AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. 37

c1550 BCE      Late Minoan Period c1550-1100BC begins now. Aegean civilisation is centred on the island of Crete and will reach apogee as a world power alongside Egypt and the Hittite Empire. Cretan culture will eventually spread to continental Greece. (29) (34)

Priestess of Crete

                       The year 1533 is estimated to be that of a total eclipse over Memphis in ancient Egypt, Dynasty XVIII. (240. 241) This astronomical phenomena may well correlate with the establishment of the reign of the ‘New Kingdom’ in Egypt.

1525 BCE        AMENOPHIS I(Amenhotep) is the second king to rule the ‘New Kingdom’ of Egypt and of the 18^thDynasty. (80) He is son of Amosis I and Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. (49)During his reign the heliacal rising of the star Sirius is recorded on the ‘Ebers Papyrus’ as it marks the beginning of a new Sothic period. The papyrus says, ‘Ninth year of the reign of his majesty the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Djeserkare – may he live for ever! Festival of the New Year: third month of summer, ninth day – rising of Sirius.’  (175)

Star Sirius

1504               TUTHMOSIS I(Thothmes or Tuthmosis) succeeds Amenophis I to the Egyptian throne after marrying Ahmes, the sister of Amenophis I. From this union is born Hatshepsut. By Mutnofret, a ‘concubine’, Tuthmosis I has a son, Tuthmosis II. (175).

                        Tuthmosis I is a prince of Thebes and worshipper of Amon. He initiated an era of renewed temple building by increasing the size of the temple of Karnak and adding a place of worship for Montu, god of war. At the time this was the only Amon temple of any importance in Thebes. (80. 49.)

                       The first appearance of a collection of funeral texts called the ‘Book of What is in the Underworld’ (Am Dwat) is found on the walls of the burial chamber of Tuthmosis I, ancestor of rebel king Akhenaten. Tuthmosis I inaugurated the tradition of burial in the Valley of the Kings, and the mortuary temple now became separated from the tomb. (175)

1500                      DEUCALIONsurvivor of the Greek Deluge is personified in the constellation Aquarius. (11)This deluge is the recording of Zeus’ anger at the human sacrifices being made. He thus let loose a flood with the intention of wiping out the human race, but Prometheus, the Titan, gave warning to his son Deucalion, King of Pythia. As a result, Deucalion built and ark and saved his wife Pyrrha [Ishta] and their daughter Epimetheus. They eventually came to Mount Parnassus and were saved. When the flood subsided, the people migrated to Arcadia and reestablished the human race. (33)  This flood is said to have followed the degeneration of the Bronze Age. (148)

                    At around this time Egyptian celestial diagrams give the planetary order of visible planets as Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, Mercury, Venus. (30)Unlike our present day order of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.

Sky at Night 

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. 36.

SIXTENTH CENTURY BCE (1599-1500)

SIXTENTH CENTURY BCE (1599-1500)

c1595 BCE      Decline of the Empire of Babylon under the impact of Hittite and Kassite invaders. There followed a period of weakness and confusion, until about 8^thCentury BCE when Babylon will come under the control of the Assyrians again.

                       Following the fall of Sumer and Akkad, the ancient Akkadians sought refuge in the mountains of Syria and established themselves on the slopes of Mount Hermon in Lebanon. They were then known as the Druses and their mystical principles and concepts indicate contact with GWB, an unformed fraternity of enlightened beings who left disciples across the globe to form the nucleus of esoteric, mystical and philosophical societies. 

Avaloki of Tibet

 c1567             AHMOSE I[Aahmes or Amosis] (Kitchen 1550-1525) liberates Egypt from Hyksos foreign rule and establishes the 18^thDynasty and the beginning of the Egyptian ‘New Kingdom’ period. His parents are Pharaoh Sequenenre Ta’o II (Murry gives Seqenen-Re III) and Queen Ahhotpe. Ahmose marries Ahmose-Nefertari a black queen with power in her own right. Their son is to be Amenophis I. (49.80.108)

                       AHMOSE-NEFERTARI is the last queen to be a recipient of the Theban cult until it is revived c1080 BCE. She will also become regent on the death of her husband and play a key role in establishing the New Kingdom period of Egypt.  (175)

                       1567-1320 BCE is the second Theban Epoch of ancient Egypt when the capital of Egypt is located at Thebes, therefore the rulers are called the Theban princes. Victory of these Theban princes over the Hyksos rulers of Egypt extended their territory along the Nile as far as the fourth cataract. The land of the ‘S’ bend in the Nile ending at the fourth cataract was known to the Egyptians as Kush and later called Nubia.  Amun/Amon, god of Thebes is elevated during this period to the rank of principle deity of the realm and identified with the sun-god Re in the form of Amun-Re, king of the gods (and into which were absorbed the earlier gods Re, Min and Ptah). This period is the time of the reigns of the great Pharoahs Amenophis I, Hatshepsut, Thuthmosis III, Amenhotep III, Thuthmosis IV Akhenaton, Tutankhamen, Ramesses I. (114)

                       Papyri copies of the earlier Pyramid text called ‘The Coming Forth by Day’, at this time incorporate 3 separate traditions, that of the astral after-life, that of the sun-god Re and that of Osiris, god of the Dwat. Some of the earliest papyri are called, Nu, Userhat, Kha, Yuga. Gradually, as time moves on, illustration will dominate over text.

