By C.
Staniland Wake
THE association of the name of the god Seth with the Great
Pyramid—a structure which
appears to embody or to bear a relation to
the chief scientific truths recognised by the ancient world, throws
light on certain ideas entertained as to the nature of that deity. The
god of intelligence of the Egyptians was Thoth, the Hermes of the Sabæans.
Hermes was, however, called the son of Seth, and this deity is in some
sense to be identified with Thoth. In a passage of the Book of the
Dead, the former has the name Tet which, according to Bunsen,
intimates that Thoth inherited many of the attributes of Seth. *
It may, indeed, show that they are the same deity.
Seth was the true
god of Wisdom, and the pillars of Seth, on which, according to
Josephus, †
was inscribed the astronomical knowledge of the ancient world, were
the same as those mentioned in an apocryphal work ascribed to Hermes,
which, according to Cedrenus, affirmed that "Enoch, foreseeing
the destruction of the Earth, had inscribed the science of astronomy
upon two pillars." *
By these structures was probably intended the two great pyramids of
Ghizeh, which appear originally to have had many inscriptions on their
external coverings. Makrizi cites various authors as to the origin of
the Pyramids, and among other statements it was said that that they
were built by Surid, and that the First was dedicated to history and
astronomy, and the Second to medical knowledge. †
As Seth, Thoth, or Hermes was the god of Wisdom, so the serpent was
its emblem, and especially connected with that God and with other
deities of similar characteristics. "Wise as serpents. ‡
and harmless as doves," is an old saying, which probably has a
deeper meaning than that usually ascribed to it.
The connection
between the serpent and the idea of wisdom is well seen in the Hindu
legend as to the Nagas. Mr. Fergusson remarks, "the Naga appears
everywhere in Vaishnava tradition. There is no more common
representation of Vishnu than as reposing on the Sesha, the celestial
seven-headed snake, contemplating the creation of the world." The
Upanishads refer to the science of serpents, by which is meant the
wisdom of the mysterious Nagas who, according to Buddhistic legend,
reside under Mount Meru, and in the waters of the terrestrial world.
One of the sacred books of the Tibetan Buddhists is fabled to have
been received from the Nagas, who, says Schlagentweit, are
"fabulous creatures, of the nature of serpents, who occupy a
place among the beings superior to man, and are regarded as protectors
of the law of the Buddha. To these spiritual beings Sakyamuni is said
to have taught a more philosophical religious system than to men, who
were not sufficiently advanced to understand it at the time of his
appearance." The serpent holds an analogous place in the
religious ideas of the modern Hindus. Siva, *
as Sambhu, is the patron of the Brahmanic order, and, as shown by his
being three-eyed, is essentially a god possessing high intellectual
attributes.
Vishnu also is a god of wisdom, but (notwithstanding the
association with him of the Sesha), of a somewhat lower type, such as
is distinctive of the worshippers of truth under its feminine aspect.
The serpent has been connected with the god of Wisdom from the
earliest times of which we have any historical notice. This animal was
the especial symbol of Thoth or Taut, a primeval deity of Syro-Egyptian
mythology, and of all those gods, such as Hermes and Seth, who can be
connected with him. This is true also of the third member of the
primitive Chaldean triad, Héa or Hoa. According to Sir Henry
Rawlinson, the most important titles of this deity refer to "his
functions as the source of all knowledge and science." Not only
is he "the intelligent fish," but his name may be read as
signifying both "life" and a "serpent," and he may
be considered as "figured by the great serpent which occupies so
conspicuous a place among the symbols of the gods on the black stones
recording Babylonian benefactions." M. Lenormant identifies Héa
with the fish-god Oannes of Babylonian mythology, who, according to
Berosus, "spent the whole day amongst men without taking any
food, while he taught them letters, science, and the principles of
every art, the rules for the foundation of towns, the building of
temples, the measurement and boundaries of lands, seed-time and
harvest, in short, all that could advance civilization, so that
nothing new has been invented since that period." *
Héa, as the god of Science, was the defender of "the frame of
nature against the incessant ravages of the wicked spirits," and
"help was sought from him when neither word, rite, talisman, nor
even the intervention of any other of the gods had availed to destroy
the demons’ power." †
The Chaldean god was moreover, the healer of disease, ‡
in which character he resembled the God of the Hebrews, the sight of
whose serpent-symbol was supposed to cure those bitten by the fiery
serpents in the wilderness. There is reason to believe §
that this deity was the same as Seth, the Agathodæmon of the early
Egyptians, who was represented under the form of the serpent, and who
was the giver of happiness and good fortune. *
The good genius which presided over the affairs of men as the guardian
spirit of their houses was a serpent, the Asp of Ranno, the
snake-headed goddess who is represented as nursing the young princes.
