Ancient Egypt Mysteries That WILL MAKE your hair Stand up

the Greek writer Herodotus known as the father of modern history described Egypt as a gift of the Nile referencing the build up of the land via River deposits but also the climate and fertility the river provided that made Egypt such a paradise the Nile River is the longest river on earth the whole 4258 mile length is comprised of the white nile and the blue nile and flows through eleven nations including egypt viewed from above the river is a wide ribbon of blue and green parting vast expanses of arid brown every year tropical rains beginning in july caused the Nile to flood and in ancient times overflow into the surrounding land when the water receded it left behind thick black fertile soil it had gathered throughout its length this allowed Egyptians to farm and raise livestock very successfully whereas beyond the Niles floodplain lack of rainfall made this very difficult the difference in soil was so apparent that the ancient name of the land around the Nile was Kemet meaning black land even in ancient times Egyptians took steps to manage the flood waters of the life-giving River they built canals and earthen dams to contain and direct the water as needed in recent years the construction of the Aswan Dam an engineering marvel in its own right has brought the river under control in order for the dam to be constructed engineers relocated the ancient temple of Abu Simbel the temple was recorded and deconstructed carefully and then reassembled piece by piece on higher ground the relocation project took four years to complete and gave archaeologists and engineers a unique perspective on the construction techniques used by ancient builders in order to have successful farming seasons ancient Egyptians needed to keep track of when the Nile was expected to flood and recede crops were planted as soon as the waters receded and had to be harvested before the next flood to do this they developed a calendar that was based on a 365 day year broken into twelve months this calendar led to organization and documentation similar to that still used today the Egyptian calendar was based on relationships between the Sun and the moon and the flooding of the Nile there were three seasons in an ancient Egyptian year inundation growth and harvests so here too we see the strong influence of the river on Egyptian daily life the Nile winds through the recurring cycles of nature and the people's abstract concept of time another gift the Nile provided where the papyrus reeds that grew along its banks Egyptians use these Reed's to create a durable beautiful writing surface with which to record details of their calendar their grain supply their sacrifices to the gods and the tribute collected from the people and from other nations fibers from the papyrus plants were soaked and woven together in the sheets which were dried pressed and polished the sheets could be combined into longer documents in the form of scrolls in the dry Egyptian climate these scrolls preserved well archeologists have discovered papyrus scrolls that date to 20 550 BCE that are still legible the comparative abundance of written material that has survived the millennia via these papyrus scrolls is a gift to modern historians as well the great river also provided transport between the flourishing cities and sites along its banks Thebes Luxor Karnak Amarna Memphis and Cairo these are legendary names from ancient times and namesakes of flourishing modern cities today produce livestock workers building materials all could be carried on the current or with the wind for the length of the river this easy means of travel allowed for trade flow between cities integrating the culture the Nile Delta is the land at the mouth of the river where it drains into the Mediterranean Sea because the silt of the river is continuously deposited the land here is constantly changing shifting in its own way as inexorably as the surrounding desert sands based on records that exist from ancient times we know the Delta at one time had seven distributaries where it now has two it is possible using satellite images to reconstruct some of the routes of the five vanished rivers and visualize how changed this land has been since ancient times there are many archaeological sites in and around the Delta area including the city of Tanis which was recently discovered to have been lost and buried by the drift in the river location the city of Heraklion was once the flourishing port on the Mediterranean at the mouth of the Nile goods from Phoenicia Greece and then Rome passed through the city during its day the ruins of the city were recently discovered on the seafloor miles off the egyptian coast it is now believed that the city was drowned in an earthquake event that undermined the city's foundations the state of preservation and the abundance of artifacts in this submerged city have provided a greater understanding of life at the time at sank most notably the harbor contains the remains of the ships that were in port and is the largest collection of ancient ships that has ever been discovered the ships were so recently uncovered that it will be years before they are excavated examined and interpreted but the find is expected to rewrite our ideas about naval history and capability the obviously unstable quality of this area is only exacerbated by the slow migration of the Nile from east to west this restructuring of the terrain has been pointed to as a means of dating the structures on the Giza Plateau using geologic