Hi Rich

All I can say is don't quote Budge as a source. Having said that I am probably one of Budge's last defenders, but only as a source of antiquated information. In other words Budge is a great source of information of what was prevailing in the world of Egyptology at the time. But it should also be kept in mind that Budge's thoughts, at the time, were not universally accepted. So, that's a long way around to saying be very careful when you use Budge. For instance a number of years ago the pseudos and afrocentrists were having a field day saying that the Dogon knew there were two stars orbiting sirus and therefore that this was proof of a knowledge base that went back 5K years blah, blah, blah. Well I knew a little tidbit like that would never escape Budge's notice so I checked him out and he simply said that the Dogon worshiped Sirius (singular.). Eventually that collapsed as better scholarship proved they were wrong.

As far as KGG's article is concerned. It is outstanding. It's incredibly well researched and brings a whole new light to the subject. However having said that my own reservation is always the same about every singel article that is written or will be written about AE mythology. We are 21's century westerners trying to interpret the fragments of a religion that has been extinct for almost 5K years! I read sections of the PT's almost every day, sections of the BOD about once a month. And the more I read them the more impenetrable and inscrutable they become. For instance what are we to make of this verse that I selected at random? "Sees behind him, face behind him!Look this Pepi has come, having fetched for you the eye of Horus that was tied together, the one in the Marsh of Rowing, Fetch for Pepi that Khnum made boat for this Pepi. Oh Hapi, Imseti, Duatmutef, and Qebehsenufe! Fetch for Pepi that Khnum made boat that is in the Winding Canal." Allen Pg 162 Verse 470

"Sees behind him" is one of the gods on the solar boat, but who is "face behind him" the same god or a different god? There's the ubiquitous "Eye of Horus" again but in a completely different context from other verses. Where is the "marsh of rowing" look at all the gods that have to fetch Pepi's boat? And where is the winding canal? One school holds that it's the ecliptic the other that it's the Milky Way Galaxy. But the one god's name that does catch my eye (no pun intended) is "Duatmutef" since the king is trying to get into the "Duat" I find this god (goddess?)particularly interesting. Allen doesn't have any mention of him in his index.

A few thoughts to hopefully get the string going.

Rick