Religion and Consience in Egypt
Petrie 1898
Before we try to understand another
mind and without such understanding we
can never realize another religion we must
quit our present point of view ; we must try
to see how very different the minds of most
other peoples have been from our own at
present. We must feel that the greater
part of mankind has had systems of language
which would be wholly incapable
of expressing our ideas ; systems of religion
which would be a horror to us ; ideas of gods
which would be monstrous to us ; their ways
of life would make them flee into the fields
from our dwellings ; their systems of propriety
would bring them into the police
court ; and their systems of morality would
land them at once in the law court. We
must set aside all the framework of mind
and thought and habit in which we have
been formed, and try to leave our ideas free
to re-crystallize in a different system. Of
course we cannot do all this, we cannot do
a tenth of it ; but if we can do a very little
we shall at least feel how different the world
must look, how different the motives must
be, among people of another race, another
faith, another standard, and another order
of things. Close practical contact with a
very different race is the best guide to
seeing how far apart the organizations of
thought are on different bases. Learn to
respect, and love, and be intimate with,
a man of a far distant stage of life, and
you see then how very deep down is the
wide platform of elemental feeling and
thought which you have together in common
; and you begin to perceive how much
you have each built on that platform, which
isolates you from one another, and makes
the point of view of each incomprehensible
to the other.
Showing posts with label Ancient Egyptian History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ancient Egyptian History. Show all posts
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Ancient Egyptian History
The Condensed version according to Breated.
I chose him frist as most modern works use him as a bibliographical
source. He is the guy who has allllllllllllllllll that
lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnng long translated kmt text that he published.
I am cutting and pasting from his book A History of Egypt
After an archaic age of primitive civilization, and a period
of small and local kingdoms, the various centres of civiliza-
tion on the Nile gradually coalesced into two kingdoms : one
comprising the valley down to the Delta; and the other
made up of the Delta itself. In the Delta, civilization rap-
idly advanced, and the calendar year of 365 days was intro-
duced in 4241 B. C., the earliest fixed date in the history of
the world as known to us. 1 A long development, as the
"Two Lands, ' : which left their imprint forever after, on
the civilization of later centuries, preceded a united Egypt,
which emerged upon our historic horizon at the consoli-
dation of the two kingdoms into one nation under Menes
about 3400 B. C. His accession marks the beginning of the
dynasties, and the preceding, earliest period may be conve-
niently designated as the predynastic age. In the excava-
tions of the last ten years, the predynastic civilization has
been gradually revealed in material documents exhibiting
the various stages in the slow evolution which at last pro-
duced the dynastic culture.
A uniform government of the whole country was the secret
of over four centuries of prosperity under the descendants
of Menes at Thinis, near Abydos, close to the great bend of
the Nile below Thebes, and probably also at or near later
Memphis. The remarkable development of these four cen-
turies in material civilization led to the splendour and power
of the first great epoch of Egyptian history, the Old King-
dom. The seat of government was at Memphis, where four
royal houses, the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dynasties,
ruled in succession for five hundred years (2980-2475 B. C.).
Art and mechanics reached a level of unprecedented excel-
lence never later surpassed, while government and adminis-
tration had never before been so highly developed. Foreign
enterprise passed far beyond the limits of the kingdom ; the
mines of Sinai, already operated in the First Dynasty, were
vigourously exploited; trade in Egyptian bottoms reached
the coast of Phoenicia and the Islands of the North, while in
the south, the Pharaoh's fleets penetrated to the Somali coast
on the Red Sea ; and in Nubia his envoys were strong enough
to exercise a loose sovereignty over the lower country, and
by tireless expeditions to keep open the trade routes leading
to the Sudan. In the Sixth Dynasty (2625-2475 B. C.)
the local governors of the central administration, who had
already gained hereditary hold upon their offices in the
Fifth Dynasty (2750-2625 B. C.), were able to assert them-
selves as landed barons and princes, no longer mere func-
tionaries of the crown. They thus prepared the way for
an age of feudalism.
The growing power of the new landed nobility finally
caused the fall of the Pharaonic house, and after the close
of the Sixth Dynasty, about 2400 B. C., the supremacy of
Memphis waned. In the internal confusion which followed,
we can discern nothing of Manetho's ephemeral Seventh
and Eighth Dynasties at Memphis, which lasted not more
than thirty years ; but with the Ninth and Tenth Dynasties
the nobles of Heracleopolis gained the throne, which was
occupied by eighteen successive kings of the line. It is now
that Thebes first appears as the seat of a powerful family
of princes, by whom the Heracleopolitans and the power of
the North are gradually overcome till the South triumphs.
The exact lapse of time from the fall of the Old Kingdom
to the triumph of the South is at present indeterminable, but
it may be estimated roughly at two hundred and seventy five
to three hundred years, 1 with a margin of uncertainty of
possibly a century either way.
With the restoration of a united Egypt under the Theban
princes of the Eleventh Dynasty about 2160 B. C., the issue
of the tendencies already discernible at the close of the Old
Kingdom is clearly visible. Throughout the land the local
princes and barons are firmly seated in their domains, and
with these hereditary feudatories the Pharaoh must now
reckon. The system was not fully developed until the
advent of a second Theban family, the Twelfth Dynasty, the
founder of which, Amenemhet I, probably usurped the
throne. For over two hundred years (2000-1788 B. C.) this
powerful line of kings ruled a feudal state. This feudal
age is the classic period of Egyptian history. Literature
flourished, the orthography of the language was for the first
time regulated, poetry had already reached a highly artistic
structure, the earliest known literature of entertainment was
produced, sculpture and architecture were rich and prolific,
and the industrial arts surpassed all previous attainments.
The internal resources of the country were elaborately devel-
oped, especially by close attention to the Nile and the inun-
dation. Enormous hydraulic works reclaimed large tracts
of cultivable domain in the Fayum, in the vicinity of which
the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty, the Anienemhets and the
Sesostrises, lived. Abroad the exploitation of the mines in
Sinai was now carried on by the constant labour of permanent
colonies there, with temples, fortifications and reservoirs for
the water supply. A plundering campaign was carried into
Syria, trade and intercourse with its Semitic tribes were con-
stant, and an interchange of commodities with the early
Mycenaean centres of civilization in the northern Mediter-
ranean is evident. Traffic with Punt and the southern coasts
of the Bed Sea continued, while in Nubia the country between
the first and second cataracts, loosely controlled in the Sixth
Dynasty, was now conquered and held tributary by the
Pharaoh, so that the gold mines on the east of it were a con-
stant resource of his treasury.
The fall of the Twelfth Dynasty in 1788 B. C. was followed
by a second period of disorganization anc 1 obscurity, as the
feudatories struggled for the crown. Now and then an
aggressive and able ruler gained the ascendency for a brief
reign, and under one of these the subjugation of Upper
Nubia was carried forward to a point above the third cat-
aract; but his conquest perished with him. After possibly
a century of such internal conflict, the country was entered
and appropriated by a line of rulers from Asia, who had
Seemingly already gained a wide dominion there. These
foreign usurpers, now known as the Hyksos, after Manetho 's
designation of them, maintained themselves for perhaps a
century. Their residence was at Avaris in the eastern Delta,
and at least during the later part of their supremacy, the
Egyptian nobles of the South succeeded in gaining more or
less independence. Finally the head of a Theban family
boldly proclaimed himself king, and in the course of some
years these Theban princes succeeded in expelling the
Hyksos from the country, and driving them back from the
Asiatic frontier into Syria.
It was under the Hyksos and in the struggle with them
that the conservatism of millennia was broken up in the
Nile valley. The Egyptians learned aggressive war for the
first time, and introduced a well organized military system,
including chariotry, which the importation of the horse by
the Hyksos now enabled them to do. Egypt was trans-
formed into a military empire. In the struggle with the
Hyksos and with each other, the old feudal families perished,
or were absorbed among the partisans of the dominant
Theban family, from which the imperial line sprang. The
great Pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty thus became
emperors, conquering and ruling from northern Syria and
the upper Euphrates, to the fourth cataract of the Nile on
the south. Amid unprecedented wealth and splendour, they
ruled their vast dominions, which they gradually welded
together into a compact empire, the first known in the early
world. Thebes grew into a great metropolis, the earliest mon-
umental city. Extensive trade relations with the East and the
Mediterranean world developed; Mycenaean products were
common in Egypt, and Egyptian influences are clearly dis-
cernible in Mycenaean art. For two hundred and thirty years
(1580-1350 B. C.) the Empire flourished, but was wrecked at
last by a combination of adverse influences both within and
without. A religious revolution by the young and gifted
king Ikhnaton, caused an internal convulsion such as the
country had never before experienced; while the empire in
the north gradually disintegrated under the aggressions of
the Hittites, who pushed in from Asia Minor. At the same
time in both the northern and southern Asiatic dominions
of the Pharaoh, an overflow of Beduin immigration, among
which were undoubtedly some of the tribes which later
coalesced with the Israelites, aggravated the danger, and
together with the persistent advance of the Hittites, finally
resulted in the complete dissolution of the Asiatic empire of
Egypt, down to the very frontier of the northeastern Delta.
Meanwhile the internal disorders had caused the fall of the
Eighteenth Dynasty, an event which terminated the First
Period of the Empire (1350 B. C.).
Harmhab, one of the able commanders under the fallen
dynasty, survived the crisis and finally seized the throne.
Under his vigourous rule the disorganized nation was grad-
ually restored to order, and his successors of the Nineteenth
Dynasty (1350-1205 B. C.) were able to begin the recovery
of the lost empire in Asia. But the Hittites were too
firmly entrenched in Syria to yield to the Egyptian onset.
The assaults of Seti I, and half a generation of persistent
campaigning under Ramses II, failed to push the northern
frontier of the Empire far beyond the limits of Palestine.
Here it remained and Syria was never permanently recov-
ered. Semitic influences now powerfully affected Egypt.
At this juncture the peoples of southern Europe emerge
for the first time upon the arena of oriental history and
together with Libyan hordes, threaten to overwhelm the
Delta from the west. They were nevertheless beaten back
by Merneptah. After another period of internal confusion
and usurpation, during which the Nineteenth Dynasty fell
(1205 B. C.), Ramses III, whose father, Setnakht founded
the Twentieth Dynasty (1200-1090 B. C.), was able to main-
tain the Empire at the same limits, against the invasions of
restless northern tribes, who crushed the Hittite power ; and
also against repeated immigrations of the Libyans. With
his death (1167 B. C.) the empire, with the exception of
Nubia which was still held, rapidly fell to pieces. Thus,
about the middle of the twelfth century B. C. the Second
Period of the imperial age closed with the total dissolution
of the Asiatic dominions.
Under a series of weak Ramessids, the country rapidly
declined and fell a prey first to the powerful high priests of
Amon, who were obliged almost immediately to yield to
stronger Eamessid rivals in the Delta at Tanis, forming
the Twenty First Dynasty (1090-945 B. C.). By the middle
of the tenth century B. C. the mercenaries, who had formed
the armies of the second imperial period, had founded pow-
erful families in the Delta cities, and among these the
Libyans were now supreme. Sheshonk I, a Libyan mercenary
commander, gained the throne as the founder of the Twenty
Second Dynasty in 945 B. C. and the country enjoyed
transient prosperity, while Sheshonk even attempted the
recovery of Palestine. But the family was unable to control
the turbulent mercenary commanders, now established as
dynasties in the larger Delta towns, and the country grad-
ually relapsed into a series of military principalities in
constant warfare with each other. Through the entire
Libyan period of the Twenty Second, Twenty Third and
Twenty Fourth Dynasties (945-712 B. C.) the unhappy
nation groaned under such misrule, constantly suffering
economic deterioration.
Nubia had now detached itself and a dynasty of kings,
probably of Theban origin had arisen at Napata, below the
fourth cataract. These Egyptian rulers of the new Nubian
kingdom now invaded Egypt, and although residing at
Napata, maintained their sovereignty in Egypt with varying
fortune for two generations (722-663 B. C.). But they were
unable to suppress and exterminate the local dynasts, who
ruled on, while acknowledging the suzerainty of the Nubian
overlord. It was in the midst of these conflicts between the
Nubian dynasty and the mercenary lords of Lower Egypt,
that the Assyrians finally entered the Delta, subdued the
country and placed it under tribute (670-662 B. C.). At this
juncture Psamtik I, an able dynast of Sais, in the western
Delta, finally succeeded in overthrowing his rivals, expelled
the Ninevite garrisons, and as the Nubians had already been
forced out of the country by the Assyrians, he was able to
found a powerful dynasty, and usher in the Restoration.
His accession fell in 663 B. C., and the entire period of
nearly five hundred years from the final dissolution of the
Empire about 1150 to the dawn of the Restoration in 663 B.
C., may be conveniently designated the Decadence. After
1100 B. C. the Decadence may be conveniently divided into
the Tanite-Amonite Period (1090-945 B. C.), the Libyan
Period (945-712 B. C.), the Ethiopian Period (722-663 B.
C.), and the Assyrian Period, which is contemporary with
the last years of the Ethiopian Period.
Of the Restoration, like all those epochs in which the seat
of power was in the Delta, where almost all monuments have
perished, we learn very little from native sources; and all
too little also from Herodotus and later Greek visitors in
the Nile valley. It was outwardly an age of power and
splendour, in which the native party endeavoured to restore
the old glories of the classic age before the Empire ; while the
kings depending upon Greek mercenaries, were modern poli-
ticians, employing the methods of the new Greek world,
mingling in the world-politics of their age, and showing little
sympathy with the archaizing tendency. But their combi-
nations failed to save Egypt from the ambition of Persia,
and its history under native dynasties, with unimportant
exceptions, was concluded with the conquest of the country
by Cambyses in 525 B. C.
Such, in mechanical review, were the purely external
events which marked the successive epochs of Egypt's his-
tory as an independent nation. With their dates, these
epochs may be summarized thus :
Introduction of the Calendar, 4241 B. C.
Predynastic Age, before 3400 B. C.
The Accession of Menes, 3400 B. C.
The first Two Dynasties, 3400-2980 B. C.
The Old Kingdom: Dynasties Three to Six, 2980-2475
B.C.
Eighteen Heracleopolitans, 2445-2160 B. C.
The Middle Kingdom: Dynasties Eleven and Twelve,
2160-1788 B. C.
Internal Conflicts of the Feudatories,
,, , 1788-1580 B. C.
The Hyksos,
The Empire : First Period, The Eighteenth Dynasty, 1580-
1350 B. C.
The Empire : Second Period, The Nineteenth and part of
the Twentieth Dynasty, 1350-1150 B. C.
Last Two Generations of Twentieth Dy-
nasty, about 1150 to 1090 B. C.
Tanite-Amonite Period, Twenty First Dy-
nasty, 1090-945 B. C.
The Decadence -j Libyan Period, Dynasties Twenty Two to
Twenty Four, 945-712 B. C.
Ethiopian Period, 722-663 B. C. (Twenty
Fifth Dynasty, 712-663 B. C.).
Assyrian Supremacy, 670-662 B. C.
The Restoration, Saite Period, Twenty Sixth Dynasty,
663-525 B. C.
Persian Conquest, 525 B. C.
In political position we see the records of the gradual
conquest of the kingdom before Mena ; then the establishment
of Memphis, and in the next reign that of
Buto ; by the middle of the dynasty the conquest of the
eastern border ; and at the end of the dynasty the
figure of a Libyan captive.
In internal organisation we see the gradual growth
of a bureaucracy ; the first office is that of chamberlain
under Narmer and Mena; next, the manager of the
inundation under Zer ; the ad mer under Zat ; the list
of nomes, and the keeper of the wine under Merneit ;
the royal seal-bearer and royal architect under Setui ;
the keeper of the royal vineyards under Azab; the
leader of the peers (tep ha), and the follower of the
king, under Mersekha ; the master of the ceremonies
(ar khet) under Qa. The reign of Zer is that of the
first fresh completion of the style, under Den is the
greatest magnificence, and under Mersekha political
corruption ; these are the Louis IXth, XlVth, and
XVIth of that age. The history of Egypt is no longer
a strange enigma to us, but stands now on the same
lines as that of the development of other monarchies.
taken from Breasted's egyptian history:
ON the now bare and windswept desert plateau, through
which the Nile has hollowed its channel, there once dwelt a
race of men. Plenteous rains, now no longer known there,
rendered it a ferti'e and productive region. The geological
changes which have> since made the country almost rainless,
denuded it of vegetation and soil, and made it for the most
part uninhabitable, took place many thousands of years
before the beginning of the Egyptian civilization, which we
are to study; but the prehistoric race, who before these
changes, peopled the plateau, left behind them as the sole
memorial of their existence vast numbers of rude flint imple-
ments, now lying scattered about upon the surface of the
present desert exposed by the denudation. These men of
the paleolithic age were the first inhabitants of whom we
have any knowledge in Egypt. They can not be connected
in any way with the historic or prehistoric civilization of
the Egyptians, and they fall exclusively within the province
of the geologist and anthropologist.
The forefathers of the people with whom we shall have
to deal were related to the Libyans or north Africans on the
one hand, and on the other to the peoples of eastern Africa,
now known as the Galla, Somali, Bega and other tribes. An
invasion of the Nile valley by Semitic nomads of Asia,
stamped its essential character unmistakably upon the lan-
guage of the African people there. The earliest strata of
the Egyptian language accessible to us, betray clearly this
composite origin. While still coloured by its African ante-
cedents, the language is in structure Semitic. It is more-
over a completed product as observable in our earliest pre-
served examples of it; but the fusion of the Libyans and
east Africans with the Nile valley peoples continued far into
historic times, and in the case of the Libyans may be traced
in ancient historical documents for three thousand years or
more. The Semitic immigration from Asia, examples of
which are also observable in the historic age, occurred in an
epoch that lies far below our remotest historical horizon.
We shall never be able to determine when, nor with cer-
tainty through what channels it took place, although the
most probable route is that along which we may observe a
similar influx from the deserts of Arabia in historic times,
the isthmus of Suez, by which the Mohammedan invasion
entered the country. While the Semitic language which
they brought with them, left its indelible impress upon the
The affinities observable in the language are
confirmed in case of the Libyans, by the surviving products
of archaic civilization in the Nile valley, such as some of the
early pottery, which closely resembles that still made by the
Libyan Kabyles. Again the representations of the early
Puntites, or Somali people, on the Egyptian monuments,
show striking resemblances to the Egyptians themselves.
The examination of the bodies exhumed from archaic burials
in the Nile valley, which we had hoped might bring further
evidence for the settlement of the problem, has, however,
produced such diversity of opinion among the physical
anthropologists, as to render it impossible for the historian
to obtain decisive results from their researches. The conclu-
sion once maintained by some historians, that the Egyptian
was of African negro origin, is now refuted ; and evidently
indicated that at most he may have been slightly tinctured
with negro blood, in addition to the other ethnic elements
already mentioned.
and the emblem of Neit, its chief goddess was tattooed by
the Libyans upon their arms. It may possibly therefore
have been an early residence of a Libyan king of the Delta,
Reliefs recently discovered in Sahure's pyramid-temple
at Abusir show four Libyan chiefs wearing on their brows
the royal uneus serpent of the Pharaohs, to whom it there-
fore descended from some such early Libyan king of the
Delta.
History of Egypt
Petrie
The condition of the country at the invasion of the
dynastic people was that of a decadent civilisation of
the prehistoric age ; the highest development of that
earlier time had taken place perhaps a thousand years
before, and several different races had pressed into the
country as the earlier inhabitants became enfeebled.
On the earliest sculptures there have been traced live
different races older than the dynastic people, (i) The
old' aquiline race of the Libyo-Amorite type, to which
belongs the bulk of the prehistoric remains.
(2) A
people with curly hair and plaited beards, most like a
type found later in the Hittite region. (3) A people
with pointed nose and long pigtail of hair, who probably
lived in the mountains by the Red Sea, as they wore
long warm robes, and bring stone vases as tribute.
