh, Nectanebo I (ca. 350 BCE), were found. In addition, it would appear that the Ptolemaic kings Ptolemy VI Philometor (ca. 150 BCE) and Ptolemy X Alexander I (ca. 20 BCE) had carried out innovations here. More intriguingly, Cauville discovered reused stone blocks from the Ramesside period (ca. 1250 BCE), which bore the name of Prince Kha-emouaset, a son of Ramses II. Aubourg calculated that the azimuth of the Roman temple built in 30 BCE was 108 degrees 40 minutes, which matched the azimuth of Sirius. He then determined the azimuth of the lower temple to be 111 degrees 11 minutes, which corresponded to the orientation of the rising of Sirius in the epoch of Ramses II, about 1250 BCE. Here again, exactly as at the Satis temple at Elephantine and the Thoth Hill temple in Thebes, the ancient surveyors had responded to the effect of precession on the star Sirius by changing the orientation of the axes accordingly—very much as their ancestors had done at Nabta Playa several millennia before.

THE SUN TEMPLES OF THE SUN KINGS

In the fourth dynasty, immediately after the reign of King Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid, there seems to have been a sudden shift in religious ideologies. For reasons that have not yet been properly understood, a new solar cult seems to have been introduced to the pyramid builders. This seems to have happened in the reign of King Djedefre, a son of Khufu. For example, Khufu's immediate sucessors, Djedefre, Khafra, and Menkaure, incorporated the name of the sun god Re (or Ra) into their names. They also took on the title Son of Re. Indeed, according to Egyptologist Mark Lehner, “Djedefre is the first pharaoh to take the title ‘Son of
Re.'”
⁹⁹

Djedefre chose a promontory some 8 kilometers (5 miles) northwest of the Giza pyramids to build his own pyramid complex in a region known today as Abu Ruwash. No adequate explanation was given by any of his contemporaries as to why this king chose to move so far away from Giza. Not even Djedefre himself explained. Being thus at a loss for a good explanation, Egyptologists have invented a reason: they theorize that there was a family feud—that Djedefre quarreled with his father, Khufu, and was banished from Giza, thus inducing him to build his own complex at Abu Ruwash.
^*64

Needless to say, there is not one shred of textual evidence to support this theory. With Carlo Bergmann's recent discovery in 1999 of Djedefre Water Mountain in the Sahara, however, a new theory backed by evidence can now be proposed. An observer at Abu Ruwash who looked east at sunrise at the summer solstice would have witnessed the sun rising directly over the sun temple of Heliopolis,
^†65
a fact that can hardly be a coincidence in view of the circumstances surrounding Djedefre and the solar ideologies introduced in his reign. We can recall that the summer solstice marked the birth of Re, when the civil calendar was inaugurated, and could be a reason why Djedefre chose the title Son of Re.

We also now know, thanks to Carlo Bergmann, that during Djedefre's reign an expedition was sent into the deep Sahara and reached at least 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Dakhla oasis and that the name of Djedefre is found inscribed on a mound now called Djedefre Water Mountain (DWM). We can recall from chapter 4 that when we witnessed the sunrise at DWM in April 2008, we noted that the mound was facing east, directly toward another flat-topped mound whose midpoint and ends marked the two solstices and the two equinoxes. The midpoint also had a small depression that seemed to have been cut by human hands, so that when the sun filled the depressed space, it formed the hieroglyphic sign “sun disk between two peaks”
, which stood for “horizon” and “sunrise.” Yet we are aware that this sign was not known before Djedefre's reign, but instead appeared in the fifth dynasty, which immediately followed his own.

All Egyptologists agree that the fifth dynasty was intensely solar and had a very special connection to the sun temple at Heliopolis and its high priest. In the so-called Westcar Papyrus there is a story that tells us how a priestess named Rudjdjedet, the wife of the high priest of Heliopolis, gave birth to male triplets, whom she claimed had been conceived by the sun god Re
himself.
¹⁰⁰
All three were destined to become kings. Two of them, Sahure and Neferikare, incorporated the name Re into their own, and the third, Userkaf, made the unprecedented decision of commissioning a sun temple for himself, which was modeled on the great sun temple of Re at
Heliopolis.
¹⁰¹
Five other sun kings that followed him also built for themselves sun temples near Userkaf 's, at a place called Abu Ghorab.
^*66
 
¹⁰²

So far, only two of the six sun temples—Userkaf 's and Niussere's—have been found. The other four are known only by their names on contemporary inscriptions. The six are: The Stronghold of Re, The Offering Fields of Re, The Favorite Place of Re, The Offering Table of Re, The Delight of Re, and The Horizon of Re.

