Writings of the Egyptians

8/3/2019 Writings of the Egyptians

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WRITINGS OF THE EGYPTIANS

Egyptian Vignettes of the story of Atlantis

THOTH THE SCRIBE

This page has evolved somewhat since its inception. After spending a number of

years analyzing the writings of the ancient Egyptians and their possible connections in

regard to Atlantis, the picture forming from the data collected is gradually coming into

focus. Since Plato gave an Egyptian origin to his Atlantis saga (via Solon and the priests

at Saïs), I think the following discussions may be relevant.

THOTH

Scattered though they may be, an interesting picture emerges from the numerousreferences to Thoth in the earliest writings of the ancient Egyptians²and that picture

fits the theory of an Atlantean origin for this intriguing character. Although late writingsdepict him as a god, the earliest texts depict him as a king (The Palermo

Stone versus The Coffin Texts; Faulkner, 1974).

Thoth was born in a distant country to the west which was across a body of water . Its

main city was by the sea (Plato's metropolis). The land possessed volcanos and the city

had a low mountain or large hill in the center. This land is sometimes referred to as an

Island of Flame. ( Book of the Dead, Hymn of Rameses IV and Pyramid Texts) Like

Poseidon ("the earthshaker"), Thoth is sometimes called "cleaver of the earth" ( Papyrus

of Ani, Chapter LXI).

Creation stories in the Pyramid Texts speak of iu neserer (the ³Island of Flame´) asthe original land, the mythical place where the gods were born "beyond the limits of the

created world". (Faulkner, 1969) Such myths place Thoth, as well as his birthplace in

the west, at the very beginning of Egyptian traditions. One can't help but recall the

similar origin myths of the Atlantean tribe of North Africa (Diodorus, Lib. Hist.).

Thoth is also known as the "Lord of the horizon" (presumably, the western).However, in later texts Osiris (Lord of the Dead) is said to dwell there as well, only by

then it has become a place of final reward. Book of the Dead ritual has the hopefuldeceased, after uttering certain sacred passwords, shouting jubilantly:



"Hail, Flame, who comest forth from the horizon. Hail, thou who art in the city. . . .

Give me thy two hands, and let me pass my time in the Island of Flame." ( Book of the

Dead , Chap. LXXXVI)

In Chapter LXXXV of the Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Nu), Thoth rules the

"Western Domain," and by the end of the New Kingdom he is called "Lord of the West"

(Seth, 1912). He is said to be the inventor of writing, astronomy, mathematics and

civilization in general (Budge, 1960). Thoth is often called the Scribe ( Pyramid Texts; Book of the Dead , et al.); his Egyptian name, Tehuti, means "the measurer" (Budge,1960).

In summation, a catastrophe occurred which darkened the sun and disturbed thegods, but Thoth led them across the sea to an eastern country [Egypt]. Thoth is depicted

as the "controller of the Flood," ( Leyden Papyrus) and the Theban Recension includesthe Island of Fire in the Flood story. ( Papyrus of Ani, Chap. CLXXV) Thus it appears

that Thoth was once the ruler of an Island Kingdom beyond the western horizon beforethe Egyptian priests turned him into a god. The question therefore is: Was the Egyptian

Tehuti-Thoth originally a migrant from Atlantis, and did he once rule as a king there?

THE FLOOD

Nu, the Egyptian god of the Primeval Sea, is represented on the marble sarcophagus

of Seti I as being up to his waist in water with arms upraised to carry the Solar Boat

across the Sky. The boat, with its ten royal occupants, is being carried above the flood

waters engulfing their mountainous island home inthe West. According to Budge (1960), Nu had

been ordered to bring about this very flood byAtum in order to purify the world. Does this

primeval flood scene depict the final migrationfrom the Lands of the West to Egypt because of

the sudden loss of Atlantis?In the vignette (left) Nu's name is immediately

above his head (Osiris appears at the very top).Hieroglyphs identify two of the figures on the left

as Tehuti (Thoth) and Seb (Kronos). The legend below the boat reads: "Come forth from the waters

and bear up this god." The text just above the boat

reads: "The god rests in the Ant Boat with the gods

who are with him." (Budge, 1960)

The figure of a man bent around backwards in a

circle is identified as Osiris, enclosing the

underworld²Tuat, which is said to be perpetually

shrouded in darkness and terror. Yet it originally contained the more pleasant Sekhet

Hetepet ("Field of Offerings") or Elysian Fields, and Sekhet Aaru ("Field of Reeds"),and the even more delightful Amentet, which I believe to be the Egyptian "Atlantis".

