In view of all this intense solar alignment related to the Sphinx complex, we must also expect that the 14° south-of-east alignment of the causeway had important solar connotations. Already a strong indication of this is that the orientation of 14° south-of-east (or north-of-east) is known in astronomy as the cross-quarter, which is the mid-point of 28°, the orientation of the sunrise of the winter solstice (14° south-of-east) or that of the summer solstice (14° north-of-east) as seen from the latitude of Giza. In c. 2781 BC an orientation of 14° south-of-east would have aligned the causeway to sunrise on 19 October (Gregorian), which is, of course, 1 Tybi, or ‘jubilee date’. The conclusion that the heb-sed, or jubilee, was celebrated at the Giza Necropolis (and other pyramid sites) was also arrived at by Jeremy Naydler in his latest book, Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts.50 Dr Naydler, a cultural historian, asked: ‘Were the pyramids and their surrounding buildings and ceremonial courts built simply to serve the royal funerary cult, or could they also have served mystical ends? Could they, for example, have been used for the performance of rites such as those of the (Heb) Sed festival, involving the living king?’ He then carefully presented a plethora of archaeological and textual evidence that strongly indicated - if not proved - that Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dynasty kings had celebrated heb-seds/jubilees in their pyramid complexes. We have already discussed in earlier chapters the heb-sed rites for King Djoser at the Step Pyramid complex at Saqqara. Regarding his immediate successor, King Sneferu of the Fourth Dynasty, there exists a ‘stela of king Sneferu from the Bent Pyramid complex, showing him seated on a throne wearing the short tunic of the (heb) sed festival’.51 His son, the celebrated Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid at Giza, also seems to have performed a heb-sed at his pyramid complex, evidenced by a stone fragment belonging to the northern wall of the causeway of the Great Pyramid that shows him wearing the short tunic typical of the heb-sed celebrations.52 Naydler also demonstrated that virtually all the other pyramid sites in the Memphite Necropolis were probably used for heb-sed celebrations.
But what of the Great Temple at the solar city of Akhet-Aten, ‘Horizon of the Sun Disc’, which seems to have been exclusively dedicated to the Aten, ‘Lord of Jubilees’ and ‘Distinguished in Jubilees’? An inscription quoted by Richard Wilkinson states: ‘Aten living and great who is in jubilee residing in the temple of Aten at Akhet-Aten’.53 Surely, then, it is this particular temple that should, above all others, be aligned towards the sunrise on the ‘jubilee date’.
The Hills of Sunrise
We have already seen how the New Year’s Day had returned to the summer solstice in 1275 BC during the reign of Rameses II. At the ascension of Akhenaten in c. 1352 BC, there were still 77 years left before that event would take place. Because of the calendar’s drift at the rate of one day every four years, 1 Tybi would have fallen not 120 days after the summer solstice, on 19 October, but only 101 days after it, on 30 September. Using StarryNight Pro, I worked out that for the location of Tell El Amarna, the sunrise on 1 Tybi would have been at about 3.5° south-of-east. Was this the orientation of the Great Temple of Aten at Tell El Amarna as well?
Obtaining the orientation of this temple was not such an easy task. I contacted the Egypt Exploration Society (EES) in London, who informed me that the information I needed was in the report and maps published by Barry Kemp of Cambridge University, who conducted the latest survey of Tell El Amarna in 1977-8 on behalf of the EES.54 To avoid delay, I decided to consult the Sackler Library at Oxford, which was closer to my home. To my delight they had a copy of Kemp’s publication. I found the information I was looking for in maps marked Sheets 3, 4 and 5. There was an excellent line drawing of the plan of the Great Temple showing its axis and grid north lines R40 and Q40 established during Kemp’s survey. I carefully measured the angle of the axis of the Great Temple relative to grid north and found that it was 14° south-of-east. On Sheet 3, however, Barry Kemp gave the necessary angular adjustments: magnetic north was 1° 23′ west of grid north and true north was an extra 1° 30′ west of magnetic north. This meant that the orientation of the temple was 14° + 1°23′ + 1° 30′ = 16° 53′ south-of-east.