That the idea of health was among the Egyptians intimately associated
with the serpent, is shown, moreover, by the crown formed of the asp,
or sacred Thermuthis, having been given particularly to Isis, a
goddess of Life and Healing. It was also the symbol of other gods of
health and the like attributes, as stated by the learned Dupuis in the
chapters entitled "Esculapius, Serapis, Pluto, Esmun, Cneph, and
all the divinities with the attributes of the serpent" †
is remarkable that a Moslem saint of Upper Egypt is still thought to
appear under the form of a serpent, and to cure the diseases which
afflict the pilgrims to his shrine. The power of healing is an
evidence of the possession of wisdom, and so also is the power of
influencing atmospheric changes. This is a most important attribute,
and, as Mr. Fergusson points out, a chief characteristic of the
serpents throughout the East in all ages seems to have been their
power over the wind and rain. According to Colonel Meadows Taylor, in
the Indian Deccan, at the present day, offerings are made to the
village divinities (of whom the nag, or snake, is always one) at
spring time and harvest for rain or fine weather, and also in time of
cholera or other diseases or pestilence. So, among the Chinese, the
dragon is regarded. as the giver of rain, and in time of drought
offerings are made to it. In the spring and fall, of the year it is
one of the objects worshipped, by command of the Emperor, by certain
mandarins. The Chinese notion of the serpent or dragon dwelling above
the clouds in spring to give rain reminds us of the Aryan myth of
Vritra, or Ahi, the throttling snake, or dragon with three heads, who
hides away the rain-clouds, but who is slain by Indra, the beneficent
giver of rain. M. Bréal says, *
that "Typhon is the monster who obscures the heavens, a sort of
Greek Vritra." The myth of Indra and Vritra is reproduced in Latin mythology as that of Hercules and Cacus.
Cacus also is analogous to Typhon, and as the former is supposed to
have taken his name from, or given it to, a certain wind which had the
power of clothing itself with clouds, so the latter bore the same name
as a very destructive wind which was much dreaded by the Phoenicians
and Egyptians. Moreover, the name Typhon was given by the Egyptians to
anything tempestuous and hence to the Ocean.
We have here a reference to the serpent as the embodiment of the
Evil Being; and in the later identification of Seth with Typhon, the
enemy of Osiris, we have evidence of the connection of the serpent
with the former deity. M. Lenormant tells us that, "evil was
personified in a particular god, Set or Soutekh, *
called also sometimes Baal, who was the supreme god of the
neighbouring Asiatic populations, and, at a later period, of the
shepherd kings; the Greeks considered him the same as their Typhon,
and it was said that Osiris had
succumbed to his blows." †
The name Typhon appears to have been given
more especially to the Evil Being, as the opponent of Horus, who was,
however, the same deity as Osiris, whose son he was said to be. The
former was then represented as Apap or Apophis, or the giant serpent,
who was pierced by the spear of Horus, as the serpent Pytho was slain
by Apollo. *
Henceforth Seth, instead of being regarded by the Egyptians as the
Agathodæmon, was looked upon as the principle of evil. The same
change took place among the Accadian population of Media. M. Lenormant
states that the "worship of serpent-gods is found amongst many of
the Turanian tribes. The Accadians made the serpent one of the
principal attributes, and one of the forms of Héa." When once,
however, "the Iranian traditions were fused with the ancient
beliefs of the Proto-Medic religion, the serpent-god naturally became
identified with the representative of the dark and bad principle, for,
according to the Mazdean myths, the serpent was the form assumed by
Angromainyus, in order to penetrate into the heaven of Ahuramazda." *
Here is the conflict between light and darkness, and between life and
death, which is reproduced in Egyptian mythology, where the evil
principle is represented in the one case by the serpent Apap, and in
the other by Set †
(Seth), whose symbol was the serpent.
