What's in a Name (Akhet Khufu)?

Hi ATS,

It has long been the belief of Consensus Egyptology that the name given to the pyramid built by Khufu, the Great Pyramid, is 'Akhet Khufu' which is translated as the 'Horizon of Khufu'. Like the horizon where the sun rises Egyptologists believe that the term 'Akhet Khufu' epitomises Khufu's desire to rise like the sun on the horizon via the agency of his pyramid hence his pyramid was given the name the 'Horizon of Khufu'.

“In Egyptian the pyramid of Cheops (whose Egyptian name was Khufu) is called akhet of Khufu. Akhet is the threshold region between the sky, the earth, and the underworld; in particular, akhet is the place where the sun rises. The etymological root of the word has the meaning of “blaze, be radiant”; likewise, the hieroglyph for akhet has nothing in common with the pyramid, but is a pictogram of the sun rising or setting between two mountains. The pyramid does not represent such an akhet, but symbolizes it in an aniconic way. The term of comparison between akhet and pyramid is the idea of ‘ascent to heaven.” As the sun god ascends from the underworld to the akhet and appears in the sky, so the king interred in the pyramid ascends to heaven by way of his akhet, his threshold of light.” - Professor Jan Assmann, 'The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs', p.58

All of the above is fine except for the not insignificant problem that the akhet ‘pictogram’ (image 1 below) of the sun rising between two mountains did not exist when Khufu was building his Great Pyramid. Indeed, this ideogram only came into being around the end of the Fifth Dynasty, long after the completion of the early, giant pyramids and is not evident anywhere in the Pyramid Texts.

Image 1



It is certainly understandable how such an idea could have developed AFTER the construction of the great pyramids as the sun cult of Re rose to prominence. The sun on the horizon was in a place of ‘re-creation’ (a place of akhet) and since, imo, the pyramids were built to ensure the re-creation (of the kingdom), it is unsurprising that such a connection would be made. Contrary to what Prof Assmann states, the 'place of re-creation' rather than 'ascension to heaven' is, imo, the true term of comparison between the pyramid and 'akhet'. As the sun rises up again from the eastern horizon (after its previous death in the west), so the kingdom--through the agency of the pyramid--will rise up again after its death brought about by Thoth's imminent flood.

In the Old Kingdom, however, the word ‘akhet’ (interpreted by Egyptologists as ‘horizon’) invokes the use of the ibis bird as an ‘Ax’ (Akh) as below:

Image 2



The ibis ideogram (logogram) has various translations, inter-alia: ‘intelligence’, ‘illumination’, ‘shining’, ‘beneficial’, ‘useful’ etc (Source). The god Thoth was the AE judge of the dead and weighed the heart (ib) of the dead in the Hall of Ma'at, recording the result. The AE heart (ib) was regarded as the seat of emotion, thought, will and intention - in short, the mind. Of course, if the translation of the ibis glyph (Ax) truly means ‘intelligence’ then we can understand how the ibis bird ‘illuminates’ not so much with ‘light’ but rather with its ‘wisdom’. The ibis was regarded as an ‘enlightened’ bird blessed with the wisdom of Thoth; the wise bird that ‘heralded the inundation’ thus it knew when the time of re-creation (akhet) was imminent, to wit:

”People knew from long experience that this was about the time for the level of the Nile to start rising. Just before this, flocks of white ibises would have appeared on the fields as they returned from the south. If they came late or not at all, farmers would see this as a bad omen foreshadowing low floods and a poor harvest. So they regarded the wise bird that knew the secret of this vital phenomenon as an embodiment of the learned god Thoth”. (From here).

“In Ancient Egypt, sacred ibis were heralds of the flood, and symbolised the god Thoth, god of wisdom and master of time. They were also of practical use to the villagers, making pools safe to bathe by feeding on the water snails that carried the bilharzias liver parasite.” (From here).

“In Africa also we meet with the great Ibis (Tantalus ibis, fig.30), and the sacred ibis (I. religiosa), which is venerated in Egypt as the harbinger of the annual Inundation of the Nile, and was frequently embalmed and mummified.” (From here).

The ibis should not be regarded as 'shining' in the sense of radiance like the sun or a star but rather as with what we would today call someone a 'bright spark', 'enlightened one' etc. In short, the ibis (Akh) should not be regarded as a 'spirit of light' but rather 'one that is illuminated with wisdom'. The ibis bird, symbolising the AE god Thoth, was the harbinger of the great deluge of Thoth that promised to drown the entire country, to wit:

“I am going to blot out everything that I have made. This Earth shall enter into (i.e. be absorbed in) the watery abyss of Nu (or Nunu) by means of a raging flood, and will become even as it was in primeval time. I myself shall remain together with Osiris, but I shall transform myself into a small serpent, which can be neither comprehended nor seen; one day the Nile will rise and cover all Egypt with water, and drown the whole country; then, as in the beginning, there will be nothing to be seen except water.” - Budge W. E. A., 'From Fetish to God in Ancient Egypt', (Oxford University Press, 1934), p.198.

And Khufu's pyramid, of course, was built to ensure the re-creation (the Akhet) of the kingdom (the N18 land glyph) as opposed to the king after the worst effects of Thoth's deluge had subsided and the land emerged from the waters just as it did in the Sp Tpy the 'First Time of Creation' when everything in creation came forth from within the primeval mound, the archetype pyramid. The pyramid of Khufu would ensure the 'Second Time' of creation.

Regards,

SC

Thank you for this very 'ibis'ing' thread

I think you cover this quite well.

So what do you make of this information, you quote that Thoth promised to drown Egypt(Khem) and that the pyramids would be used to insure the re-ignition of the kingdom?

Care to elaborate on this further?

I get the notion that thies ties in with the flood appearant in so many ancient cultural texts and that Thoth represents the deity that has other names in other cultures.

Do you agree or disagree? And what do you think?

Thanks again.

Originally posted by Sump3
Thank you for this very 'ibis'ing' thread

I think you cover this quite well.

So what do you make of this information, you quote that Thoth promised to drown Egypt(Khem) and that the pyramids would be used to insure the re-ignition of the kingdom?

Care to elaborate on this further?

I get the notion that thies ties in with the flood appearant in so many ancient cultural texts and that Thoth represents the deity that has other names in other cultures.

Do you agree or disagree? And what do you think?

Thanks again.

Hi Sump3,

Thank you for your post. Yes - based on various pieces of evidence, I have concluded that the early, giant pyramid-building age in ancient Egypt had a very specific purpose to ensure the rebirth of the kingdom after a great deluge that the AEs believed would be sent by their god Thoth to drown the entire kingdom.

You can read more of this here:

The Pyramid Recovery Vault Theory (RVT)

The Birth of Osiris

Regards,

SC