Judging from the long explanation by Budge (pp. 130-161), Tuat was thought of as the

"Other World," i.e., the world of the dead. Sekhets were the special paradises reserved

for those whom the gods favored.

The Turin Papyrus also includes a vignette depicting a long boat with ten gods

aboard. In this case, the hawk of Horus is in front, followed by the other nine deities²

Shu, Tefnut, Keb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Thoth, Horus and Hathor²and directly behind(following them?) is a huge flaming "sun-disk"²another tradition lists Atum, Shu,

Nu carrying the Solar Boat



Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. Thoth was regarded as Egypt's

founder.Supporting this migration tradition, Diodorus of Sicily writes: "The Egyptians were

strangers, who, in remote times, settled on the banks of the Nile, bringing with them thecivilization of their mother country [Atlantis?], the art of writing, and a polished

language. They had come from the direction of the setting sun [the far West] and were

the most ancient of men." ( Library of History)Another even more ancient historian wrote: "Moreover, Cronos visiting the different

regions of the habitable world, gave to his daughter Athena the kingdom of Attica . . .

visiting the country of the south [he] gave all Egypt to the god Taautus (Thoth), that it

might be his kingdom ." (The Generations, Sanchuniathon, 1193 B.C.) In case there is

any doubt that Taautus and Thoth are the same, the following passage should clear up

the uncertainty?

In History of Phoenicia, Sanchuniathon also writes: "The Egyptians descended from

Misor, who descended from Taautus, who invented the writing of the first letters: him

the Egyptians call Thoth, and the Greeks Hermes." (Cory, 1832) All ancient sources

seem to agree with the Egyptian writings on this point.

THE LAND OF THE WEST

Like the Atala of the Hindu Epics, there are tangible reasons to assume that Amentet,the Land of the West of the Egyptians, doubled for a lost western homeland as well as

the world of the deceased. Firstly, Amentet is usually divided up into a group of seven

islands, which need not be the case if it were merely a spirit realm; secondly, it seems

there is always an associated glyph indicating a physical "land" or "country".

Amentet was the personification of the West. Budge (1960) says that Amentet was

the western region where the sun goes after it sets, and was originally thought of as "a

district"; only later did it become associated with a spirit realm, a world reserved for the

departed²a significant observation in view of our "Atlantis" interpretation.

Below is a vignette from Chap. CXXVII of the Book of the Dead [Papyrus of Ani].

Water symbols cover a double rectangle (glyphs for "land" or "country"). Guarding each

corner is a baboon, and facing all four sides are fire-glyphs. This is Amentet in its

alternate aspect as the "Lake of Fire". Oddly enough, Amentet as the Island of Flame isstated to be a desirable destination for the deceased; but for the impious the Lake of Fire

was a place of torment. Glyphic elements suggest that Amentet may have gone down inflames before finally becoming inundated by water.

The Lake of Fire, was mentioned as early as the Coffin Texts (Faulkner, 1974), and inChap. CXXVII of the Book of the Dead (Budge, 1960). It's a place of regeneration for



the sun god Re and his faithful followers; but a place of torment and destruction for the

damned. The Egyptian priest Manetho affirms that the ancient god-kings at the beginning of

his famed king-list (which I believe to represent the ten kings who ruled Atlantis)reigned not in Egypt itself, but in a foreign land . The Egyptian hieroglyph set which is

commonly translated "foreign land" arouses our interest.

Set: can mean a mountainous land,

any foreign land, or the Underworld

(Inscription of Anebni, 18th Dynasty)

Amentet: can mean West, Land of

the West, or Underworld (Funeral

Stele of Panehesi, 19th Dynasty)

Now the "Land of the West" would be a natural Egyptian name for Atlantis. AncientEgyptian records sometimes refer to the Atlantic as the "Western Ocean". Did Manetho

translate "foreign land" from set , or from Amentet ? In either case, we probably have

ourselves a reference to Atlantis in the writings of Manetho. Either of these are often

translated by Egyptologists as "underworld" (Budge, 1966), which may be misleading.

That the glyph set also

represented the "underworld,"

does fit, after a fashion, sincethis is the land where the sun

shines after it has set (no punintended) on the land of Egypt.

It was believed in popular Egyptian mythology that the

sun passed through theunderworld on its way back to

rise once more in the east.

Prof. Arysio dos Santos of Säo

Paulo believes that Amentet is

the Egyptian counterpart of the

Isles of the Blest of Hesiod.

