Dr. Alice C. Linsley
The priests of the Ancient Nile Valley (ANV) were astronomers and architects. They recorded information about the fixed stars and clock-like motion of the planets for thousands of years.
By 4245 BC, the priests of the Upper Nile had a calendar based on the appearance of the binary star system Sirius that becomes visible to the naked eye once every 1,461 years. Apparently, Nilotes had been tracking this star and connecting it to seasonal changes for thousands of years.The Priest Manetho reported in his history (241 BC) that Nilotes had been stargazing as early as 40,000 years ago. Plato, who studied for 13 years in Egypt, claimed that the Africans had been tracking the heavens for 10,000 years.
The early Nilotic priests assisted in the planning of royal tombs, pyramids, and temples. Most were oriented to the East with the entrances facing the rising sun because the sun was the symbol of the High God. Many of the temples were in cities or royal settlements that were dedicated to the Sun. One example is Heliopolis, meaning "Sun City". In the Bible Heliopolis is called On.
Heliopolis is mentioned in Isaiah 19:18 as one of five Egyptian cities that swore allegiance to the Lord of Hosts. The pyramids of Giza, Abusir and Saqqara were aligned to the main obelisk or central pillar of Heliopolis, testifying to the prominence of that Sun city.
Heliopolis was called Iunu, meaning place of pillars. The main temple or Great House had many pillars. The Hebrew also conceived of earth as resting on pillars. According to Genesis 1 God separated the dry land from the sea as one of the early acts of creation. Imagine a great sea with steam rising from deep underwater fissures in the earth. Now imagine volcanoes rising up from the sea. These are the "pillars of the earth" described in Psalm 72, Job 9:6, and I Samuel 2:8.
Job 9 speaks of God "who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble." I Samuel 2:8 - "For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s and he had set the world upon them." Among Abraham's Nilotic ancestors the original volcanic mound that emerged from the sea was called TaTJaNuN which means the "twin pillars of God in the water."
Pillars were used to mark sacred places, royal tombs, and the entrances to temples. In the Ugaritic creation story the twin mountains likewise are indicated by the sign T. The mountains Trgzz and Trmg emerged from a universal ocean and held up the firmament. The temples that the early Hebrew knew were pillared like this Hypostyle Hall at Karnak.
Karnak's main temple was dedicated to Amun-Ra, the high God. Ra or Re in ancient Egyptian means "father". Re was believed to have a son HR (Horus in Greek). HR in ancient Egyptian means "Most High One".
Originally, the Karnak temple complex was probably located on an island, Karnak's original geological configuration would have produced the illusion of rising from the inundation, recalling the early Nilotic creation story of pillars rising from the primal sea. The Nilotic peoples believed that the Nile was where the work of creation began when the Creator caused a mound to emerge from a primal sea. The first life form was a lily, growing on the peak of the emerging dry land called Tatjenen or TaTJaNun.
It was common for pillars to be inscribed in memory of holy ancestors, as stained-glass windows in churches are dedicated to "pillars" of the congregation. The entrance pillars of Solomon's temple were named for Boaz, Solomon's holy ancestor on his father's side, and Joktan, a holy ancestor on his mother's side.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment