FINDING A KEY TO THE ROUTE DESCRIBED IN THE SACRED WRITINGS OF THE EGYPTIANS

(Published in the Christian Science Monitor, March 18, 1924)

IMMEDIATELY the secret of the Egyptian " Book of the Dead" is known, its phantom of a monstrous and debased theology disappears; as we read we find ourselves in the presence of a fine morality and of a strange and touching hope.

Of the morality the following from the " Negative Confession" will be evidence:

O God of Light and Truth, I have not laid waste the lands which have been ploughed.

O God of Bast, I have never pried into matters to make mischief.

O God Child, I have not made myself deaf to the words of right and truth.

O God of the Secret City, I have made no man to weep.

O God of Faces, I have not judged hastily.

O God of Nu, I have not made haughty my voice.

O Kau, I have not sought for distinction.

The morality was for all to see, but the hope was secret; it was that after the end of existence in Egypt one might go back to the Mother-Land, the Siris valley south of the Caucasus mountains; the land where the sun rose over Bakhu (Baku) and set over Ta Manu (Taman); the land from which Egypt had been colonized and where the Sekhet Eli (Sakataly) were.

The " Book of the Dead" gave complete and detailed instructions for reaching this Mother-Land; how one must go, what cities and tribes he would come to, by what landmarks he would recognize places, and what he would find when he got there. The instructions are so precise that they are of great value to students of ancient geography and they will bear intensive study.

As will be seen later, the instructions are quite plain. But the priests did not desire that they should be known to any except the initiates and so the sections of the " Book of the Dead" containing them, chapters 17, 18, 64, 125, 149, 150 and others, were so written that only the initiates who had the key, a very simple one, could understand them.

SOURCES OF THE EGYPTIANS

The early geographers knew that the Egyptians and the people of the south Caucasus Valley were the same race. Herodotus writing 450 B.C. says, 2; 104; " There can be no doubt that the Colchians" (inhabitants of the west Caucasus Valley, which was all that the early geographers had knowledge of) " are an Egyptian race. Before I heard any mention of the fact from others I had remarked it myself. After the thought had struck me I made inquiries on the subject both in Colchis and in Egypt, and I found that the Colchians had a more distinct recollection of the Egyptians than the Egyptians had of them.... My own conjectures were founded, first, on the fact that they are blackskinned and have woolly hair.... I will add a further proof. These two nations weave 'heir linen in exactly the same way, and this is a way entirely unknown to the rest of the world.... They also in their whole mode of life and in their speech resemble one another."

Though Herodotus was a remarkably accurate observer and studied the subject on the spot and checked them by observing the comparative thickness of skull. (Herod. 3; 12); his conclusions have been questioned. They are, however, supported by much other evidence which I have given in " The Deluged Civilization" and have been strikingly confirmed by Professor Newberry in his presidential address to the anthropological section of the British Association which will be found in Nature of Sept. 25, 1923. See also Clay's " Empire of the Amorites, " p. 138.

This merely proves that the Egyptians and Colchians were the same race, it does not prove which was derived from the other. Here again there is much evidence. E.g. - Aetia was the old name for Egypt and Siris the old name for the Nile. See Rawlinson's notes to Herodotus 2; 15. Now the west Caucasus valley was Aeria, the land of King Aeetes, of the Jason legend, see Smith Classical Dictionary; and the Cyrus runs almost the whole length of the Caucasus valley just as the Nile does in the Egyptian valley.

The Paradise of the " Book of the Dead" is thus described by Budge, " Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, " Vol. 2, p. 155.

A region called Tuat was thought to be situated on the other side of a range of mountains that surrounded the world. On the far side of the Tuat there was a similar range of mountains and so we may say that the Tuat had the form of a long valley very much like the Nile valley; it ran parallel to both ranges of mountains and between them.... A river flowed through the Tuat valley just as the Nile flows through Egypt.