The Sun Temple and Heliopolis

The connection of these temples to the sun god of Heliopolis was not merely spiritual, according to a new theory by British Egyptologist David Jeffreys about the exact location where they were placed relative to Heliopolis. In the 1990s, David Jeffreys conducted a survey in the area of Memphis on behalf of the Egypt Exploration Society. He noted that from the vantage point of the sun temples of Userkaf and Neussera, he had an unobstructed line of sight to Heliopolis, but if he moved just a bit farther south toward the Abusir pyramids, his view was cut off by the Muqattam hills. The sun temples were built some distance north of their corresponding pyramids in order to have a direct line of sight toward Heliopolis. “A re-examination of the location of Pyramids whose owners claim or display a special association with the solar cult betrays a cluster pattern for which a political and religious explanation suggests itself. . . . The Giza pyramids could also be seen from Heliopolis. . . . It is therefore appropriate to ask, in a landscape as prospect-dominated as the Nile Valley, which sites and monuments were mutually visible and whether their respective locations, horizons and vistas are owed to something more than mere
coincidence.”
¹⁰³

Could it be that the discovery of the Water Mountain in the Sahara by Djedefre was the underlying cause that brought about the new solar religion to the pharaohs? Was this a natural temple in the desert, which was behind the design of artificial temples at Abu Ruwash and Abusir? We can recall that on DWM there was also found prehistoric artwork next to the Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription of Djedefre's expedition. Were a prehistoric people still occupying the area when Djedefre's expedition arrived in around 2500 BCE? Were they the same people that also occupied Nabta Playa—the Black star people or cattle people that we encountered throughout the Egyptian Sahara, those followers of the sun and the star Sirius?

On the east face of Djedefre Water Mountain is a most telling inscription or, more specifically, a strange glyph that now, with all that we know of these very ancient star and cattle people, we can easily decipher. The glyph is composed of three rows of signs. The top row shows a five-pointed star, a cow's head, and a rope with a shape reminiscent of an ankh sign. The middle row depicts a flat plate with four lines extending vertically below it. The bottom row shows the same flat sign but with only one line extending down crookedly, and with two prongs at its end and, on each side, zigzagging lines.

All the signs are recognizable Egyptian
hieroglyphs.
¹⁰⁴

The two other glyphs in the bottom row, a lightining bolt and a human figure running or jumping, probably imply a rain-dance or storm-dance ritual.

Perhaps the entire glyph could thus read: “the star of wisdom which heralds in the rainy season/monsoon is greeted with joy.” Perhaps Djedefre Water Mountain was a sort of natural sun temple to mark the summer solstice, and perhaps the star people or cattle people told the Egyptians of their knowledge and tradition, which linked the summer solstice, the monsoon, and the heliacal rising of the star Sirius.

There are so many water signs
on Djedefre Water Mountain that we must recall heavy downpours (the monsoons). Yet climatologists are adamant that the monsoons stopped coming this far north around 5000 BCE—but how else could the Egyptians have known of these heavy downpours if not from a people who had actually experienced them? Further, could these people have traveled such a vast distance—from Nabta Playa to Djedefre Water Mountain, which, as the crow flies, is 360 kilometers (224 miles)?

In chapter 2 we briefly saw that in 2006 the Sahara anthropologists Stefan Kröpelin and Rudolph Kuper discovered another water mountain located 700 kilometers (435 miles) south of Nabta Playa, within Sudan, just west of a place called Dongola. The water mountain, which Kröpelin and Kuper described as a rock shelter, very much resembles Djedefre Water Mountain. Kröpelin and Kuper called the location Gala El Sheikh, and apparently it will soon be part of a protected national park. Also found were many petroglyphs—and, amazingly, there was the same water emblem as the one found by Bergmann at Djedefre Water Mountain (the slightly bulging rectangle with two peaks and within it zigzag
lines).
¹⁰⁵

Unlike Bergmann's site, however, at Gala El Sheikh there were no ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs or drawings, suggesting that not only was the site of prehistoric origin but also that the people who once occupied this place had cultural connections to those who once occupied the region near Dakhla oasis. If this was so, then both were clearly also connected to the Nabta Playa people, for that site lies directly in the middle of a trail that could have joined Gala El Sheikh and Djedefre Water Mountain. As Carlo Bergmann strongly suspected about these mysterious water emblems, a thorough study of them, as well as further explorations in the Egyptian Sahara and along the possible trail that leads to northwest Chad and the Ennedi Mountains, may prove that a vast network of communication existed in prehistoric times among Black sub-Saharan Africans, and this eventually led them to migrate into the Nile Valley, where they, with their millennia-old knowledge of astronomy, husbandry, and even perhaps basic writing and a religious system, hastened the civilization that we call Egyptian. Much work remains to be done, but the evidence is convincing that the pharaohs were the descendants of these Black prehistoric people from the Egyptian Sahara, and that the pharaohs knew about these people even in early dynastic times.