The "First Time" of Ancient Egypt
In the Histories written by Herodotus of Halicarnassus in the 5th century BCE, there is a passage in which the author recounts the time span between the era of the first king in Egypt and the time when the country was attacked by the Assyrian king Sennacherib (early 7th century BCE). Egyptian priests told him that during this long period, a total of 341 human generations had passed. Herodotus notes the calculated years representing all these generations, totaling 11,340 (though his calculation is incorrect; the actual total is 11,366), as he assumed that each generation represented about 33 years.
Of course, this period of time does not correspond at all to the time from Pharaoh Menes (3100 BCE) to Sennacherib. However, I considered that when the priests referred to the "first king," they were not talking about Menes (considered the first "human" king) but rather the first king of divine origin. In fact, many Egyptian documents (such as the Turin Papyrus from 1400 BCE) describe a long series of divine and semi-divine rulers who preceded the coming of Menes, covering immense spans of time. Herodotus also learned from the Egyptians that from the time of the god Osiris to the reign of Pharaoh Amasis (6th century BCE), 15,000 years had passed. It is likely that the "first divine king" I mentioned earlier was the god Horus, as it was through this deity that Egypt could be unified in the age of the gods, just as it was much later by Menes.
Naturally, these pieces of information about Egypt's antiquity have not been considered by archaeologists, as they believe that Egyptian civilization does not date back beyond the 4th millennium BCE. But in the following story from the Histories, there may be a clue suggesting that the myths of the ancient Egyptians have a core of truth. Herodotus adds that over the span of 11,366 years, "the sun departed four times from its usual course: twice it rose where it normally sets, and twice it set where it normally rises." At first glance, this makes no sense, as no such astronomical phenomenon exists, but this could be explained by the precession of the equinoxes.
First, we need to assume that the two sunrises mentioned in the text symbolically correspond to the spring equinox and the summer solstice, and the two sunsets to the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. It is known that in the span of 12,960 years (the duration of half a precessional cycle), the sun traverses six constellations or "houses" of the zodiac. Thus, the sun at the spring equinox, after half a precessional cycle, is in the zodiacal house it was in at the beginning of the cycle, at the opposite autumn equinox. Similarly, the summer solstice sun is in the zodiacal house it was in 12,960 years earlier at the winter solstice. I believe Herodotus's statement symbolically describes this same phenomenon.
The only issue with this hypothesis is the discrepancy between the duration of half a precessional cycle (12,960 years) and the time span of 11,340 years reported by Herodotus. However, simply increasing the length of a generation by five years from the 33 years proposed by the author would make the span of 341 generations cover approximately 12,960 years.
If this theory is correct, it supports the hypothesis that the ancient Egyptians had advanced astronomical knowledge millennia before the “official” beginning of their civilization, dated to the end of the 4th millennium BCE. Indeed, R. Bauval's studies have recently revealed that the three pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx are positioned in alignment with astronomical phenomena dating back to 10,500 BCE.
Another significant example supporting the connection between Egyptian civilization and this remote era—potentially representing the legendary "age of the gods" in its mythology—concerns the mysterious meaning of the Djed. The Djed is a unique pillar frequently depicted in Egyptian funerary inscriptions, with a religious significance tied to the rites of Osiris's rebirth and resurrection and, more generally, to the continuation of life in the afterlife.
This pillar has been depicted in various forms, with transverse lines at its top that can vary in number: most Djed have four, but examples with three or five lines have been found. It is important to note that Djed with three lines date to approximately the Second Dynasty, while the only one with five lines is from the post-Christian era. It is therefore likely that the change in the number of transverse lines reflects the passage of an age. The question remains as to what type of ages are being referenced. To resolve this, we must closely examine the worship of deities throughout Egypt's long history. During the Old Kingdom (3100–2100 BCE), among the most important gods were Apis, Ptah, and Hathor, all often associated with the bull or, in the case of Hathor, the cow. However, from the Middle Kingdom onward, the most important deity in the Egyptian pantheon became Amun, the principal god of Thebes, often associated with the ram. This religious shift may have resulted from significant astrological changes. Indeed, computer-based archaeoastronomical programs reveal that between the end of the Old Kingdom and the beginning of the Middle Kingdom, the spring equinox sun shifted from the zodiacal house of Taurus (where it remained for 2,160 years) to that of Aries. I believe it is possible that the Djed, with the addition of transverse lines, served to mark the transition from one astrological age to another. Between the Old Kingdom and the Christian era, the sun passed through three zodiac constellations, correctly reflected by the changes in the number of lines on the Djed.
With this concept in mind, one can easily calculate the primordial age to which all subsequent ages are linked by this sacred pillar. Considering that during the Second Egyptian Dynasty, the Djed had three lines and the sun was in the house of Taurus, if we go back three zodiacal ages, we find that the primordial age was that of Leo, dated to the 11th millennium BCE.
But this is not all concerning evidence supporting an "age of gold" in Egypt in this historical period, which remains obscure to archaeologists.
The number 11 held great importance in the sacred numerology of the ancient Egyptians, and by extension, so did its multiples. It is known that Egyptians always attributed the age of 110 years to those who lived long enough to attain wisdom, regardless of their actual age. There are many examples of such individuals; the most famous is Djedi, the wise magician who, according to legend, was summoned by Pharaoh Khufu to learn the secret number of the chambers in Thoth's sanctuary.
Additionally, a mummy from the 18th Dynasty has been discovered, belonging to Yuya, the charioteer commander of Pharaoh Amenhotep III's armies, who may correspond to the biblical patriarch Joseph. The Bible states that Joseph died at the age of 110, and it has been observed that his tomb in the Valley of the Kings contains 11 versions of his name inscribed in the Book of the Dead. It is well-known from both Egyptian sources and the Old Testament that this man possessed great intelligence and wisdom.
But why was the number 11 a symbol of wisdom for the ancient Egyptians?
Scholars R. Bauval and Graham Hancock, in their analysis of the relationship between the constellation of Orion and the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, discovered that the "belt" of this constellation and the three pyramids were in the same exact arrangement only in 10,500 BCE. If we were to ideally connect this mythical age of the gods to 2,500 BCE, when the three pyramids were built, we would need the number 72 (the years the sun takes to cross one degree of the ecliptic in its precessional motion) multiplied by the key number 111.111; this calculation gives us 7,999.99, the years that separate 10,500 from 2,500 BCE. We can conclude that the association between the number 11 and wisdom ties back to the myth that, in Egypt’s remote 11th millennium BCE, the land was ruled by a lineage of "divine" rulers who passed down their wisdom and knowledge to the people of the Nile, a heritage maintained by a powerful priestly caste for generations.
Do these insights, held by the ancient Egyptians, prove that the birth of civilization is much older than we think?
And who were those “gods” who, according to the Egyptians, came to Egypt from the West? Could they be the same people described by Plato in Timaeus and Critias, who escaped the destruction of Atlantis? If we carefully observe the date of this catastrophe, it is very close to 10,500 BCE, which, as we have seen, often recurs in Egyptian mythology.
To answer all this will take time. The search continues...