Examination of the map will show that the valley between the Caucasus range and the mountains of Armenia exactly fits this description.

A conclusive proof is the fact that in the Paradise of the " Book of the Dead" the sun rose over a mountain called Bakhau, " The Mountain of Sunset." And it rose from and sank into the sea. Now the Caucasus range runs into the Caspian Sea on the east and into the Black Sea on the west. And the eastern peninsula is called Bakhu and the western peninsula is called Taman. No place in the world fills the conditions except the Caucasus isthmus, and it does so completely.

There is much other evidence, but this will perhaps be sufficient.

MEANING OF " HORIZON"

The Caucasus range lies inclined almost exactly 231/2 degrees to the equator and so on the shortest day of the year the sun rose at Baku, and on the longest day the sun set at Taman, directly along the line of the range.

It was this line of the Caucasus range that the Egyptians meant when they used the term " horizon." It divided their underworld into two parts, the part of the Caucasus isthmus north of the range or horizon being the infernal regions, or Hades, and that south of the range or horizon the Fields of the Blessed, or Elysium. The only way of getting from one to the other was through a gap in the " horizon, " the dark and gloomy pass of Arabus or Erebus or Abydos, now called the Dariel Pass.

On the peninsula of Baku is a mountain spur running north and south, with a gap at what is now the pass of Marasy, and west of the gap is a small mountain called Shamash. On the shortest day of the year the sun on rising shone through the gap. at Marrasy or Marash upon the top of Shamash. In the Egyptian " Book of the Dead" this gap is " The Gate of the Lord of the East through which Ra cometh forth" (chap. 109), and Baku was the " Mountain of Sunrise."

In the Babylonian traditions it is referred to as " The Place of the Entering in of the Sun." The gap and mountain formed a primitive observatory and was taken as the place of zero longitude by the Babylonian observatories or ziggurats.

This eastern Caucasus Valley was the holy land of the Egyptian, Babylonian, Semitic, Phoenician, Greek and Persian religions. Sir, Ur and Napahu are equated in the Babylonian syllabaries. Nucha was the birthplace of Bacchus and of the vine; Dilmun, Hypiberea and Alysion were other names of the district, and Erech of the wide plazas was at the other end of the pass of Dariel.

At the other end, the west end, of the " horizon" or Caucasus range was Taman or Ta Manu, the " Mountain of Sunset." The peninsula of Taman projects between the Black Sea and what is now the Sea of Azov, but was then called the " Pool of Maaitis" or Lake Maeatis. The extremity of the peninsula was low, mud flats formed by the Kuban. The Cimmerians or Khemuri lived n the peninsula (Strabo 11; 11; 5, and the district was so notorious for its dense fogs that " Cimmerian darkness" came to be used as we use " pitch dark." And Lake Maaitis means lake " of the God of the Darkness Land."

PRIMITIVE IDEAS OF THE SUN'S DAILY PATH

To primitive man the sun was a fire in the sky and all the primitive races were fire worshipers. The Ur were fire worshipers from the beginning, so far as can be ascertained. The A1 race originally worshiped Al, the storm god, but later, possibly from seeing lightning set fire to trees or some such incident' as that described in I Kings, 18, came to worship A1 as a fire god and the Ur and Al united politically and religiously and worshiped a twin god Ur-At or Khur-Khal or Hercules, who on account of the similarity of names was sometimes confused with the Greek strong man, Herakles (see Herodotus 2: 44). The Aed or Aet race originally worshiped Ae or Aem or Thaem, the god of darkness, but they also later joined with the Ur and had with them a twin god. Aet-Ur or Neter or Petera.

The Phoenicians, or Kani, or Phoeni, who colonized Egypt, were originally of the Aed or Aet race, worshiped a golden-red eagle, aetos, but later became Aet-Ur. They originally came from a large river-island between the Terek and Sunsha, just north of the Caucasus range and opposite the northern end of the pass of Arabus. They went south through the pass to where it debouches into the Alizon valley and settled there and called it Ta Neter, now Tioneti, and Egypt was settled from there.

THE GODS OF THE HORIZON

So the Egyptians had the gods Ur and Ae or Ae-m or M-Ae (m means lord or god and ae means blackness and t or d means place or land). They took the god Ur as the god of the rising sun and because he appeared to come up out of the Caspian Sea they called him O-s-ur or Osiris (o means water; s means movement of some kind, depending on the connection; and Ur means fire or fire god). The god T-ae-m or M-ae-t they took as the god of the setting sun or of darkness, and Taein-an or Taman or Ta-Manu was his mountain and peninsula just as Baku or Bakhau (the Gate of the Coming Up) (b is gate and h is up so ach or ash is coming up), was the mountain and peninsula of Osiris.

These were the " Gods of the Horizon." For the god as a whole or for the god of noon-day they had the name Ra. (Ra is a later word and its meaning is not known certainly; possibly it is " Space Fire" or " Sky Fire" ). Some temples adopted Osiris and others Tem, and there was great rivalry between the temples. The Mountain of Sunrise and the Mountain of Sunset are seldom found in the same religious service, and they even had two routes to go to the heavenly fields, one through " the western lands" to be taken by the devotees of Osiris and the other through " the eastern lands" by the followers of Tem. The allotment of routes appears rather strange but is perhaps explicable.

THE TETS OR PILLARS OF SHU

The primitive idols were posts of wood, asher, and as Khur-Khal was a twin god there were two pillars side by side, Jakin the right hand or eastern one (see I Kings 7). As they were fire gods, fires were kept burning on top of them. Later when glass was invented a glass protection against the wind called " the eye of Osiris" was placed round the flame and this acted as a quite efficient projection lens system. Green glass was used for one pillar light arid reddish-yellow for the other. Herodotus paid a visit about B.C. 450 to the temple of Hercules at Tyre, which had been founded about B.C. 2755 and saw " two pillars, one of pure gold and the other of emerald, shining with great brilliancy at night." (Herodotus 2; 44). A good idea of the " tet" may be obtained by knocking the bottoms out of five deep glass soup plates and stacking them together so that they do not touch all around, or have a thin gap between each stand the next above it, for ventilation, and placing a lamp opposite the middle plate. It makes a better optical system than many modern ones.

The mud flats at the mouth of the Kuban were low and the land of the Cimmerians very subject to fog, so two tets of large size were placed there at Bo-Az (Water Gate of Az, or Az-ov; later this was supposed to be connected in some way with the fact that cattle were taken across there and it became Bos-porus). These were the Pillars of Shu the sun god, i.e. Khur-Khal.

The primitive dwellers on the Caucasus isthmus, not knowing that the world was round and revolved, thought that the sun after coming up from the Caspian Sea and passing through " The Gate of the Lord of the East" and over the Mountain of Sunrise, Bakhau, and over the entire length of the Caucasus range, then passed over the Mountain of Sunset, Ta-Manu, and the Pillars of Shu, and went down into the Pool of Maati, Lake Maaitis, and that during the night the sun god stabled his horses in the north Caucasus isthmus (Greek mythology) or sailed back in his boat to the east and duly appeared from the Caspian next morning.

PHOENICIAN TRADE ROUTE BETWEEN BLACK AND CASPIAN SEAS

One naturally thinks of the South Caucasus valley as the best way to get from the Black to the Caspian seas. But this meant much land travel through hostile tribes and the Phoenicians were sailors and Colchis the western valley was a trade rival.