(4) A people with short and tilted nose, who seem to
have occupied Middle Egypt. (5) A somewhat similar
people, with rather longer nose and a projecting beard,
who may belong to the Delta (see J.A.I, xxxi, pis.
xviii-xx). Upon all these came in (6) an entirely
different race, having a straight bridge to the nose,
and a very vigorous and capable type of face. This
race, starting from Upper Egypt, gradually dominated
the country, and sealed its conquest by the founding
of Memphis under Menes. Whence this dynastic race
came can only be guessed from their first being established
in Upper Egypt at Abydos ; this points to their
having entered the country from the Red Sea, across
the desert at Koptos. To trace their origin further
must be a matter of speculation, until research has
opened up the history of the Red Sea region.
The conquest of Middle Egypt by the allied people of
the upper country is figured in several forms on the
early sculptures upon slate palettes. One of the most
unmistakable is a fragment bearing seven figures of
fortified towns (Fig. i) which are being destroyed by
the animals which were the ensigns of the tribes, using
I chose him frist as most modern works use him as a bibliographical
source. He is the guy who has allllllllllllllllll that
lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnng long translated kmt text that he published.
I am cutting and pasting from his book A History of Egypt
After an archaic age of primitive civilization, and a period
of small and local kingdoms, the various centres of civiliza-
tion on the Nile gradually coalesced into two kingdoms : one
comprising the valley down to the Delta; and the other
made up of the Delta itself. In the Delta, civilization rap-
idly advanced, and the calendar year of 365 days was intro-
duced in 4241 B. C., the earliest fixed date in the history of
the world as known to us. 1 A long development, as the
"Two Lands, ' : which left their imprint forever after, on
the civilization of later centuries, preceded a united Egypt,
which emerged upon our historic horizon at the consoli-
dation of the two kingdoms into one nation under Menes
about 3400 B. C. His accession marks the beginning of the
dynasties, and the preceding, earliest period may be conve-
niently designated as the predynastic age. In the excava-
tions of the last ten years, the predynastic civilization has
been gradually revealed in material documents exhibiting
the various stages in the slow evolution which at last pro-
duced the dynastic culture.
A uniform government of the whole country was the secret
of over four centuries of prosperity under the descendants
of Menes at Thinis, near Abydos, close to the great bend of
the Nile below Thebes, and probably also at or near later
Memphis. The remarkable development of these four cen-
turies in material civilization led to the splendour and power
of the first great epoch of Egyptian history, the Old King-
dom. The seat of government was at Memphis, where four
royal houses, the Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Dynasties,
ruled in succession for five hundred years (2980-2475 B. C.).
Art and mechanics reached a level of unprecedented excel-
lence never later surpassed, while government and adminis-
tration had never before been so highly developed. Foreign
enterprise passed far beyond the limits of the kingdom ; the
mines of Sinai, already operated in the First Dynasty, were
vigourously exploited; trade in Egyptian bottoms reached
the coast of Phoenicia and the Islands of the North, while in
the south, the Pharaoh's fleets penetrated to the Somali coast
on the Red Sea ; and in Nubia his envoys were strong enough
to exercise a loose sovereignty over the lower country, and
by tireless expeditions to keep open the trade routes leading
to the Sudan. In the Sixth Dynasty (2625-2475 B. C.)
the local governors of the central administration, who had
already gained hereditary hold upon their offices in the
Fifth Dynasty (2750-2625 B. C.), were able to assert them-
selves as landed barons and princes, no longer mere func-
tionaries of the crown. They thus prepared the way for
an age of feudalism.
The growing power of the new landed nobility finally
caused the fall of the Pharaonic house, and after the close
of the Sixth Dynasty, about 2400 B. C., the supremacy of
Memphis waned. In the internal confusion which followed,
we can discern nothing of Manetho's ephemeral Seventh
and Eighth Dynasties at Memphis, which lasted not more
than thirty years ; but with the Ninth and Tenth Dynasties
the nobles of Heracleopolis gained the throne, which was
occupied by eighteen successive kings of the line. It is now
that Thebes first appears as the seat of a powerful family
of princes, by whom the Heracleopolitans and the power of
the North are gradually overcome till the South triumphs.
The exact lapse of time from the fall of the Old Kingdom
to the triumph of the South is at present indeterminable, but
it may be estimated roughly at two hundred and seventy five
to three hundred years, 1 with a margin of uncertainty of
possibly a century either way.
With the restoration of a united Egypt under the Theban
princes of the Eleventh Dynasty about 2160 B. C., the issue
of the tendencies already discernible at the close of the Old
Kingdom is clearly visible. Throughout the land the local
princes and barons are firmly seated in their domains, and
with these hereditary feudatories the Pharaoh must now
reckon. The system was not fully developed until the
advent of a second Theban family, the Twelfth Dynasty, the
founder of which, Amenemhet I, probably usurped the
throne. For over two hundred years (2000-1788 B. C.) this
powerful line of kings ruled a feudal state. This feudal
age is the classic period of Egyptian history. Literature
flourished, the orthography of the language was for the first
time regulated, poetry had already reached a highly artistic
structure, the earliest known literature of entertainment was
produced, sculpture and architecture were rich and prolific,
and the industrial arts surpassed all previous attainments.
The internal resources of the country were elaborately devel-
oped, especially by close attention to the Nile and the inun-
dation. Enormous hydraulic works reclaimed large tracts
of cultivable domain in the Fayum, in the vicinity of which
the kings of the Twelfth Dynasty, the Anienemhets and the
Sesostrises, lived. Abroad the exploitation of the mines in
Sinai was now carried on by the constant labour of permanent
colonies there, with temples, fortifications and reservoirs for
the water supply. A plundering campaign was carried into
Syria, trade and intercourse with its Semitic tribes were con-
stant, and an interchange of commodities with the early
Mycenaean centres of civilization in the northern Mediter-
ranean is evident. Traffic with Punt and the southern coasts
of the Bed Sea continued, while in Nubia the country between
the first and second cataracts, loosely controlled in the Sixth
Dynasty, was now conquered and held tributary by the
Pharaoh, so that the gold mines on the east of it were a con-
stant resource of his treasury.
The fall of the Twelfth Dynasty in 1788 B. C. was followed
by a second period of disorganization anc 1 obscurity, as the
feudatories struggled for the crown. Now and then an
aggressive and able ruler gained the ascendency for a brief
reign, and under one of these the subjugation of Upper
Nubia was carried forward to a point above the third cat-
aract; but his conquest perished with him. After possibly
a century of such internal conflict, the country was entered
and appropriated by a line of rulers from Asia, who had
Seemingly already gained a wide dominion there. These
foreign usurpers, now known as the Hyksos, after Manetho 's
designation of them, maintained themselves for perhaps a
century. Their residence was at Avaris in the eastern Delta,
and at least during the later part of their supremacy, the
Egyptian nobles of the South succeeded in gaining more or
less independence. Finally the head of a Theban family
boldly proclaimed himself king, and in the course of some
years these Theban princes succeeded in expelling the
Hyksos from the country, and driving them back from the
Asiatic frontier into Syria.
It was under the Hyksos and in the struggle with them
that the conservatism of millennia was broken up in the
Nile valley. The Egyptians learned aggressive war for the
first time, and introduced a well organized military system,
including chariotry, which the importation of the horse by
the Hyksos now enabled them to do. Egypt was trans-
formed into a military empire. In the struggle with the
Hyksos and with each other, the old feudal families perished,
or were absorbed among the partisans of the dominant
Theban family, from which the imperial line sprang. The
great Pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty thus became
emperors, conquering and ruling from northern Syria and
the upper Euphrates, to the fourth cataract of the Nile on
the south. Amid unprecedented wealth and splendour, they
ruled their vast dominions, which they gradually welded
together into a compact empire, the first known in the early
world. Thebes grew into a great metropolis, the earliest mon-
umental city. Extensive trade relations with the East and the
Mediterranean world developed; Mycenaean products were
common in Egypt, and Egyptian influences are clearly dis-
cernible in Mycenaean art. For two hundred and thirty years
(1580-1350 B. C.) the Empire flourished, but was wrecked at
last by a combination of adverse influences both within and
without. A religious revolution by the young and gifted
king Ikhnaton, caused an internal convulsion such as the
country had never before experienced; while the empire in
the north gradually disintegrated under the aggressions of
the Hittites, who pushed in from Asia Minor. At the same
time in both the northern and southern Asiatic dominions
of the Pharaoh, an overflow of Beduin immigration, among
which were undoubtedly some of the tribes which later
coalesced with the Israelites, aggravated the danger, and
together with the persistent advance of the Hittites, finally
resulted in the complete dissolution of the Asiatic empire of
Egypt, down to the very frontier of the northeastern Delta.
Meanwhile the internal disorders had caused the fall of the
Eighteenth Dynasty, an event which terminated the First
Period of the Empire (1350 B. C.).
Harmhab, one of the able commanders under the fallen
dynasty, survived the crisis and finally seized the throne.
Under his vigourous rule the disorganized nation was grad-
ually restored to order, and his successors of the Nineteenth
Dynasty (1350-1205 B. C.) were able to begin the recovery
of the lost empire in Asia. But the Hittites were too
firmly entrenched in Syria to yield to the Egyptian onset.
The assaults of Seti I, and half a generation of persistent
campaigning under Ramses II, failed to push the northern
frontier of the Empire far beyond the limits of Palestine.
Here it remained and Syria was never permanently recov-
ered. Semitic influences now powerfully affected Egypt.
At this juncture the peoples of southern Europe emerge
for the first time upon the arena of oriental history and
together with Libyan hordes, threaten to overwhelm the
Delta from the west. They were nevertheless beaten back
by Merneptah. After another period of internal confusion
and usurpation, during which the Nineteenth Dynasty fell
(1205 B. C.), Ramses III, whose father, Setnakht founded
the Twentieth Dynasty (1200-1090 B. C.), was able to main-
tain the Empire at the same limits, against the invasions of
restless northern tribes, who crushed the Hittite power ; and
also against repeated immigrations of the Libyans. With
his death (1167 B. C.) the empire, with the exception of
Nubia which was still held, rapidly fell to pieces. Thus,
about the middle of the twelfth century B. C. the Second
Period of the imperial age closed with the total dissolution
of the Asiatic dominions.
Under a series of weak Ramessids, the country rapidly
declined and fell a prey first to the powerful high priests of
Amon, who were obliged almost immediately to yield to
stronger Eamessid rivals in the Delta at Tanis, forming
the Twenty First Dynasty (1090-945 B. C.). By the middle
of the tenth century B. C. the mercenaries, who had formed
the armies of the second imperial period, had founded pow-
erful families in the Delta cities, and among these the
Libyans were now supreme. Sheshonk I, a Libyan mercenary
commander, gained the throne as the founder of the Twenty
Second Dynasty in 945 B. C. and the country enjoyed
transient prosperity, while Sheshonk even attempted the
recovery of Palestine. But the family was unable to control
the turbulent mercenary commanders, now established as
dynasties in the larger Delta towns, and the country grad-
ually relapsed into a series of military principalities in
constant warfare with each other. Through the entire
Libyan period of the Twenty Second, Twenty Third and
Twenty Fourth Dynasties (945-712 B. C.) the unhappy
nation groaned under such misrule, constantly suffering
economic deterioration.
Nubia had now detached itself and a dynasty of kings,
probably of Theban origin had arisen at Napata, below the
fourth cataract. These Egyptian rulers of the new Nubian
kingdom now invaded Egypt, and although residing at
Napata, maintained their sovereignty in Egypt with varying
fortune for two generations (722-663 B. C.). But they were
unable to suppress and exterminate the local dynasts, who
ruled on, while acknowledging the suzerainty of the Nubian
overlord. It was in the midst of these conflicts between the
Nubian dynasty and the mercenary lords of Lower Egypt,
that the Assyrians finally entered the Delta, subdued the
country and placed it under tribute (670-662 B. C.). At this
juncture Psamtik I, an able dynast of Sais, in the western
Delta, finally succeeded in overthrowing his rivals, expelled
the Ninevite garrisons, and as the Nubians had already been
forced out of the country by the Assyrians, he was able to
found a powerful dynasty, and usher in the Restoration.
His accession fell in 663 B. C., and the entire period of
nearly five hundred years from the final dissolution of the
Empire about 1150 to the dawn of the Restoration in 663 B.
C., may be conveniently designated the Decadence. After
1100 B. C. the Decadence may be conveniently divided into
the Tanite-Amonite Period (1090-945 B. C.), the Libyan
Period (945-712 B. C.), the Ethiopian Period (722-663 B.
C.), and the Assyrian Period, which is contemporary with
the last years of the Ethiopian Period.
Of the Restoration, like all those epochs in which the seat
of power was in the Delta, where almost all monuments have
perished, we learn very little from native sources; and all
too little also from Herodotus and later Greek visitors in
the Nile valley. It was outwardly an age of power and
splendour, in which the native party endeavoured to restore
the old glories of the classic age before the Empire ; while the
kings depending upon Greek mercenaries, were modern poli-
ticians, employing the methods of the new Greek world,
mingling in the world-politics of their age, and showing little
sympathy with the archaizing tendency. But their combi-
nations failed to save Egypt from the ambition of Persia,
and its history under native dynasties, with unimportant
exceptions, was concluded with the conquest of the country
by Cambyses in 525 B. C.
Such, in mechanical review, were the purely external
events which marked the successive epochs of Egypt's his-
tory as an independent nation. With their dates, these
epochs may be summarized thus :
Introduction of the Calendar, 4241 B. C.
Predynastic Age, before 3400 B. C.
The Accession of Menes, 3400 B. C.
The first Two Dynasties, 3400-2980 B. C.
The Old Kingdom: Dynasties Three to Six, 2980-2475
B.C.
Eighteen Heracleopolitans, 2445-2160 B. C.
The Middle Kingdom: Dynasties Eleven and Twelve,
2160-1788 B. C.
Internal Conflicts of the Feudatories,
,, , 1788-1580 B. C.
The Hyksos,
The Empire : First Period, The Eighteenth Dynasty, 1580-
1350 B. C.
The Empire : Second Period, The Nineteenth and part of
the Twentieth Dynasty, 1350-1150 B. C.
Last Two Generations of Twentieth Dy-
nasty, about 1150 to 1090 B. C.
Tanite-Amonite Period, Twenty First Dy-
nasty, 1090-945 B. C.
The Decadence -j Libyan Period, Dynasties Twenty Two to
Twenty Four, 945-712 B. C.
Ethiopian Period, 722-663 B. C. (Twenty
Fifth Dynasty, 712-663 B. C.).
Assyrian Supremacy, 670-662 B. C.
The Restoration, Saite Period, Twenty Sixth Dynasty,
663-525 B. C.
Persian Conquest, 525 B. C.
Lession: History : Auxillary : Petrie on dynasty 1
In political position we see the records of the gradual
conquest of the kingdom before Mena ; then the establishment
of Memphis, and in the next reign that of
Buto ; by the middle of the dynasty the conquest of the
eastern border ; and at the end of the dynasty the
figure of a Libyan captive.
In internal organisation we see the gradual growth
of a bureaucracy ; the first office is that of chamberlain
under Narmer and Mena; next, the manager of the
inundation under Zer ; the ad mer under Zat ; the list
of nomes, and the keeper of the wine under Merneit ;
the royal seal-bearer and royal architect under Setui ;
the keeper of the royal vineyards under Azab; the
leader of the peers (tep ha), and the follower of the
king, under Mersekha ; the master of the ceremonies
(ar khet) under Qa. The reign of Zer is that of the
first fresh completion of the style, under Den is the
greatest magnificence, and under Mersekha political
corruption ; these are the Louis IXth, XlVth, and
XVIth of that age. The history of Egypt is no longer
a strange enigma to us, but stands now on the same
lines as that of the development of other monarchies.
taken from Breasted's egyptian history:
ON the now bare and windswept desert plateau, through
which the Nile has hollowed its channel, there once dwelt a
race of men. Plenteous rains, now no longer known there,
rendered it a ferti'e and productive region. The geological
changes which have> since made the country almost rainless,
denuded it of vegetation and soil, and made it for the most
part uninhabitable, took place many thousands of years
before the beginning of the Egyptian civilization, which we
are to study; but the prehistoric race, who before these
changes, peopled the plateau, left behind them as the sole
memorial of their existence vast numbers of rude flint imple-
ments, now lying scattered about upon the surface of the
present desert exposed by the denudation. These men of
the paleolithic age were the first inhabitants of whom we
have any knowledge in Egypt. They can not be connected
in any way with the historic or prehistoric civilization of
the Egyptians, and they fall exclusively within the province
of the geologist and anthropologist.
The forefathers of the people with whom we shall have
to deal were related to the Libyans or north Africans on the
one hand, and on the other to the peoples of eastern Africa,
now known as the Galla, Somali, Bega and other tribes. An
invasion of the Nile valley by Semitic nomads of Asia,
stamped its essential character unmistakably upon the lan-
guage of the African people there. The earliest strata of
the Egyptian language accessible to us, betray clearly this
composite origin. While still coloured by its African ante-
cedents, the language is in structure Semitic. It is more-
over a completed product as observable in our earliest pre-
served examples of it; but the fusion of the Libyans and
east Africans with the Nile valley peoples continued far into
historic times, and in the case of the Libyans may be traced
in ancient historical documents for three thousand years or
more. The Semitic immigration from Asia, examples of
which are also observable in the historic age, occurred in an
epoch that lies far below our remotest historical horizon.
We shall never be able to determine when, nor with cer-
tainty through what channels it took place, although the
most probable route is that along which we may observe a
similar influx from the deserts of Arabia in historic times,
the isthmus of Suez, by which the Mohammedan invasion
entered the country. While the Semitic language which
they brought with them, left its indelible impress upon the
The affinities observable in the language are
confirmed in case of the Libyans, by the surviving products
of archaic civilization in the Nile valley, such as some of the
early pottery, which closely resembles that still made by the
Libyan Kabyles. Again the representations of the early
Puntites, or Somali people, on the Egyptian monuments,
show striking resemblances to the Egyptians themselves.
The examination of the bodies exhumed from archaic burials
in the Nile valley, which we had hoped might bring further
evidence for the settlement of the problem, has, however,
produced such diversity of opinion among the physical
anthropologists, as to render it impossible for the historian
to obtain decisive results from their researches. The conclu-
sion once maintained by some historians, that the Egyptian
was of African negro origin, is now refuted ; and evidently
indicated that at most he may have been slightly tinctured
with negro blood, in addition to the other ethnic elements
already mentioned.
and the emblem of Neit, its chief goddess was tattooed by
the Libyans upon their arms. It may possibly therefore
have been an early residence of a Libyan king of the Delta,
Reliefs recently discovered in Sahure's pyramid-temple
at Abusir show four Libyan chiefs wearing on their brows
the royal uneus serpent of the Pharaohs, to whom it there-
fore descended from some such early Libyan king of the
Delta.
History of Egypt
Petrie
The condition of the country at the invasion of the
dynastic people was that of a decadent civilisation of
the prehistoric age ; the highest development of that
earlier time had taken place perhaps a thousand years
before, and several different races had pressed into the
country as the earlier inhabitants became enfeebled.
On the earliest sculptures there have been traced live
different races older than the dynastic people, (i) The
old' aquiline race of the Libyo-Amorite type, to which
belongs the bulk of the prehistoric remains.
(2) A
people with curly hair and plaited beards, most like a
type found later in the Hittite region. (3) A people
with pointed nose and long pigtail of hair, who probably
lived in the mountains by the Red Sea, as they wore
long warm robes, and bring stone vases as tribute.
(4) A people with short and tilted nose, who seem to
have occupied Middle Egypt. (5) A somewhat similar
people, with rather longer nose and a projecting beard,
who may belong to the Delta (see J.A.I, xxxi, pis.
xviii-xx). Upon all these came in (6) an entirely
different race, having a straight bridge to the nose,
and a very vigorous and capable type of face. This
race, starting from Upper Egypt, gradually dominated
the country, and sealed its conquest by the founding
of Memphis under Menes. Whence this dynastic race
came can only be guessed from their first being established
in Upper Egypt at Abydos ; this points to their
having entered the country from the Red Sea, across
the desert at Koptos. To trace their origin further
must be a matter of speculation, until research has
opened up the history of the Red Sea region.
