The Mystery of Identity in Book of Abraham Facsimile 2 And The Eclipsing Binary Star, Algol, in New Findings from Helsinki University

December 24, 2015

The round Egyptian hypocephalus, really a circle within a circle, represents both the solar pupil and the solar iris (the hypocephalus rim). Being the Eye of Re, it encompasses all that the sun sees and all that he governs as he rounds the universe and sets its boundaries. Within its compass--yet opposites sharply demarcated within the pupil--appear reflected the topsy-turvy realms of night and day, darkness and light, the netherworld and the sidereal heavens.

Which brings us--perhaps--to Algol, an eclipsing binary star. . .

"In this eclipsing binary, the dimmer star partially covers the brighter star with a period of 2.867 days." "These eclipses, says Lauri Jetsu, "last about ten hours and they can be easily observed with unaided eyes" (Renu Rangela, "Ancient Egyptian documents may carry records of important astronomical events," Ibtimes, 21 December 2015).

A team of scientists and egyptologists at Helsinki, in an intriguing though not convincing study, now "present evidence indicating that the period of Algol was 2.850 days three millennia ago. For religious reasons, the ancient Egyptians have recorded this period [along with the lunar period] into the Cairo Calendar (CC) [a register of lucky and unlucky days], which describes the repetitive changes of the Raging One" (Lauri Jetsu, et al., "Did the Ancient Egyptians Record the Period of the Eclipsing Binary Algol--the Raging One?"The Astrophysical Journal, 773:1 (10 August 2013), Abstract; the latest article is L. Jetsu, S. Porceddu, "Shifting Milestones of Natural Sciences: the Ancient Egyptian Discovery of Algol's Period Confirmed," PLoS ONE, 10 (12), 17 December 2015).

"We show that n ≈ 200 good prognoses would induce PMoon and PAlgol in CC, even if the remaining n ≈ 700 good and bad prognoses had aperiodic origins (Leitz 1994; e.g., diseases, floods, feasts, winds)" (L. Jetsu, 2013, 1).

In other words, not only did the Ancient Egyptian scribes discover and measure the period of Algol (if not its binary nature), they also paired the symbolism of the lunar cycle with that of the star and applied both to the workings of the Calendar. Measure and analogy were no small thing for the Egyptians. The priesthood held as sacred duty "the measurement of time by observing stars while they conducted the proper nightly rituals that kept the Sun safe during its journey across the underworld. The timing of these rituals was important, because it had to appease the terrible guardians, who opened one gate of the underworld at each hour. The Sun was reborn at the 12th hour, but only if Ancient Egyptian Scribes performed the rituals absolutely right. The risk that the Sun would never rise again was imminent" (L. Jetsu, 2013, 10-11, italics added). There comes to mind a classic scriptural moment of astronomical observation and its subsequent portrayal in the form of a cosmic circle or sphere: "And I saw the stars" (Book of Abraham 3:2).

We return to the round hypocephalus, which itself depicts the moment of sunrise at the morn of creation. The Latter-day Saint reader will here recall how the Prophet Joseph Smith's Explanation of the hypocephalus begins with "the measurement of time"; even "the measurement of celestial time" "according to the measurement of the earth" (which varies by season, note the Helsinki scientists, as the days and nights wax and wane). It is the moment in which the celestial kicks off the earthly time clock. The Prophet further discerns "numerical figure[s]" in the mythological representation of the stellar firmament "answering to the measurement of the time" of a great star, which then perfectly accords with the "revolution" and "measuring of time" of another, like, star. Hugh Nibley sorts the Prophet's "brief explanation" under the following headings: Cosmology, Measurement and number, Transmission of power or energy, Hierarchy or dominion (intelligence and purpose), Ordinances and procedures (Hugh Nibley and Michael Rhodes, One Eternal Round, 240, 244ff., 256). Ritual procedure thus accords with cosmic measurement to ensure the continuing downward flow of divine power--that's the Egyptian picture and that's the Egyptian practice.