The orientation of the temple was thus about 13.38° further south than that of the rising sun on 1 Tybi. The temple, in other words, was not aligned to the ‘jubilee date’ as I had expected it to be. I was puzzled. For here was a temple specifically dedicated to the sunrise and linked to the jubilees. Indeed, many Egyptologists seemed to support the idea that the site for this temple (and the city of Akhet-Aten) had been chosen by Akhenaten himself when he witnessed the sun rise between two hills in the eastern horizon there which defined the hieroglyphic sign for akhet (‘horizon’) - two hills with the sun disc in the middle. Because of all this, I had been certain that I would discover that the Great Temple of the Aten was aligned towards the rising sun on 1 Tybi, the ‘jubilee date’. Yet the numbers seemed to indicate otherwise. So why was the temple orientated towards the rising sun at 16° 53′ south-of-east? Checking this 16° 53′ south-of-east orientation with StarryNight Pro gave the date 29 October on the Gregorian calendar. So what happened on 29 October in 1352 BC that prompted the ancient surveyors of Akhet-Aten to align the Great Temple to the rising sun?
Akhenaten, it must be remembered, was a purist who wanted to adhere to the cosmic order as set down by the ancestral religion of Heliopolis. It was the ancestral priest-astronomers of Heliopolis who, in c. 2781 BC, had set the New Year’s Day, i.e. I Akhet 1, to the heliacal rising of Sirius. This event happened to coincide with the summer solstice at that time.
According to Rolf Krause, there was a festival celebrated at Akhet-Aten on I Akhet 1, the New Year’s Day, which was called mswt-itn, ‘The Birthday of Aten’. But because of the effect of precession, the heliacal rising of Sirius in c. 1352 BC had moved to 10 days after the summer solstice. So if in Akhenaten’s time the New Year’s Day was kept linked, as tradition demanded, to the heliacal rising of Sirius, this meant that if one counted the days of the calendar starting 10 days after 21 June, i.e. from 1 July, the ‘jubilee date’ according to the shifting calendar was pushed forward also 10 days, from 19 October to 29 October! This was too much to be coincidence. It seemed to me certain that the Great Temple of the Aten was, in fact, aligned to the ‘jubilee date’ in accordance with the original Heliopolitan calendar that had fixed the New Year’s Day to the heliacal rising of Sirius! Akhenaten was far more of a purist than he had hitherto been given credit for.
In late October 2004 I had the opportunity to visit Tell El Amarna for the second time. My friend Roel Oostra was shooting a television documentary based on my book and wanted to film the sunrise at Tell El Amarna on 29 October. According to my calculations, the sun disc would be seen rising between the two standing columns of the Small Temple of the Aten, which had the same orientation as the Great Temple nearby. As there was not much left of the Great Temple itself Roel felt that the sunrise between the two columns would provide a more dramatic effect for the purpose of television viewing.55 So on 28 October we drove from Cairo to Al Minya and stayed the night in a small hotel just outside the town. The convoy of armed security police that had escorted us also stayed at the hotel, as this region of Egypt was regarded as a hotbed for religious fanatics who wanted to disrupt the tourist trade by attacking foreigners. Throughout the evening our local guide tried to persuade the convoy’s officer to allow us to go to the site of Tell El Amarna before sunrise, but the officer was adamant that this was not possible. So we all went to bed feeling frustrated and tired. Something, however, must have happened during the night to change his mind, because at 5 a.m. our guide excitedly woke us all up with the good news that the officer had agreed to allow the armed convoy to escort us to Tell El Amarna right away. We scrambled out of our rooms, gulped some lukewarm tea and biscuits, and off we went. The armed police in the convoy waved and smiled cheerily at us as we drove towards the city of Akhet-Aten. The gentle ‘persuasion’, whatever form it had taken during the nig
ht, had obviously made them happy.
