02. Pyramids of Egypt
Even before people invent the wheel Egyptians build these pyramids which are known as one of the miracles of world. Who build them and for what ? Even today no one knows the correct answer for this. Largest pyramid is known as Great pyramid. Many of these pyramids are build with unbelievable shape and size. Without having technology which we have today they create these architectural models even before 5000 years. It is unbelievable how they get in to know these techniques. How they take heavy stones in to the top of the pyramids. How they get the technology of preserving dead bodies. Today scientist has found that due to the shape of the pyramid food,animals,dead bodies can preserve and knife racer etc can get sharpen. But there is no exact scientific explanation about how it happen. So how these ancient Egypt  get this knowledge even  before 5000 years (We don’t have that knowledge even today). Pyramids are still there in dusty desert hiding all these things from world for 5000 years.

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According to tradition, Menes conquered Lower Egypt after he became king of Upper Egypt. His first wife, Berenib, became queen. Berenib, however, was not the mother of Djer, Menes’s son who succeeded him as king. Djer was the child of Neithotepe.

The kingdom expanded because of Menes’s successful conquest of the Nubians. His reign lasted for 62 years, and ended only after his death.

There are a lot of speculations on how Menes died. Some say he was killed by a hippopotamus, others say he was killed by wild dogs. Both animals were hunted by the Egyptian nobility as a form of sport. Still, there are those who believe Menes was devoured by a crocodile in the Nile river.

Because Djer was too you to rule, Neithotepe ruled in his stead when Menes died. That was how the first dynasty of Egypt began.

All in all, ancient Egypt was ruled by 31 consecutive dynasties. Before the pharaohs started building primitive pyramids during the third dynasty, pharaohs were buried in structures called Mastaba.

 These are their symbols. They are freemasons (Anti Christ).  Lets go more deeper. Free masons always make a building or a house or anything in triangular shape. Because, negative energy comes from the pointed object. If you are a scientist , you must know that everything release energy. One is Positive and other is negative. Negative Energy always comes from triangular or pointed object. (Pyramids, Empire state building, Burj-u-lkhalifa…).  Have you ever seen a mosque or a church in  pyramid shape or pointed shape? “NO”. they are always build in Round shape or rectangular shape but not pyramidal shape. They are everywhere, but our eyes are close. Because we people don’t know the truth. Because we people have wrong beliefs in our mind. Because we people leave everything to God and we ourselves do nothing.
These Free masons has only one purpose on the earth, to make people believe that there is no GOD in this universe. They want to remove GOD from your life, because they themselves believed in a man (horus) as GOD. They had not only one God but many GODS. In this modern world , there main weapon , is to control your mind, through media, through lies and through wrong deeds. And in fact they are controlling us, from day to night, from week to months, from years and so on. There are 5 senses of our body.
1-Sex chakra(sense)
2-Belly chakra
3-Heart Chakra
4- Voice chakra
5-Brain chakra
Now first , we will discuss the Sex chakra. These people are controlling our five senses and we even don’t know. Lets have a look at the sex chakra. These free masons have there biggest weapon as TV. Or media.
Freemasons shows us Sex films. Sexy magazines and some other disgusting things through the media to control our Sex chakra.
Now lets move on to 2nd sense, belly Chakra. They have made  restaurants , like KFC. burger shops, sweets, candies for kids so that they eat according to their choice only. Because their choice is kids choice and our choice. That’s how they are controlling our belly chakra.
3rd chakra is Heart chakra. We know, that every man , even a 2 year kid know that what is a Gun and how it works. From the beginning , they fed us war, crimes and other bad aspects of life. Through which they are controlling our Heart Chakra.
4th Chakra is Voice chakra. Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) said
“near the end of the world , people will speak lies, SO BEWARE”
They  are feeding , lies into our lives, wrong incidents, and wrong news through media. By which we get wrong information We start speaking lies to other people because of them. That’s how they are controlling our Voice chakra.
They are feeding our brain , with terrorism , war and no peace at all. That’s how they are controlling our brain Chakra. Free masons are  very dangerous  people, they work on the rule like “Trust no one , deceive everyone”.  No one can finish them, not until the Judgment day. They will remain in this world until this world goes down. They always make there sign on everything possible. For example. (eye, pyramid. Etc). They show there signs through  films, as you can see in matrix, there is a Masonic sign in one of the scene. They are all over the media and all over the world. Star movies, National Geographic, AXN, HBO, ABC and other channels are controlled by free masons society. Free masons use others to do their work. They use innocent people. They control them and then waste. Now lets move on to some big people of this world , who were Freemasons and we didn’t knew.
George Washington and his whole  descendants  are free masons. Including Obama. Obama is the 11th cousin of George bush . Free masons always choose their president or a leader from one sibling only. They don’t marry their children’s out of the family. Lady Diana was also the member of free masons, but when she was in love with some one else, who was out of their family ,the free masons killed her and him in tunnel.
Benazir, was also free Masonic. When she returned to Pakistan, free masons killed her, because she left their society. You cant imagine, what they are capable of. 
Hitler was also the free mason and you wont believe , but Christian Benedict  POPE is also a free mason. I can prove it.  I saw one of his photos in which he was wearing a crown, on which there was  a eye,  and a pyramid on his shoulder.  Free masons has a secret type of handshake, and if you notice one thing, that all the leaders of America and these free Masonic people, shake their hands by same method . Hillary Clinton is  also the free mason.  Look at the flag of Israel, and you will see two triangles(pyramids).

