Hi Lee,

interesting post!


A few more thoughts on this issue:


Hardedef (or Djedefhor), a son of Khufu, was renowned as a famous sage. His mastaba tomb (G 7210 - 7220) adjoins the tomb of Kawab to the east. In a tomb in the Western Cemetery, dated late Old Kingdom, a man was 'honored before Hardedef' (imAxw xr Hrw-dd=f) indicating a cult of Hardedef already then. Middle Kingdom graffiti in the Wadi el-Fawakhir shows cartouches of Khufu, Djedefra, Khafra, Baefra and Hardedef.


Hardedef is mentioned in the 'The Book of Coming Forth by Day' (Theban Recension):

Chap 64: "This spell was found in Hermopolis* on a brick of the ore of Upper Egypt, written on real lapis lazuli, under the feet of this god in the time of the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Menkaure, the vindicated, by Prince Hordedef, who found it when he was wandering about to make inspection of the temples, a troop of the Braves being with him on that account. he requisitioned it by entreaty and brought it back like a marvel to the king when he saw this great secret, unseen and unbeheld......." * Wenu (wnw, 'Hare Town'; Gr. Hermopolis)

Chap 137A: "This text was copied when it was found in writing by the king's son Hordedef, being what he found in a secret chest written in the god's own hand in the temple of Wenut, Mistress of Wenut, when he was traveling upstream inspecting the temples in the fields and mounds of the gods. What is done is a secret of the Duat belonging to the Mysteries of the Duat, a secret image in the God's Domain."


A chest with secrets is echoed in 'Papyrus Westcar' that probably originated in the Middle Kingdom, Dyn 12. Hardedef, a son of Khufu, informed his father of a man named Djedi (Ddi) who lived in Djed-Snefru (Dd-snfrw, name of the pyramid town at Maidum). Then the majesty of king Khufu said: "It was also said that you know the number of the the secret chambers of the sanctuary of Thoth." Said Djedi: "Please, I do not know their number, O king, my lord. But I know the place where it is." Said his majesty: "Where is that?" Said this Djedi: "There is a chest of flint in the building called 'Inventory' in Iunu. It is in that chest."


The name of Thoth (DHwty) was written with the 'sacred ibis on standard' sign, G26. The long curved beak of the ibis is reminiscent of the shape of the crescent moon. Seshat the female scribe had a crescent moon-like symbol over her head as part of her headdress. Both Thoth and Seshat had a role to play in the reconstitution of the king, with scribal tasks, with the moon, numbering of the stars, timekeeping and building. Both Thoth and Seshat are attested from the early dynastic period and early in Dyn 4.


Nefermaat - a son of Huni or Sneferu and 'Overseer of all the king's works' (imi-rA kA.t nb.t (nt) niswt), was 'Greatest of the Five in the House of Thoth' (wr 5 pr DHwti).

Hemiunu - a son of Nefermaat and 'Overseer of all the works of the king', was also 'Greatest of the Five in the House of Thoth' (in Iunu).


A festival of Thoth is mentioned in an inscription on the east side of the sarcophagus of Minkhaf, a son of Khufu - from tomb G 7430 + 7440 in the Eastern Cemetery at Giza. Minkhaf was 'overseer of all the works of the king', 'scribe of the divine book', and 'keeper of secrets of his father'.

An inscription on a limestone slab from the tomb of Kaitep (Giza, Dyn 4), has a list of festivals on the days which offerings were to be made to Kaitep, and includes the festival of Thoth (DHwty), written with the G26 (ibis on standard) ideogram. (James 1961: 5; Pl. V, No. 1173)

An inscription on the false door of an Inspector of the Priests of Menkaura, Khenu (xnw) (Giza, Dyn 4), also has a festival of Thoth.