The association between the serpent and the idea of darkness had an
astronomical foundation. The position which the constellation Draco at
one time occupied showed that the Great Serpent was the ruler of the
night. This constellation was formerly at the very centre of the
heavens, and it is so extensive, that it was called the Great Dragon.
Its body spreads over seven signs of the Zodiac, and Dupuis, who sees
in the Dragon of the Apocalypse a reference to the celestial serpent,
says, "It is not astonishing that a constellation so extended
should be represented by the author of that book as a great dragon
with seven heads, who drew the third part of the stars from heaven and
cast them to the earth." .
Moreover, when the constellation Draco occupied its elevated position,
it supplied the polestar of the heavens. The importance of this fact,
in connection with the erection of the Great Pyramid, will be
understood after what has been said as to the association of the
Pyramid with the god Seth. That structure was erected, not only as a
tomb for its founder, but as a monumental temple in honour of a deity
whose special symbol was the serpent, the emblem of wisdom with the
primitive race whose religion would appear to have been a combination
of serpent-worship and Sabaism. The Great Pyramid is thus a monument
not only of Sabaism, but of serpent-worship, and, as such, its
scientific as well as its astronomical character receives the proper
explanation. The builders of such a temple would apply their utmost
skill in its construction and they would seek to preserve in it, as
far as possible, the scientific knowledge which they had derived from
their ancestors.
According to a Coptic MS., upon the walls of the Pyramids were
written the mysteries of science, astronomy, geometry, physic, and
much useful knowledge. The same MS. states, that they were built
before the Flood by Surid, for safety, and as tombs for himself and
household. *
It is remarkable that, as Sir Gardner Wilkinson points out, Tuphán,
which appears to be the same word as Typhon, the name of the Evil
Being, is the Arabic name of the Deluge. †
The association of the Pyramids with a flood has, however, a purely
astronomical explanation. Mr. Proctor, when speaking of the position
of the pole-star Alpha Draconis, at the date of the erection of the
Great Pyramid, says, ‡
"We know that in the past the constellation of the Dragon was at
the pole, or boss, of the celestial sphere. In stellar temples, like
those of which Rawlinson gives examples, the Dragon would be the
uppermost or ruling constellation. And here, in passing, it may
interest the reader to note that, some find evidence in this relation
that when writers of old spoke of the Old Dragon as having been cast
from heaven, carrying two-thirds of the celestial beings with him,
reference was made—unconsciously, perhaps, on the narrator's part
—to some tradition of the passing away or fall of the Dragon from
its former ruling position among the constellations. Those who thus
interpret ancient records (much more ancient than Jewish history),
find in Hercules, with his heel assailed by the serpent, as in our
constellation figures, the first Adam; in Ophinchus, the serpent
holder, the second Adam. In Argo they find the Ark—in fact, in a
whole series of constellations they find the story of the Flood. In
Aquarius, with the streams pouring from his water-jug, they find the
beginning of the Flood. In the river Eridanus and the seas in which
Pisces and the great sea-monster Cetus seem to swim, they see pictured
the prevalence of deep water over the whole earth. The Raven of the
Heavens is the raven of the Flood-narrative. Argo is the Ark, shown as
if only the stern-half of a great ship lodged in the mountain. The
Centaur, bearing sacrifice, as Aratus says, to Ara, the altar, is Noah
offering sacrifice after he had left the Ark; and the bow of
Sagittarius in the smoke (the Milky-way), which seems to ascend from
the altar, is the bow of promise. These may, of course, be only
fancies, but it is singular how closely these constellations, which
are among the few really seeming to picture recognisable objects in
the heavens, correspond in sequence and in range of right ascension
with the events recorded respecting the Flood." *
Fancies or not, it is unquestionable that the Deluge has been
