Celebrity Burials at Giza

 

The angel holds the Shen symbol over the deceased king, the symbol for eternity.

The Omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponds to the Egyptian Shen symbol for eternity.

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

The early Hebrew rulers and priests were "the mighty men of old" as described in Genesis 6:4. They were "heroes" of their time and "men of renown" (celebrities). They were known for their construction of temples, palaces, fortified cities, pyramids and ziggurats. The first person described as a city builder in the Bible is Cain. He built a settlement and named it after his son Enoch (Gen. 4). Enoch is a royal title.

Nilotic rulers constructed pyramids as elaborate tombs for themselves and for their wives. The pyramids were a repository for their mummified bodies and for objects they would need in the afterlife. They people of the Nile Valley Civilization (NVC) were very religious, and they viewed death as the beginning of a journey to life beyond. They hoped that one of their rulers would rise from the dead and lead his people to immortality. That is why they took such care in the preparation of the ruler's body before burial and why royal priests were retained to offer daily prayers for the deceased. 

As with esteemed people today such as the late Pope Francis, the funerals of the Nilotic Hebrew rulers included regal processions in which the families and officials accompanied the body of the deceased to the place of burial.

The pyramids were of such a grand scale that they inspired awe. The shape of the pyramid resembles a mountain, symbolic of the spatial sacred center between earth and heaven. It was hoped that the ruler would ascend to the place of immortality. 

The best-known pyramids are those at Giza in Egypt. South of these are other pyramids at Abusir and Saqqara (shown above). All these pyramids are aligned to the sacred city of Heliopolis (On or Iunu).

The Czech mission, led by Miroslav Barta, stated that the construction of the tombs in Abusir began during the mid 5th Dynasty and many priests and officials who worked in the Abusir Pyramid complex of the 5th Dynasty and the Sun Temples were buried there.

That is the case of the tomb of a priest named Rudj-Ka (or Rwd-Ka) that dates between 2465 and 2323 BC. Rudj-Ka was a priest who performed purification rituals for those who bore blood guilt and who had become contaminated through contact with blood or a corpse. Egyptian archaeologists discovered his tomb south of the cemetery of the pyramid builders at Giza. The tomb was unearthed near the pyramid builder's necropolis.

The tomb of Shepseskaf-ankh is the third tomb found at Abusir belonging to a priest-physician (wab sxmt or wab sekhmet). A huge false door inside the offerings chapel carries the names and titles of the tomb owner: “Priest of Re in the Temples of the Sun” and “Priest of Khnum” with other titles that indicate the high rank of this ruler-priest. Originally the huge limestone tomb was marked by a pyramid.

This 4,600-year small step pyramid was found at the archaeological site of al-Ghonemiya near the modern town of Edfu, Egypt.

Oriental Institute

The pyramid belongs to a series of almost identical small pyramids that have been discovered near several provincial centers in Egypt such as Elephantine, Nekhen, Naqada, Abydos, Zawiet el-Meitin near Minya, and Seila in the Fayum. The whole group dates to the reign of Pharaoh Huni (c.2600 BC), the last ruler of the 3rd Dynasty. They date to about 600 years before the time of Abraham.

Related reading: Ancient Egyptian Geometry; Sun Cities of the Ancient World; Horite and Sethite Mounds; Competition Between the Horites and the Sethites; Early Resurrection Texts; Funerary Rites and the Hope of Resurrection; Just Genesis: The Pyramids of Bosnia; BIBLICAL ANTHROPOLOGY: Divine Nature (Alpha) and Eternal Being (Omega)