The Egyptians often appear

to distinguish

between Amentet (the opposite

side of the world where the sunmakes its return to the east)

and Tuat (the realm of the dead, that of departed spirits), yet Egyptologists sometimes

translate either glyph as "underworld". Amentet combines the glyph for "foreign land"

(using set as a determinative for "land" or "country") alongside standard glyphs for "west", meaning "Land of the West". The "land" ( set ) determinative is entirely missing

in Tuat , which I consider of more than minor significance.



The "Seven Islands" of Amentet*

We therefore have a glyph representing a western, mountainous land, a land where

the sun went after it had set on Egypt, and whose earliest rulers were probably called"Auliteans" or "Aleteans". To top it off the reign of these god-kings ended circa.9850

B.C., very near the date of the alleged disappearance of Atlantis.

*It appears to me that the largest island (which could conceivably represent the mainisland of Atlantis) has a harbor on its southern shore²just where Plato described it² and a ship docked therein. The staircase glyph represents "going up" [to the temple?],

which is suggestive. Farther to the north are several granary glyphs. Plato described agreat irrigated plain in this area²are the granaries for storing the harvest thereby

produced? To the left are two herons with the meaning "to flood, to inundate". The

panel next to the top depicts the god Osiris ruling over Sekhet Aaru ("Field of Reeds").He is faced by another "inundation" (irrigation?) symbol.

The Zodiac in the temple of Hathor at Denderah begins with the constellation Leo(red arrow) indicating a "mean date" of 9825 B.C. Could this signify a new cycle

beginning immediately after a tremendous world-wide geological cataclysm? Makrisi, afamous Arab historian of Egypt, affirms that "fire issued from the sign of Leo to destroy

the world." Such a conflagration serves to confirm the above connection between the beginnng constellation of the Dendera Zodiac and the Atlantean cataclysm disclosed by

Plato.

After several years of studying the various ways that Amentet is used in the writingsof the Egyptians (incorporating the glyph set as a determinative), and the various waysit is usually translated, I have come to the opinion that Amentet ("Land of the West")

was the early Egyptian name for Atlantis; but with time and the fading of the memory

of Atlantis, it became merely a term for the realm of departed spirits. The same

happened in the case of Atala, the Western Island of ancient Hindu theology.

THE EGYPTIAN GOD-KINGS



Below is a list of the Egyptian kings who ruled during the so-called "reign of the

gods". The Turin Papyrus, the most complete list (which does include Thoth), is writtenin hieratic, so I had to look up the hieroglyphic forms in Budge's works on Egyptian

Grammar.There are numerous ways to present a given name in hieroglyphics, so I have

occasionally given more than one (separated by commas). For certain names a

determinative alone is given, as was commonly done among the Egyptians, while atother times the names are spelled out phonetically.

The god-kings (Auliteans) in Egyptian Hieroglyphics

I did not enclose names in the customary royal cartouche, since cartouches were not

used until the end of the Third Dynasty. The 5th Dynasty Palermo Stone (circa. 2565-

2420 B.C.), is inscribed on both sides with a list of kings from Pre-dynastic times downto the middle of the Fifth Dynasty: each name is enclosed in a sort of "box" formed by

horizontal and vertical lines, rather than the later cartridge-shaped enclosure. This

famous king-list "covers the period of the Old Kingdom back thousands of years into

the predynastic period" (Winston, 1999-2003).

The Turin Papyrus lists every Egyptian king, including the gods, demigods, and all

human Egyptian kings down to the time it was composed. It also includes a "reign of

spirits," and two "mythical" groups of kings, before listing the "historical" ones

(Gardiner, 1959). Whether "mythical" means non-existent or semi-historical is a matter



of some debate among scholars. It is one of only three Egyptian documents which

includes the "reign of the gods": The Palermo Stone, the Turin Papyrus andManetho's Egyptian Chronicles .

Just as there were numerous Rameses in Egyptian history, there is more than oneHorus in this list of early god-kings. And just like the several Rameses, these were

separate rulers. (Later copyist may have made a scribal error, jumping inadvertently

from the first Horus to the next²a common scribal error²since some of our copies of Manetho leave the last three kings off the list.)

Herodotus (450 B.C.) says that Osiris reigned 15,000 years before Amasis (500

B.C.), and that Horus was his son. "In these matters they say they cannot be mistaken,

as they have always kept count of the years, and noted them in their registers." ( History,

Book II) The priests also told him that no god has been on earth since the end of the

"reign of the gods". (Ibid.)