We arrived at the site of Akhet-Aten some 30 minutes before sunrise, giving us ample time to set up the cameras along the axis of the Small Temple of the Aten, with its very dramatic view towards the eastern hills between the two standing columns. The gap between the columns acted as a window towards the place of sunrise. Now all that was needed was for the sun to oblige and rise between the columns. I nervously checked my calculations. Sunrise would take place at 7.05 a.m. at about 16° 53′ south-of-east and, hopefully, be in perfect alignment with the axis of the temple. The local inspector of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, a man by the name of Muhamad, was very sceptical. According to him, the sun did not rise there in October but in August. He had worked here for 17 years and he ought to know. I informed him as politely as I could that he was wrong on this. He simply shrugged his shoulders and went to chat with the police officer, who appeared totally uninterested in what was going on.
The eastern horizon began to brighten. The few stars that were still visible quickly faded away as the glow of dawn increased. There was an annoying cloud that hovered over the eastern horizon, threatening to spoil the effect we were hoping to achieve. Then, as if by magic, a gap opened in the cloud allowing the sun disc to be seen in all its glory. And it rose, as I had predicted, smack between the two columns. We were so moved by what we saw that we nearly forgot to turn the cameras on. There was a deathly silence from Muhamad and the smoking policemen as they stared towards the sunrise as if they had seen a ghost. Then Muhamad came to me, smiled, shook my hand, and said: ‘You are a clever man! How did you manage to do this?’ I explained that I had not done anything and that it was simply the laws of celestial mechanics that were responsible.
Driving back to Cairo, I could not help thinking of the solemn oath that Akhenaten had made and had carved for posterity on the boundary stones of his solar city:In this place that I have said that I will make a House of Rejoicing for the Aten my father, in the island of ‘Aten Distinguished in Jubilees’ in Akhet-Aten. And so it is in this place that I have made a House of Rejoicing for the Aten my father, in the island of ‘Aten Distinguished in Jubilees’ in Akhet-Aten. In this place I do all the works that have to be done for the Aten my father, in Akhet-Aten.
Akhenaten had kept his promise. But the priests of Amun-Ra had shattered his dream with the iron fist of intolerance.
My quest, I knew there and then, was over. I also knew that no one would ever be able to grasp the holy grail of ancient Egypt in their hands. But sometimes it may appear, as it had done on this day, right before your eyes in the glowing light of sunrise, hovering on a distant hill. And all we can really do when this happens is to acknowledge the mystery of our existence on this little lonely planet and rejoice in our resolve to let it be.
CONCLUSION
The ‘Code’ and the Temple of the Cosmos
Ancient Egypt was subjugated to the law of Maat, the cosmic order, which was believed to have come to earth from the gods at the time of creation, a golden age known as zep tepi, the ‘First Time’. The Pyramid Texts place the dramatic event of creation and zep tepi at Heliopolis, where the cosmic phoenix alighted on the Primeval Mound and set into motion ‘time’, the cycles of the sun, moon and stars. At Heliopolis in the ‘Temple of the Phoenix’, the first sunrise took place on the sacred benben stone that crowned the Primeval Mound.1
After generations of observation and recording the motion of the celestial bodies, the astronomer-priests of Heliopolis had worked out what they believed to be the mechanism or ‘code’ of the cosmic order, and, more importantly to them, how it could be used to regulate events on earth, especially the yearly flooding of the Nile. They concluded that the universe was governed by six principal cycles, three short-term and three long-term, which involved the motion of the sun and the stars. Measured in either ‘days’ or ‘years’, these cycles were as follows:Short-term Cycles:
1 day: solar day
365 days: solar cycle, the solar/tropical year less 0.243 day
365.25 days: Sothic year; the period between two heliacal risings of Sirius
Long-term Cycles:
1,460 years: Sothic cycle; return of New Year’s Day with the heliacal rising of Sirius
1,506 years Great Solar Cycle; return of New Year’s Day with the summer solstice
26,000 years: precession cycle or Great Year