Looking on the map a line of small lakes, the Manytsch Lakes, will be seen stretching across between the sea of Azov and the Caspian, and the map shows that the water from these lakes flows, part into the Black Sea and part into the, Caspian. The Soviet Government is now digging the passage deeper so as to re-establish navigation that way. But in the time we are now considering, i.e., 1.1, 000 to 9000 B.C., before the Caspian had dried up so much (it is now 80 feet below sea level), one could sail direct from the Sea of Azov into the Caspian, and then through the Sea of Aral, all the way to Faizabad. Even as late as 200 B.C. there was water communication between the east shore of the Caucasus isthmus and Faizabad. But the level kept falling and a little after 200 B.C. (the Chinese histories put it as 125 B.C.) the Seres who lived on the Caucasus isthmus established caravan routes.

Even after the level of the Caspian had fallen it was still possible for the Phoenicians to sail from the entrance to the sea of Azov, where Phanagoria (Light-house Market) is shewn on the classical atlases, up the river kuban or Oceanus and then to pass to the river-island of Ser-Ser or Ur-Ur, between the Terek and Sunsha, and then go through the pass of Dariel or Arabus, and they would find themselves in their own home country of Ta Neter or the Alizon valley. And then they could sail in another boat down the Alizon into the Cyrus or Siris and into the Caspian.

THE TEMPLES AND FOREIGN TRADE

In old times the temples were not merely places of worship; they were the banks, the universities, technical schools, consular offices, boards of trade. The first thing a trading nation did when it started trade with a new country was to put up its own temple so its merchants could get credits, trade informaion, etc.

I have told elsewhere how the Phoenicians of Sidon, about B.C. 1250, finding that a large portion of their trade had been cut off by wars with the kingdoms of the Euphrates and Tigris, examined the records of their temple Naval College and discovered that in far-back times there had been very profitable trade with countries beyond two pillars called Pillars of Hercules; and how they sent out four expeditions to find these lost Pillars of Hercules, and how they went to a number of places and returned and reported after each expedition; and how the only definite conclusion they reached was that the Straits of Gibraltar were not the Pillars of Hercules (see Strabo 2; 5).

And that the reason they could not find them was because they marked the entrance and exit of the Manytsch Lake route which had shoaled up; the Pillars of Bo-az at the sea of Az-ov end and the Pillars of Jakin (Going Out Place) at the exit into the Caspian.

The Pillars of Jakin are still marked on the latest maps; i.e., Stavka Terekli (Stave of Hercules) on the Times atlas, 71; 1; 2; and Kerkheuli Juk Jewe (Hercules's Jak beacon) on the Stieler's hand-atlas, 49; 0; 19. But now, of course, on account of the drying up of the Caspian 40 miles back from the shore, on the Caspian's old shell marked beach.

WHAT THE BOOK OF THE DEAD WAS ORIGINALLY

The mysterious instructions of the " Book of the Dead" are the old route directions of the Phoenician sailors for reaching the Mother-Country of the Phoenicians and Egyptians, i.e. the Alizon valley.

How this came about it is impossible to tell now. It is as if something had kept the Muhammadans from going to Mecca or the Jews from going to Jerusalem for many centuries, for so long a time that the location of Mecca or Jerusalem was finally so lost that it was not known that it was a real place; and that people finally came to believe that it was a mythical place and that the direction for getting there were religious ceremonials and not real traveling directions. Whatever the reason, it is the fact that the directions in the " Book of the Dead" are directions for getting to the Alizon valley, to Ta Neter (Tioneti); which way to go; what tribes would be met; what the landmarks and beacons were.

THE WAY BY THE WESTERN LANDS

The " Book of the Two Ways, " which is inscribed on the walls of Tutankh-Amen's tomb, gives both of the ways above referred to, i.e., the one through " the eastern lands" via Pirikan and Lake Van, and the one through " the western lands, " via the River Kuban and the Sea of Azov. The latter is perhaps the more interesting; it is given in the " Book of the Dead, " chapters 17; 18, 64, 125, 149, 150.

According to these directions one first sails through the Great Green Lake (Mediterranean) and the Black Sea and comes to the land of Restau, at the head of the Pool of Maati (Sea of Azov). But Restau is not the town of Rostow, but the whole land round Lake Maetis, for Res-tau, as is shown by other passages, was really Tau-res, i.e., the ancient Taurus. Such transpositions of syllables are common, e.g., Ur-ab and Ab-ur, and occur all through the " Book of the Dead" and all of the old tradition inscriptions.