The Turin Papyrus (in the register listing the Reign of the Gods) the final two lines of the column sums up: "Venerables Shemsu-Hor, 13,420 years; Reigns before the

Shemsu-Hor, 23,200 years; Total 36,620 years." (de Lubicz, 1988) Manetho's overallfigure is 36,525 years. (Cory, 1832)

Egyptologist Prof. Walter B. Emery (1961) identified the Predynastic kings with

the Shemsu-Hor , the companions, or followers of the hawk-headed god Horus. Emeryfurther seemed to imply that the most distant ancestors of the Egyptians had been tall in

stature with large craniums (Cro-Magnons?).

CRONOS THE ATLANTEAN

One of the kings appearing in so many ancient traditions in connection with

Atlanteans (Sanchuniathon, Herodotus, Diodorus, etc.) is Cronos. He was often calledthe King and the bringer of civilization who ruled over a large "Saturnian continent" in

the Cronian Sea (the Atlantic), during the Golden Age. Such traditions refer to anancient time when a Golden Race of men were governed by Cronos, who in wisdom

promoted peace and created a Golden Age for all mankind.His father Ouranos is reputed to have had a large number of offspring from various

wives, but only those who were born from Ouranos and Titaea were called Titans²

there were twenty-two such offspring (Diodorus, Lib. Hist , III). The offspring of Cronos

and his wife Rhea were known as Titans also. Of these two generations of Titans, no

one knows how many were male and how many were female. (Those who claim there

were only twelve Titans simply haven't done their homework.)

Cronos and the Titans eventually engaged the Olymbian gods (lead by Zeus, a Titan

himself) in a ten year-long battle. Plato described the Atlanteans as also becoming

warlike, advancing through western Europe, approaching the Grecian border and across

North Africa to the border of Egypt, before being stopped by the ancient Athenians. Thedefeat of the Atlanteans and the sinking of their homeland Atlantis happened in quick

succession.

Upon losing the war, Cronos and the Titans were imprisoned beneath the Ocean in

the far west. (For more info on these traditions, go to the Mythology page.) To find himlisted in Manetho's king-list as one of the "Auritian" god-kings who ruled in the

"foreign land" before Egyptian history began was truly intriguing. I wanted to find outhow the Egyptians wrote his name.





made the complete course to the end of the Sunset Land. Sailing in ships, he completed

the inspection of the Western Land. He built there a holding in Urani Land. At the Lakeof the Peak, fate pierced him by a Hornet ( K heb, or Wasp) . . . This drilled tablet set up

of hanging wood is dedicated to his memory." (Compare with Petrie's translation, 1923) Notice that one of the names given in the inscription for the Western Land is Urani,

which some authorities associate with Erin, the old name for Ireland. But it also calls to

mind Uranos, the father of King Cronos (Kheb, one of the names for King Cronos isalso there), illustrating a possible connection between Ireland and the once great empireof Atlantis. Since the "tomb" at Abydos is empty, we must assume that Aha Menes, "the

perished dead one in the West," was buried in Urani Land.

Dr. Kathryn Bard, associate professor of archaeology at Boston University, leading a

team of archeologists, has been digging in ancient Egypt along the coast of the Red Sea.

Remains of an ancient ceder planked ship dating almost 4000 years old were found at

Wadi Gawasis, along with evidence that Egyptians likely sailed the 2,000-mile round

trip voyage to Punt, located in what is today Ethiopia or Yemen.

A number of limestone stelae, most of them worn blank from centuries of wind and

sand erosion, were also discovered. However, one²found lying on its face²was in

near-perfect condition and was therefore decipherable. According to Bard, "It contained

the complete historical text of two expeditions, one to Punt and one to Bia-Punt, asordered by King Amenemhat III, who ruled at about 1800 B.C.´ (Waltz, 2009)

Such finds demonstrate that ancient Egyptians were fully capable of embarking on

long journeys across the open seas involving thousands of miles. A modern experimentwith a similarly constructed ship sailed 150 miles in only seven days with no major

problems. The distance covered in so short a time surprised the participants.According to the Palermo Stone, the pharaoh Snefru built ships 100-cubits (160 feet)

in length with hulls made of "ceder wood" ( : transliterated mrw, Wb 2, 108.14-109.1). Other large ships have been found buried near the Giza pyramids (Hancock,

1995,; Heyerdahl, 1972). The largest of the latter, called "Khufu's ship," is 142 feet long

and made of Lebanese cedar wood. It is difficult to estimate the limits of such large and

hardy vessels.