The conquest of Middle Egypt by the allied people of
the upper country is figured in several forms on the
early sculptures upon slate palettes. One of the most
unmistakable is a fragment bearing seven figures of
fortified towns (Fig. i) which are being destroyed by
the animals which were the ensigns of the tribes, using
Athribis translated text
W.F.Petrie
he is my hero....~sigh~
text excerpt 1
May the king present an offering table to Anpu, Lord of the sacred
land (the necropolis) and a burial in the Western desert (after) a
very happy old age, before the great god.
2
All life and streanth surround him, like Ra for ever. As the good
lives. Pleasing his mistress by counting out her beautiful things, the
trees wich come from Punt, for the perpose of making her heart to
live, with that which comes for from it. May no evil ever happen to
her. Son of the sun, lord of the diadems
Sekhet, the eye of Heru, regent of the West, lady of Ta netert, the
great one in heaven, whose beauties make brilliant the two lands, the
scintillating one, magnifold of forms, great hearts of the ntru, the
ones who lives like Ra for ever. The princess, lady of all rulers,
great of marvels in the two lands and the deserts, shining of face,
great of reverence, ruler of rulers, manifold of forms the two lands
are lit up by her beauties, every foreign country trembles before her,
she who lives like Ra forever.
3
Bathing Purification
My thy body be purified with the great water which flowes from... for
your body..
I have purified you with water, you are made divine in the horizon;
you are cleansed, together with you Ka, by ... water, as Geb purifies
the earth
The water has entered into my body. I am cleasend
Water of sam which flows forth from Nut, sanctifiying you with your
image as heaven is purified
4
to the house of the full moon the provender of Aset for the purpose of
seeing your approach .. without journeying...
5
(for khemenu and Djehuti)
I present to you the ujat, may your boundaries be opened up to the
limits of the sea
6
I give you your scimitars for the purpose of smiting your eneimies...
to you on this earth. (for heru)
7
Sokar/Wsr the god accounted to Hat-Repyt, the glorius god of heaven,
the king of Kmt, the prince of the Western desert, he who gives orders
to the Ntr, the Ntr who smites his enemy
(accept) my offering to your ka, all things pleasant and sweet.
8
the great one protecting the shrine of the shining Ntr.
Heru, the great lord within the horizon, protecting the temples
9
Shu tefnut
who overthrows the enemies of her brother, the ntr who shines forth
from her dwelling, the great ntr in Hat-Repyt, she who holds the two ujat
10
the ams sceptre, in the left hand, that it may repel for thee all evil
11
Pure offerings and incense, the great one, the ntr of the North Uazt,
the chief ntr of the NorthLady of the great house... Menhet is
glorified, with the sacred oil of life... the deified majesty for the
purpose of seeing the ... of the ntr in his glorious white house. May
there be given to him all life, stability and strength like Ra for
ever... for the purpose of seeing the glory of Usert in the house of
gold. May she give him all... and all health for ever... for the
purpose of seeing the child of Ma'at in the great house. May there (to
much missing words)
12
May your dream or walking/watching be peaceful in the peace of your
dream .. Min mighty in the peace of your dream, peace... Wsr grant me
peace in every dream. My your dream be peaceful with the peach of a
dream... Heru, the great one in Apu, lying down.... her suffering in
the peace of your dream. (Im sure you get the jist...lots of missing
words too)
13
HAILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL to theeeee
Soul or Ram that comes forth from the abys, sochmet, holy one among...
HIAL TO THEEE Esr, in Kmt/Tamara(tameran) that make glad the heart of
Djehuti, and the lion. strong, making bright the night even as the
day. HAIL TO THEE
Khnum that fashioned mortals that make gods that creat every seed
HAIL TO THEE
Heru, lord of ten thousand, as AmunRa, as one who is unknown, let
there be pranted plenty, let there be granted glorious provisions of
all bread, all food on which ntr and men live, food for the dead.
HAIL TO THEE
lover of ntr that make glad the heart of Heru, lord of the four genii,
..are you.... lord of.... ... RA of the two eyes make.. rays of light
lord of light, giving life to the earth with.... every night ruler of
the festival of the 15th day of the month of the festival six are
reckoned to thee...and it keeps going.... its kinda nice but Im not
typing this out....
it edns with
Lord of Truth who hates deceit
he is my hero....~sigh~
text excerpt 1
May the king present an offering table to Anpu, Lord of the sacred
land (the necropolis) and a burial in the Western desert (after) a
very happy old age, before the great god.
2
All life and streanth surround him, like Ra for ever. As the good
lives. Pleasing his mistress by counting out her beautiful things, the
trees wich come from Punt, for the perpose of making her heart to
live, with that which comes for from it. May no evil ever happen to
her. Son of the sun, lord of the diadems
Sekhet, the eye of Heru, regent of the West, lady of Ta netert, the
great one in heaven, whose beauties make brilliant the two lands, the
scintillating one, magnifold of forms, great hearts of the ntru, the
ones who lives like Ra for ever. The princess, lady of all rulers,
great of marvels in the two lands and the deserts, shining of face,
great of reverence, ruler of rulers, manifold of forms the two lands
are lit up by her beauties, every foreign country trembles before her,
she who lives like Ra forever.
3
Bathing Purification
My thy body be purified with the great water which flowes from... for
your body..
I have purified you with water, you are made divine in the horizon;
you are cleansed, together with you Ka, by ... water, as Geb purifies
the earth
The water has entered into my body. I am cleasend
Water of sam which flows forth from Nut, sanctifiying you with your
image as heaven is purified
4
to the house of the full moon the provender of Aset for the purpose of
seeing your approach .. without journeying...
5
(for khemenu and Djehuti)
I present to you the ujat, may your boundaries be opened up to the
limits of the sea
6
I give you your scimitars for the purpose of smiting your eneimies...
to you on this earth. (for heru)
7
Sokar/Wsr the god accounted to Hat-Repyt, the glorius god of heaven,
the king of Kmt, the prince of the Western desert, he who gives orders
to the Ntr, the Ntr who smites his enemy
(accept) my offering to your ka, all things pleasant and sweet.
8
the great one protecting the shrine of the shining Ntr.
Heru, the great lord within the horizon, protecting the temples
9
Shu tefnut
who overthrows the enemies of her brother, the ntr who shines forth
from her dwelling, the great ntr in Hat-Repyt, she who holds the two ujat
10
the ams sceptre, in the left hand, that it may repel for thee all evil
11
Pure offerings and incense, the great one, the ntr of the North Uazt,
the chief ntr of the NorthLady of the great house... Menhet is
glorified, with the sacred oil of life... the deified majesty for the
purpose of seeing the ... of the ntr in his glorious white house. May
there be given to him all life, stability and strength like Ra for
ever... for the purpose of seeing the glory of Usert in the house of
gold. May she give him all... and all health for ever... for the
purpose of seeing the child of Ma'at in the great house. May there (to
much missing words)
12
May your dream or walking/watching be peaceful in the peace of your
dream .. Min mighty in the peace of your dream, peace... Wsr grant me
peace in every dream. My your dream be peaceful with the peach of a
dream... Heru, the great one in Apu, lying down.... her suffering in
the peace of your dream. (Im sure you get the jist...lots of missing
words too)
13
HAILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL to theeeee
Soul or Ram that comes forth from the abys, sochmet, holy one among...
HIAL TO THEEE Esr, in Kmt/Tamara(tameran) that make glad the heart of
Djehuti, and the lion. strong, making bright the night even as the
day. HAIL TO THEE
Khnum that fashioned mortals that make gods that creat every seed
HAIL TO THEE
Heru, lord of ten thousand, as AmunRa, as one who is unknown, let
there be pranted plenty, let there be granted glorious provisions of
all bread, all food on which ntr and men live, food for the dead.
HAIL TO THEE
lover of ntr that make glad the heart of Heru, lord of the four genii,
..are you.... lord of.... ... RA of the two eyes make.. rays of light
lord of light, giving life to the earth with.... every night ruler of
the festival of the 15th day of the month of the festival six are
reckoned to thee...and it keeps going.... its kinda nice but Im not
typing this out....
it edns with
Lord of Truth who hates deceit
Redheaded Pharoah
http://www.white-history.com/earlson/index.htm
Redheaded Pharaoh Ramesses II
by
Karl Earlson
Pharaoh Ramesses II
Pharaoh Ramesses II (of the 19th Dynasty), is generally considered to
be the most powerful and influential King that ever reigned in Egypt.
He is one of the few rulers who has earned the epithet "the Great".
Subsequently, his racial origins are of extreme interest.
In 1975, the Egyptian government allowed the French to take Ramesses'
mummy to Paris for conservation work. Numerous other tests were
performed, to determine Ramesses' precise racial affinities, largely
because the Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop, was claiming at the
time that Ramesses was black. Once the work had been completed, the
mummy was returned in a hermetically sealed casket, and it has
remained largely hidden from public view ever since, concealed in the
bowels of the Cairo Museum. The results of the study were published in
a lavishly illustrated work, which was edited by L. Balout, C. Roubet
and C. Desroches-Noblecourt, and was titled La Momie de Ramsès II:
Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (1985).
Professor P. F. Ceccaldi, with a research team behind him, studied
some hairs which were removed from the mummy's scalp. Ramesses II was
90 years-old when he died, and his hair had turned white. Ceccaldi
determined that the reddish-yellow colour of the mummy's hair had been
brought about by its being dyed with a dilute henna solution; it
proved to be an example of the cosmetic attentions of the embalmers.
However, traces of the hair's original colour (in youth), remain in
the roots, even into advanced old age. Microscopic examinations proved
that the hair roots contained traces of natural red pigments, and that
therefore, during his youth, Ramesses II had been red-haired. It was
concluded that these red pigments did not result from the hair somehow
fading, or otherwise altering post-mortem, but did indeed represent
Ramesses' natural hair colour. Ceccaldi also studied a cross-section
of the hairs, and he determined from their oval shape, that Ramesses
had been "cymotrich" (wavy-haired). Finally, he stated that such a
combination of features showed that Ramesses had been a "leucoderm"
(white-skinned person). [Balout, et al. (1985) 254-257.]
Balout and Roubet were under no illusions as to the significance of
this discovery, and they concluded as follows:
"After having achieved this immense work, an important scientific
conclusion remains to be drawn: the anthropological study and the
microscopic analysis of hair, carried out by four laboratories:
Judiciary Medecine (Professor Ceccaldi), Société L'Oréal, Atomic
Energy Commission, and Institut Textile de France showed that Ramses
II was a 'leucoderm', that is a fair-skinned man, near to the
Prehistoric and Antiquity Mediterraneans, or briefly, of the Berber of
Africa." [Balout, et al. (1985) 383.]
It is interesting to note the link to the North African Berbers: some
Berber tribes, such as the Riffians of the Atlas Mountains, have
incidences of blondism reaching almost 60%, and they have a percentage
of red-haired people which is comparable to that of the Irish. [Coon &
Hunt (1966) 116-117.]
These facts have not only anthropological interest however, but also
great symbolic importance. In ancient Egypt, the god Seth was said to
have been red-haired, and redheads were claimed to have worshipped the
god devoutly. [Wainwright (1938) 31, 33, 53.] In the Ramesses study
cited above, the Egyptologist Desroches-Noblecourt wrote an essay, in
which she discussed the importance of Ramesses' rufous condition. She
noted that the Ramessides (the family of Ramesses II), were devoted to
Seth, with several bearing the name Seti, which means "beloved of
Seth". She concluded that the Ramessides believed themselves to be
divine descendants of Seth, with their red hair as proof of their
lineage; they may even have used this peculiar physical feature to
propel themselves out of obscurity, and onto the throne of the
Pharaohs. Desroches-Noblecourt also speculated that Ramesses II may
well have been descended from a long line of redheads. [Balout, et al.
(1985) 388-391.]
Her speculations have been proved correct: Dr. Joann Fletcher, a
consultant to the British Bioanthropology Foundation, has proved that
Seti I (the father of Ramesses II), had red hair. [Parks (2000).] It
has also been demonstrated that the mummy of Pharaoh Siptah (a
great-grandson of Ramesses II), has red hair. [Partridge (1994) 169.]
We may also note the anthropological description of Ramesses' mummy,
which was written by the Biblical historian Archibald Sayce:
"The Nineteenth Dynasty to which Ramses II, the oppressor of the
Israelites, belonged, is distinguished by its marked dolichocephalism
of long-headedness. His mummy shows an index of 74, while the face is
an oval with an index of 103. The nose is prominent, but leptorrhine
and aquiline, and the jaws are orthognathous. The chin is broad, the
neck long, like the fingers and nails. The great king seems to have
had red hair." [Sayce (1925) 136.]
All of these features are characteristics of the Nordic race. [Günther
(1927) 10-23.] Finally, we should note that Professor Raymond Dart
declared that the Nordic race was the "Egyptian Pharaonic type". He
then went on to state specifically, that the head of Ramesses II is
"pelasgic ellipsoidal or Nordic" in type. [Dart (1939).]
Afrocentrism
It is the central contention of this study, that Ramesses II was not
only White, but that he was a fair-skinned, fair-haired, racially
Nordish individual. If it were truly possible to prove that Ramesses
was indeed black, this particular point of view would have to be
reconsidered.
The idea that the Ancient Egyptians in general (and their aristocracy
in particular), were predominantly black-skinned, woolly-haired,
essentially African people, was most vigorously promoted by the
Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986). He was the foremost
proponent of a series of doctrines and beliefs that have subsequently
become known as "Afrocentrism." [Howe (1998).] One of Diop's numerous
claims, was that Ramesses II was Negroid, and that this "fact" could
be proved easily. Thus, Diop remarked:
"the Egyptians were Blacks of the type of all the native people of
tropical Africa. That is particularly true when it concerns Ramses II,
his father Seti I and Thutmose III." [Diop (1987) 217.]
One of Diop's major contentions, was that Ramesses II had woolly hair.
He believed that this point was proved by a famous granite portrait
statue of Ramesses, which currently resides in the Egyptian Museum of
Turin, Italy. In his book The African Origin of Civilization, Diop
reproduced two photographs, one of the statue, the other of a Negroid
Watusi, underneath which he placed the following remarks:
Pharaoh Ramses II (top), and a modern Watusi. The Watusi hair-do
can be conceived only for woolly hair. The small circles on the
Pharaoh's helmet represent frizzy hair (as noted by Denise Cappart in
her article in Reflet du Monde, 1956).
[Diop (1974) 19.]
However, Ramesses' head is crowned not with woolly hair, but a helmet.
Peter Clayton has noted, that in this depiction of the Pharaoh,
Ramesses wears a distinctive crown. [Clayton (1995) 146.] Clayton has
referred to this particular piece of head-wear as:
"the helmet-like khepresh, the so-called Blue or War Crown."
[Clayton (1995) 118.]
Therefore, the spirals that are detectable on the statue, represent
decoration on a helmet, not woolly hair. This point is further
confirmed by the fact that in coloured depictions, the crown is
painted blue, hence its name: the Blue Crown. [Geddes & Grosset (1997)
435.] It would never be this hue, if the paintings were meant to
represent hair. It would appear that the distinctive Blue Crown was
made from leather, and that it was invested with great ceremonial
significance: it seems to have represented the Pharaoh's supremacy
over the earthly realm. [Desroches-Noblecourt (1972) 128-132.]
Equally, the uraeus (hooded cobra), which protrudes from the front of
the crown, as well as the clearly delineated bands that mark the edges
of the helmet, all reveal that the head-hair is covered. Exactly what
the circles that cover the surface of the Blue Crown are supposed to
represent, is debateable, but it has been suggested by F. D. P.
Whicker, that they are meant to imitate the markings of a carapace
(tortoise shell), this being the material from which, he believes, the
original helmets were manufactured. [Whicker (1990).]
In addition to this, we should note the findings of the study that was
performed upon the hair of Ramesses' mummy. It is possible to
determine the race of an individual by taking a single hair from their
head, and studying the structure of it. When observed in transverse
section, the wavy scalp-hair of a Caucasoid is oval, or rather widely
elliptic in shape, with the least diameter amounting to about 70% of
the greatest. In contrast, the spiralled, woolly hair of a Negroid
individual, is narrowly elliptical in shape, with the lesser axis of
the ellipse being rather less than half the greater. [Baker (1974)
208, 296-297, 308.] The team of scholars that studied the hair of
Ramesses II, under the direction of Professor Ceccaldi, noted that
when seen in cross-section, the structure of the hair was oval in
shape, and therefore concluded that Ramesses had been cymotrich
(wavy-haired). [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
This clearly demonstrates that Ramesses did not have woolly hair, and
consequently, that the Turin portrait statue does not prove that
Ramesses was black. In terms of evidence evaluation, the results
produced from a study of Ramesses' mortal remains, are of higher value
than any amount of conclusions that have been drawn only from
portraits. Therefore, Diop's claims are completely baseless.
Red-Haired Ramesses
We would perhaps do well to end with the conclusions of the research
team that investigated Ramesses' hair:
"Ramses IId mummy's hair is confined to a temporo-occipital zone
which corresponds to an advanced stage of baldness.
Hairs are slightly crimped and show an oval cross-section, the
great axis of which lies between 60 and 70 µm: they are specific of «a
cymotrich leucoderm».
The sample which was investigated comprised identical percentages
of fully depigmented and pigmented hairs, the overall colour being a
light fair red with some tendency towards yellow.
Although the microscope examination was able to show strong
evidence of red pigments, no evidence of possible «fair» pigments was
obtained: the latter might be present as a «diffuse» component which
could be masked by a faint yellow dye (probably arising from dilute
«Henne» or one of its derivatives)." [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
Bibliography
Baker, J. R. (1974) Race (London: Oxford University Press).
Balout, L., C. Roubet & C. Desroches-Noblecourt [eds.] (1985) La Momie
de Ramsès II: Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (Paris:
Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations).
Clayton, P. A. (1995) Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign
Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt (London: Thames &
Hudson).
Coon, C. S. & E. E. Hunt (1966) The Living Races of Man (London:
Jonathan Cape).
Dart, R. A. (1939) "Population Fluctuation over 7,000 Years in Egypt."
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, XXVII, 95-145.
Desroches-Noblecourt, C. [Claude, trans.] (1972) Tutankhamen: Life and
Death of a Pharaoh (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books).
Diop, C. A. [M. Cook, trans.] (1974) The African Origin of
Civilization: Myth or Reality? (Westport: Lawrence Hill).
Diop, C. A. (1987) "Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic
Anthropology." In Van Sertima & Williams (1987) 161-225.
Geddes & Grosset (1997) Ancient Egypt: Myth and History (New Lanark:
Geddes & Grosset).
Günther, H. F. K. [G. C. Wheeler, trans.] (1927) The Racial Elements
of European History (London: Methuen).
Howe, S. (1998) Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes
(London: Verso).
Parks, L. (2000) "Ancient Egyptians Wore Wigs." Egypt Revealed, May 29.
Partridge, R. B. (19Redheaded Pharaoh Ramesses II
by
Karl Earlson
Pharaoh Ramesses II
Pharaoh Ramesses II (of the 19th Dynasty), is generally considered to
be the most powerful and influential King that ever reigned in Egypt.
He is one of the few rulers who has earned the epithet "the Great".
Subsequently, his racial origins are of extreme interest.
In 1975, the Egyptian government allowed the French to take Ramesses'
mummy to Paris for conservation work. Numerous other tests were
performed, to determine Ramesses' precise racial affinities, largely
because the Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop, was claiming at the
time that Ramesses was black. Once the work had been completed, the
mummy was returned in a hermetically sealed casket, and it has
remained largely hidden from public view ever since, concealed in the
bowels of the Cairo Museum. The results of the study were published in
a lavishly illustrated work, which was edited by L. Balout, C. Roubet
and C. Desroches-Noblecourt, and was titled La Momie de Ramsès II:
Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (1985).
Professor P. F. Ceccaldi, with a research team behind him, studied
some hairs which were removed from the mummy's scalp. Ramesses II was
90 years-old when he died, and his hair had turned white. Ceccaldi
determined that the reddish-yellow colour of the mummy's hair had been
brought about by its being dyed with a dilute henna solution; it
proved to be an example of the cosmetic attentions of the embalmers.