That’s free Masonic symbol. Now the big problem is that the people who know about free masons , think that this society is a Jewish society. Jews people declared that they are not free masons, but  free masons are destroying every religion, and creating differences among other religions to create a war. They are destroying homes and countries, but they are not Jew, neither  Christians , nor Muslims. They  are that people who don’t believe in God and they just believe in this vision. They show worldly pleasure to people to forget God.
Another, wrong belief of Christians and Muslims is that a Messiah will come and will make a force and he will going to finish free masons. The messiah has come and also have been passed away. But Muslims don’t believe in it. Because they don’t want to believe anything. They are still waiting for the Messiah to come, but he wont come, because the real Messiah has already been come and had passed away. He has a separate Group from Muslims, called Ahmadiya Muslim Community. In short they are call Ahmadis. Muslims believe them as infidels. They think that Their Messiah is a prophet and Hazrat Muhammad (saw) said that there wont be any messenger after me. Holy Prophet is the Seal of Prophets. But Ahmadis don’t believe that their Messiah is a prophet. The God promised in his Holy book that near the end of the world I will send you the Messiah, the 12th imam. Shias , a group in Islam believe that Messiah has came but due to unfortunate conditions he has been lifted up in the sky and he will return one day with Jesus Christ. Can you believe this myth in this modern world that Two people are coming down from above to save the world?.
I don’t know who can believe in this story but I don’t and I thank God every time that he has given me a clear mind. Muslims called Free masons as Dajjal and in English it is Anti Christ. No one is coming to save us from Free masons. We have to save ourselves. The messiah had came but they don’t believe in it. Now who are the real infidels?. Those who believe or those who create stupid myths?.  They read Holy books as it has been written. But they don’t research on every word that God says. They just read it and call themselves as a very pious man. These are the  people who will get nothing in the world and in the end. Muslims has make their  religion , a hell place . Look at the flag of Saudi Arabia. Muslims “Kalma “ is written above the Sword. That  means  , there are no such people in this Islam , who  has peace. They just want to fight on the basis of language and God. These people always create differences. They say that a muslim  name should be a Arabic name. but name is name, even its in greek language or hindi language. Name is a name. whether, it’s a English one or a Arabic one. The biggest problem is Language in our world. Different languages, different religions, different gods and different people.   But if we look closely , everything is same . Christian God is same, Muslim God is same as Christians .  Jews God is same as both of religions , the difference is only in language. Jews and Christian says God and Muslims says Allah in Arabic. Hindu says BHAGWAN. These Three God are same , only the language is different. As I said that , these people always create difference because these people don t want to see Humans together. Remember one thing, God is for everybody not for Muslims or Christians. He  is only for Human beings, because Human beings are the living things. The prophets just gave a message to these people , that believe in God, but beside believing in it they made religions and there business started. The message remain un- revealed.  Easy come and easy go, that’s how living things live. YOU have to do everything yourself,  as I said you don’t want to rely on other shoulders. Now you will ask one question, that Why these, Molvis and Freemasons are destroying our lives? Because they choose to do this. In the beginning , I said that everything happens from your choosing. You have to finish that slavery and you have to become free. You have to make your mind free for thinking and processing.  You have to believe.
Despite the negative side of  free masons. There is a positive side of Free masons too. They  have a large hand in History and National Treasure. It all started with the Free masons and will end with the free masons. They have built the buildings, pyramids. Why?. They have symbols in these kinds of historic things to remember that where the treasure is. They have drawn the symbols everywhere. Take a look at the statue of liberty in  Paris. There is a carving on it like “The twins stand resolute…..”. This is a coded message about the resolute desks. One is currently in Oval office in Washington and other is in Buckingham palace. These desks were made by Queen Victoria from the timber of HMS Resolute ship which was wrecked in a storm. These two desks are very historic . Maybe There is something in those desk. Theories tells us that a Chinese box puzzle maker Malcon made the drawers of these two desk. Why did the queen appointed a puzzle maker to made the drawers?. Maybe the treasure is real and  it is of course real .Where  did they hide the treasure ?  Is City of Gold real? Legend tells us that City of Gold is real. In 1527 a Spanish ship wrecked at Florida coast. Their were Four survivors from the ship and one of the man named estaben saved a local tribe  from something.. Lets skip to the end, In the honor, the locals of that colony took him to their sacred city. The city of Gold. But when estaben tried to find out again where the City of Gold is , he didn’t find out.. and conspiracy theories as the film “National Treasure” tells us that Mount Rushmore is a cover up to hide the city of Gold. But on the other side John booth Wilkes, who shot the president Abraham Lincoln. The legend also tells us that he was the member of legendary KGC group(A treasure hunting group) .The  reason of murdering him that  Abraham  left the Free mason society is not enough but there can be other reason too. Was he too involved in protecting the treasure? No one knows what happened that night, what was the reason they shot Abraham Lincoln. Maybe something happened but nothing happened.   About the President Book. I assume it is real. The book exist. As far as I have made the research The president book in which he keeps all the secrets of the Nation(USA) exist. No one knows where it is but only the current president of USA. These symbols and things can lead us to greatest treasure  ever.
And on the far side, my research tells me that maybe the declaration of independence was the coded treasure map, through which United States came into existence.  There are some secrets which should be kept hidden.  George Washington , a great man, when moved to Mount Vernon, maybe he made a tunnel in his lawn. There is a map of that tunnel which was made by George Washington by himself. He was expert in drawing maps.  I believe that every free mason who was a big man or a leader took part in protecting the treasure. I mean take a look at the bald Eagle. The seal of USA. The eagle has a possible link with Horus. Because Horus was depicted as an eagle in myths. From Benjamin Franklin to Abraham Lincoln , From Queen Victoria to Resolute desks and from Free masons to Native Americans , there are some secrets which are currently hidden. Which I will try my best to find out.

