AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. 28

c2300             AMENEMHET I (Amonemhat or Ammenemes 1991 BCE) inaugurates the 12^th 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 8^th 2283 BCE at the location of 2.5º 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 5^th 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)

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. 27.

c2340             KING URUKAGINA of the city state of Lagash, Sumer, introduces new humanitarian laws. (96) He took various measures, in accordance with the ‘righteous laws of Ningirsu’, and designed to put a stop to the oppression of the poor. (173)

                    In this year, there is estimated to be a total eclipse over Nekhen in Egypt, the conjectured date for the beginning of Dynasty VI. (240. 241)

Eclipse photo [from ‘Skywalk’]

                       SARGON THE GREAT around this time conquers the city Ur of Sumer,  Akkad of Babylon, and Elam of Susa. By this act he unites Mesopotamia as a single nation and establishes a capital at Agade (Akkad/Ashur) from where he reigns for 50 years. Born in 2370, Sargon is the son of Semites, a people drifting eastwards into the Mesopotamian valley from the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula to settle in Sumer and Akkad. Sargon rose from humble conditions to become cup-bearer to the King of Kish, Sumer, before himself becoming king. (96. 97).

                       Sargon ruled over a non-Semitic race called the Accadia (Accadians/Akkadians) meaning ‘of the highlands or mountains’, or perhaps Drusai. The Accadia knowledge was held in high esteem and was translated into the Semitic language. (45)

                      

                       AKKAD or ASHUR (Nth Iraq/Mesopotamia) is the city centre of the ancient Assyrian Empire, located on the River Tigris. The city will reach its peak in the 9-7^th centuries BCE before being eventually absorbed into the future Persian Empire.

                       SARGON is credited with initiating the writing of 72 books called the ‘Illumination of Bel’, an astronomical work compiled by the priests of Bel (Marduke) and which will be translated into Greek by the priest Berossos around the year 260 BCE. (11) Other authors place Sargon at 3800 BCE and say that he drew from his library 70 tablets to comprise the standard astrological work of the Babylonians and Assyrians, who started the year at the winter solstice. (45) For the Northern Hemisphere, this would place emphasis on the constellation of Capricorn, which in Egyptian terms is related to the Crocodile god Sobek, whilst for the Babylonians it is related to Oannes, the fish god.

Sargon of Akkad c2340 BCE

 [Time-Life Books]

                       The Sumerian system of calculation is based on the number 60 and known as the sexagesimal system, which may have been the forerunner of the Arabic decimal system. Surviving traces of the sexagesimal system will be found in the future division of time into the 60-minute hour and the 360-degree circle (6x60). (96)

                      The Babylonian year of this time is soli-lunar comprising 12 lunar months of 354 days plus the solar year of 365 days. The discrepancy of 11 days was solved by adding a 13^th lunar month when required. Therefore, in an 11-year cycle, 7 years have 12 months, and 4 have 13 months. By the 2^nd century BCE the calendar of the Mesopotamian area will have shifted and the beginning of the year celebrated in spring rather than autumn. (45)

                       ENHEDUANNA daughter of Sargon, is made chief priestess of Sumeria by her father, but in spite of this appointment, women’s status starts to decline. As high priestess of the moon god Nanna, Enheduanna composed a poem to him. Akkadian Ishtar will eventually replace the Sumerian Inanna goddess of the 3 worlds, and of love and war. (9)

Mother Goddess Inanna

                       NARAM-SIN is the grandson of Sargon and called himself ‘King of the Four Quarters’ (of the universe). Chief of the Akkadian gods are Shamash and Ishtar/Inanna. (97)

2300 BCE        A new ‘Age of Aries’ begins with the Equinox or Vernal Point entering the constellation of Aries. This is known as the ‘Age of Initiates’.  These initiates will lead the masses in their spiritual quest. In Egypt, the new ‘World Age’ adopts the ‘Cult of the Ram’, symbolized in their god Amun. To the Hebrews, this age will be marked by their celebration of the ‘Passover Lamb’. (109)

                       The story of Jason and the Argonauts on their journey to find the ‘Golden Fleece’ of the ram, would seem to be a memory of the beginning of this ‘Age of Aries’. (71)

Ram head sphinxes. Entrance to Karnack complex Egypt.

                       This is also the beginning of the ‘First Intermediate Period’ in ancient Egypt (c2300-2040 BCE) and covers Dynasties VII to XI. The political centre is at Heryshef [Greek Heracleopolis]. This is known as an obscure period of social and political strife; probably associated with the chaos that accompanies readjustment in social, political and cultural upheaval as a new influx of knowledge, and evolutionary influences, play out.

                The great prophet Abraham is believed to have travelled to Egypt in this ‘FirstIntermediate         Period’, sometime during Dynasties VII-X; and to have left Egypt before 2081 BCE (84) just before the new millennium.