However, traces of the hair's original colour (in youth), remain in
the roots, even into advanced old age. Microscopic examinations proved
that the hair roots contained traces of natural red pigments, and that
therefore, during his youth, Ramesses II had been red-haired. It was
concluded that these red pigments did not result from the hair somehow
fading, or otherwise altering post-mortem, but did indeed represent
Ramesses' natural hair colour. Ceccaldi also studied a cross-section
of the hairs, and he determined from their oval shape, that Ramesses
had been "cymotrich" (wavy-haired). Finally, he stated that such a
combination of features showed that Ramesses had been a "leucoderm"
(white-skinned person). [Balout, et al. (1985) 254-257.]
Balout and Roubet were under no illusions as to the significance of
this discovery, and they concluded as follows:
"After having achieved this immense work, an important scientific
conclusion remains to be drawn: the anthropological study and the
microscopic analysis of hair, carried out by four laboratories:
Judiciary Medecine (Professor Ceccaldi), Société L'Oréal, Atomic
Energy Commission, and Institut Textile de France showed that Ramses
II was a 'leucoderm', that is a fair-skinned man, near to the
Prehistoric and Antiquity Mediterraneans, or briefly, of the Berber of
Africa." [Balout, et al. (1985) 383.]
It is interesting to note the link to the North African Berbers: some
Berber tribes, such as the Riffians of the Atlas Mountains, have
incidences of blondism reaching almost 60%, and they have a percentage
of red-haired people which is comparable to that of the Irish. [Coon &
Hunt (1966) 116-117.]
These facts have not only anthropological interest however, but also
great symbolic importance. In ancient Egypt, the god Seth was said to
have been red-haired, and redheads were claimed to have worshipped the
god devoutly. [Wainwright (1938) 31, 33, 53.] In the Ramesses study
cited above, the Egyptologist Desroches-Noblecourt wrote an essay, in
which she discussed the importance of Ramesses' rufous condition. She
noted that the Ramessides (the family of Ramesses II), were devoted to
Seth, with several bearing the name Seti, which means "beloved of
Seth". She concluded that the Ramessides believed themselves to be
divine descendants of Seth, with their red hair as proof of their
lineage; they may even have used this peculiar physical feature to
propel themselves out of obscurity, and onto the throne of the
Pharaohs. Desroches-Noblecourt also speculated that Ramesses II may
well have been descended from a long line of redheads. [Balout, et al.
(1985) 388-391.]
Her speculations have been proved correct: Dr. Joann Fletcher, a
consultant to the British Bioanthropology Foundation, has proved that
Seti I (the father of Ramesses II), had red hair. [Parks (2000).] It
has also been demonstrated that the mummy of Pharaoh Siptah (a
great-grandson of Ramesses II), has red hair. [Partridge (1994) 169.]
We may also note the anthropological description of Ramesses' mummy,
which was written by the Biblical historian Archibald Sayce:
"The Nineteenth Dynasty to which Ramses II, the oppressor of the
Israelites, belonged, is distinguished by its marked dolichocephalism
of long-headedness. His mummy shows an index of 74, while the face is
an oval with an index of 103. The nose is prominent, but leptorrhine
and aquiline, and the jaws are orthognathous. The chin is broad, the
neck long, like the fingers and nails. The great king seems to have
had red hair." [Sayce (1925) 136.]
All of these features are characteristics of the Nordic race. [Günther
(1927) 10-23.] Finally, we should note that Professor Raymond Dart
declared that the Nordic race was the "Egyptian Pharaonic type". He
then went on to state specifically, that the head of Ramesses II is
"pelasgic ellipsoidal or Nordic" in type. [Dart (1939).]
Afrocentrism
It is the central contention of this study, that Ramesses II was not
only White, but that he was a fair-skinned, fair-haired, racially
Nordish individual. If it were truly possible to prove that Ramesses
was indeed black, this particular point of view would have to be
reconsidered.
The idea that the Ancient Egyptians in general (and their aristocracy
in particular), were predominantly black-skinned, woolly-haired,
essentially African people, was most vigorously promoted by the
Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986). He was the foremost
proponent of a series of doctrines and beliefs that have subsequently
become known as "Afrocentrism." [Howe (1998).] One of Diop's numerous
claims, was that Ramesses II was Negroid, and that this "fact" could
be proved easily. Thus, Diop remarked:
"the Egyptians were Blacks of the type of all the native people of
tropical Africa. That is particularly true when it concerns Ramses II,
his father Seti I and Thutmose III." [Diop (1987) 217.]
One of Diop's major contentions, was that Ramesses II had woolly hair.
He believed that this point was proved by a famous granite portrait
statue of Ramesses, which currently resides in the Egyptian Museum of
Turin, Italy. In his book The African Origin of Civilization, Diop
reproduced two photographs, one of the statue, the other of a Negroid
Watusi, underneath which he placed the following remarks:
Pharaoh Ramses II (top), and a modern Watusi. The Watusi hair-do
can be conceived only for woolly hair. The small circles on the
Pharaoh's helmet represent frizzy hair (as noted by Denise Cappart in
her article in Reflet du Monde, 1956).
[Diop (1974) 19.]
However, Ramesses' head is crowned not with woolly hair, but a helmet.
Peter Clayton has noted, that in this depiction of the Pharaoh,
Ramesses wears a distinctive crown. [Clayton (1995) 146.] Clayton has
referred to this particular piece of head-wear as:
"the helmet-like khepresh, the so-called Blue or War Crown."
[Clayton (1995) 118.]
Therefore, the spirals that are detectable on the statue, represent
decoration on a helmet, not woolly hair. This point is further
confirmed by the fact that in coloured depictions, the crown is
painted blue, hence its name: the Blue Crown. [Geddes & Grosset (1997)
435.] It would never be this hue, if the paintings were meant to
represent hair. It would appear that the distinctive Blue Crown was
made from leather, and that it was invested with great ceremonial
significance: it seems to have represented the Pharaoh's supremacy
over the earthly realm. [Desroches-Noblecourt (1972) 128-132.]
Equally, the uraeus (hooded cobra), which protrudes from the front of
the crown, as well as the clearly delineated bands that mark the edges
of the helmet, all reveal that the head-hair is covered. Exactly what
the circles that cover the surface of the Blue Crown are supposed to
represent, is debateable, but it has been suggested by F. D. P.
Whicker, that they are meant to imitate the markings of a carapace
(tortoise shell), this being the material from which, he believes, the
original helmets were manufactured. [Whicker (1990).]
In addition to this, we should note the findings of the study that was
performed upon the hair of Ramesses' mummy. It is possible to
determine the race of an individual by taking a single hair from their
head, and studying the structure of it. When observed in transverse
section, the wavy scalp-hair of a Caucasoid is oval, or rather widely
elliptic in shape, with the least diameter amounting to about 70% of
the greatest. In contrast, the spiralled, woolly hair of a Negroid
individual, is narrowly elliptical in shape, with the lesser axis of
the ellipse being rather less than half the greater. [Baker (1974)
208, 296-297, 308.] The team of scholars that studied the hair of
Ramesses II, under the direction of Professor Ceccaldi, noted that
when seen in cross-section, the structure of the hair was oval in
shape, and therefore concluded that Ramesses had been cymotrich
(wavy-haired). [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
This clearly demonstrates that Ramesses did not have woolly hair, and
consequently, that the Turin portrait statue does not prove that
Ramesses was black. In terms of evidence evaluation, the results
produced from a study of Ramesses' mortal remains, are of higher value
than any amount of conclusions that have been drawn only from
portraits. Therefore, Diop's claims are completely baseless.
Red-Haired Ramesses
We would perhaps do well to end with the conclusions of the research
team that investigated Ramesses' hair:
"Ramses IId mummy's hair is confined to a temporo-occipital zone
which corresponds to an advanced stage of baldness.
Hairs are slightly crimped and show an oval cross-section, the
great axis of which lies between 60 and 70 µm: they are specific of «a
cymotrich leucoderm».
The sample which was investigated comprised identical percentages
of fully depigmented and pigmented hairs, the overall colour being a
light fair red with some tendency towards yellow.
Although the microscope examination was able to show strong
evidence of red pigments, no evidence of possible «fair» pigments was
obtained: the latter might be present as a «diffuse» component which
could be masked by a faint yellow dye (probably arising from dilute
«Henne» or one of its derivatives)." [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
Bibliography
Baker, J. R. (1974) Race (London: Oxford University Press).
Balout, L., C. Roubet & C. Desroches-Noblecourt [eds.] (1985) La Momie
de Ramsès II: Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (Paris:
Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations).
Clayton, P. A. (1995) Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign
Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt (London: Thames &
Hudson).
Coon, C. S. & E. E. Hunt (1966) The Living Races of Man (London:
Jonathan Cape).
Dart, R. A. (1939) "Population Fluctuation over 7,000 Years in Egypt."
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, XXVII, 95-145.
Desroches-Noblecourt, C. [Claude, trans.] (1972) Tutankhamen: Life and
Death of a Pharaoh (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books).
Diop, C. A. [M. Cook, trans.] (1974) The African Origin of
Civilization: Myth or Reality? (Westport: Lawrence Hill).
Diop, C. A. (1987) "Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic
Anthropology." In Van Sertima & Williams (1987) 161-225.
Geddes & Grosset (1997) Ancient Egypt: Myth and History (New Lanark:
Geddes & Grosset).
Günther, H. F. K. [G. C. Wheeler, trans.] (1927) The Racial Elements
of European History (London: Methuen).
Howe, S. (1998) Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes
(London: Verso).
Parks, L. (2000) "Ancient Egyptians Wore Wigs." Egypt Revealed, May 29.
Partridge, R. B. (1994) Faces of Pharaohs: Royal Mummies and Coffins
From Ancient Thebes (London: Rubicon Press).
Sayce, A. H. (1925) The Races of the Old Testament (London: Religious
Tract Society).
Van Sertima, I. & L. Williams [eds.] (1987) Great African Thinkers,
Volume I: Cheikh Anta Diop (New Brunswick: Transaction Books).
Wainwright, G. A. (1938) The Sky-Religion in Egypt: Its Antiquity and
Effects (Cambridge: University Press).
Whicker, F. D. P. (1990) Egypt and the Mountains of the Moon
(Braunton: Merlin Books).94) Faces of Pharaohs: Royal Mummies and
Coffins From Ancient Thebes (London: Rubicon Press).
Sayce, A. H. (1925) The Races of the Old Testament (London: Religious
Tract Society).
Van Sertima, I. & L. Williams [eds.] (1987) Great African Thinkers,
Volume I: Cheikh Anta Diop (New Brunswick: Transaction Books).
Wainwright, G. A. (1938) The Sky-Religion in Egypt: Its Antiquity and
Effects (Cambridge: University Press).
Whicker, F. D. P. (1990) Egypt and the Mountains of the Moon
(Braunton: Merlin Books).
Redheaded Pharaoh Ramesses II
by
Karl Earlson
Pharaoh Ramesses II
Pharaoh Ramesses II (of the 19th Dynasty), is generally considered to
be the most powerful and influential King that ever reigned in Egypt.
He is one of the few rulers who has earned the epithet "the Great".
Subsequently, his racial origins are of extreme interest.
In 1975, the Egyptian government allowed the French to take Ramesses'
mummy to Paris for conservation work. Numerous other tests were
performed, to determine Ramesses' precise racial affinities, largely
because the Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop, was claiming at the
time that Ramesses was black. Once the work had been completed, the
mummy was returned in a hermetically sealed casket, and it has
remained largely hidden from public view ever since, concealed in the
bowels of the Cairo Museum. The results of the study were published in
a lavishly illustrated work, which was edited by L. Balout, C. Roubet
and C. Desroches-Noblecourt, and was titled La Momie de Ramsès II:
Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (1985).
Professor P. F. Ceccaldi, with a research team behind him, studied
some hairs which were removed from the mummy's scalp. Ramesses II was
90 years-old when he died, and his hair had turned white. Ceccaldi
determined that the reddish-yellow colour of the mummy's hair had been
brought about by its being dyed with a dilute henna solution; it
proved to be an example of the cosmetic attentions of the embalmers.
However, traces of the hair's original colour (in youth), remain in
the roots, even into advanced old age. Microscopic examinations proved
that the hair roots contained traces of natural red pigments, and that
therefore, during his youth, Ramesses II had been red-haired. It was
concluded that these red pigments did not result from the hair somehow
fading, or otherwise altering post-mortem, but did indeed represent
Ramesses' natural hair colour. Ceccaldi also studied a cross-section
of the hairs, and he determined from their oval shape, that Ramesses
had been "cymotrich" (wavy-haired). Finally, he stated that such a
combination of features showed that Ramesses had been a "leucoderm"
(white-skinned person). [Balout, et al. (1985) 254-257.]
Balout and Roubet were under no illusions as to the significance of
this discovery, and they concluded as follows:
"After having achieved this immense work, an important scientific
conclusion remains to be drawn: the anthropological study and the
microscopic analysis of hair, carried out by four laboratories:
Judiciary Medecine (Professor Ceccaldi), Société L'Oréal, Atomic
Energy Commission, and Institut Textile de France showed that Ramses
II was a 'leucoderm', that is a fair-skinned man, near to the
Prehistoric and Antiquity Mediterraneans, or briefly, of the Berber of
Africa." [Balout, et al. (1985) 383.]
It is interesting to note the link to the North African Berbers: some
Berber tribes, such as the Riffians of the Atlas Mountains, have
incidences of blondism reaching almost 60%, and they have a percentage
of red-haired people which is comparable to that of the Irish. [Coon &
Hunt (1966) 116-117.]
These facts have not only anthropological interest however, but also
great symbolic importance. In ancient Egypt, the god Seth was said to
have been red-haired, and redheads were claimed to have worshipped the
god devoutly. [Wainwright (1938) 31, 33, 53.] In the Ramesses study
cited above, the Egyptologist Desroches-Noblecourt wrote an essay, in
which she discussed the importance of Ramesses' rufous condition. She
noted that the Ramessides (the family of Ramesses II), were devoted to
Seth, with several bearing the name Seti, which means "beloved of
Seth". She concluded that the Ramessides believed themselves to be
divine descendants of Seth, with their red hair as proof of their
lineage; they may even have used this peculiar physical feature to
propel themselves out of obscurity, and onto the throne of the
Pharaohs. Desroches-Noblecourt also speculated that Ramesses II may
well have been descended from a long line of redheads. [Balout, et al.
(1985) 388-391.]
Her speculations have been proved correct: Dr. Joann Fletcher, a
consultant to the British Bioanthropology Foundation, has proved that
Seti I (the father of Ramesses II), had red hair. [Parks (2000).] It
has also been demonstrated that the mummy of Pharaoh Siptah (a
great-grandson of Ramesses II), has red hair. [Partridge (1994) 169.]
We may also note the anthropological description of Ramesses' mummy,
which was written by the Biblical historian Archibald Sayce:
"The Nineteenth Dynasty to which Ramses II, the oppressor of the
Israelites, belonged, is distinguished by its marked dolichocephalism
of long-headedness. His mummy shows an index of 74, while the face is
an oval with an index of 103. The nose is prominent, but leptorrhine
and aquiline, and the jaws are orthognathous. The chin is broad, the
neck long, like the fingers and nails. The great king seems to have
had red hair." [Sayce (1925) 136.]
All of these features are characteristics of the Nordic race. [Günther
(1927) 10-23.] Finally, we should note that Professor Raymond Dart
declared that the Nordic race was the "Egyptian Pharaonic type". He
then went on to state specifically, that the head of Ramesses II is
"pelasgic ellipsoidal or Nordic" in type. [Dart (1939).]
Afrocentrism
It is the central contention of this study, that Ramesses II was not
only White, but that he was a fair-skinned, fair-haired, racially
Nordish individual. If it were truly possible to prove that Ramesses
was indeed black, this particular point of view would have to be
reconsidered.
The idea that the Ancient Egyptians in general (and their aristocracy
in particular), were predominantly black-skinned, woolly-haired,
essentially African people, was most vigorously promoted by the
Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986). He was the foremost
proponent of a series of doctrines and beliefs that have subsequently
become known as "Afrocentrism." [Howe (1998).] One of Diop's numerous
claims, was that Ramesses II was Negroid, and that this "fact" could
be proved easily. Thus, Diop remarked:
"the Egyptians were Blacks of the type of all the native people of
tropical Africa. That is particularly true when it concerns Ramses II,
his father Seti I and Thutmose III." [Diop (1987) 217.]
One of Diop's major contentions, was that Ramesses II had woolly hair.
He believed that this point was proved by a famous granite portrait
statue of Ramesses, which currently resides in the Egyptian Museum of
Turin, Italy. In his book The African Origin of Civilization, Diop
reproduced two photographs, one of the statue, the other of a Negroid
Watusi, underneath which he placed the following remarks:
Pharaoh Ramses II (top), and a modern Watusi. The Watusi hair-do
can be conceived only for woolly hair. The small circles on the
Pharaoh's helmet represent frizzy hair (as noted by Denise Cappart in
her article in Reflet du Monde, 1956).
[Diop (1974) 19.]
However, Ramesses' head is crowned not with woolly hair, but a helmet.
Peter Clayton has noted, that in this depiction of the Pharaoh,
Ramesses wears a distinctive crown. [Clayton (1995) 146.] Clayton has
referred to this particular piece of head-wear as:
"the helmet-like khepresh, the so-called Blue or War Crown."
[Clayton (1995) 118.]
Therefore, the spirals that are detectable on the statue, represent
decoration on a helmet, not woolly hair. This point is further
confirmed by the fact that in coloured depictions, the crown is
painted blue, hence its name: the Blue Crown. [Geddes & Grosset (1997)
435.] It would never be this hue, if the paintings were meant to
represent hair. It would appear that the distinctive Blue Crown was
made from leather, and that it was invested with great ceremonial
significance: it seems to have represented the Pharaoh's supremacy
over the earthly realm. [Desroches-Noblecourt (1972) 128-132.]
Equally, the uraeus (hooded cobra), which protrudes from the front of
the crown, as well as the clearly delineated bands that mark the edges
of the helmet, all reveal that the head-hair is covered. Exactly what
the circles that cover the surface of the Blue Crown are supposed to
represent, is debateable, but it has been suggested by F. D. P.
Whicker, that they are meant to imitate the markings of a carapace
(tortoise shell), this being the material from which, he believes, the
original helmets were manufactured. [Whicker (1990).]
In addition to this, we should note the findings of the study that was
performed upon the hair of Ramesses' mummy. It is possible to
determine the race of an individual by taking a single hair from their
head, and studying the structure of it. When observed in transverse
section, the wavy scalp-hair of a Caucasoid is oval, or rather widely
elliptic in shape, with the least diameter amounting to about 70% of
the greatest. In contrast, the spiralled, woolly hair of a Negroid
individual, is narrowly elliptical in shape, with the lesser axis of
the ellipse being rather less than half the greater. [Baker (1974)
208, 296-297, 308.] The team of scholars that studied the hair of
Ramesses II, under the direction of Professor Ceccaldi, noted that
when seen in cross-section, the structure of the hair was oval in
shape, and therefore concluded that Ramesses had been cymotrich
(wavy-haired). [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
This clearly demonstrates that Ramesses did not have woolly hair, and
consequently, that the Turin portrait statue does not prove that
Ramesses was black. In terms of evidence evaluation, the results
produced from a study of Ramesses' mortal remains, are of higher value
than any amount of conclusions that have been drawn only from
portraits. Therefore, Diop's claims are completely baseless.
Red-Haired Ramesses
We would perhaps do well to end with the conclusions of the research
team that investigated Ramesses' hair:
"Ramses IId mummy's hair is confined to a temporo-occipital zone
which corresponds to an advanced stage of baldness.
Hairs are slightly crimped and show an oval cross-section, the
great axis of which lies between 60 and 70 µm: they are specific of «a
cymotrich leucoderm».
The sample which was investigated comprised identical percentages
of fully depigmented and pigmented hairs, the overall colour being a
light fair red with some tendency towards yellow.
Although the microscope examination was able to show strong
evidence of red pigments, no evidence of possible «fair» pigments was
obtained: the latter might be present as a «diffuse» component which
could be masked by a faint yellow dye (probably arising from dilute
«Henne» or one of its derivatives)." [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
Bibliography
Baker, J. R. (1974) Race (London: Oxford University Press).