evidence if it is assumed that the river ran directly past the causeways of the pyramids when they were originally built the time it took the river to arrive at its current location suggests the pyramids were built thousands of years ago and arguably thousands of years earlier than the accepted chronology one more instance in which the history of Egypt is slowly being uncovered the body is the house of God man know thyself and thou shalt know the gods ancient Egyptian proverb Egyptian culture and vision the beginning of existence as chaos and darkness the force of chaos was embodied by the God Apophis and is the natural enemy of Maat the goddess of order husband and wife as well as brother and sister Isis and Osiris were primary gods in the Egyptian pantheon along with their dark and brooding brother sent it was sets betrayal and murder of Osiris that led to Isis's quest to revive the dead God when the god Anubis helped Isis ritually prepare the corpse of Osiris it is thought the art of mummification was inspired Osiris was brought back to life for long enough that Isis was able to conceive their son Horus this resurrection also cast Osiris as the Lord of the Dead and Isis as the mother goddess and Egyptian spiritual beliefs it is interesting that the Egyptians portrayed their gods in multiple forms many of which involved animal characteristics or manifestation in purely animal form Thoth is the Ibis headed god of wisdom who also manifested in the form of a baboon Anubis is the jackal-headed guardian of the dead who sometimes appears as a crouching dog Hathor is sometimes depicted as a cow and sometimes as a beautiful woman the goddess of love Bastet is the cat goddess of home fertility and childbirth cats were worshipped in ancient Egypt as best at servants or as manifestations of the goddess herself perhaps the most bizarre and frightening was Amit the sole leader she had the jaws of the crocodile and a body part lion and part hippopotamus the king of the gods was Amun raw represented as the son he was the special protector of the city of Thebes the Temple of Karnak dedicated to Amun rah is a vast complex of temple buildings that were erected beginning in the Middle Kingdom era monuments continued to be erected through the end of the Ptolemaic period giving a wide span of architectural styles and patterns religious belief throughout the long period of their worship the Egyptian gods did face a few challenges to their power in the years 1344 through 1328 BCE Egypt was ruled by Pharaoh Akhenaten before the fifth year of his reign the Pharaoh was known as Amenhotep the fourth he changed his name at the same time he changed Egyptian religion and society instead of honoring the pantheon of Egyptian gods whose worship had long been a foundation of Egyptian life and the Pharaohs duty Akhenaten declared that there was only one God his new chosen name meant effective for Aten the Sun disk Aten was now the official God of Egypt Akhenaten created a new capital city at Amarna where the worship of Aten would be central with massive temples that rivaled those of any deity in Egypt in fact Akhenaten officially disbanded the priesthood of all other gods and the income of their cults was used to glorify Aten and the Aten cult of course the Pharaoh and his wife Nefertiti were high priest and Priestess of this new religion and soon took on a divine position themselves inscriptions all over Egypt that praised other gods were removed in monuments 2 faced along with the change to Aten worship depictions of the royal family during this period are a striking departure from previous Egyptian style family scenes are more intimate than was seen previously the portrayal of Akhenaten and Nefertiti are thought to be more naturalistic but also exaggerated statues and paintings of Akhenaten are instantly recognizable with his distinct androgynous features the Queen also is widely recognized as an ideal of feminine beauty copies of a bust discovered in Amarna can be seen all around the world in art and women's jewelry the fact that Akhenaten and Nefertiti remains such recognizable icons of Egyptian history is all the more striking because of the efforts made by later rulers to erase them and their new faith from existence the priests of the powerful Sun God raw who had been the foremost God for most of history had been displaced and demoted by Akhenaten's radical religious forms they were eager to put their divine patron back in power carvings depicting Akhenaten and his Queen Nefertiti have been discovered with the faces chiseled away inscriptions referencing them have been obliterated even the mummified remains scholars have identified as that of Akhenaten was discovered in a sarcophagus with the lower part of the face purposefully destroyed in antiquity when Akhenaten or the time of his reign are mentioned in later inscriptions he is only referred to as the heretic scholars believed that Akhenaten died in the 17th year of his reign but the circumstances surrounding his death are unknown it is also very unclear how the succession was handled after his death various figures come into play including an unknown female pharaoh and the possibility that Nefertiti may have reigned disguised as a man in any case Akhenaten's young son Tutankhamun came to power and ruled with his regent I the boy king changed his name to Tutankhamun to distance himself from his father's unpopular cult of the Aten and reaffirm his loyalty to the god Amun he ruled for only 10 years before he died suddenly after his death Tutankhamun's name