associated in the legends of some Eastern peoples, not only with the
Pyramids, †
but also with the constellations. Thus it is with the Chaldean legend,
according to which Saturn in a dream announced the coming catastrophe
to Xixutrus, who, like Noah, escaped in an ark. The Assyrian tablets
discovered by the late Dr. Smith, and which contain what is called the
Nimrod Epic, have preserved a similar account of the Deluge. It is now
established that the twelve cantos of that Epic "refer to the
annual course of the sun through the twelve months of the year. Each
tablet answers to a special month, and contains a distinct reference
to the animal forms in the signs of the Zodiac." Thus, "the
Deluge forms the subject of the eleventh canto, corresponding with the
month of Skebat (Feb.-Jan.), which is consecrated to Rimmon, the god
of storms and rain, and harmonises with the eleventh sign of the
Zodiac—Aquarius, or the Waterman. The latter month is styled in
Sumerish-Accadian 'the month of the curse of the rain,' or, as we
might almost say, the Deluge month." *
The ancient Babylonians are usually accredited with the invention of
the worship of the heavenly bodies, and the existence among them of
the deluge myth in connection with the constellations is an important
fact. It is no less important in relation to the question of the
object of the Great Pyramid, that the capital of Babylonia contained a
structure described by Strabo as a pyramid dedicated to the worship of
the planetary bodies, exceeding in size the great Egyptian monument
itself, and much resembling the Egyptian Pyramid of Degrees at
Sakkarah. The Babylonian Tower was at the base a square of 600 feet,
and consisted of eight towers, each 75 feet high, one above the other,
making a total height of 600 feet. M. Lenormant speaks of the erection
of this temple as having been attributed to "the most ancient
king, the first king," and he says it was "the tangible
expression, the material and architectural manifestation, of the
Chaldaic-Babylonian religion. Serving both as a sanctuary and as an
observatory for the stars, it agreed admirably with the genius of the
essentially siderial religion to which it was united by an
indissoluble bond" *—language
which might be used with exactly the same propriety of the Great
Pyramid itself.
That the erection of the Great Pyramid had some connection with the
constellations is not at all improbable. We have already seen that Mr.
Proctor prefers the date 3350 B.C. to the later one of 2170 B.C. for
the building of the pyramid. The latter date would seem, however, to
be the more probable one. That it was erected during the reign of
Cheops †
is almost universally admitted; and, although the time when he reigned
has not been satisfactorily established, there are grounds for
believing it to have been about 2200 B.C. Prof. C. Piazzi Smyth
affirms that "the only monumental conclusion formed by comparing
the quarry marks of the Great Pyramid with whatever is to be trusted,
or is tolerably agreed upon among Egyptologists, and both of them with
an astronomical date of the buildings,—can be no other than that two
of the kings of the Fourth Dynasty of Egyptian history—Shofo and
Nu-Shofo by name—lived through a period including the epoch of 2170
B.C." *
It is true that, as Prof. Smyth points out, this date differs from
that fixed by nearly all modern Egyptologists, †
although it agrees very nearly with the date 2228 B.C., assigned for
the commencement of the Fourth Dynasty by Mr. Wm. Osburn, the author
of the "Monumental History of Egypt." It is consistent,
moreover, with the chronological facts given by Dr. Birch. This
Egyptologist gives 3000 B.C. for the commencement of the first
dynasty; and if this Dynasty continued for 263 years, the Second
Dynasty for 306 years, and the Third Dynasty for 214 years, as stated
by Manetho, we have 2223 B.C. as the date of the commencement of the
Fourth Dynasty, and therefore of the erection of the Great Pyramid, if
Cheops was its builder. Curiously enough, however, this is about the
date fixed for the origin of the constellations. Mr. Proctor states
that between 2100 and 2200 years before the Christian era the southern
constellations had their original position, the invisible southern
pole then lying at the centre of the space free from constellations.