Where does the eclipse come in? Hugh Nibley gives us a lead in his commentary on the Book of Breathings, or Sensen Document, this last a ritual serving to unite (snsn) the deceased with his solar father, which is also analogous to the reunion of the solar Ba-spirit and the Osirian corpse:

That he might enter the horizon along with his father Re;
To cause his Ba to appear in glory in heaven
(and) in the disk (itn) of the Moon
that his corpse might shine in (or as) Orion
in the womb (or body) of Nut (ll. 2-3)

The Egyptian verb that describes the fusing of the Ba-spirit of the king with Re is hnm: and "one wonders," says Nibley, "if the meeting or fusing (hnm) of the disks [in the above and related passages] could be anything but an eclipse" (Nibley, The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment, 83)?

Note the following phases of funerary ritual, which also mark phases of fusing, as that which is celebrated on earth matches, in timed precision, what unfolds in heaven (cf. Moses 6:63 = Hugh Nibley, Michael Rhodes, One Eternal Round, 256).

1) "In the darkest moment of the royal funeral in the deepest and darkest of chambers, the restoration process begins to take place, with the Ba assuming the most tenuous of forms, that of smoke provided by scented candles"(Nibley, Message, 82).

2) "The rites of royal burial ended exactly at sunrise, when the Ba of the dead king joined his father on the horizon" (81). This last is also "The meeting of Re and Osiris in their astral aspects" (Philippe Derchain on the secret ceremony of the Uniting of Re and Osiris in the House of Life = Nibley, Message, 83). Note, then, the left-hand panel of the hypocephalus, the last line of which ends with the prayer: May the Ba of Sheshonq be caused to live! According to the Prophet Joseph, that same line contains things "to be had in the temple of God," that is, things pertaining to a royal etiquette or royal secret set in motion by the workings of sacred ritual in a sacred sanctuary.

The discerning reader will draw the connection between the dim star--the ghoul of Algol, as the Arabs have it--and the scented smoke (or between the darkened moon and the scented smoke). Here is the Ba of Re on the shadowy night journey to join its corpse, in the form of Osiris, the god of the underworld. The Egyptian scribes who penned the Amduat (the Book of What is in the Underworld) do picture the night sun as traversing, at once, both underworld and stellar expanse (in the form of a star). As for the sunrise, Cannot the event also be figured in the bright star of Algol, as it emerges from eclipse? Would it were true! What a find that would be!

The scenario would certainly evoke the appearance of glory in the disk (itn) of the moon--another eclipse, says Nibley. The disk of the sun and the disk of the moon both figure the place and moment of hnm. Meeting in one disk, or meeting in one star or in a single constellation, so signifies the fusing of two (or more) Ba-spirits. Thus the Ba of Isis famously is the star Sothis (Sirius); that of mighty Horus, the constellation Orion. Hugh Nibley sums it up: "The idea that the Ba of one exalted being may unite with that of another is the ultimate expression of the mystery of identity" (Message, 82).

And of all identities, that of Re and Osiris is the most paradoxical; the ceremony that works the meeting in the House of Life thus becomes the most prohibitive, the most mysterious, and the most sacred event in the Egyptian view of the universe (Papyrus Salt 825). The Egyptian hypocephalus thus hardly embraces the run-of-the-mill funerary, as critics of Joseph Smith trumpet. Neither is the gist of the matter, as the Helsinki scientists describe it, the daily return of the sun on the horizon--things are much more fraught with moment than that! The purpose of the ceremony is to work the unity of the sun with its own dark twin and thus to effect the continuation of all life, despite all death, as manifest in Re-Osiris, the ultimate and ineffable power of the universe.