As is stated in the " Book of the Dead, " chapter 17, Restau or Taurus was the northern door to the underworld. Later this region was called the Chersonesus Taurica.

Next, one goes through the straits of Tches-ert (now Ker-tsch) to the mouth of the Kuban where were the Pillars of Shu. " Now the Gate of Tchesert is the gate of the Pillars of Shu." Shu was the sun god, i.e. Ur-Al, or KhurKhal. Hercules. On landing at the " city north of the olive tree, " i.e., the site where Phanagoria was built later, the departed performed a religious rite, i.e. placed a glass bowl over a lamp and buried it by the side of the Kuban. He then dug it up again. This symbolized the death and resurrection of Osiris; Osiris was the flame and the glass bowl was the " eye of Osiris, " i.e. the supposed transparent hemisphere of the firmament.

He was then put through a test by the Fenku or Phoenicians. He was asked the riddle, " Who is he who is gathered together under the flowers and sitteth in the olive tree, " and only the initiate would know the answer, " Oil (mineral and olive), Fire or Osiris." If he could not answer the pass words and tests he would be killed.

The " Book of the Dead" then gives the various tribes and countries he had to pass through going up the Kuban. The Watchers are the landmarks, i.e., certain mountains, etc. The word generally translated " pools" or " islands" also means river expansions.

Finally he comes to the eyot of SerSer or Ur-Ur or Tur-Tur; surrounded by the Terek and Sunsha. The city was also called Erech, in the Babylonian inscriptions telling of the exploits of Gilgamesh. The city on the eyot had very high walls of burnt brick, more than 300 feet high, Nebuchadnezzar built the walls of Babylon after seeing them. The southern walls were infested with snakes. Anyone who has seen an old wall down south on a chilly morning will recognize the origin of the Egyptian and Phoenician serpent frieze. The river Sunsha had much oil floating on it, Grosnyi, the center of the Baku oil district, is on it, and it was only necessary to poke a stick in the ground and oil would collect (Ency. Brit. art. Caucasus), which sometimes caught fire; and near by were the " Ever Burning Fields" of the Persian Fire-worshippers.

The departed stayed in the city for some time, studying certain books (the Acheruntici Libri ) and after a time became quite wise. Then he obtained escort to go through the pass of Arabus or Ab-tu, which was opposed by " men of hostile face." But he was armed with a knife and finally came through into Ta.Neter (now the district of Tioneti).ie., " The Land of Aet-Ur."

At the entrance of the valley was Ashmeti or the city of Eshmen, the eighth Cabiri, and Kapare-uli, or Sippara of the Sun, from whose great stele " cippus" was possibly derived. A little further down the valley was Schemochada-Scheni or the " Sun-City of the Shenit, " where the shenit or overseers were. Still further down was Sekhet-Aaru, i.e., Sekhet-Sham, now Sakat-uli (Sham and Eli both mean " sun, " the " Fields of the Sun." Then comes Melikarkh, sometimes called Harmakis; then Achssu, then Baku, the Flaming Fields, etc. Mzchet, where King Pepi wished his estate, is up near the head of the valley, near the Sun City of the Shenit. It is very interesting to go through the valley with a Stieler's atlas and the " Book of the Dead"; one feels quite like a tourist with his Baedeker.

NEED OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPEDITIONS TO CAUCASUS VALLEY

In a short article one cannot give a very full description of the route, ceremonies, etc. It is hoped enough has been given to indicate the interesting nature of the subject, and possibly to lead to one or more archaeological expeditions to this motherland of mankind, before the rapidly growing flood of immigrants tears down the old monuments for building material (no governmental regulations can prevent this) and otherwise makes archaeological work difficult or impossible.

 

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