Tommi Huhtamaki Wrote:
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> Suspend belief and tell a logical, reasonable
> justification why they would tiptoe around the
> issue for ages and not speak about or draw the
> actual geysers. And not with a reason that you can
> make up, but with evidence from the culture we are
> supposed to be talking about.
The answer to this question is answered to some extent in a literal understanding of the PT. It might well be motre complicated than the obvious parts that I can see and will require far more smarter and more knowledgeable people than I to fully answer.
One thing that does leap out early on and is probably a big part of the answer is that the Egyptians considered it sacrilege to ascribe characteristics to their Gods. They simply wouldn't make a statement like "the sun is bright". They might say the sun brings light to the day. They wouldn't say that Atum brought the water with which they could live in the desert but that Atum spat out Shu (God of Upward) and sneezed out Tefnut (Goddess of Downward). Shu stood to the right (west) and Tefnut to the right (east). The Gods weren't even depicted as they appeared but in an highly anthropomorphized form. By the same token they couldn't just show the sun in a lanscape picture so they depicted Re'.
To a much lesser extent part of the reason is that the mechanics of a CO2 geyser were a state secret. These could be disrupted by the enemy and were drilled at great expense. These wells supplied the irrigation for the crops on the "herb hill(s)" which were critical trade crops as well as important in-season source for fresh food. They would refrain from using statements read aloud to the people that would lead directly to the knowledge necessary to destroy these wells.
These people were extremely cognizent of the fact that people would be looking at them and their works forever. Perhaps to some very small extent they were just playing a little cat and mouse with people trying to understand them.
Much of the problem is simply these were translated as though they are incantation. If and when it's shown the intent is literal the translation will become much more comprehensible.
Another a huge factor is that these were written as a sort of poetry and there's a good chance that it's pretty lousy poetry (at least by modern standardss). They probably weren't intended so much to be evocative as to have a pleasant sound when read aloud.
Think Ode to Spot;
Felis Cattus, is your taxonomic nomenclature,
an endothermic quadruped carnivorous by nature?
Your visual, olfactory and auditory senses
contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.
I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,
a singular development of cat communications
that obviates your basic hedonistic predilection
for a rhythmic stroking of your fur, to demonstrate affection.
A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;
you would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.
And when not being utilized to aide in locomotion,
it often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.
O Spot, the complex levels of behaviour you display
connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.
And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,
I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.
[
www.sjtrek.com]
They refer to the []nw-boat as having the shape of the "dorsal carapace of a grass hopper"! While this is highly descriptive to a primitive people who had to eat grass hoppers in lieu of their regular food some years it is cumbersome and hardly enlightning to the modern ear.
[
www.sidney.ars.usda.gov]
Frankly I don't believe I can fully answer this question but the partial answer is sufficient that I believe a literal interpretation can be the intended one.
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Man fears the pyramid, time fears man.