Amun-Ra at Karnak Egypt

1580               ZEUS & ATHENE are especially favored gods in the Greek temples. These temples are oriented towards the star Hamel in the constellation Aries at various places between 1580-360 BCE. (11) Athene as the goddess of intelligence has her birth from the head of her father Zeus.

Greek god Zeus

c1556             CECROPS establishes ASTU [Athens] as an Egyptian colony of Greece. Athens, with Mount Parnassus and Mount Olympus form a sacred triangle known as Arcadia, Greece. The chief god of this pleasant and ideal area of country life is Pan. [48]This mythical king was half human half serpent or fish, just like the Babylonia god of culture, Dagon. Athens becomes the major centre of the Eleusinian Mysteries.

c1567             ISIS & OSIRIS.The fullest account of the myth of Isis and Osiris extant in Egyptian sources is on a limestone stela dating from between 1567-1320 BCE. Later the story will be reproduced by the Greek Plutarch. 

                        HATHOR is depicted as the Egyptian goddess of love, in writings of 1567-1085 BCE. 

Hathor columns in Dendera Temple

AAL’S LABYRINTH HISTORY An Alternative Viewpoint…..contd. 35.

 SEVENTENTH CENTURY BCE (1699-1600)

c1650 BCE      TETISHERI Queen of Egypt and commoner wife of King Sekenenre Tao I She is mother of Sekenenre Tao II. This is the start of the New Kingdom in ancient Egypt and marks the first time since the Archaic Period, 1500 years earlier, that the queen consorts of Egypt are openly celebrated in their own right. (108)

Queen Tetisheri

                       According to some authors the New Kingdom in ancient Egypt covers c1650-1085 BCE and Dynasties 17-20. The early dynasties of this period are recognised for their succession of strong warrior-kings and high-profile queens, the latter providing Egypt with an unbroken succession lasting for over a century from Queen Tetisheri to Queen Hatshepsut and beyond. (108)

c1650             AMMISADUQA, king of Babylon. From this time comes a copy the earliest known astrological records or omens, the ‘Enuma Anu Enlil’, the book of the gods of heaven and earth. To it is added a tablet recording observations of Venus and called the ‘Tablet of Amisaduqa/Ammisaduqa’.  It records the complex 8 year cycle of Venus, which is comprised of 5 synodic cycles,(46) which, drawn out as a diagram, appears like a simple rose, symbolic of all that is good about humanity.

Fergeson 1799. 5 inferior conjunctions

 of Venus and Sun, as seen from Earth.

                       The ‘Enuma Anu Enlil, is a copy of the ‘Namar-Bili’, or the ‘Ilumination of Bel’ from the time of Sargon the Great [2340 BCE]. Copies will again appear in the future library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, in the seventh century BCE.

                       The Accadai or ‘Highlanders’ founded their creed in the mountains of Elam where the Babylonian gods lived on the ‘Mountain of the East’. This is similar to the Greek Olympus Mountain and the Hindu Meru Mountain. This ‘Accadai’ should not be confused with the Greek pastoral region of ‘Arcadia’.

1628               A possible date of the volcanic destruction of Greek Island of Thera, another being 1400 BCE.

c1600BC         AGAMEMNON establishes Mycenae, capital of the Aegean, situated above the Argive plain, Eastern Peloponnesus. It is surrounded by walls built by the Cyclops. Entry into the city is through the famous Lion Gate, over which is a monumental relief of confronting lions. The city will be destroyed by fire c1200 BCE and invaded by Dorians c1100 BCE. (102) Agamemnon is Helen of Troy’s brother-in-law.

 Lion Gate

                       HELEN OF TROY: Greek mythology nominates her as the most beautiful woman in Greece, and the major cause of the Trojan War.  Helen is the daughter of Zeus and Leda, whom Zeus raped after taking the guise of a swan. Helen’s sister is Clytemnestra, the wife of Agamemnon; her brothers are the Dioscuri, or the Divine Twins, Castor and Pollux. While still a girl, Helen is carried off by the Athenian hero Theseus, but the Dioscuri rescue her unharmed. Later, Helen married Menelaus, King of Sparta. Their marriage is threatened when Paris, a Trojan prince, becomes enamored of Helen.  Taking advantage of Menelaus’ absence from the palace, Paris abducts Helen and leaves for Troy. Immediately, a great expedition against Troy is organized under the leadership of Agamemnon (brother of Menelaus) and ten years of bitter fighting ensued.  After Troy’s defeat, Helen is restored to her husband. (102)

Leda and the Swan/Zeus

                       The TROJAN WAR necessitates the uniting of the previously separate city-states of Greece, and which will now fight together under the leadership of Mycenaean King Agamemnon (1600 BCE) (44)

                       The star Electra, mother of the Dardanus, is saddened when she witnesses the fall of Ilion in the war, and so leaves her station among the Pleiades to become the ‘Fox Star’ called Alcor of the constellation Ursa Major. Babylonian legend calls this star Era, the most powerful among the gods who takes its place at the beam of the wagon of Ursa Major. This star is associated with the planetary god Nergal or Mars and the Sumerian story of ‘Utnapishtim’, records that Nergal/Mars/Alcor is responsible for the first great world flood. Thus, the legend records that when Electra/Era frees herself from the yoke of Ursa Major or from the Pleiades group in the time of the fall of Ilion/Troy, there will come the end of a world-age.(71)