was erased from official history by later rulers along with those of his mother and father however the discovery of his tomb and the exquisite golden sarcophagus have made King Tut the most well known of all the Pharaohs of Egypt the next challenge to the supremacy of the ancient Egyptian gods came with the beliefs of a nomadic group who came to Egypt during a famine the Hebrew refugees were welcomed and their strange single God was respected insofar as his Hebrew servant Joseph had been able to interpret the Pharaohs troubling dreams when Joseph was also able to predict a drought and save Egypt from famine accurately he was rewarded and became a respected member of the court it was not long however before the two faiths came into conflict arguably one of the most famous passages in the Bible is the story of Moses and the Pharaoh of Egypt when the Pharaoh claims the Israelites as slaves and refuses to allow them to leave Egypt the Hebrew God performs a number of mirror coal's to force Pharaoh to let them go the contrast and contest between the monotheistic Hebrew faith and the polytheism of the Egyptians could not be more explicitly described at first Moses is dared to conquer challenges that the Egyptian magicians are also able to accomplish this escalates into a series of plagues on the Egyptians until the Hebrew causes victorious after the death of the Egyptian firstborn this story is the inspiration for the holiday of Passover celebrating God's sparing the Israelites the fate destined for the Egyptians this section of the Bible is much debated by modern scholars the Pharaoh of the story has long been thought to have been Ramses the great archaeological evidence supporting the occurrence is described in the Bible as been scarce some theorists suggest a shift in dating provides a new wealth of evidence that is yet to be interpreted it is hoped this new evidence may provide information about the story of the exodus of the Hebrew people from Egypt Egypt today is predominantly Muslim with approximately 20% of the population identifying as Coptic Christian the old gods of ancient Egypt are considered mere myth and legend in spite of the representations that can be seen in forms both large and small throughout the country regardless of the passage of time and the shifts in belief religion has long played a vital role in Egypt's history and culture oh great one go in and say to the writer of the scripts the guardian of the door of Osiris that I am come blessed and as a divine being to save my own soul Egyptian Book of the Dead the written pictograph language of Egypt is known as hieroglyphics the word is from the Greek description meaning sacred engravings for much of modern history it was assumed that these strange symbols were writing but the meanings could only be guessed at by viewers it was not until after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone and years of study that the modern world was able to decipher the messages left by the ancient Egyptians the stone was discovered in 1799 by Napoleon's troops as they made their way through Egypt the stone is inscribed with the fir onic decree that is written in Greek the demotic egyptian script and hieroglyphs because the Greek language and the demotic were already understood scholars now had a reference to decipher the hieroglyphic symbols after years of dedicated study and comparison to many examples of Egyptian texts jean-francois champion was able to decipher the hieroglyphic alphabet in 1822 nearly two hundred years later new research has suggested that the hieroglyphs have a deeper meaning than a mere alphabet can encompass that each symbol is a sentence unto itself as well as an indicator of sound this idea suggests interpreting hieroglyphs is similar to reading a modern acronym for example to an English speaker the individual letters in an acronym like fYI also convey the extended phrase for your information what deeper meaning might be revealed by a more thorough understanding of hieroglyphic writing as with many things in Egypt layers of meaning lie beneath the surface and secrets still remain buried after thousands of years even in ancient Egypt there were comparatively few people who could read and write these hieroglyphic texts those who could were known as scribes scribes recorded everything in ancient Egypt we have found proclamations edicts laws letters treaties spells histories and medical and religious texts that were all created by scribes it is probable given some clues in the language of written correspondence that the scribes were also the ones who read aloud what had been written it took a great deal of study and training to become a scribe so there were a small portion of society a scribes education would have taken four to five years at a time when average life expectancy was 40 years this was an even greater dedication it is believed that those trained as healers and midwives were also often taught to read and write so they could read medical documents and record information about a patient's health most scribes inherited their positions so there were families who trained for this profession for generations the majority of those who could read and write were men but women did also occasionally learn as well the skills of the scribe were so highly valued by Egyptian society that they were considered a part of the aristocracy they also were not required to perform manual labor for community projects as most citizens were although we have thousands of examples of hieroglyphic writing the collection