Balout, L., C. Roubet & C. Desroches-Noblecourt [eds.] (1985) La Momie
de Ramsès II: Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (Paris:
Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations).
Clayton, P. A. (1995) Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign
Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt (London: Thames &
Hudson).
Coon, C. S. & E. E. Hunt (1966) The Living Races of Man (London:
Jonathan Cape).
Dart, R. A. (1939) "Population Fluctuation over 7,000 Years in Egypt."
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, XXVII, 95-145.
Desroches-Noblecourt, C. [Claude, trans.] (1972) Tutankhamen: Life and
Death of a Pharaoh (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books).
Diop, C. A. [M. Cook, trans.] (1974) The African Origin of
Civilization: Myth or Reality? (Westport: Lawrence Hill).
Diop, C. A. (1987) "Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic
Anthropology." In Van Sertima & Williams (1987) 161-225.
Geddes & Grosset (1997) Ancient Egypt: Myth and History (New Lanark:
Geddes & Grosset).
Günther, H. F. K. [G. C. Wheeler, trans.] (1927) The Racial Elements
of European History (London: Methuen).
Howe, S. (1998) Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes
(London: Verso).
Parks, L. (2000) "Ancient Egyptians Wore Wigs." Egypt Revealed, May 29.
Partridge, R. B. (1994) Faces of Pharaohs: Royal Mummies and Coffins
From Ancient Thebes (London: Rubicon Press).
Sayce, A. H. (1925) The Races of the Old Testament (London: Religious
Tract Society).
Van Sertima, I. & L. Williams [eds.] (1987) Great African Thinkers,
Volume I: Cheikh Anta Diop (New Brunswick: Transaction Books).
Wainwright, G. A. (1938) The Sky-Religion in Egypt: Its Antiquity and
Effects (Cambridge: University Press).
Whicker, F. D. P. (1990) Egypt and the Mountains of the Moon
(Braunton: Merlin Books).
Redheaded Pharaoh Ramesses II
by
Karl Earlson
Pharaoh Ramesses II
Pharaoh Ramesses II (of the 19th Dynasty), is generally considered to
be the most powerful and influential King that ever reigned in Egypt.
He is one of the few rulers who has earned the epithet "the Great".
Subsequently, his racial origins are of extreme interest.
In 1975, the Egyptian government allowed the French to take Ramesses'
mummy to Paris for conservation work. Numerous other tests were
performed, to determine Ramesses' precise racial affinities, largely
because the Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop, was claiming at the
time that Ramesses was black. Once the work had been completed, the
mummy was returned in a hermetically sealed casket, and it has
remained largely hidden from public view ever since, concealed in the
bowels of the Cairo Museum. The results of the study were published in
a lavishly illustrated work, which was edited by L. Balout, C. Roubet
and C. Desroches-Noblecourt, and was titled La Momie de Ramsès II:
Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (1985).
Professor P. F. Ceccaldi, with a research team behind him, studied
some hairs which were removed from the mummy's scalp. Ramesses II was
90 years-old when he died, and his hair had turned white. Ceccaldi
determined that the reddish-yellow colour of the mummy's hair had been
brought about by its being dyed with a dilute henna solution; it
proved to be an example of the cosmetic attentions of the embalmers.
However, traces of the hair's original colour (in youth), remain in
the roots, even into advanced old age. Microscopic examinations proved
that the hair roots contained traces of natural red pigments, and that
therefore, during his youth, Ramesses II had been red-haired. It was
concluded that these red pigments did not result from the hair somehow
fading, or otherwise altering post-mortem, but did indeed represent
Ramesses' natural hair colour. Ceccaldi also studied a cross-section
of the hairs, and he determined from their oval shape, that Ramesses
had been "cymotrich" (wavy-haired). Finally, he stated that such a
combination of features showed that Ramesses had been a "leucoderm"
(white-skinned person). [Balout, et al. (1985) 254-257.]
Balout and Roubet were under no illusions as to the significance of
this discovery, and they concluded as follows:
"After having achieved this immense work, an important scientific
conclusion remains to be drawn: the anthropological study and the
microscopic analysis of hair, carried out by four laboratories:
Judiciary Medecine (Professor Ceccaldi), Société L'Oréal, Atomic
Energy Commission, and Institut Textile de France showed that Ramses
II was a 'leucoderm', that is a fair-skinned man, near to the
Prehistoric and Antiquity Mediterraneans, or briefly, of the Berber of
Africa." [Balout, et al. (1985) 383.]
It is interesting to note the link to the North African Berbers: some
Berber tribes, such as the Riffians of the Atlas Mountains, have
incidences of blondism reaching almost 60%, and they have a percentage
of red-haired people which is comparable to that of the Irish. [Coon &
Hunt (1966) 116-117.]
These facts have not only anthropological interest however, but also
great symbolic importance. In ancient Egypt, the god Seth was said to
have been red-haired, and redheads were claimed to have worshipped the
god devoutly. [Wainwright (1938) 31, 33, 53.] In the Ramesses study
cited above, the Egyptologist Desroches-Noblecourt wrote an essay, in
which she discussed the importance of Ramesses' rufous condition. She
noted that the Ramessides (the family of Ramesses II), were devoted to
Seth, with several bearing the name Seti, which means "beloved of
Seth". She concluded that the Ramessides believed themselves to be
divine descendants of Seth, with their red hair as proof of their
lineage; they may even have used this peculiar physical feature to
propel themselves out of obscurity, and onto the throne of the
Pharaohs. Desroches-Noblecourt also speculated that Ramesses II may
well have been descended from a long line of redheads. [Balout, et al.
(1985) 388-391.]
Her speculations have been proved correct: Dr. Joann Fletcher, a
consultant to the British Bioanthropology Foundation, has proved that
Seti I (the father of Ramesses II), had red hair. [Parks (2000).] It
has also been demonstrated that the mummy of Pharaoh Siptah (a
great-grandson of Ramesses II), has red hair. [Partridge (1994) 169.]
We may also note the anthropological description of Ramesses' mummy,
which was written by the Biblical historian Archibald Sayce:
"The Nineteenth Dynasty to which Ramses II, the oppressor of the
Israelites, belonged, is distinguished by its marked dolichocephalism
of long-headedness. His mummy shows an index of 74, while the face is
an oval with an index of 103. The nose is prominent, but leptorrhine
and aquiline, and the jaws are orthognathous. The chin is broad, the
neck long, like the fingers and nails. The great king seems to have
had red hair." [Sayce (1925) 136.]
All of these features are characteristics of the Nordic race. [Günther
(1927) 10-23.] Finally, we should note that Professor Raymond Dart
declared that the Nordic race was the "Egyptian Pharaonic type". He
then went on to state specifically, that the head of Ramesses II is
"pelasgic ellipsoidal or Nordic" in type. [Dart (1939).]
Afrocentrism
It is the central contention of this study, that Ramesses II was not
only White, but that he was a fair-skinned, fair-haired, racially
Nordish individual. If it were truly possible to prove that Ramesses
was indeed black, this particular point of view would have to be
reconsidered.
The idea that the Ancient Egyptians in general (and their aristocracy
in particular), were predominantly black-skinned, woolly-haired,
essentially African people, was most vigorously promoted by the
Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986). He was the foremost
proponent of a series of doctrines and beliefs that have subsequently
become known as "Afrocentrism." [Howe (1998).] One of Diop's numerous
claims, was that Ramesses II was Negroid, and that this "fact" could
be proved easily. Thus, Diop remarked:
"the Egyptians were Blacks of the type of all the native people of
tropical Africa. That is particularly true when it concerns Ramses II,
his father Seti I and Thutmose III." [Diop (1987) 217.]
One of Diop's major contentions, was that Ramesses II had woolly hair.
He believed that this point was proved by a famous granite portrait
statue of Ramesses, which currently resides in the Egyptian Museum of
Turin, Italy. In his book The African Origin of Civilization, Diop
reproduced two photographs, one of the statue, the other of a Negroid
Watusi, underneath which he placed the following remarks:
Pharaoh Ramses II (top), and a modern Watusi. The Watusi hair-do
can be conceived only for woolly hair. The small circles on the
Pharaoh's helmet represent frizzy hair (as noted by Denise Cappart in
her article in Reflet du Monde, 1956).
[Diop (1974) 19.]
However, Ramesses' head is crowned not with woolly hair, but a helmet.
Peter Clayton has noted, that in this depiction of the Pharaoh,
Ramesses wears a distinctive crown. [Clayton (1995) 146.] Clayton has
referred to this particular piece of head-wear as:
"the helmet-like khepresh, the so-called Blue or War Crown."
[Clayton (1995) 118.]
Therefore, the spirals that are detectable on the statue, represent
decoration on a helmet, not woolly hair. This point is further
confirmed by the fact that in coloured depictions, the crown is
painted blue, hence its name: the Blue Crown. [Geddes & Grosset (1997)
435.] It would never be this hue, if the paintings were meant to
represent hair. It would appear that the distinctive Blue Crown was
made from leather, and that it was invested with great ceremonial
significance: it seems to have represented the Pharaoh's supremacy
over the earthly realm. [Desroches-Noblecourt (1972) 128-132.]
Equally, the uraeus (hooded cobra), which protrudes from the front of
the crown, as well as the clearly delineated bands that mark the edges
of the helmet, all reveal that the head-hair is covered. Exactly what
the circles that cover the surface of the Blue Crown are supposed to
represent, is debateable, but it has been suggested by F. D. P.
Whicker, that they are meant to imitate the markings of a carapace
(tortoise shell), this being the material from which, he believes, the
original helmets were manufactured. [Whicker (1990).]
In addition to this, we should note the findings of the study that was
performed upon the hair of Ramesses' mummy. It is possible to
determine the race of an individual by taking a single hair from their
head, and studying the structure of it. When observed in transverse
section, the wavy scalp-hair of a Caucasoid is oval, or rather widely
elliptic in shape, with the least diameter amounting to about 70% of
the greatest. In contrast, the spiralled, woolly hair of a Negroid
individual, is narrowly elliptical in shape, with the lesser axis of
the ellipse being rather less than half the greater. [Baker (1974)
208, 296-297, 308.] The team of scholars that studied the hair of
Ramesses II, under the direction of Professor Ceccaldi, noted that
when seen in cross-section, the structure of the hair was oval in
shape, and therefore concluded that Ramesses had been cymotrich
(wavy-haired). [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
This clearly demonstrates that Ramesses did not have woolly hair, and
consequently, that the Turin portrait statue does not prove that
Ramesses was black. In terms of evidence evaluation, the results
produced from a study of Ramesses' mortal remains, are of higher value
than any amount of conclusions that have been drawn only from
portraits. Therefore, Diop's claims are completely baseless.
Red-Haired Ramesses
We would perhaps do well to end with the conclusions of the research
team that investigated Ramesses' hair:
"Ramses IId mummy's hair is confined to a temporo-occipital zone
which corresponds to an advanced stage of baldness.
Hairs are slightly crimped and show an oval cross-section, the
great axis of which lies between 60 and 70 µm: they are specific of «a
cymotrich leucoderm».
The sample which was investigated comprised identical percentages
of fully depigmented and pigmented hairs, the overall colour being a
light fair red with some tendency towards yellow.
Although the microscope examination was able to show strong
evidence of red pigments, no evidence of possible «fair» pigments was
obtained: the latter might be present as a «diffuse» component which
could be masked by a faint yellow dye (probably arising from dilute
«Henne» or one of its derivatives)." [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
Bibliography
Baker, J. R. (1974) Race (London: Oxford University Press).
Balout, L., C. Roubet & C. Desroches-Noblecourt [eds.] (1985) La Momie
de Ramsès II: Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (Paris:
Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations).
Clayton, P. A. (1995) Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign
Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt (London: Thames &
Hudson).
Coon, C. S. & E. E. Hunt (1966) The Living Races of Man (London:
Jonathan Cape).
Dart, R. A. (1939) "Population Fluctuation over 7,000 Years in Egypt."
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, XXVII, 95-145.
Desroches-Noblecourt, C. [Claude, trans.] (1972) Tutankhamen: Life and
Death of a Pharaoh (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books).
Diop, C. A. [M. Cook, trans.] (1974) The African Origin of
Civilization: Myth or Reality? (Westport: Lawrence Hill).
Diop, C. A. (1987) "Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic
Anthropology." In Van Sertima & Williams (1987) 161-225.
Geddes & Grosset (1997) Ancient Egypt: Myth and History (New Lanark:
Geddes & Grosset).
Günther, H. F. K. [G. C. Wheeler, trans.] (1927) The Racial Elements
of European History (London: Methuen).
Howe, S. (1998) Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes
(London: Verso).
Parks, L. (2000) "Ancient Egyptians Wore Wigs." Egypt Revealed, May 29.
Partridge, R. B. (19Redheaded Pharaoh Ramesses II
by
Karl Earlson
Pharaoh Ramesses II
Pharaoh Ramesses II (of the 19th Dynasty), is generally considered to
be the most powerful and influential King that ever reigned in Egypt.
He is one of the few rulers who has earned the epithet "the Great".
Subsequently, his racial origins are of extreme interest.
In 1975, the Egyptian government allowed the French to take Ramesses'
mummy to Paris for conservation work. Numerous other tests were
performed, to determine Ramesses' precise racial affinities, largely
because the Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop, was claiming at the
time that Ramesses was black. Once the work had been completed, the
mummy was returned in a hermetically sealed casket, and it has
remained largely hidden from public view ever since, concealed in the
bowels of the Cairo Museum. The results of the study were published in
a lavishly illustrated work, which was edited by L. Balout, C. Roubet
and C. Desroches-Noblecourt, and was titled La Momie de Ramsès II:
Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (1985).
Professor P. F. Ceccaldi, with a research team behind him, studied
some hairs which were removed from the mummy's scalp. Ramesses II was
90 years-old when he died, and his hair had turned white. Ceccaldi
determined that the reddish-yellow colour of the mummy's hair had been
brought about by its being dyed with a dilute henna solution; it
proved to be an example of the cosmetic attentions of the embalmers.
However, traces of the hair's original colour (in youth), remain in
the roots, even into advanced old age. Microscopic examinations proved
that the hair roots contained traces of natural red pigments, and that
therefore, during his youth, Ramesses II had been red-haired. It was
concluded that these red pigments did not result from the hair somehow
fading, or otherwise altering post-mortem, but did indeed represent
Ramesses' natural hair colour. Ceccaldi also studied a cross-section
of the hairs, and he determined from their oval shape, that Ramesses
had been "cymotrich" (wavy-haired). Finally, he stated that such a
combination of features showed that Ramesses had been a "leucoderm"
(white-skinned person). [Balout, et al. (1985) 254-257.]
Balout and Roubet were under no illusions as to the significance of
this discovery, and they concluded as follows:
"After having achieved this immense work, an important scientific
conclusion remains to be drawn: the anthropological study and the
microscopic analysis of hair, carried out by four laboratories:
Judiciary Medecine (Professor Ceccaldi), Société L'Oréal, Atomic
Energy Commission, and Institut Textile de France showed that Ramses
II was a 'leucoderm', that is a fair-skinned man, near to the
Prehistoric and Antiquity Mediterraneans, or briefly, of the Berber of
Africa." [Balout, et al. (1985) 383.]
It is interesting to note the link to the North African Berbers: some
Berber tribes, such as the Riffians of the Atlas Mountains, have
incidences of blondism reaching almost 60%, and they have a percentage
of red-haired people which is comparable to that of the Irish. [Coon &
Hunt (1966) 116-117.]
These facts have not only anthropological interest however, but also
great symbolic importance. In ancient Egypt, the god Seth was said to
have been red-haired, and redheads were claimed to have worshipped the
god devoutly. [Wainwright (1938) 31, 33, 53.] In the Ramesses study
cited above, the Egyptologist Desroches-Noblecourt wrote an essay, in
which she discussed the importance of Ramesses' rufous condition. She
noted that the Ramessides (the family of Ramesses II), were devoted to
Seth, with several bearing the name Seti, which means "beloved of
Seth". She concluded that the Ramessides believed themselves to be
divine descendants of Seth, with their red hair as proof of their
lineage; they may even have used this peculiar physical feature to
propel themselves out of obscurity, and onto the throne of the
Pharaohs. Desroches-Noblecourt also speculated that Ramesses II may
well have been descended from a long line of redheads. [Balout, et al.
(1985) 388-391.]
Her speculations have been proved correct: Dr. Joann Fletcher, a
consultant to the British Bioanthropology Foundation, has proved that
Seti I (the father of Ramesses II), had red hair. [Parks (2000).] It
has also been demonstrated that the mummy of Pharaoh Siptah (a
great-grandson of Ramesses II), has red hair. [Partridge (1994) 169.]
We may also note the anthropological description of Ramesses' mummy,
which was written by the Biblical historian Archibald Sayce:
"The Nineteenth Dynasty to which Ramses II, the oppressor of the
Israelites, belonged, is distinguished by its marked dolichocephalism
of long-headedness. His mummy shows an index of 74, while the face is
an oval with an index of 103. The nose is prominent, but leptorrhine
and aquiline, and the jaws are orthognathous. The chin is broad, the
neck long, like the fingers and nails. The great king seems to have
had red hair." [Sayce (1925) 136.]
All of these features are characteristics of the Nordic race. [Günther
(1927) 10-23.] Finally, we should note that Professor Raymond Dart
declared that the Nordic race was the "Egyptian Pharaonic type". He
then went on to state specifically, that the head of Ramesses II is
"pelasgic ellipsoidal or Nordic" in type. [Dart (1939).]
Afrocentrism
It is the central contention of this study, that Ramesses II was not
only White, but that he was a fair-skinned, fair-haired, racially
Nordish individual. If it were truly possible to prove that Ramesses
was indeed black, this particular point of view would have to be
reconsidered.
The idea that the Ancient Egyptians in general (and their aristocracy
in particular), were predominantly black-skinned, woolly-haired,
essentially African people, was most vigorously promoted by the
Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986). He was the foremost
proponent of a series of doctrines and beliefs that have subsequently
become known as "Afrocentrism." [Howe (1998).] One of Diop's numerous
claims, was that Ramesses II was Negroid, and that this "fact" could
be proved easily. Thus, Diop remarked:
"the Egyptians were Blacks of the type of all the native people of
tropical Africa. That is particularly true when it concerns Ramses II,
his father Seti I and Thutmose III." [Diop (1987) 217.]
One of Diop's major contentions, was that Ramesses II had woolly hair.
He believed that this point was proved by a famous granite portrait
statue of Ramesses, which currently resides in the Egyptian Museum of
Turin, Italy. In his book The African Origin of Civilization, Diop
reproduced two photographs, one of the statue, the other of a Negroid
Watusi, underneath which he placed the following remarks:
Pharaoh Ramses II (top), and a modern Watusi. The Watusi hair-do
can be conceived only for woolly hair. The small circles on the
Pharaoh's helmet represent frizzy hair (as noted by Denise Cappart in
her article in Reflet du Monde, 1956).
[Diop (1974) 19.]
However, Ramesses' head is crowned not with woolly hair, but a helmet.
Peter Clayton has noted, that in this depiction of the Pharaoh,
Ramesses wears a distinctive crown. [Clayton (1995) 146.] Clayton has
referred to this particular piece of head-wear as:
"the helmet-like khepresh, the so-called Blue or War Crown."
[Clayton (1995) 118.]
Therefore, the spirals that are detectable on the statue, represent
decoration on a helmet, not woolly hair. This point is further
confirmed by the fact that in coloured depictions, the crown is
painted blue, hence its name: the Blue Crown. [Geddes & Grosset (1997)
435.] It would never be this hue, if the paintings were meant to
represent hair. It would appear that the distinctive Blue Crown was
made from leather, and that it was invested with great ceremonial
significance: it seems to have represented the Pharaoh's supremacy
over the earthly realm. [Desroches-Noblecourt (1972) 128-132.]
Equally, the uraeus (hooded cobra), which protrudes from the front of
the crown, as well as the clearly delineated bands that mark the edges
of the helmet, all reveal that the head-hair is covered. Exactly what
the circles that cover the surface of the Blue Crown are supposed to
represent, is debateable, but it has been suggested by F. D. P.
