The Cygnus Mystery by Andrew Collins

The Cygnus Mystery by Andrew Collins

Author:Andrew Collins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-01-15T16:00:00+00:00


CHAPTER THIRTEEN

In Search of Sokar

According to the eminent British Egyptologist Sir Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge (1857–1934), the curator of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum for thirty years and the translator of many ancient Egyptian texts, the falcon-headed god Sokar (or Seker) was ‘probably the oldest of all the gods of the dead’ in Egypt.1 Although Sokar’s growing influence was cut off in its prime by the burgeoning cult of Ptah, the creator god of the royal city of Memphis, his role as guardian of the deceased in the underworld would remain strong, particularly at his primary cult centre of Rostau (or Restau), meaning ‘mouth of the passages’, which, we find, turns out to be ancient Giza.2 His connection with the location was very ancient indeed. It is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts,3 c.2400 bc, although it probably goes back to the very beginnings of Egyptian history.

Certainly by c.3000 bc, Giza was being used as a northern extension of the Memphite necropolis, over which Sokar was divine protector, for it was at this time that a large north-south orientated tomb known as Mastaba V was constructed here. It dates to the reign of a First-Dynasty pharaoh named Djet, and was discovered in 1904 some 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) south-southeast of the current pyramid field. When excavated, it was found to be surrounded by the graves of no less than 56 retainers, showing the importance of the individual buried there.4 Why exactly this unnamed official chose Giza as his burial place is not known. Yet records show that twice during the reign of Djet’s father, Djer, the all-important festival of Sokar took place.5

Since tradition asserts that Djer built the royal palaces of Memphis,6 there is every reason to suspect that the earliest known festival of Sokar took place within its necropolis, arguably even reaching the Giza plateau, which is likely to have been a cemetery by this time. Such a conclusion is evident from the discovery here of pottery jars and other contemporary artefacts pre-dating the foundations of Dynastic Egypt, including four intact ceramic vessels unearthed just west of the Great Sphinx in 1907.7 They were almost certainly buried as grave goods and belong to the so-called Buto-Maadi, or Maadian, culture, which thrived in the area of Cairo and the Nile Delta during the Chalcolithic, or Copper, age (c.3900–c.3200 bc). In all, twelve Buto-Maadi sites have been detected, including a cemetery at Heliopolis, northeast of modern Cairo.

Evidence of even earlier occupation on the Giza plateau comes from the discovery of a Late Neolithic stone tool found in situ close to the causeway of the Third Pyramid.8 In addition to this, retouched chert flakes thought to date to a similar age have been picked up by the author on two occasions in an exposed gravel layer close to the base of the Maadi Formation, the hill-ridge running east–west a few hundred metres southwest of the Third Pyramid.9



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