of the most famous texts from ancient Egypt is known to us in modern times as The Book of the Dead ancient Egyptians would have known these texts as spells for going forth by day it has been said that the ancient Egyptians were obsessed with death this impression is strengthened because the spells do contain instructions of a sort that are meant to assist a soul in traveling to the afterlife and safety the spells provide directions passwords and advice for passing the tests that would need to be faced in order to reach their goal of eternal life as the final test the soul was thought to be called before the gods of Cyrus Thoth and Anubis to be judged the person's heart would be weighed and balanced against the weight of a feather if the heart was heavier than the feather thanks to the weight of evil thoughts and deeds then the soul would be devoured by the goddess Ammut who had the jaws of a crocodile if the heart was lighter than the feather it would be free to continue to Paradise and everlasting life later representations of this ceremony represent the god Horus holding the scale to favor the soul being judged implying the judgment could be influenced possibly this was arranged by the purchase of religious effigies or shabti dolls that were buried with the dead these magic books were only used by royalty in the Old Kingdom but soon anyone who could afford to have one would have it buried with them often in the form of art work covering tomb walls this practice has resulted in a fascinating variety of books of the Dead surviving to the modern era an even more notable part of the Egyptian funeral process was the tradition of mummification priests practice in the art took charge of a body after death they first removed the internal organs the brain was removed through the nostril the body cavity was then filled with salt sand and sacred herbs to dry out the skin the heart was left intact and in place as ancient Egyptians believed the heart was the seat of the soul or ha the other organs were preserved and stored in special canopic jars that would be buried alongside the sarcophagus after a month or more of drying the body would be treated with holy oils and wrapped in layers of linen bandages often sacred talismans of precious metals and jewels were woven into the wrappings scarabs carved of gold and jewels were often wound throughout the bandages finally the mummy was coated with oils and resins to seal and protect it this treatment of the bodies of the Dead preserved them to the extent that we can still see the faces of the ancient Pharaoh's thousands of years after their deaths in recent years scientists have even been able to reconstruct the DNA of Egyptian mummies from tishy that was mummified 3,000 years ago genetic testing has been used to confirm familial relationships between royal mummies giving us more reliable identification of the remains and confirming parentage mummification was such an important part of Egyptian culture that even animals were mummified it seems this was done to honor the animal or the God associated with it mummified animals were given as offerings to the gods and also included with personal grave goods perhaps as servants or companions for the afterlife it was believed that the mummified animal would act as a messenger between the supplicant and the God with such a useful purpose animals were mummified and given as gifts to the gods on a grand scale the catacombs of Anubis at saqqara alone contained the mummified remains of millions of dogs foxes and jackals and there were many similar chambers housing mummified animals of all types around ancient Egypt although sanctuaries dedicated to the mummies of cats were popular mummies of monkeys mongoose fish and even crocodiles have also been found the apparent demand for mummified animals was such that Egyptologist theorized animals were specifically bred for this purpose creating a thriving industry animal mummies have also been discovered upon x-ray examination to hold only a few bone fragments rather than an entire animal the stuffing material was wrapped and sculpted in the shape of the animal represented one interpretation of these finds is that the sellers of animal mummies cheated their clients to save on material costs another way of viewing this is that the representation and the identification of the animal were sufficient to the goal of mummification in ancient Egyptian beliefs symbolism and symbolic magic such as this were common in Egyptian writing and religion pharaohs and other members of the elite class were laid to rest after mummification in an ornate coffin called a sarcophagus the sarcophagus often featured an exterior carved painted or inlaid to look like a portrait of the deceased person they were also often adorned with gold and jewels the portraits in these death masks were thought to help the soul of the deceased recognize the physical body it was believed the soul would reunite in some way with the body which was of great importance to the journey in the afterlife destroying the face on the sarcophagus or the mummy was thought to cause the soul to be lost for all eternity this was often done to punish the dead person by their enemies in life the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun is an icon of Egyptian history and is perhaps the greatest treasure found in his tomb the face of the long dead boy King brought to life in shining gold the entire burial ritual was meant to ensure the souls immortality unfortunately the tradition of burying a deceased person's earthly