Whicker, that they are meant to imitate the markings of a carapace
(tortoise shell), this being the material from which, he believes, the
original helmets were manufactured. [Whicker (1990).]
In addition to this, we should note the findings of the study that was
performed upon the hair of Ramesses' mummy. It is possible to
determine the race of an individual by taking a single hair from their
head, and studying the structure of it. When observed in transverse
section, the wavy scalp-hair of a Caucasoid is oval, or rather widely
elliptic in shape, with the least diameter amounting to about 70% of
the greatest. In contrast, the spiralled, woolly hair of a Negroid
individual, is narrowly elliptical in shape, with the lesser axis of
the ellipse being rather less than half the greater. [Baker (1974)
208, 296-297, 308.] The team of scholars that studied the hair of
Ramesses II, under the direction of Professor Ceccaldi, noted that
when seen in cross-section, the structure of the hair was oval in
shape, and therefore concluded that Ramesses had been cymotrich
(wavy-haired). [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
This clearly demonstrates that Ramesses did not have woolly hair, and
consequently, that the Turin portrait statue does not prove that
Ramesses was black. In terms of evidence evaluation, the results
produced from a study of Ramesses' mortal remains, are of higher value
than any amount of conclusions that have been drawn only from
portraits. Therefore, Diop's claims are completely baseless.
Red-Haired Ramesses
We would perhaps do well to end with the conclusions of the research
team that investigated Ramesses' hair:
"Ramses IId mummy's hair is confined to a temporo-occipital zone
which corresponds to an advanced stage of baldness.
Hairs are slightly crimped and show an oval cross-section, the
great axis of which lies between 60 and 70 µm: they are specific of «a
cymotrich leucoderm».
The sample which was investigated comprised identical percentages
of fully depigmented and pigmented hairs, the overall colour being a
light fair red with some tendency towards yellow.
Although the microscope examination was able to show strong
evidence of red pigments, no evidence of possible «fair» pigments was
obtained: the latter might be present as a «diffuse» component which
could be masked by a faint yellow dye (probably arising from dilute
«Henne» or one of its derivatives)." [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
Bibliography
Baker, J. R. (1974) Race (London: Oxford University Press).
Balout, L., C. Roubet & C. Desroches-Noblecourt [eds.] (1985) La Momie
de Ramsès II: Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (Paris:
Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations).
Clayton, P. A. (1995) Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign
Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt (London: Thames &
Hudson).
Coon, C. S. & E. E. Hunt (1966) The Living Races of Man (London:
Jonathan Cape).
Dart, R. A. (1939) "Population Fluctuation over 7,000 Years in Egypt."
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, XXVII, 95-145.
Desroches-Noblecourt, C. [Claude, trans.] (1972) Tutankhamen: Life and
Death of a Pharaoh (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books).
Diop, C. A. [M. Cook, trans.] (1974) The African Origin of
Civilization: Myth or Reality? (Westport: Lawrence Hill).
Diop, C. A. (1987) "Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic
Anthropology." In Van Sertima & Williams (1987) 161-225.
Geddes & Grosset (1997) Ancient Egypt: Myth and History (New Lanark:
Geddes & Grosset).
Günther, H. F. K. [G. C. Wheeler, trans.] (1927) The Racial Elements
of European History (London: Methuen).
Howe, S. (1998) Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes
(London: Verso).
Parks, L. (2000) "Ancient Egyptians Wore Wigs." Egypt Revealed, May 29.
Partridge, R. B. (1994) Faces of Pharaohs: Royal Mummies and Coffins
From Ancient Thebes (London: Rubicon Press).
Sayce, A. H. (1925) The Races of the Old Testament (London: Religious
Tract Society).
Van Sertima, I. & L. Williams [eds.] (1987) Great African Thinkers,
Volume I: Cheikh Anta Diop (New Brunswick: Transaction Books).
Wainwright, G. A. (1938) The Sky-Religion in Egypt: Its Antiquity and
Effects (Cambridge: University Press).
Whicker, F. D. P. (1990) Egypt and the Mountains of the Moon
(Braunton: Merlin Books).94) Faces of Pharaohs: Royal Mummies and
Coffins From Ancient Thebes (London: Rubicon Press).
Sayce, A. H. (1925) The Races of the Old Testament (London: Religious
Tract Society).
Van Sertima, I. & L. Williams [eds.] (1987) Great African Thinkers,
Volume I: Cheikh Anta Diop (New Brunswick: Transaction Books).
Wainwright, G. A. (1938) The Sky-Religion in Egypt: Its Antiquity and
Effects (Cambridge: University Press).
Whicker, F. D. P. (1990) Egypt and the Mountains of the Moon
(Braunton: Merlin Books).
Redheaded Pharaoh Ramesses II
by
Karl Earlson
Pharaoh Ramesses II
Pharaoh Ramesses II (of the 19th Dynasty), is generally considered to
be the most powerful and influential King that ever reigned in Egypt.
He is one of the few rulers who has earned the epithet "the Great".
Subsequently, his racial origins are of extreme interest.
In 1975, the Egyptian government allowed the French to take Ramesses'
mummy to Paris for conservation work. Numerous other tests were
performed, to determine Ramesses' precise racial affinities, largely
because the Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop, was claiming at the
time that Ramesses was black. Once the work had been completed, the
mummy was returned in a hermetically sealed casket, and it has
remained largely hidden from public view ever since, concealed in the
bowels of the Cairo Museum. The results of the study were published in
a lavishly illustrated work, which was edited by L. Balout, C. Roubet
and C. Desroches-Noblecourt, and was titled La Momie de Ramsès II:
Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (1985).
Professor P. F. Ceccaldi, with a research team behind him, studied
some hairs which were removed from the mummy's scalp. Ramesses II was
90 years-old when he died, and his hair had turned white. Ceccaldi
determined that the reddish-yellow colour of the mummy's hair had been
brought about by its being dyed with a dilute henna solution; it
proved to be an example of the cosmetic attentions of the embalmers.
However, traces of the hair's original colour (in youth), remain in
the roots, even into advanced old age. Microscopic examinations proved
that the hair roots contained traces of natural red pigments, and that
therefore, during his youth, Ramesses II had been red-haired. It was
concluded that these red pigments did not result from the hair somehow
fading, or otherwise altering post-mortem, but did indeed represent
Ramesses' natural hair colour. Ceccaldi also studied a cross-section
of the hairs, and he determined from their oval shape, that Ramesses
had been "cymotrich" (wavy-haired). Finally, he stated that such a
combination of features showed that Ramesses had been a "leucoderm"
(white-skinned person). [Balout, et al. (1985) 254-257.]
Balout and Roubet were under no illusions as to the significance of
this discovery, and they concluded as follows:
"After having achieved this immense work, an important scientific
conclusion remains to be drawn: the anthropological study and the
microscopic analysis of hair, carried out by four laboratories:
Judiciary Medecine (Professor Ceccaldi), Société L'Oréal, Atomic
Energy Commission, and Institut Textile de France showed that Ramses
II was a 'leucoderm', that is a fair-skinned man, near to the
Prehistoric and Antiquity Mediterraneans, or briefly, of the Berber of
Africa." [Balout, et al. (1985) 383.]
It is interesting to note the link to the North African Berbers: some
Berber tribes, such as the Riffians of the Atlas Mountains, have
incidences of blondism reaching almost 60%, and they have a percentage
of red-haired people which is comparable to that of the Irish. [Coon &
Hunt (1966) 116-117.]
These facts have not only anthropological interest however, but also
great symbolic importance. In ancient Egypt, the god Seth was said to
have been red-haired, and redheads were claimed to have worshipped the
god devoutly. [Wainwright (1938) 31, 33, 53.] In the Ramesses study
cited above, the Egyptologist Desroches-Noblecourt wrote an essay, in
which she discussed the importance of Ramesses' rufous condition. She
noted that the Ramessides (the family of Ramesses II), were devoted to
Seth, with several bearing the name Seti, which means "beloved of
Seth". She concluded that the Ramessides believed themselves to be
divine descendants of Seth, with their red hair as proof of their
lineage; they may even have used this peculiar physical feature to
propel themselves out of obscurity, and onto the throne of the
Pharaohs. Desroches-Noblecourt also speculated that Ramesses II may
well have been descended from a long line of redheads. [Balout, et al.
(1985) 388-391.]
Her speculations have been proved correct: Dr. Joann Fletcher, a
consultant to the British Bioanthropology Foundation, has proved that
Seti I (the father of Ramesses II), had red hair. [Parks (2000).] It
has also been demonstrated that the mummy of Pharaoh Siptah (a
great-grandson of Ramesses II), has red hair. [Partridge (1994) 169.]
We may also note the anthropological description of Ramesses' mummy,
which was written by the Biblical historian Archibald Sayce:
"The Nineteenth Dynasty to which Ramses II, the oppressor of the
Israelites, belonged, is distinguished by its marked dolichocephalism
of long-headedness. His mummy shows an index of 74, while the face is
an oval with an index of 103. The nose is prominent, but leptorrhine
and aquiline, and the jaws are orthognathous. The chin is broad, the
neck long, like the fingers and nails. The great king seems to have
had red hair." [Sayce (1925) 136.]
All of these features are characteristics of the Nordic race. [Günther
(1927) 10-23.] Finally, we should note that Professor Raymond Dart
declared that the Nordic race was the "Egyptian Pharaonic type". He
then went on to state specifically, that the head of Ramesses II is
"pelasgic ellipsoidal or Nordic" in type. [Dart (1939).]
Afrocentrism
It is the central contention of this study, that Ramesses II was not
only White, but that he was a fair-skinned, fair-haired, racially
Nordish individual. If it were truly possible to prove that Ramesses
was indeed black, this particular point of view would have to be
reconsidered.
The idea that the Ancient Egyptians in general (and their aristocracy
in particular), were predominantly black-skinned, woolly-haired,
essentially African people, was most vigorously promoted by the
Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986). He was the foremost
proponent of a series of doctrines and beliefs that have subsequently
become known as "Afrocentrism." [Howe (1998).] One of Diop's numerous
claims, was that Ramesses II was Negroid, and that this "fact" could
be proved easily. Thus, Diop remarked:
"the Egyptians were Blacks of the type of all the native people of
tropical Africa. That is particularly true when it concerns Ramses II,
his father Seti I and Thutmose III." [Diop (1987) 217.]
One of Diop's major contentions, was that Ramesses II had woolly hair.
He believed that this point was proved by a famous granite portrait
statue of Ramesses, which currently resides in the Egyptian Museum of
Turin, Italy. In his book The African Origin of Civilization, Diop
reproduced two photographs, one of the statue, the other of a Negroid
Watusi, underneath which he placed the following remarks:
Pharaoh Ramses II (top), and a modern Watusi. The Watusi hair-do
can be conceived only for woolly hair. The small circles on the
Pharaoh's helmet represent frizzy hair (as noted by Denise Cappart in
her article in Reflet du Monde, 1956).
[Diop (1974) 19.]
However, Ramesses' head is crowned not with woolly hair, but a helmet.
Peter Clayton has noted, that in this depiction of the Pharaoh,
Ramesses wears a distinctive crown. [Clayton (1995) 146.] Clayton has
referred to this particular piece of head-wear as:
"the helmet-like khepresh, the so-called Blue or War Crown."
[Clayton (1995) 118.]
Therefore, the spirals that are detectable on the statue, represent
decoration on a helmet, not woolly hair. This point is further
confirmed by the fact that in coloured depictions, the crown is
painted blue, hence its name: the Blue Crown. [Geddes & Grosset (1997)
435.] It would never be this hue, if the paintings were meant to
represent hair. It would appear that the distinctive Blue Crown was
made from leather, and that it was invested with great ceremonial
significance: it seems to have represented the Pharaoh's supremacy
over the earthly realm. [Desroches-Noblecourt (1972) 128-132.]
Equally, the uraeus (hooded cobra), which protrudes from the front of
the crown, as well as the clearly delineated bands that mark the edges
of the helmet, all reveal that the head-hair is covered. Exactly what
the circles that cover the surface of the Blue Crown are supposed to
represent, is debateable, but it has been suggested by F. D. P.
Whicker, that they are meant to imitate the markings of a carapace
(tortoise shell), this being the material from which, he believes, the
original helmets were manufactured. [Whicker (1990).]
In addition to this, we should note the findings of the study that was
performed upon the hair of Ramesses' mummy. It is possible to
determine the race of an individual by taking a single hair from their
head, and studying the structure of it. When observed in transverse
section, the wavy scalp-hair of a Caucasoid is oval, or rather widely
elliptic in shape, with the least diameter amounting to about 70% of
the greatest. In contrast, the spiralled, woolly hair of a Negroid
individual, is narrowly elliptical in shape, with the lesser axis of
the ellipse being rather less than half the greater. [Baker (1974)
208, 296-297, 308.] The team of scholars that studied the hair of
Ramesses II, under the direction of Professor Ceccaldi, noted that
when seen in cross-section, the structure of the hair was oval in
shape, and therefore concluded that Ramesses had been cymotrich
(wavy-haired). [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
This clearly demonstrates that Ramesses did not have woolly hair, and
consequently, that the Turin portrait statue does not prove that
Ramesses was black. In terms of evidence evaluation, the results
produced from a study of Ramesses' mortal remains, are of higher value
than any amount of conclusions that have been drawn only from
portraits. Therefore, Diop's claims are completely baseless.
Red-Haired Ramesses
We would perhaps do well to end with the conclusions of the research
team that investigated Ramesses' hair:
"Ramses IId mummy's hair is confined to a temporo-occipital zone
which corresponds to an advanced stage of baldness.
Hairs are slightly crimped and show an oval cross-section, the
great axis of which lies between 60 and 70 µm: they are specific of «a
cymotrich leucoderm».
The sample which was investigated comprised identical percentages
of fully depigmented and pigmented hairs, the overall colour being a
light fair red with some tendency towards yellow.
Although the microscope examination was able to show strong
evidence of red pigments, no evidence of possible «fair» pigments was
obtained: the latter might be present as a «diffuse» component which
could be masked by a faint yellow dye (probably arising from dilute
«Henne» or one of its derivatives)." [Balout, et al. (1985) 256.]
Bibliography
Baker, J. R. (1974) Race (London: Oxford University Press).
Balout, L., C. Roubet & C. Desroches-Noblecourt [eds.] (1985) La Momie
de Ramsès II: Contribution Scientifique à l'Égyptologie (Paris:
Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations).
Clayton, P. A. (1995) Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign
Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt (London: Thames &
Hudson).
Coon, C. S. & E. E. Hunt (1966) The Living Races of Man (London:
Jonathan Cape).
Dart, R. A. (1939) "Population Fluctuation over 7,000 Years in Egypt."
Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, XXVII, 95-145.
Desroches-Noblecourt, C. [Claude, trans.] (1972) Tutankhamen: Life and
Death of a Pharaoh (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books).
Diop, C. A. [M. Cook, trans.] (1974) The African Origin of
Civilization: Myth or Reality? (Westport: Lawrence Hill).
Diop, C. A. (1987) "Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic
Anthropology." In Van Sertima & Williams (1987) 161-225.
Geddes & Grosset (1997) Ancient Egypt: Myth and History (New Lanark:
Geddes & Grosset).
Günther, H. F. K. [G. C. Wheeler, trans.] (1927) The Racial Elements
of European History (London: Methuen).
Howe, S. (1998) Afrocentrism: Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes
(London: Verso).
Parks, L. (2000) "Ancient Egyptians Wore Wigs." Egypt Revealed, May 29.
Partridge, R. B. (1994) Faces of Pharaohs: Royal Mummies and Coffins
From Ancient Thebes (London: Rubicon Press).
Sayce, A. H. (1925) The Races of the Old Testament (London: Religious
Tract Society).
Van Sertima, I. & L. Williams [eds.] (1987) Great African Thinkers,
Volume I: Cheikh Anta Diop (New Brunswick: Transaction Books).
Wainwright, G. A. (1938) The Sky-Religion in Egypt: Its Antiquity and
Effects (Cambridge: University Press).
Whicker, F. D. P. (1990) Egypt and the Mountains of the Moon
(Braunton: Merlin Books).
Color Symbolism in kmt art Red
according to wilkinson anyway
Red: associated w/fire and blood. Can symbolise life and regeneration
(henna was used in funery rituals and paintings) also symbolises
dangerous forces beyond the realm of total control. The hostile desert
and of course Set. (oh apparently he is said to have red eyes... maybe
its my lack of reading repatoir that I have never come accorss this,
but I have been wondering about it. So he has red hair and eyes and
white skin (just in case any one is wondering) odd though because the
ntr are all said to have gold skin.... symbolises anger, destruction
and death.
deshir ieb (red of heart or furious)
desheru - wrath
the scribes would use this color to write the word beta insted of the
regular black ink. ( and for the unlucky days) as well as the names of
hostile monsters and gods like Apep and Set. wilkonson has decided to
say that he thinks that the ramesese kings had red hair. I wonder why.
(apparently we have to se ceccaldi and dr rita freed) I should do that.
signifies the fierce nature of the radient sun and was used in
protective amulates. Was used to represent the setting sun.
blue
irtiu and khesbedj
represtend the heavens and the primeval flood.
life and rebirth
the river nile, its crops, offerings and fertility.
fecundity figurers
the bennu
the baboon
yellow
khenet and kenit
sun
the eternal and imperishable
usually the color used for the depictions of the ntr
green
wadj
growing things
life cycle
resurrection
healing and well being
white
hedj and shesep
cleanliness, purity
sacredness
the word hedj also refers to silver
the color of southern egypt
black
kem
night
death
destruction of enemies
underworld
life
fertility
Red: associated w/fire and blood. Can symbolise life and regeneration
(henna was used in funery rituals and paintings) also symbolises
dangerous forces beyond the realm of total control. The hostile desert
and of course Set. (oh apparently he is said to have red eyes... maybe
its my lack of reading repatoir that I have never come accorss this,
but I have been wondering about it. So he has red hair and eyes and
white skin (just in case any one is wondering) odd though because the
ntr are all said to have gold skin.... symbolises anger, destruction
and death.
deshir ieb (red of heart or furious)
desheru - wrath
the scribes would use this color to write the word beta insted of the
regular black ink. ( and for the unlucky days) as well as the names of
hostile monsters and gods like Apep and Set. wilkonson has decided to
say that he thinks that the ramesese kings had red hair. I wonder why.
(apparently we have to se ceccaldi and dr rita freed) I should do that.
signifies the fierce nature of the radient sun and was used in
protective amulates. Was used to represent the setting sun.
blue
irtiu and khesbedj
represtend the heavens and the primeval flood.
life and rebirth
the river nile, its crops, offerings and fertility.
fecundity figurers
the bennu
the baboon
yellow
khenet and kenit
sun
the eternal and imperishable
usually the color used for the depictions of the ntr
green
wadj
growing things
life cycle
resurrection
healing and well being
white
hedj and shesep
cleanliness, purity
sacredness
the word hedj also refers to silver
the color of southern egypt
black
kem
night
death
destruction of enemies
underworld
life
fertility
Dusting for Fingerprints II
Dusting for Fingerprints II
In the second part of our look at Graham Hancock, we examine his views
on Egypt and Cambodia and hear from the author in his own words as he
defends himself against critics.
BY JASON COLAVITO
READ MORE ABOUT THIS IN MY BOOK: THE CULT OF ALIEN GODS
Great Sphinx at Giza
V: When the Stars Are Right: Egypt and Angkor
The centerpiece of Fingerprints and its sequels Mystery of the Sphinx
(1997) and Heaven's Mirror (1998) stands guard over the pyramid
complex at Giza, positioned exactly on the border of the ancient Two
Kingdoms of Egypt. For centuries the Great Sphinx stood guard over
Giza, which the ancients knew as Rosteau. The head of this statue has
long puzzled archaeologists because it seems out of proportion with
the rest of the creature's body. Simply put, it is too small.
Building on an actual theory that the head had been recarved at a
later date, Hancock makes a baseless assumption that the Sphinx was
once a full lion with the head of the animal to match the body. No
document or evidence confirms this; in fact the theory was first put
forward during a 1993 NBC special which claimed Atlantean origins for
the statue. However, this assumption is vital for Hancock's theory to
work.