As you walk all around,

Take a look at me now.

Can you tell me what you see,

As you look at me?

VERSE 1

My stare, it penetrates

into the bowels of your soul.

I can smell the fear on you,

Frozen in terror, in my control.

HOOK

Good side, bad side—Ohhh what the hell.

My hypnotic glare has you under my spell.

Up, down, turn around, side to side.

I rule you all till the day I die.

PRECHORUS

Build up the shrine.

Bring the gifts unto me.

Send in the lamb for sacrifice.

Its warm blood is such a treat.

CHORUS

You are all my slaves.

Toiling for me, day after day.

Bow down to me, for I am your king.

You are all my slaves.

VERSE 2

The picturesque, gold-laced dancers,

Gliding across the floor for our pleasure.

The snake-charmers play their flutes,

Rising up, swaying back and forth, hooded treasures.

HOOK

Good side, bad side—Ohhh what the hell.

My hypnotic glare has you under my spell.

Up, down, turn around, side to side.

I rule you all till the day you die.

PRECHORUS

Build up the shrine.

Bring the gifts unto me.

Send in the lamb for sacrifice.

Its warm blood is such a treat.

CHORUS

You are all my slaves.

Toiling for me day after day.

Bow down to me, for I am your king.

You are all my slaves.

SOLO

BRIDGE

Gold, silver, diamonds;

Are all mine to claim.

Servants, sequined parties, dancers;

Your pain is my fame.