He adds, "It is noteworthy that for other reasons this period, or
rather a definite epoch within it, is indicated as that to which must
be referred the beginning of exact astronomy. Amongst others must be
mentioned this—that in the year 2170 B.C. quam proxime, the
Pleiades rose to their highest above the horizon at noon (or
technically made their noon culmination) at the spring equinox. We can
readily understand that to minds possessed with full faith in the
influence of the stars on the earth, this fact would have great
significance." At that epoch the southernmost constellations
would be seen in their natural position—standing upright when above
the southern horizon at midnight. On those grounds, Mr. Proctor
affirms that the period when the old southern constellations were
formed must have been between 2400 and 2000 years before the Christian
era, He deems it highly probable, moreover, that the year 2170 B.C.
may be regarded as the date, not of the beginning of astronomy, but of
the introduction of a new astronomical system, the substitution of the
use of the twelve zodiacal signs for that of the twenty-eight lunar
mansions. Assuming that conclusion to be correct, we have a most
remarkable coincidence between the date of the invention of the Zodiac
and that of the erection of the Great Pyramid. If it is true, however,
as Dupuis supposed, that the Egyptians invented the constellations,
the agreement between those dates was probably more than a
coincidence. The French writer remarks, "The figures traced in
the Zodiac and in the other constellations have not been placed there
haphazard: they are the hieroglyphic calendar of the ancient peoples;
they are connected with their wants and their climate; and they all
have a meaning in their origin, although it may be difficult for us
now to discover the sense of all the symbols." Dupuis shows what
was the primitive position of the constellations, considered as the
astronomical and rural calendar of a people both intellectual and
agricultural, and he affirms that it accords perfectly with the
agriculture of Egypt, and at the same time with the position of the
solstitial and equinoctial points in the heavens at a certain epoch.
Moreover, owing to the difference in the order of agricultural
operations followed in Egypt from that in other climates, the rural
calendar which fitted the Egyptians could not suit any other people,
and therefore he ascribes to them the honour of having invented the
astronomical sciences; a conclusion supported, it is said, by the fact
that the Egyptians regarded their Zodiac, not only as a rural and
meteorological calendar, but as the base of all their religion and of
their astronomy. *
M. Flammarion appears to doubt whether Dupuis has satisfactorily
established his theory of the origin of the constellations, †
and the date fixed by Mr. Proctor for the formation of the Zodiac is
hardly consistent with that theory. It is possible, however, that
whilst the constellations were formed by the Chaldeans long before
that date, the zodiacal signs were only then arranged in an order to
accord with the climate of Egypt by settlers in this country. Mr.
Proctor, after fixing the probable limits of the place where the
constellations were formed, at from 35 to 39 degrees north of the
equator, says, "The Great Pyramid, as we know, is about 30
degrees north of the Equator; but we also know that its architects
travelled southwards to find a suitable place for it. One of their
objects may have been to obtain a fuller view of the star-sphere south
of their constellations." *
This suggestion is a very important one, for it assumes that the
constellations were formed before the erection of the Pyramid, and
therefore that the date of the latter event cannot have been earlier
than that of the former. Mr. Proctor goes further, however, and even
suggests that one of the objects which the architects of the Great
Pyramid may have had was "the erection of a building indicating
the epoch when the new system was entered upon, and defining in its
proportions, its interior passages, and other features, fundamental
elements of the new system." The construction of that building
implies considerable proficiency in astronomical observation, and
hence, says Mr. Proctor, "the year 2170 B.C. may very well be
regarded as defining the introduction of a new system of astronomy,
but certainly not the beginning of astronomy itself. *"
That year becomes, however, the date of the pyramid itself, and in the
suggestion that it was intended to commemorate the substitution of the
twelve zodiacal signs for the twenty-eight lunar mansions, we have a
strong confirmation of the opinion expressed in these pages that the
Great Pyramid was a monument of Sabaism, and that it was erected in
honour of Seth, the Agathodæmon of the ancient world, and consecrated
to his worship.