Hancock uses the work of maverick amateur archaeologist and tour guide
John Anthony West to bolster his claims of ancient civilization. West
did extensive work on the statue, measuring and photographing all of
the weathering on the body of the lion and the walls of the "Sphinx
enclosure" surrounding it. His conclusions were mind-blowing.
West concluded that the weathering occurred by falling water, not
blowing wind. This meant that extensive rainfall must have weathered
the statue before the desert sands had buried it. Since the last
Egyptian rainfall of that magnitude was over 7,000 years ago, this
meant that history as we know it needed an overhaul.
Egyptologists quickly reacted with outrage and anger. They concluded
that there was no evidence for an older Sphinx and returned the statue
to its comfortable place safely stowed away in the reign of the
pharaoh Khafre. Unfortunately, a team of geologists led by Dr. Robert
Schoch of Boston University reached the same conclusions, and a number
of prominent geologists agreed.
Egyptology fired back with a theory that the Sphinx was weathered by
"salt crystal exfoliation" where Nile salts were sucked into the
sand-covered Sphinx enclosure and performed a leeching of the
limestone walls. Geologist August Matthusen sums up the criticisms of
Schoch:
Schoch's ideas ignore several things. "Precipitation-induced
weathering" versus "wind-induced weathering" producing different
weathering morphologies is not an accepted idea, rather variations in
the rock usually account for the different weathering morphologies.
Matthusen claims that different densities of the layers of Giza
limestone account for the weathering pattern. However, neither side
has absolute proof, and the water-weathering is a seductive
hypothesis, much simpler to understand and agree with than an obscure
"hydrostatic exfoliation." While the burden of proof falls on West to
prove the antiquity of the Sphinx, the exfoliation reaction sounds
like the last gasp of Ptolemaic theory adding epicycles upon epicycles
to compete with the simpler heliocentric universe. Obviously, this
question requires extensive research before either answer can be
accepted as fact.
Though by the time this argument came to a boil, Hancock had arrived
fresh from his success with The Sign and the Seal. While researching
the controversy, Hancock met former surveyor and amateur archaeologist
Robert Bauval, and history changed again.
Bauval became famous at about the time of the Sphinx controversy
because of his book The Orion Mystery, co-authored by Adrian Gilbert
who in turn wrote The Mayan Prophesies predicting the end of time
itself on December 23, 2012, the last day of the Mayan calendar.
Building upon the Erich von Däniken-inspired Robert Temple's The
Sirius Mystery, a search for ancient alien-Egyptian astronomers,
Bauval sought to apply Temple's lessons to Egypt and arrived at yet
another stunning conclusion. The pyramid complex at Giza, including
the Great Pyramid, was a map of the constellation of Orion as it
appeared over Egypt in 10,500 B.C.
Hancock and Bauval then teamed up to become co-authors of Mystery of
the Sphinx where they elaborated Bauval's theory, showing a
correlation between the three Giza pyramids and the three belt stars
of Orion. To explain a discrepancy between their position at the time
of construction in 2500 B.C. and the position of the stars, the two
authors were obliged to rotate the sky backwards through the slow
changes in position wrought by the precession of the equinoxes to find
a match.
Now it gets even more confusing.
Precession is the wobble-effect of the earth's axis which makes the
stars move one degree every 72 years, or one complete cycle every
25,920 years. (The actual figure is one degree every 71.6 years, so
all numbers are approximate.) As a result, astrologically the sun
rises on the spring equinox against a new constellation every 2160
years. Today that constellation is about to be Aquarius, in Roman
times it was Pisces. Before that Aries and Taurus. This constellation
is considered the "ruling" constellation, with the solsticial and
equinoctial constellations forming the "four corners" of the
astrological "earth."
Anyway, Hancock and Bauval turned the cosmic clock backwards to align
the pyramids with Orion c. 10,500 B.C., which they claim was the date
of the lost civilization's entry into Egypt. That time falls within
the astrological "Age of Leo," and lo and behold: we have a giant
lion, the Sphinx, dating from that same time! What's more, on the
equinox of 10,500 B.C., the Sphinx would have stared eastward at its
own celestial image while the pyramids reflected the setting of Orion
and the Nile mirrored the Milky Way. A very neat and seductive hypothesis.
But, like any new theory, there are many problems. First, there is no
evidence that the ancient Egyptians had any constellation called Leo.
In fact, the only constellations we know they shared with the modern
zodiac were Orion and Draco. Other correlations are unproven. Even if
it were true, there is no clear evidence that the Sphinx represented
Leo or a lion at all. Robert Temple, for instance, thought the Sphinx
resembled a dog more than a lion, since the dog-god Anubis guarded
most sacred spaces.
Also, there is no hard evidence that the Egyptians knew about the
Precession of the Equinoxes, let alone had the ability to calculate it
to fix pyramid positions.
However, Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend wrote an
elaborate and dense study of ancient myth called Hamlet's Mill where
they chronicle the use of numbers derived from the precessional
figures (i.e. 72, 144, 216, 432 etc.) in ancient mythology, like the
72 conspirators who killed Osiris or the 432,000 warriors of Valhalla.
They discovered that most ancient myths carried what they considered
to be antediluvian star knowledge. Their study, written a decade
before Chariots of the Gods brought aliens into the equation,
concluded that ancient man had advanced knowledge of the stars from
generations of observation, but it stopped short of claiming proof for
any advanced civilization to account for the knowledge.
This puts the researcher in a bad position. Hamlet's Mill was a
powerful and convincing study of prehistoric knowledge, but how does
it apply to the structures ancient man created? The answer was once
again, we don't know. But Hancock tried to find out.
Hancock's research assistant brought something interesting to
Hancock's attention in the summer of 1997. While running a check on
the temple layouts at Angkor Wat, the 12th century Hindu and Buddhist
temple complex in Cambodia, the assistant discovered that the main
dozen of the 72 temples of Angkor corresponded roughly to the
constellation of Draco as it appeared in 10,500 B.C. A look at the
"correlation" at first appears to be amazing because the temples align
so perfectly. (see Heaven's Mirror). But upon further inspection the
industrious researcher discovers that the correlation is achieved by
ignoring the majority of the temples. Hancock justifies this by
claiming that only the largest and oldest of the temples deserve to be
counted, since the others were built later by people unfamiliar with
the master plan handed down from antiquity.
But even without the faulty veneer of a 12,000 year old civilization,
the pyramids of Giza do seem to line up with Orion and the oldest
temples of Angkor seem to bear an uncanny resemblance to Draco. While
there is no proof that Angkor had anything to do with Egypt, somehow
it seems too much of a stretch that these buildings would line up by
coincidence. Of the two, the Orion correlation is the stronger. While
still controversial, it has been published in reputable, but not
peer-reviewed, journals like Discussions in Egyptology and is slowly
gaining acceptance because Egypt abounds with Orion mythology that
makes the positioning of the pyramids almost inevitably tied to Orion,
identified with the death-god Osiris.
VI: Risen Pharaohs and British Television: Backlash
The BBC's flagship science program Horizon sought to demolish
Hancock's theory much the same way another BBC program built up Bauval
a half-decade earlier. The show picked apart the lost-civilization
hypothesis point by point, but then it too made a tragic and silly
mistake. Astronomer Ed Krupp presented his opinion that for the Orion
correlation to work, the pyramids would have to be flipped upside
down. This is because the pyramids are arranged with the smallest and
"uppermost" pyramid located at the southernmost point of Giza. The
smallest and "uppermost" star of Orion is in the northern extreme of
the belt.
Hancock was not allowed to present a rebuttal that the Egyptians saw
south, not north, as up and therefore arranged their pyramids to face
"up" the way Orion does. So, like any good post-modern individual,
Hancock sued.
After months of adjudication, the verdict was in. From the Daily
Telegraph of December 11, 2000:
The BBC has taken the unprecedented step of re-editing a
television programme to show immediately after broadcasting a
watchdog's attack on the original version.
The move follows a Broadcasting Standards Commission ruling that a
Horizon documentary last year was unfair on an author.
It is the first time that the BBC has taken such action after a
critical judgment since it began showing television programmes in 1936.
The journalist goes on to make several errors about both the BBC and
Hancock, but the gist is correct.
Egyptology has also not been very kind to Hancock and his theories.
The Director of Antiquities for the Egyptian government, Dr. Zawi
Hawass dislikes these theories because they deny Egypt its cultural
greatness. Dr. Hawass is not without his own problems. He has worked
for years with Mark Lehrner, a former disciple of alleged psychic
Edgar Cayce who instructed his followers to find the Hall of Records
from Atlantis at Giza. Hawass and the government of Egypt have denied
Hancock and other researchers the right to measure or investigate the
pyramids and the Sphinx and has stopped any more conclusive dating of
the monuments, providing ample fodder for conspiracy theorists. Hawass
is acting out of self-interest because to preserve classic
Egyptology's view of Egyptian greatness is to preserve that of his
impovershed country. If Khufu did not start a pyramid dynasty, the
modern nation of Egypt could not claim it as a true cultural legacy.
Yet Hancock, Bauval and others act on their own self-interest with a
rather generous interpretation of facts. Solid proof would be the only
way to change minds.
VII: Primordial Waters and Japanese Rocks: Underworld
For his millions of readers, Graham Hancock is a maverick standing
alone against an oppressive establishment. His victory over the BBC
solidified this view in the minds of his legions of devoted fans, and
even skeptical readers voiced approval on his website's message
boards. Buoyed by this success, Hancock sought to take on his toughest
challenge: finally providing proof of his theories that science would
accept. The problem is summarized by geologist August Matthusen:
"How did a civilization capable of carving a monolithic structure come
into being, which vanished without any other trace? As many other
people have pointed out: what happened to their pots and pot sherds,
stoneworking tools, and evidence for their residences?"
Hancock is currently researching that answer in the only place no one
has ever looked: the ocean. His theory is once again seductively
simple: during the Ice Age, sea levels were lower, and since most
people live on the coast, the remains of the lost civilization must
lie under the ocean. Oddly enough, that same theory is now being used
to rewrite the peopling of the Americas since new settlements have
been found off the Canadian coast showing people did not walk to
America, but sailed down the coast.
Hancock has just finished conducting dives around the world seeking
out sunken cities and temples, hoping to find indisputable proof of a
lost world. In February of 2000, Hancock sent out an e-mail saying he was
"collecting legends and traditions of the ancient Dravidian people of
[India] - legends that speak of lost lands now covered by ocean. These
legends seem to be confirmed by underwater discoveries at sites such
as Poompuhur, including a mysterious U-shaped stone structure, three
miles off the coast at a depth of more than 80 feet."
Three years before, Hancock reported on the discovery of another
underwater monument, the Yonaguni megalith under the ocean off the
southernmost island of Japan. This monument bears a striking
resemblance to a terraced temple, and the archaeological community is,
like always, divided on the issue. Many geologists, including
ironically Robert Schoch, believe only natural processes created the
formation. Other scientists, primarily Japanese, believe ancient man
created it because of its regular features.
But so what? What difference does this rock make? Well, plenty since
that area of the ocean was last above water around 7500 B.C., before
Egypt began.
The debate over Yonaguni is far from over. The History Channel weighed
in with its opinion that the formation is man-made because that
opinion made for a great documentary linking the rocks to Plato's
Atlantis. Schoch believes it natural to bolster his credentials as a
debunker so others will accept his dating of the Sphinx. The Japanese
believe it artificial to bolster their national pride as the cradle of
civilization (a Japanese archaeologist just admitted to forging a
stone-age site to bolster this claim). Hancock needs it to be
artificial to confirm his theory. Missing from this debate is anyone
acting as a disinterested researcher.
Assuming it is artificial, the first question any researcher must ask
is who built it? Was there a civilization capable of this? Actually,
there was. The Jomon culture could have done this without much
problem, so while Yonaguni would be the grandest example of
Paleolithic culture, it would not need a lost civilization. So either
way, the monument's importance to the lost civilization hypothesis is
secondary at best.
None of this is stopping Hancock from publishing a new book,
Underworld, with Yonaguni as a centerpiece. In his own words, via the
internet:
"A sincere objective of Underworld is not to repeat myself. This is
one of the reasons why the main areas of study are India, Maldives,
Japan, Sumer (ancient Iraq) and the Mediterranean. Japan is not just
Yonaguni (although the world has so far only seen approximately
one-tenth of what is there; the rest will feature in Underworld and
the linked TV series) but also other intriguing underwater sites like
Kerama, Chatan and Aguni, plus the whole mystery of the ancient Jomon
culture of Japan (dating back to at least 16,500 years ago). Another
objective, which is why I have gone in for this difficult and
dangerous game of diving in places where leisure divers never go, is
to provide my scientific critics with the hard evidence they say they
want. Another objective is to set the academic theory of the origins
of civilisation [o]n its head. I'm not putting any of this on the
website at the moment but concentrating instead on researching and
writing the book and shooting the TV [series]."
If Hancock can deliver on his promises and not just produce a slick TV
series and another best-selling book, he stands a chance to shape the
debate on ancient history in a way that von Däniken could only dream.
VIII: Motivations and Considerations: In His Own Words
After Hancock's success with five books of alternative history, the
formerly financially-strapped reporter has seen the potential for a
market willing and able to spend money to read about the enigmas of
the past. In his words: "After years of debt and dicing with financial
disaster I am proud to say that my books are now making money."
Hancock concedes that his purpose is not primarily to rewrite science,
but to serve a market: "Whether my arguments are 100 percent right or
100 percent wrong, [his book sales figure] tells me that people must
like to read me and must, by and large, feel that they get value for
money' from doing so."
Perhaps the most damning argument against Hancock's methods can be
made in his own words. Via the Internet, Hancock wrote that his book
sales figure
"tells me what my job' is - the job, in other words that the public
are funding me to do when they buy my books. This is to make the best
case I possibly can for a lost civilization, to fight tooth and claw
with historians, archaeologists and other historians [and] champion
the intuition - which many of us share - that a great mystery may have
been locked away in humanity's past."
Authorities often accuse Hancock of being selective with his evidence
and using innuendo to "prove" his case. Comparing himself to a lawyer
for his "client," the lost civilization, Hancock responds:
"Of course I'm selective! It isn't my job to show my client in a bad
light. Another criticism is that I use innuendo to make my case. Of
course I do - innuendo and anything else that works. I don't care
about the rules of the game' here - because it isn't a game and there
are no rules."
Hancock says he is glad that his books have reignited an old debate
about the origins of civilization, and here Hancock has a point. Ever
since Louis Henry Morgan proclaimed his stages of civilization more
than one hundred years ago, it has been common knowledge that
civilizations arise through barbarism from grades of savagery. Despite
the fact that this model was tossed out with the arrival of
relativism, it holds a powerful clamp over many archaeological minds.
Civilization does not always flow in a linear direction, as evidenced
by the Middle Ages, so old theories based on this model can and should
be challenged.
"I'm proud," Hancock says, "that orthodox thinkers, who would prefer
to have ignored us, have been compelled into a backlash."
Perhaps this is Hancock's greatest contribution to the ongoing debate
over the origins of civilization, that he has provided a catalyst to
force old theories to be revised before new evidence. The Hegelian
diacletic requires opposing thought for intellectual advancement, so
maybe Hancock's antithesis can create a new synthesis to finally help
explain the enigmas current theories cannot. After all, revision is at
the heart of the scientific method, so even if Hancock's work is not
scientific, the very fact that he focuses attention on the weakest
parts of the current paradigm must count for something.
Citing the fallacy of relying on authority and tradition, Hancock says
that the errors he has made in the past should not detract from his
and Bauval's theories:
"Does this mean that it would have been better if we hadn't begun to
develop the theory in the first place? I don't think so. Does it mean
we should have sat back and ignored the anomalies and puzzles that
orthodox historians offer no satisfactory explanations for? Again, I
don't think so."
IX: Scientism and Paradigm-Shifts: Conclusions
Hancock's work reflects an attitude many people share, that science is
no longer a method for achieving knowledge but a system designed to
prevent the masses from ever understanding the world around them.
Hancock fights against what seems to outsiders to be an uncaring and
unresponsive scientific community too set in its ways to see that
theories are not facts and that assumptions are not realities. While
much of Hancock's evidence is misrepresented, flawed or non-existent,
there is a core that deserves further investigation even if nothing
ever comes of it.
Hancock makes mistakes. Many of them. He also uses bad evidence and
evidence too sketchy and too speculative to be taken seriously.
However, at the end of the day, when all the elaborate innuendo is
stripped away and all the dead wood removed, there are still questions
about man's past too important to be ignored. There are genuine
anomalies still unexplained, and the scientific community is not
innocent in this. If Hancock's sin is being too eager to accept a lost
civilization, scientists err in too quickly rejecting anomalies that
threaten the dominant paradigm.
In a Greek museum there is a complex series of dials and gears that
form a perfect and complex computer for calculating star positions. It
is a fact, yet history refuses to acknowledge this, claiming that the
computer is "unique." It defies reason to believe that the only
ancient computer in history would end up in the bottom of the ocean.
Logic dictates that there must be others. Hancock says:
"I believe the time has come to ask serious questions about the almost
pathological eagerness of intellectuals to disparage any intelligent
interest in the unexplained puzzles of the past as 'mystery fever' and
to persuade us that any opposition to the dominant historical paradigm
must be the work of 'archaeological dreamers.'"
As far as that goes, he is right. Even if all of his answers are
wrong, Hancock's questions deserve to be asked. Science not only
tolerates but demands challenges to paradigms in order to produce an
ever-clearer picture of the world. The same should apply to history,
and even when a theory is wrong, investigating it can never do harm so
long as the investigations are scientific. The worst that could happen
would be a paradigm shift.
After all of his work, Hancock still does not consider himself a
scientist. His old journalistic instincts have not died. The thrill of
finding a good story still inspires him to go to work each day and
fight the good fight.
"I still believe that my primary role in all of this is as a reporter
and synthesizer," he said.
Like any good investigative reporter, for Hancock the story is never
finished. There is always one more story left to tell. Be sure to look
for it in bookstores everywhere.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I: Hancock's Books
Hancock, Graham. Fingerprints of the Gods. New York. Crown: 1995.
-----------------------. Heaven's Mirror. New York. Crown: 1998.
----------------------- et al. The Mars Mystery. New York: Crown. 1998.
----------------------- and Robert Bauval. The Message of the Sphinx.
New York. Crown: 1997.
-----------------------. The Sign and the Seal. New York. Crown: 1992.
II: Other Sources
Bauval, Robert and Adrian Gilbert. The Orion Mystery. New York. Three
Rivers Press: 1995.
Däniken, Erich von. Chariots of the Gods? New York. Putnam: 1970.
grahamhancock.com postings and message board writings.
Heinrich, Paul. "The Wild Side of Geoarchaeology Page"
http://www.intersurf.com/~chalcedony/FOG5.html
Highfield, Roger. "BBC Reedits Horizon After Watchdog's Attack." The
Daily Telegraph (London). 11 December 2001.
Orser, Charles E. "The 15,000-Year Mistake." Discovering Archaeology.
31 January 2001.
Pethokoukis, James. "So How Old Do I Look?" US News & World Report. 24
July 2000.
Robins, Jane. "Horizon Censured for Unfair Treatment." The
Independent. 9 November 2000.
Santillana, Giorgio and Hertha von Dechend. Hamlet's Mill. Boston.
Nonpareil Books: 1969.
Temple, Robert. The Sirius Mystery (revised). Rochester, Vermont.
Destiny Books: 1998.
Yronwode, Catherine. "Notes on a Lecture by Graham Hancock."
http://www.luckymojo.com/hancocklecture.html
http://jcolavito.tripod.com/lostcivilizations/id3.html
In the second part of our look at Graham Hancock, we examine his views
on Egypt and Cambodia and hear from the author in his own words as he
defends himself against critics.
BY JASON COLAVITO
READ MORE ABOUT THIS IN MY BOOK: THE CULT OF ALIEN GODS
Great Sphinx at Giza
V: When the Stars Are Right: Egypt and Angkor
The centerpiece of Fingerprints and its sequels Mystery of the Sphinx
(1997) and Heaven's Mirror (1998) stands guard over the pyramid
complex at Giza, positioned exactly on the border of the ancient Two
Kingdoms of Egypt. For centuries the Great Sphinx stood guard over
Giza, which the ancients knew as Rosteau. The head of this statue has
long puzzled archaeologists because it seems out of proportion with
the rest of the creature's body. Simply put, it is too small.