The work at Helsinki, despite its cargo of statistics, remains unproved (see links and the brief, dismissive comments in Electronic Egyptian Forum News 905). Grasp of the intricacies of Ancient Egyptian religion appears tenuous. One might also hope for the discovery of a second reference to Algol, or to its period, in the textual corpus. Still, all such work ought to be encouraged. As Professor Barry J. Kemp points out, students of Egyptian may stumble across ideas and connections very much in line with the sort of thinking pursued by the ancient scribes (Kemp, Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization). The ancient tradition lives on in such discoveries, though we must tread with care.

To identify Algol with Horus, the living king, or with the Eye of Horus, in "his" (read, her) benign and wrathful aspects, intrigues, though it also falls short of the textual evidence. Not that the Calendar holds no surprises. Fascinating is the description of Re viewing the world through the Eye of Horus, as if through a special instrument, or, as described in other places, through a special messenger traversing the expanses (cf. the Explanation of Facsimile 2, no. 7; or even Abraham 3:2). He then invites the "great ones" (wr.w) to see what he has therewith seen. They cower before the flaming wrath of the Eye in the presence of Re. Fascinating, but what has it to do with Algol? Nothing. Besides, it is Sirius in her (read, his) form as Horus Sopdet that flares as the "raging one."

The formulas and the theories equating Algol and royal Horus do not take into full consideration the Egyptian fondness for analogy, multiplicity, fusion, and, well, fuzziness. Like anything else in the Egyptian cosmos, Algol cannot be boxed into a sole star. Neither can Horus: various planets, famously including red Mars, all take the name of Horus. In this case, we speak principally of Horus the Eldest, the prehistoric falcon that encompasses the universe in his revolutions. Horus the child and royal Horus, though tethered to the Eldest in a manner not altogether clear, come into a different story.

According to the Coffin Texts (VII 491h), Horus the Eldest paradoxically stands both in the middle (Hrj-jb = "over the heart") of the stars in the northern hemisphere and also in the middle of all the southern stars. The wording is: "in the middle of the stars of the upper region and of the opposing lower region," a view of the cosmos something recalling the schema of the opposing halves of the spherical hypocephalus. The four Sons of Horus the Eldest also make their appearance in the heavens, one of whom appears as the red star, Dosh-iati-imi-hawt-ins, the One whose two eyes are red, who dwells in the House of Scarlet, that is, the Horizon (for Horus Smsw, see Bernard Mathieu, "Les enfants d'Horus, theologie et astronomie," ENIM 1 (2008), 7-14).

For the Latter-day Saint reader, the Eldest Star standing "over the heart" evokes Kolob as "Heart Star" (qrb; Kolob is fig. 1 in the hypocephalus). Dosh-iati-imi-hawt-ins evokes Enish-go-on-dosh (fig. 5: the Hathor cow), both a star and also the sun, according to the Egyptians--so Joseph Smith. "Said by the Egyptians to be the sun." The four-headed ram that the Prophet names Kolob, and which Daniel Klotz terms the Cosmic Amun, likewise "depicts [both] the creator god in its most powerful manifestation, and thus also the sun at the peak of its glory," according to the very latest study (Gyula Priskin, "The encounter between the sun and the moon on hypocephali," Birmingham Egyptology Journal 2015 (3:24-41), 26). We, here, recall the configuration of the hypocephalus as a circle within a circle, pupil and iris, the dark pupil and the blazing iris or corona. Do we see a solar eclipse here as well?

Kolob and Enish-go-on-dosh make up the dominant celestial figures in their respective, and inverse, hemispheres on the hypocephalus (see Explanation of Facsimile 2 of the Book of Abraham). Enish-go-on-dosh appears just below the red horizon. The n in go-on-dosh, as far as that goes, hints at the Egyptian imi, thus imi-dosh, as the one who is in the dosh, or red horizon, or even the hw.t dSr, the house of red--again, inside the horizon. I suggest transcribing Enish-go-on-dosh as insi.t q3j.t imi dSr.wt, the Exalted Scarlet One, that is the Scarlet Eye, who is in her Red Resplendence.