HOOK

Good side, bad side—Ohhh what the hell.

My hypnotic glare has you under my spell.

Up, down, turn around, side to side.

I rule you all till the day you die.

Good side, bad side–Ohhh what the hell.

My hypnotic glare has you under my spell,

Up, down, turn around, side to side.

I rule you all till the day you die.

CHORUS

You are my slaves.

Toiling for me day after day.

Bow down unto me, for I am your king.

You are all my slaves.

OUTRO (Spoken)

As you walk all around,

Take a look at me now.

Can you tell me what you see?

Don’t look upon me.

Just kneel and

Bow down to your king.

Akhenaten’s father, Amenhotep III, had presided over the greatest period of prosperity in Egyptian history. Unlike his predecessors he showed little interest in war and conquest and instead preferred to establish trade links and cultivate the Egyptian economy. During his time in power Egyptian influence began to spread around the Mediterranean World.  Amenhotep III’s reign culminated in a series of spectacular pageants as Egyptians flocked to display their new-found wealth. When he died it was assumed that his son Amenhotep IV would continue his father’s good work. They were soon to realise, however, that he had other priorities.

Egypt was a country of myriad Gods the most prominent of which was Amun-Re. It also had a powerful priesthood which wielded great influence.  Akhenaten was determined to introduce the worship of just one God, the Sun God Aten. Less than a year after succeeding to the throne he changed his name to Akhenaten in its honour. We do not know his reasons for the switch to monotheism, perhaps he was trying to undermine and destroy the power of the priesthood, or enhance even further his own divine status, maybe he was a true believer. Either way, religion was to dominate his time on the throne.

Akhenaten soon began building temples in honour of the Sun God Aten and  his people were expected to worship it regardless of and at the expense of any other God. But Egyptians had never worshipped just one God. There were not just national Gods but regional Gods, local Gods, even family Gods. In a society where death was a fact of everyday life, which had an obsession with the preservation of the soul and the after-life the worship of the right Gods was a very serious matter indeed.

The solar Gods had always played a particularly important role in Egyptian life. The sun determined the seasons, it determined the harvest, it determined the peoples well-being but to worship one God above all others, indeed, instead of all others, was sacrilege. It would bring ruin upon the Nation, and how could anyone be assured of a successful transition to the after-life? Akhenaten’s reforms met a great deal of resistance and he was to send officials around the country to chisel out the names and images of any other Gods found inscribed on temples.

Akhenaten built temples to the divinised sun-disk at Karnak and wrote hymns of praise to the one-true God, ” Aten, Glorious you rise on the horizon of heaven, O living Aten, creator of life.” He also transformed Egyptian art. A new naturalistic, if highly stylised, art form now emerged dedicated to the universal power of the Sun-God Aten. Akhenaten had himself and his family depicted playing beneath the rays of the sun. The art of the Amarna Period emphasises the fact that everything exists only because of the sun and its bountiful and merciful God.

Akhenaten’s wife, Nefertiti, became the personification of the perfect Egyptian woman, blessed by the sun. So often portrayed alongside her husband provided her with unparalleled status for the wife of Pharaoh. The name Nefertiti translates as “the beautiful one has come” and there is little doubt that Akhenaten believed this to have been so, for he writes glowingly of her, ” My heart is pleased with the Queen.” The bust of Nefertiti discovered by German archaeologists during excavations at Tel el Amara in 1912, but not revealed until 1924, show a very beautiful woman indeed. The feminisation of Akhenaten himself has led some to conjecture that he was either homosexual or hermaphrodite, or that he was so obsessed with his wife that he tried to look like her. Certainly, he was not the great warrior King that was expected of a Pharaoh but preferred instead to spend time in his wife’s company, and with his family.

Nefertiti disappears from the public record in the twelth year of Akhenatens reign. In the final year of his life a mysterious woman named Smenkhare appears whom Akhenaten named as a co-Regent. It has been speculated that this was in fact Nefertiti and that Akhenaten had taken this step to try and ensure that she would follow him as Pharaoh.

Late in his reign Akhenaten decided that the Sun-God Aten needed a city of its own away from the Egyptian capital Thebes (modern day Luxor) where it would be uncontaminated by other Gods. This was to be built in middle-Egypt where he intended that it would become a place of pilgrimage. It was not completed in his lifetime and was demolished soon after his death.  