Building on an actual theory that the head had been recarved at a
later date, Hancock makes a baseless assumption that the Sphinx was
once a full lion with the head of the animal to match the body. No
document or evidence confirms this; in fact the theory was first put
forward during a 1993 NBC special which claimed Atlantean origins for
the statue. However, this assumption is vital for Hancock's theory to
work.
Hancock uses the work of maverick amateur archaeologist and tour guide
John Anthony West to bolster his claims of ancient civilization. West
did extensive work on the statue, measuring and photographing all of
the weathering on the body of the lion and the walls of the "Sphinx
enclosure" surrounding it. His conclusions were mind-blowing.
West concluded that the weathering occurred by falling water, not
blowing wind. This meant that extensive rainfall must have weathered
the statue before the desert sands had buried it. Since the last
Egyptian rainfall of that magnitude was over 7,000 years ago, this
meant that history as we know it needed an overhaul.
Egyptologists quickly reacted with outrage and anger. They concluded
that there was no evidence for an older Sphinx and returned the statue
to its comfortable place safely stowed away in the reign of the
pharaoh Khafre. Unfortunately, a team of geologists led by Dr. Robert
Schoch of Boston University reached the same conclusions, and a number
of prominent geologists agreed.
Egyptology fired back with a theory that the Sphinx was weathered by
"salt crystal exfoliation" where Nile salts were sucked into the
sand-covered Sphinx enclosure and performed a leeching of the
limestone walls. Geologist August Matthusen sums up the criticisms of
Schoch:
Schoch's ideas ignore several things. "Precipitation-induced
weathering" versus "wind-induced weathering" producing different
weathering morphologies is not an accepted idea, rather variations in
the rock usually account for the different weathering morphologies.
Matthusen claims that different densities of the layers of Giza
limestone account for the weathering pattern. However, neither side
has absolute proof, and the water-weathering is a seductive
hypothesis, much simpler to understand and agree with than an obscure
"hydrostatic exfoliation." While the burden of proof falls on West to
prove the antiquity of the Sphinx, the exfoliation reaction sounds
like the last gasp of Ptolemaic theory adding epicycles upon epicycles
to compete with the simpler heliocentric universe. Obviously, this
question requires extensive research before either answer can be
accepted as fact.
Though by the time this argument came to a boil, Hancock had arrived
fresh from his success with The Sign and the Seal. While researching
the controversy, Hancock met former surveyor and amateur archaeologist
Robert Bauval, and history changed again.
Bauval became famous at about the time of the Sphinx controversy
because of his book The Orion Mystery, co-authored by Adrian Gilbert
who in turn wrote The Mayan Prophesies predicting the end of time
itself on December 23, 2012, the last day of the Mayan calendar.
Building upon the Erich von Däniken-inspired Robert Temple's The
Sirius Mystery, a search for ancient alien-Egyptian astronomers,
Bauval sought to apply Temple's lessons to Egypt and arrived at yet
another stunning conclusion. The pyramid complex at Giza, including
the Great Pyramid, was a map of the constellation of Orion as it
appeared over Egypt in 10,500 B.C.
Hancock and Bauval then teamed up to become co-authors of Mystery of
the Sphinx where they elaborated Bauval's theory, showing a
correlation between the three Giza pyramids and the three belt stars
of Orion. To explain a discrepancy between their position at the time
of construction in 2500 B.C. and the position of the stars, the two
authors were obliged to rotate the sky backwards through the slow
changes in position wrought by the precession of the equinoxes to find
a match.
Now it gets even more confusing.
Precession is the wobble-effect of the earth's axis which makes the
stars move one degree every 72 years, or one complete cycle every
25,920 years. (The actual figure is one degree every 71.6 years, so
all numbers are approximate.) As a result, astrologically the sun
rises on the spring equinox against a new constellation every 2160
years. Today that constellation is about to be Aquarius, in Roman
times it was Pisces. Before that Aries and Taurus. This constellation
is considered the "ruling" constellation, with the solsticial and
equinoctial constellations forming the "four corners" of the
astrological "earth."
Anyway, Hancock and Bauval turned the cosmic clock backwards to align
the pyramids with Orion c. 10,500 B.C., which they claim was the date
of the lost civilization's entry into Egypt. That time falls within
the astrological "Age of Leo," and lo and behold: we have a giant
lion, the Sphinx, dating from that same time! What's more, on the
equinox of 10,500 B.C., the Sphinx would have stared eastward at its
own celestial image while the pyramids reflected the setting of Orion
and the Nile mirrored the Milky Way. A very neat and seductive hypothesis.
But, like any new theory, there are many problems. First, there is no
evidence that the ancient Egyptians had any constellation called Leo.
In fact, the only constellations we know they shared with the modern
zodiac were Orion and Draco. Other correlations are unproven. Even if
it were true, there is no clear evidence that the Sphinx represented
Leo or a lion at all. Robert Temple, for instance, thought the Sphinx
resembled a dog more than a lion, since the dog-god Anubis guarded
most sacred spaces.
Also, there is no hard evidence that the Egyptians knew about the
Precession of the Equinoxes, let alone had the ability to calculate it
to fix pyramid positions.
However, Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend wrote an
elaborate and dense study of ancient myth called Hamlet's Mill where
they chronicle the use of numbers derived from the precessional
figures (i.e. 72, 144, 216, 432 etc.) in ancient mythology, like the
72 conspirators who killed Osiris or the 432,000 warriors of Valhalla.
They discovered that most ancient myths carried what they considered
to be antediluvian star knowledge. Their study, written a decade
before Chariots of the Gods brought aliens into the equation,
concluded that ancient man had advanced knowledge of the stars from
generations of observation, but it stopped short of claiming proof for
any advanced civilization to account for the knowledge.
This puts the researcher in a bad position. Hamlet's Mill was a
powerful and convincing study of prehistoric knowledge, but how does
it apply to the structures ancient man created? The answer was once
again, we don't know. But Hancock tried to find out.
Hancock's research assistant brought something interesting to
Hancock's attention in the summer of 1997. While running a check on
the temple layouts at Angkor Wat, the 12th century Hindu and Buddhist
temple complex in Cambodia, the assistant discovered that the main
dozen of the 72 temples of Angkor corresponded roughly to the
constellation of Draco as it appeared in 10,500 B.C. A look at the
"correlation" at first appears to be amazing because the temples align
so perfectly. (see Heaven's Mirror). But upon further inspection the
industrious researcher discovers that the correlation is achieved by
ignoring the majority of the temples. Hancock justifies this by
claiming that only the largest and oldest of the temples deserve to be
counted, since the others were built later by people unfamiliar with
the master plan handed down from antiquity.
But even without the faulty veneer of a 12,000 year old civilization,
the pyramids of Giza do seem to line up with Orion and the oldest
temples of Angkor seem to bear an uncanny resemblance to Draco. While
there is no proof that Angkor had anything to do with Egypt, somehow
it seems too much of a stretch that these buildings would line up by
coincidence. Of the two, the Orion correlation is the stronger. While
still controversial, it has been published in reputable, but not
peer-reviewed, journals like Discussions in Egyptology and is slowly
gaining acceptance because Egypt abounds with Orion mythology that
makes the positioning of the pyramids almost inevitably tied to Orion,
identified with the death-god Osiris.
VI: Risen Pharaohs and British Television: Backlash
The BBC's flagship science program Horizon sought to demolish
Hancock's theory much the same way another BBC program built up Bauval
a half-decade earlier. The show picked apart the lost-civilization
hypothesis point by point, but then it too made a tragic and silly
mistake. Astronomer Ed Krupp presented his opinion that for the Orion
correlation to work, the pyramids would have to be flipped upside
down. This is because the pyramids are arranged with the smallest and
"uppermost" pyramid located at the southernmost point of Giza. The
smallest and "uppermost" star of Orion is in the northern extreme of
the belt.
Hancock was not allowed to present a rebuttal that the Egyptians saw
south, not north, as up and therefore arranged their pyramids to face
"up" the way Orion does. So, like any good post-modern individual,
Hancock sued.
After months of adjudication, the verdict was in. From the Daily
Telegraph of December 11, 2000:
The BBC has taken the unprecedented step of re-editing a
television programme to show immediately after broadcasting a
watchdog's attack on the original version.
The move follows a Broadcasting Standards Commission ruling that a
Horizon documentary last year was unfair on an author.
It is the first time that the BBC has taken such action after a
critical judgment since it began showing television programmes in 1936.
The journalist goes on to make several errors about both the BBC and
Hancock, but the gist is correct.
Egyptology has also not been very kind to Hancock and his theories.
The Director of Antiquities for the Egyptian government, Dr. Zawi
Hawass dislikes these theories because they deny Egypt its cultural
greatness. Dr. Hawass is not without his own problems. He has worked
for years with Mark Lehrner, a former disciple of alleged psychic
Edgar Cayce who instructed his followers to find the Hall of Records
from Atlantis at Giza. Hawass and the government of Egypt have denied
Hancock and other researchers the right to measure or investigate the
pyramids and the Sphinx and has stopped any more conclusive dating of
the monuments, providing ample fodder for conspiracy theorists. Hawass
is acting out of self-interest because to preserve classic
Egyptology's view of Egyptian greatness is to preserve that of his
impovershed country. If Khufu did not start a pyramid dynasty, the
modern nation of Egypt could not claim it as a true cultural legacy.
Yet Hancock, Bauval and others act on their own self-interest with a
rather generous interpretation of facts. Solid proof would be the only
way to change minds.
VII: Primordial Waters and Japanese Rocks: Underworld
For his millions of readers, Graham Hancock is a maverick standing
alone against an oppressive establishment. His victory over the BBC
solidified this view in the minds of his legions of devoted fans, and
even skeptical readers voiced approval on his website's message
boards. Buoyed by this success, Hancock sought to take on his toughest
challenge: finally providing proof of his theories that science would
accept. The problem is summarized by geologist August Matthusen:
"How did a civilization capable of carving a monolithic structure come
into being, which vanished without any other trace? As many other
people have pointed out: what happened to their pots and pot sherds,
stoneworking tools, and evidence for their residences?"
Hancock is currently researching that answer in the only place no one
has ever looked: the ocean. His theory is once again seductively
simple: during the Ice Age, sea levels were lower, and since most
people live on the coast, the remains of the lost civilization must
lie under the ocean. Oddly enough, that same theory is now being used
to rewrite the peopling of the Americas since new settlements have
been found off the Canadian coast showing people did not walk to
America, but sailed down the coast.
Hancock has just finished conducting dives around the world seeking
out sunken cities and temples, hoping to find indisputable proof of a
lost world. In February of 2000, Hancock sent out an e-mail saying he was
"collecting legends and traditions of the ancient Dravidian people of
[India] - legends that speak of lost lands now covered by ocean. These
legends seem to be confirmed by underwater discoveries at sites such
as Poompuhur, including a mysterious U-shaped stone structure, three
miles off the coast at a depth of more than 80 feet."
Three years before, Hancock reported on the discovery of another
underwater monument, the Yonaguni megalith under the ocean off the
southernmost island of Japan. This monument bears a striking
resemblance to a terraced temple, and the archaeological community is,
like always, divided on the issue. Many geologists, including
ironically Robert Schoch, believe only natural processes created the
formation. Other scientists, primarily Japanese, believe ancient man
created it because of its regular features.
But so what? What difference does this rock make? Well, plenty since
that area of the ocean was last above water around 7500 B.C., before
Egypt began.
The debate over Yonaguni is far from over. The History Channel weighed
in with its opinion that the formation is man-made because that
opinion made for a great documentary linking the rocks to Plato's
Atlantis. Schoch believes it natural to bolster his credentials as a
debunker so others will accept his dating of the Sphinx. The Japanese
believe it artificial to bolster their national pride as the cradle of
civilization (a Japanese archaeologist just admitted to forging a
stone-age site to bolster this claim). Hancock needs it to be
artificial to confirm his theory. Missing from this debate is anyone
acting as a disinterested researcher.
Assuming it is artificial, the first question any researcher must ask
is who built it? Was there a civilization capable of this? Actually,
there was. The Jomon culture could have done this without much
problem, so while Yonaguni would be the grandest example of
Paleolithic culture, it would not need a lost civilization. So either
way, the monument's importance to the lost civilization hypothesis is
secondary at best.
None of this is stopping Hancock from publishing a new book,
Underworld, with Yonaguni as a centerpiece. In his own words, via the
internet:
"A sincere objective of Underworld is not to repeat myself. This is
one of the reasons why the main areas of study are India, Maldives,
Japan, Sumer (ancient Iraq) and the Mediterranean. Japan is not just
Yonaguni (although the world has so far only seen approximately
one-tenth of what is there; the rest will feature in Underworld and
the linked TV series) but also other intriguing underwater sites like
Kerama, Chatan and Aguni, plus the whole mystery of the ancient Jomon
culture of Japan (dating back to at least 16,500 years ago). Another
objective, which is why I have gone in for this difficult and
dangerous game of diving in places where leisure divers never go, is
to provide my scientific critics with the hard evidence they say they
want. Another objective is to set the academic theory of the origins
of civilisation [o]n its head. I'm not putting any of this on the
website at the moment but concentrating instead on researching and
writing the book and shooting the TV [series]."
If Hancock can deliver on his promises and not just produce a slick TV
series and another best-selling book, he stands a chance to shape the
debate on ancient history in a way that von Däniken could only dream.
VIII: Motivations and Considerations: In His Own Words
After Hancock's success with five books of alternative history, the
formerly financially-strapped reporter has seen the potential for a
market willing and able to spend money to read about the enigmas of
the past. In his words: "After years of debt and dicing with financial
disaster I am proud to say that my books are now making money."
Hancock concedes that his purpose is not primarily to rewrite science,
but to serve a market: "Whether my arguments are 100 percent right or
100 percent wrong, [his book sales figure] tells me that people must
like to read me and must, by and large, feel that they get value for
money' from doing so."
Perhaps the most damning argument against Hancock's methods can be
made in his own words. Via the Internet, Hancock wrote that his book
sales figure
"tells me what my job' is - the job, in other words that the public
are funding me to do when they buy my books. This is to make the best
case I possibly can for a lost civilization, to fight tooth and claw
with historians, archaeologists and other historians [and] champion
the intuition - which many of us share - that a great mystery may have
been locked away in humanity's past."
Authorities often accuse Hancock of being selective with his evidence
and using innuendo to "prove" his case. Comparing himself to a lawyer
for his "client," the lost civilization, Hancock responds:
"Of course I'm selective! It isn't my job to show my client in a bad
light. Another criticism is that I use innuendo to make my case. Of
course I do - innuendo and anything else that works. I don't care
about the rules of the game' here - because it isn't a game and there
are no rules."
Hancock says he is glad that his books have reignited an old debate
about the origins of civilization, and here Hancock has a point. Ever
since Louis Henry Morgan proclaimed his stages of civilization more
than one hundred years ago, it has been common knowledge that
civilizations arise through barbarism from grades of savagery. Despite
the fact that this model was tossed out with the arrival of
relativism, it holds a powerful clamp over many archaeological minds.
Civilization does not always flow in a linear direction, as evidenced
by the Middle Ages, so old theories based on this model can and should
be challenged.
"I'm proud," Hancock says, "that orthodox thinkers, who would prefer
to have ignored us, have been compelled into a backlash."
Perhaps this is Hancock's greatest contribution to the ongoing debate
over the origins of civilization, that he has provided a catalyst to
force old theories to be revised before new evidence. The Hegelian
diacletic requires opposing thought for intellectual advancement, so
maybe Hancock's antithesis can create a new synthesis to finally help
explain the enigmas current theories cannot. After all, revision is at
the heart of the scientific method, so even if Hancock's work is not
scientific, the very fact that he focuses attention on the weakest
parts of the current paradigm must count for something.
Citing the fallacy of relying on authority and tradition, Hancock says
that the errors he has made in the past should not detract from his
and Bauval's theories:
"Does this mean that it would have been better if we hadn't begun to
develop the theory in the first place? I don't think so. Does it mean
we should have sat back and ignored the anomalies and puzzles that
orthodox historians offer no satisfactory explanations for? Again, I
don't think so."
IX: Scientism and Paradigm-Shifts: Conclusions
Hancock's work reflects an attitude many people share, that science is
no longer a method for achieving knowledge but a system designed to
prevent the masses from ever understanding the world around them.
Hancock fights against what seems to outsiders to be an uncaring and
unresponsive scientific community too set in its ways to see that
theories are not facts and that assumptions are not realities. While
much of Hancock's evidence is misrepresented, flawed or non-existent,
there is a core that deserves further investigation even if nothing
ever comes of it.
Hancock makes mistakes. Many of them. He also uses bad evidence and
evidence too sketchy and too speculative to be taken seriously.
However, at the end of the day, when all the elaborate innuendo is
stripped away and all the dead wood removed, there are still questions
about man's past too important to be ignored. There are genuine
anomalies still unexplained, and the scientific community is not
innocent in this. If Hancock's sin is being too eager to accept a lost
civilization, scientists err in too quickly rejecting anomalies that
threaten the dominant paradigm.
In a Greek museum there is a complex series of dials and gears that
form a perfect and complex computer for calculating star positions. It
is a fact, yet history refuses to acknowledge this, claiming that the
computer is "unique." It defies reason to believe that the only
ancient computer in history would end up in the bottom of the ocean.
Logic dictates that there must be others. Hancock says:
"I believe the time has come to ask serious questions about the almost
pathological eagerness of intellectuals to disparage any intelligent
interest in the unexplained puzzles of the past as 'mystery fever' and
to persuade us that any opposition to the dominant historical paradigm
must be the work of 'archaeological dreamers.'"
As far as that goes, he is right. Even if all of his answers are
wrong, Hancock's questions deserve to be asked. Science not only
tolerates but demands challenges to paradigms in order to produce an
ever-clearer picture of the world. The same should apply to history,
and even when a theory is wrong, investigating it can never do harm so
long as the investigations are scientific. The worst that could happen
would be a paradigm shift.
After all of his work, Hancock still does not consider himself a
scientist. His old journalistic instincts have not died. The thrill of
finding a good story still inspires him to go to work each day and
fight the good fight.
"I still believe that my primary role in all of this is as a reporter
and synthesizer," he said.
Like any good investigative reporter, for Hancock the story is never
finished. There is always one more story left to tell. Be sure to look
for it in bookstores everywhere.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I: Hancock's Books
Hancock, Graham. Fingerprints of the Gods. New York. Crown: 1995.
-----------------------. Heaven's Mirror. New York. Crown: 1998.
----------------------- et al. The Mars Mystery. New York: Crown. 1998.
----------------------- and Robert Bauval. The Message of the Sphinx.
New York. Crown: 1997.
-----------------------. The Sign and the Seal. New York. Crown: 1992.
II: Other Sources
Bauval, Robert and Adrian Gilbert. The Orion Mystery. New York. Three
Rivers Press: 1995.
Däniken, Erich von. Chariots of the Gods? New York. Putnam: 1970.
grahamhancock.com postings and message board writings.
Heinrich, Paul. "The Wild Side of Geoarchaeology Page"
http://www.intersurf.com/~chalcedony/FOG5.html
Highfield, Roger. "BBC Reedits Horizon After Watchdog's Attack." The
Daily Telegraph (London). 11 December 2001.
Orser, Charles E. "The 15,000-Year Mistake." Discovering Archaeology.
31 January 2001.
Pethokoukis, James. "So How Old Do I Look?" US News & World Report. 24
July 2000.
Robins, Jane. "Horizon Censured for Unfair Treatment." The
Independent. 9 November 2000.
Santillana, Giorgio and Hertha von Dechend. Hamlet's Mill. Boston.
Nonpareil Books: 1969.
Temple, Robert. The Sirius Mystery (revised). Rochester, Vermont.
Destiny Books: 1998.
Yronwode, Catherine. "Notes on a Lecture by Graham Hancock."
http://www.luckymojo.com/hancocklecture.html
http://jcolavito.tripod.com/lostcivilizations/id3.html
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