Lovely Hathor, the Feminine Sun at Dendera, takes the epithet 'n.t x'w, the One who is beautiful [on-] in her manifestations [-go = x'w?], that is, in her manifestations as the solar Eye. Other readings for Enish-go-on-dosh (again, the Hathor cow on the hypocephalus), spring to mind. Consider ond- dosh(t): 'n.t or 'jn.ty dSr.ty (the One whose Wedjat Eye is red--with anger). 'n.t dSr(.ty) also much recalls the divine epithet dSr or dSr.ty ir.ty (dosht-iat) attached to one of the sons of Horus, as we have seen.

I favor reading Enish-go-on-dosh as either the Red Solar Eye (jns.t) or as the Living Solar Eye ('nx.t; 'nsh.t) in her exaltations (-go = q3j.t), even the Beautiful Eye in her Red Resplendence ('n.t dSr.wt). Enish-go-on-dosh, a fused name, thus signifies the conceptual unity of the Solar Eye at the powerful moments of both sunrise and sunset.

Of one thing we may be sure: Egyptian cosmology is more than what the handbooks tell.

"And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them" (Genesis 15:5). Abraham's is an expanding universe.

So where does Algol, a blue star, fit in? The keen-eyed Egyptians could not have failed to spot the ghoulish star. The question remains Whether it signified? Perhaps Algol, like Sirius, like Orion, like the moon, may yet unfold as "ultimate expression of the mystery of identity."

Now to find the Egyptian name for the star!

http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/08/contrasting-star-colors-in-perseus.html

Zerahemnah, Zarahemla, and the phonological l/n variant

For the student of Semitic phonology, the Book of Mormon name Zerahemnah trips the wire. Little bells start to ring.

The Book of Omni starts us off with Zarahemla, the leader of the Mulekites and the namesake of their great city. We thereafter meet the city of Zarahemla on every page, but in Alma's book, the name Zerahemnah, the Zoramite captain, brings us up short.

Are Zarahemla and Zerahemnah variants of the same name? Professor Jo Ann Hackett "suggested [Zerahemnah] was either a mistake or a confusion in pronunciation," on the part of the modern scribes or typesetters (BYU's Book of Mormon Onomasticon, q.v. Zerahemnah). But since the record keepers duly inform us of the tribal divisions of the Nephites: Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, and Zoramites, not to mention the Mulekites, with whom the Nephites (and the Jacobites, Josephites, and Zoramites) later united, we can rest assured that Zera- or Zarahemnah is neither mistake nor confusion, but simply variant spelling or even a hint of dialect. The Mulekites perhaps pronounced Zarahemla one way, and the four Nephite tribes (or even each of the four), another. The Zoramites, though also affiliated with the Nephites, yet maintained a separate identity throughout the centuries: the pronunciation Zerahem-nah might leave a trace of that separateness. And doubtless many other students have come to the same conclusion about Zerahemnah.

Royal Skousen, in his study of both the Original and Printer's Manuscripts of the Book of Mormon, notes four distinct spellings for Zerahemnah: thus also Zarahemnah and Zerahemna--and even, l for n, Zarahemlah (Alma 44:12, Original Ms.; Analysis of the Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, 4:2456). Before we credit Joseph or Oliver, or both, with the a/e or l/n mix-up, we first should take into account the ear of Alma. Alma confusing Zarahemlah for Zarahemnah, if but once, is the very thing a Zoramite would expect of a Nephite. 

Mormon diligently edited Alma, yet given the tribal tally, it would come as a surprise if traces of dialect did not pop up. Consider the following reference, not to Alma's ear, but to his mouth and tongue: "Behold my beloved brethren, seeing that I have been permitted to come unto you [in the Valley of Gideon], therefore I attempt to address you in my own language; yea, by my own mouth" (Alma 7:2; cf. Hebrew lashon, tongue, speech, language). I recall Hugh Nibley saying this verse referred to dialects: Alma's people had lived hundreds of miles away from the main body of the Nephites for three generations, and many of these people, on returning "home," had later chosen the Valley of Gideon, named for their own tribal hero, as their new, and separate, home.