Akhenaten died in 1336 BC. His experiment with monotheism was to die with him. He was succeeded as Pharaoh by his 9 year old son  Tutankhamen. He was not the child of Nefertiti, who had borne him 6 daughters, but of a secondary wife, Kiya. His Regent was General Horemheb, the woman Smenkhare disappears from history. Horemheb immediately set about reversing all Akhenaten’s reforms. The ban on worshipping other Gods was removed, the pre-eminent position of the God Arum-Re was restored, as were the traditional privileges  and status of the priesthood.

Akhenaten’s reign and his obsession with the Sun God had seen seen Egypt decline economically and he had left the country’s administration in disarray. General Horemheb set about trying to right this and the first thing to do was worship those Gods that had so obviously deserted them.

Tutankhamen died aged just 19, and it has long been rumoured that he was murdered. Certainly, his wife Ankhesenanum must have believed so for she feared for her own life and wished to re-marry outside of the family. Her request was denied and she was forced to marry Tutankhamen’s powerful Adviser Ay, who succeeded as Pharaoh. Ay, was to reign for only 4 years before he died, again the likelihood is that he was murdered. With his death so died the 18th Dynasty. The fear of another Akhenaten had been removed once and for all.  

Archaeologist have come across 1500 year old tomb belonging to the Mayans at the Palenque archeological site. A remote controlled camera lowered into the  tomb revealed an apparently intact funeral chamber with offerings and red-painted wall murals.It is hoped that these archeological finds will shed light into way of life of these great civilization.

Work on the site should have started as early as 1999 but it was delayed because the pyramid under which the tombs existed were unstable making it risky to the artifacts in the tomb. The floor of the tomb appeared to be covered with deritus while the jade and the shell fragments that was captured on the video represented the funeral costumes of the dead buried in there.

The chamber was found in a heavily deteriorated pyramid complex known as the Southern Acropolis, in a jungle-covered area of Palenque not far from the Temple of Inscriptions, where the tomb of a later ruler, Pakal, was found in the 1950s. While Pakal’s tomb featured a famous and heavily carved sarcophagus, no such structure was evident in the latest find at Palenque.

The tomb’s floor occupies about 5 square metres, with a low, Mayan-arch roof of overlapping stones. Experts say it probably dates to between 431 and 550 A.D. and could contain the remains of K’uk’ Bahlam I, the first ruler of the city-state. The tomb’s existence was revealed by a shaft found near the top of the ruined pyramid, leading downward. But it was too narrow to provide any kind of view of the chamber. In late April, researchers lowered a tiny two-inch-long camera into the tomb using the six-inch wide shaft.

The Mayans are still remembered as highly intelligent people that lived in present day Mexico. Their enduring works of architecture make them as significant as the Egyptians and their indulgence into the world astronomy have made their predictions of the end of the world in 2012 a great debate and anxiety among modern man today.

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The pyramid is the oldest and largest pyramid in the Giza Necropolis. It is believed to be a tomb for the Pharaoh Khufu of the fourth dynasty. All of the measurements and math are based on the findings of Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie. He found that this massive structure incorporated approximately 2.3 million stone blocks, mostly limestone, weighing anywhere between 2.5 – 15 tons each. It has also been found that the pyramid was originally cased in highly polished white limestone blocks. However, these have since fallen away from various natural disasters, and then carried away. At the bottom of the structure however, there are still a few of the blocks still visible. It is also thought that the construction took place over a 14 – 20 year period. In order to have accomplished this, it is estimated that workers would have had to place a stone block every two and a half minutes! That is part of the mystery of the pyramid, is based on the math, how could they have done it? How could they have placed these stones so high off the ground in a matter of minutes? Part of the mystery still lies with how it was constructed in the first place. There are many theories surrounding this part of the tale, one of the most common being that the stones were dragged, lifted, or possibly even rolled into place. It was common belief that slaves were used to build this pyramid, but this has since been disproved.

The Great Pyramid was the center of a more complex layout including several small pyramids, five boat pits, a mortuary temple, a causeway, a valley temple, and many smaller tombs for noblemen and other royal family members.  The queens of the Pharaoh also had their own smaller pyramids. 

