Anthony.

<<I’m afraid I strongly disagree with Romer on many issues.>>

Your disagreement with Romer was to be expected and is entirely beside the point. My point, and it was and remains valid, is that there are Egyptologists who ‘know the culture’ yet think there is in fact some mathematical subtext to be found in some aspects of ancient Egyptian thought and religion. I have no particular opinion on the matter, but it will most emphatically not do simply to accuse those who do not share your view of this matter of "failing to know the culture." In some cases, the accusation may well be warranted; in others, Romer’s surely, it is egregiously false.


<<I don't think he has, nor anyone else has, a shred of evidence to support this Old Kingdom fascination with occult mathematics. There's just nothing to suggest it was ever really important to Egyptians whatsoever. They were practical about math. Other than a few significant numbers, like 3, 4 and 7... it simply wasn't a factor in their spirituality or magic.>>

As you have frequently pointed out, what you “think” is not evidence. The fact is that whether there is anything to suggest that certain mathematical constructs were important to the Egyptians is a matter of opinion. Your obiter dicta do not turn opinion into fact.


<<Twisting translations of later texts to support these speculations doesn't prove anything, either.>>

This is particularly interesting. It is true enough that P. Westcar is later, but would you care to parse the original, transliterated text for us and show us precisely how translations of that text (both of which I provided) have been “twisted”? What word has been mistranslated? Does the translation somehow fail to reflect a grammatical or substantive nuance of the AE original?

I must confess that reexamining the text once again in De Buck this evening, (p.79), I don’t see a problem with either text or translation. The grammar is straight-forward enough, and the word tnw.t is translated in WB as “Zahl” or “Quantität.” i.e., “number” or “quantity.’ (see WB 5, 376.10-377.5-15). In any case, the text is unequivocal: Khufu specifically asks Djedi about his knowledge of the number of secret chambers in the temple of Thoth. The Belegstelle card for WB states: “Der könig hatte aber (schon) lange nach der Nummer gesucht, um sich etwas ihnen Gleiches in für seine Pyramide (oder Palast) zu machen,” i.e.: “The king had sought the number for a long time in order to build something like them (the chambers) for his pyramid (or palace)."

Do you suppose that Khufu was going out of his way to get this number out of mere curiosity? Of course not:it is far more likely – based on the text itself – that he thought it held some power or other that he could tap into through imitation. In this context, it hardly matters whether the historical Khufu thought anything of the kind. But ancient Egyptians at some point seem to have thought that knowledge of the number of secret chambers in Thoth’s sanctuary might hold some power. That’s clear directly from this text no matter how you read it.

<<I know that won't sit well with some, but I've spent years studying this culture and it just isn't there.>>

Tell it to Khufu.


Lee