Then what of Zerahemnah? Those who study Semitic languages note the fluidity of the consonants (or even semi-vowels) r, l, and n. We recall the allophone l/n in other languages, e.g., the Mandarin word for cold: leng v. neng (Taiwan). Some students even take r, l, and n for allophones of a sole original Proto-Semitic phoneme. But not only does the lengthy record attest many instances of shift or neutralization between Semitic l and n, Edward Lipinski assures us that "The variation l/n is a surviving feature of Afro-asiatic," Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar (2001), 142 (see pages 139ff.).

So common is the l/n variation, whether allophonic or truly dialectal, that its absence in a large record like the Book of Mormon would be baffling. The example Professor Lipinski gives for the "surviving feature" is the Hebrew word for speech itself, lashon. While the corresponding Egyptian word is written ns, both Demotic and Coptic, the later forms of the language, give the spelling las. We mustn't mind the earlier spelling: the Egyptians, from the earliest times, pronounced the word /las/, though /nas/ would also have been heard on the streets of Memphis.

If you have Zarahemla, you've simply got to have Zerahemnah too. 

Gidanah or Giddonah (Alma 14:3)--What Might The Name Mean?

"I am Amulek; I am the son of Giddonah, who was the son of Ishmael, who was a descendant of Aminadi"--so Amulek introduces himself to auditors in his own city, Ammonihah.

Giddonah is an odd name--but so are the others. Odder yet: "For some reason the 1830 typesetter altered Gidanah, the spelling in [the Printer's Manuscript of the Book of Mormon] to Giddonah," Royal Skousen, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon, 3:1774; BYU Book of Mormon Onomasticon.

"I am Amulek; I am the son of Gidanah."

Either way, it's the same name.

Amulek, Ishmael, Aminadi: Aramaic and Hebrew hold the key--but what might Gidanah mean? The Proto-Semitic root *gVdVn (*gadan, or maybe *gidan) signifies "to become rich" (see no. 903 in "Semitic etymology," starling.rinet.ru). Arabic attests the same root as jdn (to be prosperous, rich), as in jadan (gift, bounty; F. J. Steingass, English-Arabic Dictionary).

But is Gidanah anywhere attested as a Semitic name? In CAD G we find the archaic (Ur III) personal name, Gidanu, which, we are told, is "probably West Semitic." 

That another well-born Giddonah, a contemporary of the first, sits as high priest in the land of Gideon shows us that the Book of Mormon is on the right track. Gadan or Gidan ultimately springs from the Proto-Semitic root *gid (that which is strong, big; the sinew). As for Gideon, the name signifies to hew wood.

The Book of Mosiah presents Gideon, the king's captain, all full of wrath and boldness: he settled the land that bears his name. Another warrior in the Book of Alma bears the name Gid, which signifies sinew, the source of strength--and of prosperity. The same root, attested throughout Semitic languages, appears in the name of the ancient Jaredite king, Amgid (people of sinew). The Jaredite rulers, you will recall from Ether's book, were all "strong and mighty men." As Alma's contemptuous contemporary Korihor cynically notes in a deft but elusive turn of phrase, which may or may not subtly play on words: "therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength" (Alma 30:17; Professor Jo Ann Hackett has mulled over Gid as sinew: see BYU's Book of Mormon Onomasticon, q.v. "Gid"). 

Giddonah of Gideon, as the high priest at Korihor's trial, is a bulls-eye for the Book of Alma; Amgid fits the archaic Book of Ether; Gidanah derives from the earlier West Semitic form, Gidanu; and the Book of Mormon even gives us the name Gidgiddonah, which has a super-prosperous ring to it (see comments in Skousen, 3:1774). These names and offices and roles all resonate at a cultural plane just above our reach. 