Footnotes
70:*
"Egypt," Vol. iii. p. 427.
70:†
"Antiquities," Chap. ii. sec. iii.
71:*
Vyse, "Operations, etc.," vol. ii. p. 330 n.
71:†
Ditto, p. 354. See Appendix II. for Masoudi's account of the Legend of Surid.
71:‡
The Sophia, or Divine Wisdom and the Ophis-Christos of the Gnostics, was
represented under the form of a serpent.—Matter's "Histoire
Critique du Gnosticisme," Planches II. A. B. c. Matter appears to
identify the Ophis with the god Kneph, p. 32.
72:*
Siva would seem to be the same deity as Saturn, and possibly therefore as
Set (Seth), a fact which confirms the serpent character of the last named
deity.
74:*
Lenormant "Chaldean Magic and Sorcery" (Eng. trans.), p. 157.
74:†
Ditto, p. 158.
74:‡
Ditto, p. 21.
74:§
See the "Journal of Anthropology," 1870, p. 209, on this point.
75:*
Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians," Vol. iv. p. 413. Mr. Lane states
that each quarter of Cairo (which was built out of the ruins of Memphis and
its tombs), is supposed to have its guardian genius or agathodæmon, in the
form of a serpent.—"Manners and Customs of the Egyptians," Vol.
i. p. 289.
75:†
"Origine de tous les Cultes," Tom. ii. Part 1, p. 165.
76:*
"Mélanges de Mythologie et de Linguistique," p. 95.
77:*
The earlier character of this deity is well shown by the remark of Tiele,
that the name Sutech is an attempt to reproduce in Egyptian form the Semitic
divine name, Sedeq, "the righteous."—"Outlines of the
History of Religion," p. 55.
77:†
"Chaldean Magic," p. 83.
78:*
"Chaldean Magic," p. 83; Wilkinson, Vol. iv. pp. 395, 435—Apophis,
may have given name to Papi, and Egyptian king, who lived about a century
after Cheops, and also to Apepi, or Apappos one of the Hyksos kings; unless
the 'Giant' Serpent took this title from the former monarch.
79:*
"Chaldean Magic," p. 232.
79:†
Tiele, "Outlines of the History of Religions," p. 47; also,
"History of the Egyptian Religion," Vol. i. p. 72.
79:‡
Dupuis, Tom. iii. p. 255.
81:*
Vyse, "Operations," etc., Vol. ii. p. 330, and see Appendix II.
81:†
"The Ancient Egyptians," Vol. iv. p. 427 n.
81:‡
Knowledge, Vol. i. p. 243.
83:*
Knowledge, Vol. i. p. 243—Dupuis explains fully the position of the
heavens at the date of what he terms the "sacred fiction" of the
Deluge, Tom. iii. p. 176, seq.
83:†
See Appendix II. for the Arabian legend as to the connection between the
Deluge and the building of the Pyramids.
84:*
"The Nineteenth Century," 1382, p. 236.
85:*
"Chaldean Magic," p. 322.
85:†
If Soris was the first monarch of the Fourth Dynasty, the Great Pyramid may
possibly have been commenced in his reign, and completed during that of
Cheops.
86:*
"Life and Work at the Great Pyramid," Vol. iii. p. 338.
86:†
M. Vivien de Saint-Martin gives 3893 B.C. as the best date for the epoch of
Menes.—"Nouveau Dict. de Geographie Universelle," Art. Egypte.
89:*
"Origine de tous les Cultes," Tom. iii. p. 339.
89:†
"Histoire du Ciel," p. 153.
90:*
"Myths," etc., p. 362.
91:*
Ditto, p. 360.
| Source:
Chapter 4, The Origin and Significance of the Great Pyramid, by C.
Staniland Wake, [1882], |
|