* * * MAYAN-EGYPTIAN TEMPLE * * *

There is a certain degree of similarity between the Egyptian glyph for "temple" and

an actual stone-walled building among the underwater ruins in the Bahamas. Near Andros island (on a shallow underwater shelf) is a rectangular ruin made of stone with

walls approximately three feet thick. (Click here for photo.) Compare the patterns below: one from Egypt, and the other from the Bahama Islands.

Egyptian glyph for

"temple"

Andros "temple"

floorplan



Mayan Temple of the Turtles at Uxmal

Finally, various researchers, including myself, have also noticed that the BahamaIsland "temple" floorplan is basically identical to that of the Mayan "Temple of the

Turtles" in Uxmal, Yucatan. So now we have Egypt, the Bahamas, and Mesoamerica.

Interesting . . . . .

ETYMOLOGICAL NOTE ON ATLANTIS

Let's look at a possible etymological origin of the word "Atlantis". Egyptian, in its

early stages, had no letter 'L'. So originally the word 'ATR' (or "ATL" as it later became), had several meanings in relation to water: "ATRU" is the water, the flood

water, the water boundary, a limit, measure, or water embankment. But once 'R' became

'L', 'ATR' would change to 'ATL'. (Ward, 1960) Add this to the root word 'ANTU' or 'ANTI', which equals a division of land. Thus,

Atlantis is a compound of 'ATL' and 'ANTI' (ATLANTI), with a Greek 'S' ending

added, meaning 'a division of land bounded by water'. We know that Plato described

Atlantis in his Timaeus as a land in the midst of the ocean. Thus, the word Atl-anti(s)

may have an Egyptian connection after all.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bible, King James translation (1611), and Revised Standard Version (1952).

Budge, E. A. Wallis, (translator) "The Book of the Dead," University Books, New York,

1960.

Budge, E. A. Wallis, "Egyptian Language," Routledge & Kagan Paul Ltd., London,1966.

Champollion, Francois (translator), Turin Papyrus, 1300 B.C.

Cory, Isaac P., "Ancient Fragments", Reeves & Turner, London, 1832.de Lubicz, Schwaller, R. A., "Sacred Science: the King of Pharaonic Theocracy," Inner

Traditions International, Rochester, Vermont, 1988.Diodorus Siculus, "Library of History" (C. H. Oldfather's translation), 8 B.C.

Emery, Walter. B., "Archaic Egypt: Culture and Civilization in Egypt Five ThousandYears Ago," Edinburgh, 1961.



Faulkner, Raymond O., (translator) "The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts," Oxford,

1969.Faulkner, Raymond O., (translator) "Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts," Oxford, 1974.

Gardiner, Alan H., "Royal Canon of Turin," Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1959.Hancock, Graham, "Fingerprints of the Gods," Crown Publishers Inc., london, 1995.

Herodotus, "History": Eurterpe' (Rawlinson's translation), 450 B.C.

Hesiod, "Works and Days," 750 B.C. (Also Rzach's translation.), Teubner, Leipzig,1913.Heyerdahl, Thor, "The Ra Expeditions," BCA, London, 1972.

Manetho, "The Old Egyptian Chronicle," 250 B.C. (from the text of Dindorf: compared

with Eusebius)

Petrie, Sir William Matthew Flinders, "Royal Tombs I and II," London, 1901.

Petrie, Sir William Matthew Flinders, "History of Egypt," Methuen, London, 1923.

Sanchuniathon, "History of the Phoenicians," 1193 B.C. (from Eusebius' Praep.

Evang. lib. 1. c. 10.)

Sanchuniathon, "The Generations," 1193 B.C. (from Eusebius' Praep. Evang . lib. I. c.

10.)

Schliemann, Paul, "How I Discovered Atlantis, the Source of All Civilization," The New

York American (weekly), New York, 1912.Sethe, K., Zur altagyptischen Sage vom Sonnenauge, das in der Fremde war ,

Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde Aegyptens, 1912.

Tyndale House Publ., The Bible Dictionary, "Rephan" article, Inter-Varsity Press,Leicester, England, 1962.

Waltz, Vicky, "Archaeologist Kathryn Bard's Amazing Egyptian Digs," BU TODAY,Boston University, Nov. 30, 2009.

Ward, William A., "Some Effects of Varying Phonetic Conditions on Semitic LoanWords in Egyptian," Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 80, No. 4, (Oct.-

Dec.) 1960.Winston, Alan, "The Palermo Stone," ONLINE, InterCity Oz, Inc., 1999-2003.

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Writings of the Egyptians