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If you get the chance to visit this beautiful site, take the time to appreciate its wonder and mystery. It is important that these important historical monuments remain in our minds and in our teachings. Even though there have since been listed a new set of the wonders of the world, we still should not forget those that came before. Especially with how fast the world is moving towards technology, it is important to see, learn, and remember the amazing feats that were accomplished by people before all of this technology was around. 

So a few days ago I was asked quite an out of the blue and remarkable question on what I want to do before I die. Now, this completely caught me off guard as I’m sure it has and would catch a number of you readers as well, so I took some time to really think about this question and have come up with my own personal list of what I believe should be done before we leave this world. I’m also really interested in your thoughts on this list and perhaps you could add some of your own ideas below in the comment section for further discussion!

Anyway, on to the list:

10. Visit the Great Wall of China

9. Climb/Visit the Great Pyramids of Egypt

I think the above two items on the list speak for themselves. Who wouldn’t wanna visit these places?

8. Go on a Supersonic Jet Ride

This would be amazing. I love speed, and I think being on a super sonic jet ride would change my life forever and what I perceive as “speed”. I only hope I’ll either have enough money to do this in the near future, or it becomes so cheap that anyone could take this ride without breaking the bank.

7. Go into Space

Ever since I was a little kid looking out into sky at night, I’ve always wanted to visit the stars (though knowing now that they are really suns, I’ve become a little less enthusiastic) or even the moon! To me, it would be an amazing experience and leaving my footsteps on a place that has been only visited by a handful of people would be a plus.

6. Invent something Truly Original

This would be more a personal achievement, not for the money or even the wide success of the whatever I create, just for the fact that I had an idea that had never been thought before and was able to change that idea into a product that people actually used, would just be a “WOW” moment for me on many many levels.

5. Visit Every Type of Environment Habitable by Man on Earth (Including the Arctic)

Everyone has a sense of adventure in them, and minecraft has inspired me. Enough said.

4. Have Some sort of TV show or Comedy Sketch

I must say Seinfeld (the show) here is a great inspiration for me on this idea. Again, it would be just be a goal (that I probably won’t reach) that would be great!

3. Try Every Type of Food

I love food. It would be amazing to try every different type of food from every culture, just to get that sense of culture and the amazing tastiness of the world.

2. Experience some sort of Supernatural Phenomena

Ufo’s, aliens, ghosts, etc. Don’t tell me none of you have never wanted to experience something like that?

1. Start An Organization

It could be anything, profit, non-profit, just something that leaves an impact (hopefully positive) on the world.ome

Now, this is in no particular order though I can safely say the one I am probably most looking forward to trying to do eventually is experiencing a super natural phenomena. This is probably because these can include such a wide variety of subjects from miracles, to ghosts, to UFO’s- all of which I find extremely interesting and would love to have any sort of encounter with (though demonic ones may be a bit too much to handle at the moment).

So, tell me what you guys think and leave your own ideas on what you would want to do before you died!

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Ancient Egyptians believed their kings were gods.  Pharaohs built huge pyramids to protect their bodies and treasures.  Burial was always on the west bank of the Nile so that the pharaohs could follow the setting sun.

The pyramids were filled with tunnels and chambers.  Some tunnels led nowhere, and some chambers were unfinished.  After the pharaoh’s mummy was placed inside, workers used large granite slabs to seal the burial chamber.  Other slabs blocked the chamber that held the pharaoh’s treasures.

Despite all these security measures, robbers still raided the pyramids.  Later, pharaohs decided to try something different. They built their tombs inside the soft rock walls of valleys called wadis – valleys formed by heavy flooding.  The barren hillsides offered much better protection from tomb robbers than pyramids had.  The secrets of these tombs were safe for many years.  Eventually, however, the robbers found these tombs, too.

By Mr Ghaz, March 4, 2011

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The Mystery of Egyptian Hieroglyphics: How did the Ancient Egyptians Decode Hieroglyphics?

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For centuries, people wrongly assumed that the strange ancient signs were entirely symbolic, and many wildly inaccurate attempts at translation were made. However, in 1799 an ancient inscription was discovered by French soldiers at el-Rashid (Rosetta) on the Mediterranean coast. It was a royal decree issued during the reign of

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King Ptolemy V (205-180BCE), and it was written twice in Egyptian (in hieroglyphs and demotic) and once in Greek. By enabling linguists to compare the same text in Egyptian and a living tongue, Greek, the “Rosetta Stone” proved to be the key that would unlock the language and through it, the civilization-of ancient Egypt for the modern world.

