The best example and the most important since it proves the point is I[].t-wt.t

This is Egyptian for carbon dioxide. Specifically it is gas (of) yeast probably. It really doesn’t matter what the exact translation is. The only thing that really matters is what is the referent for I[].t-wt.t? The word is used several times in the Pyramid Texts and CO2 is the only referent that fits in each case.

2109. The sky trembles, the earth quakes before the god, before N.
2110a. N. [is not enveloped] by the earth;
2110b. ’I [];.t-wt.t, thou art not enveloped by the earth.
2110c. Thy fame is by day; thy fear is by night, as a god, lord of fear.

This one is a perfect fit. It says that CO2 is not enveloped by the earth (during the eruption) and that CO2 is a subject of learned discussion by day (when the wind blows) and a source of fear by night (when the wind slows by cooling the CO2 will puddle in low areas and reach fatal concentrations). There are other discussions about the “evil comings” of their Gods”. The great Goddess Isis is even said to sometimes have a bad stench.

788b. the efflux goes forth from the god, the secretion which comes out of Osiris,
788c. so that thy hands may be washed, so that thine ears may be open.
789a. This power is spiritualized by means of its soul.
789b. Wash thyself for thy ka washes itself. Let thy ka be seated,
789c. that it may eat bread with thee, without ceasing eternally.
790a. Thy going is as a successor of Osiris;
790b. thy face is before thee; thine homage is before thee.
791a. It is agreeable to thy nose on account of the smell of ’I[];.t-wt.t;

CO2 is the efflux of the God. Some people can smell this gas but in all probability they are referring to the mixture of grease, natron, and mucilaginous myrrh that was used to degas this water. Sodium bicarbonate and seltzer water is even an old folk remedy for cleaning ears.

198a. O ’Inw-Crown, thou has come forth from him as he came forth from thee.
198b. The great ’I[];.t has given birth to thee, the ’I[];.t-wt.t has adorned thee;
198c. the ’I[];.t-wt.t has given birth to thee, the great ’I[];.t has adorned thee,

The crown is the top of the water column. Gas gave birth to it and yeast gas adorns it with bubbles.

1503a. His head is lifted up by Re‘; his odour is [as] that of the ’I[];.t-wt.t-serpent.
1503b. The head of N. also is lifted up by Re‘; the odour of N. is as that of ’I[];.t-wt.t-serpent.

They considered CO2 a gift of the sun or an element of the sun. Serpents are natural and artificial leaks of water or gas.

1922 (Nt. 743). Thou enterest when thy father Geb is protecting thee.
1922 + 1 (Nt. 744). If (thy) father does not know thee, he is not alive;
1922 + 2 (Nt. 744). if (thy) father calls thee "’I[];.t," retreat, such is not thy name.

If the earth calls Osiris gas he should worry. But…

131d. His nurse is ’I[].t;
131e. it is she who makes his life (through nourishment?); it is she who gave birth to N.

It is gas that makes the life of Osiris.

These are the words of the builders. It is they who left words that suggest that it was CO2 that built the pyramids. It is they who left a corpus that consistently says the same thing. This fit’s the actual physical evidence where there is no evidence that ramps were used to lift stones.

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Man fears the pyramid, time fears man.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2010 10:49PM by cladking.