To symbolically represent the mechanism of the Egyptian cosmic order, we can draw six concentric circles, so that the image produced will resemble a circular labyrinth or a Copernican diagram whose centre is a point representing the observer himself. More realistically, one should draw a circular star map or planisphere showing the zodiacal belt of constellations which will cater for the three solar cycles, and also showing the principal decanal constellations (such as Orion and Canis Major/Sirius) which will cater for the three stellar cycles, and whose centre is a point representing the north celestial pole. This outer rim of the circular star map can then be divided into four parts representing the two equinoxes and the two solstices and also the four cardinal directions. Such a circular star map would much resemble the circular zodiac of Dendera. But the Egyptian astronomer-priests also observed the rising of the celestial bodies in the east, especially the rising of the sun and certain special constellations such as Orion, Canis Major and Leo. They would thus have registered a cycle for the sun from a point north (summer solstice) to a point south (winter solstice) and back again to north in 365 days. Because they did not take into account the 0.243-day difference with the true solar year, they would also have registered a similar but long-term solar cycle of 1,506 years (Great Solar Cycle) with respect to the summer solstice, and another long-term cycle of 1,460 years with respect to the heliacal rising of Sirius. With regards to the stars, they would also have registered a very slow cycle (precession) moving from south to north.2 To represent this diagrammatically, we would have to draw an elongated rectangle representing the eastern horizon and marking the two extreme north and south points. With this elongated rectangle constellations would be drawn. Such a diagram would also much resemble the elongated rectangular zodiac of Dendera. The question, then, is: Was the temple of Dendera a centre for recording the various long-term astronomical cycles? Or to use ancient Egyptian parlance, could Dendera be a centre to regulate Maat on earth? An indication of the affirmative lies in the fact that the alignments of the double axes of the temple of Isis (at the rear of the main temple of Dendera) tracked the precession shift of Sirius over at least 1,200 years.
According to the ideas presented in this book, evidence that the ancient astronomer-priests ‘followed’ the cosmic order should be found in the choice of location and orientations of the various monuments and religious centres built over a 3,000-year span (from 3000 BC to 30 BC) along the shores of the Nile. To be more specific, the changes in the sky (reflected in the three long-term cycles) should match the changes in the location and orientation of monuments and religious centres. Furthermore, evidence of zep tepi/First Time ought to be found in the region of Heliopolis, whence ‘time’ or the long-term cosmic cycles began to be measured.
Zep Tepi and the Memphite Necropolis-Heliopolis region
Throughout the literature of ancient Egypt - from the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom to the Hermetic Texts of the Graeco-Roman period - we hear of the belief that Egypt is made in the image of heaven. Its main geographical feature, the Nile Valley, runs from south to north, and in the context of this belief, would correlate with the main feature of the celestial landscape, the Milky Way. Is it therefore a coincidence that the Milky Way also ran from south to north in the epoch of 11,451 BC, which, as we have seen in Chapter Four, was arrived at by going back in increments of the Sothic cycle, starting from 139 AD and arriving at the ‘beginning’ of the cycles of Sirius? We have defined this date of 11,451 BC as zep tepi, the ‘First Time’. Controversial as this may at first seem, we have also seen how, when the sky is precessed to 11,451 BC and the three s
tars of Orion are aligned along the meridian with the three pyramids of Giza, the image of zep tepi in the sky (the triangular region of Orion-Pleiades-Leo) bears an uncanny resemblance to the image of zep tepi on the ground (the triangular region of Giza-Memphis-Heliopolis). The celestial region that contained the triangle formed by Orion, the Pleiades and Leo was called the Duat, and it would appear that a copy of it was made in the region of the Memphite Necropolis containing the Step Pyramid, and, more especially, where the three Giza pyramids represented Orion’s belt, the Abusir pyramids near Memphis the Pleiades, and Heliopolis the sun in Leo. Were these places, too, centres for regulating the cosmic order on earth?
The Egypt Code Page 22