Goods in their tomb along with the precious sacred ornaments that were part of the mummy itself was also an irresistible temptation to grave robbers the vast majority of tombs that have been discovered in Egypt have been robbed and even purposefully desecrated at some point in the ages past many it is believed were emptied of grave goods in ancient times by the very workers who built and sealed the tomb the tapering pyramid the Egyptians pride and wonder of the world whose spiky top has wounded the thick cloud Robert Blair the Great Pyramid of Giza was one of the heralded seven wonders of the ancient world in company with the Colossus at Rhodes the Hanging Gardens of Babylon the Statue of Zeus at Olympia the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus the Pharos lighthouse at Alexandria and the mausoleum at halicarnassus all of the wonders were amazing feats of early engineering the like of which will not be seen again and all but one is gone the Great Pyramid is the only one of the ancient wonders that have survived to modern times and even it has not passed the centuries unscathed the limestone casing that used to shine bright white has long since fallen away or been robbed away for use in other construction although the Great Pyramid also known as the Pyramid of Khufu is the largest and most famous - other pyramids stand nearby on the Giza Plateau the Great Sphinx also stands guard close by there are somewhere around 120 identified pyramids known in Egypt but there are certainly more that have yet to be uncovered with the availability of satellite images many pyramids have been discovered recently based on the visible impact on the landscape these remain mysterious shapes in the sand until excavations can take place of the known pyramids there are many different construction styles believed to have evolved through the thousands of years during which pyramids were built they are also preserved in very different states some structures identified as having been ancient pyramids are now nothing more than stone rubble foundations it is believed the first pyramid in Egypt was built around 26:30 BCE near Sakura since 2950 BCE it had been a custom for prestigious burials to have a mastaba tomb a flat rectangular structure built to contain the burial when the mastaba was being built for Pharaoh Djoser a priest and healer in his court was the architect of the sacred space the architect's name was M hotep amulet app designed a structure in which the traditional rectangular shape of the mastaba was changed to a square after the first square had been built another smaller square level was added on top this strategy was continued until the structure had risen to six levels sequentially smaller and angled slightly inward to control the distribution of the massive amount of weight the end result appears as a four sided staircase culminating in a flat top because of its appearance and perhaps the step-by-step manner of construction Emmitt Epps revolutionary building is known as the Step Pyramid and gives its name to all pyramids built in this design when the Step Pyramid was completed it was the highest construction on earth at 203 feet high the base of the structure was 358 by 410 feet the entire pyramid was cased with polished white limestone to finish the exterior erosion and stone robbing have taken their toll on the pyramid and the casing stones are no longer there but the pyramid is still an impressive structure even in its aged State M hotep quickly became a favorite of Pharaoh Djoser his name and titles are inscribed on a monument near the Step Pyramid along with that of the Pharaoh himself and honor rarely given to Egyptians who were not royalty Imhotep was not only a brilliant architect it appears he was also a healer of great renown during his life archaeological evidence including surgical tools medical texts herbal recipes and most importantly human remains prove that the ancient healers were working with surprising skill knowledge and success skeletal remains have been excavated that show broken bones that had been splinted and healed skulls have even been found that show indications of successful early brain surgery em hot tip was credited even in ancient times for many advancements in medical treatments centuries after his death Egyptians elevated him to the role of a god of wisdom and medicine he was often identified in later years with the Greek god of healing Asclepius M hotep is also a foundational figure in the tradition of the Masonic societies Freemasons utilize many fundamentals of Egyptian mysticism and their rites and ceremonies the symbolism of Egypt is a strong presence in the iconography of the Freemasons the influence of Freemasonry and Egyptian mysticism on Reformation thinkers can be seen in the unfinished pyramid on the Great Seal of the United States of America in an interesting modern resurrection the name Imhotep is the one given to the titular hero in a series of movies first filmed in 1932 in the mummy the main character is an ancient Egyptian priest magician and healer who finds a way to come back to life thousands of years after his death and mummification the real in hotels titles and reputation made him a good inspiration for this powerful movie wizard the most recent movie in the series The Mummy Returns was released in 2001 it would seem that Imhotep Fame continues to grow even after 4,000 years you

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Length: 30min 42sec (1842 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 07 2020