Gidanah (or Giddonah) not only reflects Proto-Semitic *gVdVn, the name also fits what Alma tells us of the family of Amulek: they were rich. A principal trait of the Ammonihahites was the fast grab for easy money--a game of glib lawyers--and Gidan-ah suggests a prosperous land, city, or family. Gidanah signifies her (its) bounty, her gift, or as an abstract noun: a bounty, a rich gift. It's a great baby name. True, better to avoid Gadianton.

Bright Zion, "Orbed in a Rainbow"

Part II of "Marked with Red in Their Foreheads," posted 10 May 2010  


"Orbed in a Rainbow" (Hodie, Ralph Vaughan Williams = John Milton, "Ring Out, Ye Crystal Spheres")


We are "to liken" all scripture unto ourselves. What modern practices might correspond to the action of the rebellious Amlicites in marking their foreheads with red? Modern prophets warn against the practice of marking the body with tattoos. Tattoos "defile" the temple of God, for the body is intended to be the dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 3:17; 6:19). As followers of Christ, we manifest a constant love for all; neither do we seek to judge anyone who marks their body. At the same time, we share the prophetic warning about sanctifying the temple of God in our bodies.

Another practice reminiscent of marking the forehead with red is the use of color in social media as a sign of allegiance to claims of equality not in alignment with the will of God. To superimpose symbolic colors onto one's own photograph on Facebook or Twitter, as a sign of allegiance and of dissent--even if that is a quiet dissent--follows the practice of the Amlicites. 

The substance that makes up discipleship is a thing of many days and, likely, even many jarrings. Every six months we come together in General Conference. We look for peace and comfort and love; we may find testing and rebuke. Learning at the feet of prophets and apostles was never easy. A disciple may be jarred into painful outcry for a day, but what is a day? As we continue in the covenant path, we must "hold on [our] way" by often also holding our tongues, meanwhile striving to tame our hearts. Loyalty, pure and undiluted, in both public and in private, should be the aim of every true disciple of Christ.

To follow Christ we must love and serve without distinction of persons--"charity is the pure love of Christ"--but as Latter-day Saints, we must ever hold sacred how the Scriptures of the Restoration present the rainbow, with its comprehensive spectrum, as a symbol of God's eternal covenant with His chosen people to bring again Zion. Section 97:21 of the Doctrine and Covenants defines the community of Zion as "THE PURE IN HEART." 

The bow further signals for the faithful that promised moment in which latter-day Zion and the Zion of Enoch will unite in purity, glory, and peace. Here is the full separation from the world. Here is Ralph Vaughan Williams's stunning rainbow scene in the Christmas cantata Hodie. In the hope of the rainbow, promised tomorrow will dawn Today:

Orbed in a rainbow, and, like glories wearing,
Mercy will sit between,
Throned in celestial sheen,
With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering;
And heaven, as at some festival,
Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.


The festival is the panegyris, the glorious celebration of Zion, what the Scriptures call the "general assembly."


And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant, which I made unto thy father Enoch; that, when men should keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth, the city of Enoch which I have caught up unto myself. And this is mine everlasting covenant, that when thy posterity shall embrace the truth, and look upward, then shall Zion look downward, and all the heavens shall shake with gladness, and the earth shall tremble with joy. And the general assembly of the church of the firstborn shall come down out of heaven, and possess the earth, and shall have place until the end come. And this is mine everlasting covenant, which I made with thy father Enoch (Joseph Smith Translation Genesis 9:21-25). 

When we "look upon" the rainbow, we, too, should "remember the everlasting covenant" of the promise of Zion, THE PURE IN HEART. 

James Thomas Linnell's richly beautiful painting, "The Rainbow," found in the annex of the Salt Lake Temple--And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will establish my covenant unto thee--carries that same message to the hearts of all who enter there.