A festival of Thoth is mentioned in an inscription from the tomb of aankh-Haf (Dyn 4, Giza). ((James 1961: 15; Pl. XV, No. 527A)


A depiction in the Wadi Maghara, of Thoth as an ibis headed deity holding a was / djed sceptre and an ankh, appears next to a depiction of Khufu 'smiting the Pillar-people'. (an inscription from the Dyn 5 cult complex of Sahura states that the king is Thoth, the lord of the Pillar-people)


Khufu's pyramid was vital to the process of ensuring Khufu's rebirth and ascension to the sky - a huge challenge for the architect(s) - how could the architectural design aid in the process of ascension?


The AE afterlife was an idealized world ordered with mathematical precision - for example,
the number 309 occurs in an ancient Egyptian 'The Book of what is in the Duat' - the Amduat - which describes the twelve hour journey of the sun through the Duat. During the second hour, the sun travels through the watery expanse called Wernes, and in the third hour through the Waters of Osiris. The part of the Duat covered in the second hour is 309 iteru (6180000 cubits or about 3236 km), and the part of the Duat covered in the third hour is also 309 iteru - why 309 iteru?


The number 309 was significant to the AE in the context of their calendar.


The AE already in the OK had organized the year into 12 x 30 day months + 5 days = 365 days, about 1/4 day short of the true length of the year. Their 30 day month was an idealized month - the average month was actually 29.53 days long and the 12 month lunar year, 354 days long - 11 days short of the solar year. Its difficult to reconcile these two cycles, but its clear from late papyrus texts that the AE were aware of the problem and realized the 'civil' calendar's year of 365 days, and the lunar monthly cycle of 29.53059 days, synchronize after 9125 days - 309 lunar months is 9124.95231 days, and 25 ancient Egyptian 'civil' years is 9125 days.


Another interesting facet of the number 309, is that 309 iteru x the 12 hours of the Duat is about 38830 km - not far off the distance travelled around the earth (about 40000 km). The hieroglyph for Duat is a 5-pointed star enclosed in a circle, and depictions of the Duat show it as circular in form - tantalizing clues that might suggest the AE thought the sun 'travelled' around a circular earth, and they were aware of approx how large the earth was.

(the 45 deg NW / SE diagonal axis that defines the Giza layout and aligns the three royal funerary complexes with Iunu, is 2000 cubits long - 1/10 of an iteru)


The important staple crops of emmer and barley cultivated by the king in his celestial paradise, were supernaturally large compared with natural crops, and were described with mathematical precision. The height of emmer in the 'Marsh of Reeds' was 7 cubits (3.7m) The stalk was 5 cubits and the ear 2 cubits. The ratio of the overall height of emmer in relation to the stalk is 7:5, the same ratio used to define the slope of one of the first true plane-sided pyramids.

The height of barley was 4 cubits (2m) The stalk was 3 cubits and the ear 1 cubit. The overall height in relation to the stalk is 4:3.

The 4:3 ratio often occurs in early Old Kingdom funerary architecture. For example a pyramid with sqd 5 1/4 defined slope (a ratio of 4:3), was a popular model. The slope of Khafra's pyramid had a 4:3 ratio. The ground plan of the funerary complex of the first king of Dyn 5, Userkaf, had a length / width ratio of 4:3 (noted by Verner, 2001: 274-5). The slope of his pyramid was defined by sqd 5 1/4, and the slopes of three Dyn 6 pyramids were defined by sqd 5 1/4. The sarcophagus chamber in Khufu's pyramid had a 10:20 (1:2) cubit proportion for the 2- dimensional floor area and a 15:20:25 (3:4:5) cubit proportion defined the 3-dimensional space.


Both calendar calculations and the mathematical precision of their idealized afterworld, most likely influenced the architectural design of the royal funerary complex - and its probably significant in this context that the 'overseer of all the king's works' was also 'Greatest of the Five in the House of Thoth' - privy to the knowledge of the mysteries and secret knowledge needed to design the royal funerary complex.

CT






Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2007 06:10PM by Chris Tedder.