c2300 AMENEMHET I (Amonemhat or Ammenemes 1991 BCE) inaugurates the 12th
Dynasty in Egypt. This is the beginning of what will become known as the ‘Middle
Kingdom’, a time of renewal when the Thebean princes reconstruct the Pharaonic
State at the same time as the Minoan Civilization is building its great
palaces. The capital of Egypt is moved from Thebes to Itjtawy near el-Lisht in
the Fayum area, thus begins an up grading of the Fayum, Egypt. Itjtawy will
retain its importance for about 300 years. It is the site of two pyramids,
those of Amenemhet I and his son Senwosret I, and near which are many important
tombs. (113)
Amenemehet is the son of
a commoner named Sesostris, and a woman from Elephantine, (49) which suggests a Nubian influence. He wrote instructions for his
son, known as ‘The Instructions of Amenemhat”, (80) and
replaces the war god Montu with the fertility god Amun or Min (49) who may be the ancestor of Dionysus as later imported into Greece.
The ‘Middle Kingdom’ brings
the rise of the Osiris cult. The god Amun becomes amalgamated with Re, the
great sun-god, then to become known as Amun-Re. Much literature is produced in
this historical period, including didactic works, tales, autobiographical
narratives, poems and prophetic texts. (173)
In conformity with the
edicts of Amenemhet, the great annual voyage of ‘The Beautiful Sailing of
Hathor’ is established. It takes place and the rite of the first fruits of the
field are celebrated, at the Epiphi New Moon to announce the conjoining of
Hathor and Horus. (067)
HYMN TO HATHOR
All hail, Jubilation to you, O Golden One,
Sole ruler, Uraeus of the Supreme Lord himself!
Mysterious one who gives birth to the divine entities,
forms the animals, models them as she pleases, fashions men.
O Mother!...Luminous One who thrusts back the
darkness, who illuminates every human creature with her rays,
Hail, Great One of many names.
You from whom the divine entities come forth
in this your name of Mut-Isis!
You-who-cause the throat to breathe, daughter
of Re,
whom he spat forth from his mouth in this
your name of Tefnut!
O Neith who appeared in your barque in this your
name of Mut!
O Venerable Mother, you who subdue your
adversaries in this your name of Nedhebet!
O You-who-know-how-to-make-right-use-of-the-heart,
you who triumph over your enemies in
this your name of Sekhmet!
It is the Golden One...the lady of drunkenness of
music, of dance, of frankincense, of the crown,
of young women, whom men acclaim because they love her!
It is the Gold of the divine entities who comes forth at her
season,
in the month of Epiphi, the day of the
new moon, at the festival of 'She is Delivered'....
Heaven makes merry, the earth is full of gladness,
the Castle of Horus rejoices.
(Translation after M. Alliot, Le Culte d'Horus a Edfou. Lamy)
Temple of Hathor
SENUSERT I (Senwosret or Sesostris 1962 BCE) as the son of
Amenemhet I, will be attributed with raising Egypt to a leading power in the
ancient world. He will build his pyramid at Lisht in the Fayum region, as well
as building temples at other great centres of Egypt. It is suggested that he
built the Osireon in Abydos, the great tomb of the god Osiris. Sesostris has an
obelisk raised at Abgig and then moved to Medinet el-Faiym. (113) His son will be known as AMONEMHAT II. Pottery shows trading connections between Egypt and Crete at this
time. (80)
SENUSERT II (Sesostris II 1895 BCE ) will also build a pyramid at
el-Lahun at the entrance to the Fayum region. It will be of mudbrick and built
on and around a natural knoll of rock, which acts as a nucleus to the pyramid.
The pyramid will then have a star-shaped framework of limestone retaining
walls, which radiate out from the centre. The entrance will be placed on the
south side instead of the normal north side. In the burial chamber will be
located a red granite sarcophagus. In one of the pyramid shafts will be placed
the treasure of Prince Sit-Hathor-Iunut. (49) This location will be found to also be the
site of hundreds of hieratic papyri including the Kahun Papyri. (113)
2283
IBI-SIN ruler of Akkad and Sumer ends his reign at this time of the
estimated total eclipse of the moon, March 8th 2283 BCE at the
location of 2.5ยบ sidereal Libra, which is near the star Spica.
The eclipse was taken as the great omen heralding the destruction of Ur of
Sumer. (30)
2250
BCE MARDUK the patron god of Babylon is honored during an 11 day
festival celebrating the New Year, which begins at the Vernal Equinox. The
Egyptians, Phoenicians and Persians on the other hand celebrate their New Year
at the Autumnal Equinox. The future Greeks and Romans will celebrate their New
Year at the Winter Solstice until the 5th century BCE, (141) when the growing Christian Church will move it to coincide with
the first day of the month of January. The lunation of January is named after
the god Janus who looks both ways, backward to the old year and forward to the
New Year.
Around 2250 BCE a
scriptorium archive of about 20,000 cuneiform tablets is lodged at the ancient
city of Ebla or ‘White Rock’ [Tell Mardikh] about 55km southwest of Aleppo [in
modern Syria]. The tablets are written in Sumerian script to record the Eblaite
language, the earliest known Semitic language and closely related to the later Sumerian/Akkadian
language. Ebla, long known from Egyptian
and Akkadian inscriptions, will be rediscovered 1968 on a site that has been
inhabited since before 3000 BCE. A future rediscovery will reveal that King
Ibbit-Lim will rule Ebla around the year 2000. He worshipped the goddess
Ishtar. Society is polytheistic at this
time, with evidence of some well-known Semitic deities including Dagan, god of
fish or fishing; Ishtar/Ashtar/Inanna, goddess of fertility, love, war and sex;
Resheph/Rasap, god of war and weather [depicted with the headdress of Hathor!
and popular under the reign of Amenhotep II]; Kanish; Haddad/Adad, storm and
rain god; Shapash/Shipish, god of the sun; Enki/Ea, god of water and associated
with constellation AS-IKU or the Square of Pegasus, with the sacred number of
40; Ninki/Ninhursag, mother goddess of Earth. [328]
Around this time, the
Ecliptic Zodiac signs and the constellation signs are about coincident.
Astronomer Steele alludes to the 5 planet conjunction in the constellation Pegasus
at this time. (11)