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The Englishman Thomas Young (1773-1829) was the first to recognize that hieroglyphs could be phonetic, with signs representing individual sounds and not just whole words or concepts. But he did not appreciate the full implications of this discovery, and it was a Frenchman, Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832), who first revealed the great complexity of the Egyptian writing system. From his study of the Rosetta Stone, Champollion deduced that hieroglyphs consisted of three basic types: “Phonograms” (representing sounds), “ideograms” and “logograms” (representing words), and “determinatives” (which simply emphasize meaning). The phonograms in turn fall into three categories. There is a basic “alphabet” of twenty-four hieroglyphs, each of which represents a single consonant (for example,=b, =m, =r). Other phonograms-several hundred in total-are categorized as representing either two sounds or three sounds (for example, =ms, -nfr).

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For most of Egyptian history, vowels were not written and where a vowel is not known, Egyptologists conventionally insert an “e” so that a word can be pronounced. Hieroglyphs can be written vertically (from top to bottom) or horizontally (from left to right or right to left.) There is no punctuation.

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The use of hieroglyphs was largely restricted to literate elite who made up approximately one percent of the population, and although professional scribes were generally men, some women were also literate. Literacy was greatly valued as a means of social advancement, because scribes naturally formed the core personnel of Egypt’s government and bureaucracy.

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The written word was believed to hold great power, comparable to that contained within artistic images, which explains the fact that some hieroglyphic symbols in religious inscriptions were occasionally mutilated when they were carved to “neutralize” potential dangers. Royal names were written within an oval ring, or “cartouche” to protect them, with line upon line of cartouches making up the “King Lists” which record the royal lineage. These lists were often highly selective-those monarchs who were regarded as less than perfect by later pharaohs were delete from the official records. If a royal name was removed in this way, or scraped or chiseled from his own monuments, it was as if the individual concerned had ceased to exist. This fate befell several pharaohs in the course of Egyptian history, including the “heretic” Akhenaten. Conversely, simply to speak the name of a deceased person was believed to make him or her live again, which explains why the name of the deceased is repeated so frequently in tomb inscriptions.

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Because of their potency, names were carefully chosen, and often included the name of a god or king-for example, Amenhotep (“Amun is Content”), Tutankhamun (“Living Images of Amun”), and Pepiankh (“Pepi Lives”). Simpler names included Nefer (“Beautiful,” as in Nefertiti and Nefertari), Seneb (“Healthy”), and Sheshen (“Lotus”), which became-via Hebrew-the name Susannah or Susan.

Glyph and Symbol

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Their complex meaning yet simple aesthetic appeal explains the use of hieroglyphs as both functional and decorative devices. They appeared in diverse aspects of Egyptian life, from great stone edifices to small items of personal jewelry. The djed symbol, for example, representing the backbone of Osiris, meant stability and strength. The “key of life” sign, or ankh, was another frequently used symbol, alongside the signs for beauty, joy, and protection, among others, and the potent names of gods and kings. Royal names were written in an oval ring, or cartouche, and if they contained the name of a god, this was always placed first. Thus Tutankhamun (“Living Image of Amun”) was written “Amun-Tut-Ankh”.

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Nowhere is the effect of the hieroglyphic script felt more powerfully than in the monumental inscriptions that cover the Egyptians’ vast religious and funerary buildings. The ever-changing play of sunlight and shadow creates a constantly shifting image throughout the course of the day, but the lines of pictorial script and accompanying artistic scenes convey an overall feeling of balance. This can be seen particularly at Karnak, from the sublime raised reliefs of its Middle Kingdom chapels to the sunken relief of the repetitious cartouches of the Ramesside pharaohs of the New Kingdom. The Ramesside kings carved their royal names and titles deeply into the stone, in the hope that they would last for eternity. Should the name be erased, as happened with “anomalous” rulers such as Akhenaten and Hatshepsut in the Eighteenth dynasty, the individual would be consigned to oblivion-which for the Egyptians was the most terrible fate imaginable.