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In the early 80s Dave Talbott and myself published a trilogy of articles in
Kronos, analyzing various symbols encoding Venus's recent comet-like history.
Although our findings were revolutionary in scope, they were little noticed at the
time and have remained so in the meantime. That said, it is my opinion that
these early papers represent David at his most original and brilliant and as such
they are well worth revisiting, as the bold insights remain valid today and
point unequivocally to recent episodes of planetary catastrophism and a
radically different solar system. In the articles in question Talbott and I
identified the planet Venus with the Eye of Horus, a novel view at the time but since
endorsed by leading Egyptologists. As is well known, the Eye is one of the
most important symbols in all of ancient Egypt and subject of one of the oldest
mythological narratives to survive from that civilization. According to a text known as the
”Destruction of Mankind,” inscribed on two walls of various kings from the 19th dynasty,
circa 1325 BCE, the Eye went on a destructive rampage at the dawn of time that purportedly
brought the world to the very brink of extinction. There we read that the Eye, as the
goddess Hathor, was dispatched by Re to punish mankind. Quote, “Then mankind plotted something in
the very presence of Re... Then they said in the presence of his
majesty: ’May thy Eye be sent, that it may catch for thee them who scheme with evil
things...It should go down as Hathor.’ So then this goddess came and slew
mankind in the desert.” End of quote. While it would take several volumes to
recount the complete history of the cosmic disaster associated with the Eye,
the following brief summary will offer a glimpse of the mythological treasures
awaiting the diligent researcher. In the earliest textual references to
the Eye, there are a number of allusions to an enigmatic lock of hair.
Thus it is that the Coffin Texts speak of ”...the day of the cutting off the lock of hair.”
Another Coffin Text speaks of “...that day of cutting off the tress.”
Yet another speaks of “Her tress of fire is quenched.” Although each of these statements is
mentioned in passing as if the story were well known to the audience, the
context makes it clear that the fiery lock somehow sparked a cataclysm at the dawn of history.
According to one Coffin Text for example the god Shu succeeded in extinguishing
the rage of the fiery lock restoring order in the world. Quote “I have
extinguished the fire, I have calmed the soul of her who burns, I have quietened
her who is in the midst of her rage..(even she) the fiery one who severed the
tresses of the gods.” The reference to the goddess's rage and
her “who burns,” is an unequivocal reference to the raging Eye goddess
Wepset renowned for her incendiary destructive nature. But what does it mean
that the Eye goddess severed the tresses of the gods? The phrase translated “tresses of the
gods” =s3m/wt ntrm, wherein s3m/wt means lock of hair and is determined with the
hair hieroglyph. Yet the former word means ‘mourning’ as well as ‘lock of hair’
and thus Joris Borghouts translates the passage in question as
”the mourning of the gods.” According to testimony of this
particular Coffin Text then, the raging Eye of Horus played a pivotal role in
the apocalyptic events remembered as the ”mourning of the gods.” Properly understood, the fiery lock of
hair has reference to Isis's mourning in the wake of the death of her beloved
consort Osiris. Hero Isis is said to have cut off a lock of her hair as a sign of
mourning after which she wandered the world in dishevelment.
A hymn to Osiris from the middle of the second millennium BCE offers a general
summary of this archaic mythological theme. Quote, “Isis, the powerful, the protector of
her brother, who searched for him without wearying, who traversed this land in grief
and did not rest until she had found him, ...who sent up a cry, the mourning woman of
her brother.” End of quote. The same basic tradition is alluded to
in the Bremner-Rhind papyrus from several millennia later, fourth century BCE.
There in a passage referencing Osiris’s murder remembered as the “Great mourning
and an evil deed, the like of which has never been”, One reads of Isis and Nephthys that, quote,
”They mourn for thee in dishevelment, the hair of their heads is disordered.”
Evident here are the basic outlines of the Egyptian myth of beginnings, wherein
Osiris’s tragic death throws the world into darkness and chaos, an event alluded
to simply as “the disaster”. The underlying message is that, without
the fiery tress, the raging Eye departs and begins its campaign of destruction
during which Venus assumed a comet-like appearance. This while displaying disheveled hair
and spewing fire from the sky. Isis's disheveled hair is a point of
emphasis in several archaic Egyptian texts. Thus in one text Isis is described as
quote “...swaying her hair like a mourning woman, she being of disordered appearance.” End of quote.
So too the “book of the dead’ reports that Isis had disarranged her hair.
Quote, I am Isis. You found me when I had disarranged the hair of my face and my
scalp was disordered.” End of quote. As Talbott and I interpret the myth of
Isis's mourning, it has reference to Venus departing the polar axis as a
wandering lock of hair, a perfectly plausible pre-scientific description of
a comet. Here it will be noted that comets were widely conceptualized as
hair stars or as women with streaming or disheveled hair.
Sgnificantly, ancient Chinese astronomers described comets as celestial mourning.
So too the famous astronomers held that the planet Venus was in charge of mourning.
Additional support for our reconstruction comes from ancient
Mesopotamia where sky watchers described Inanna Venus as an agent of apocalyptic
catastrophe which, like the Egyptian Eye, rained fire and destruction from the sky.
So too Mesopotamian astronomers described the planet Venus as the star of lamentation.
At this point the diligent researcher must ask himself why a distant planet
moving on a supposedly stable and peaceful orbit about the Sun,
would be described as an agent of destruction or star of lamentation.
Certainly it can be no coincidence that Inanna Venus was renowned for her
tortured lamentations for Dumuzi, during which she wandered the world in
dishevelment exactly like Isis and numerous other ancient goddesses.
As is always the case in scientific matters, the devil is in the details.
As Talbott emphasized in these early articles, a decisive key is offered by
the unique shape accorded the lock of hair. As is evident from its hieroglyph, the
lock is depicted as a spiraling volute form. In ancient Egypt the spiraling lock is
most familiar as the distinctive sidelock of the youthful Horus.
That we are not dealing here with a hairstyle unique to Egypt, is shown by
the fact that analogous sidelocks adorn early Mesoamerican gods.
Especially telling are prehistoric artworks depicting Venus in Mesopotamia.
In the earliest written texts in the world, planet Venus as Inanna is denoted
by a pictograph showing a spiraling comet-like form. As Talbott and I have argued for some 40
years now, the Sumerian pictograph preserves the unique appearance of Venus
during a distinct period of instability that saw the planet depart from its
axial alignment within the polar configuration and wander about the axis.
The tumultuous period in question, one of the earliest remembered astronomical
events in human history, was conceptualized as the departure of the
Eye goddess at the beginning of her campaign of destruction.
At the same time, the departure or severing of the fiery lock of hair,
signaled the death of Osiris and the end of the world age marked by Venus's
prietive mourning with disheveled hair. And so it is that comets are associated
with the end of the world age around the globe. Early texts from Egypt and Mesopotamia
report that the period of Venus's mourning was marked by an apocalyptic darkness.
Thus it is that the Egyptian Eye goddess was associated with darkness overtaking
the world. Quote, ”The departure of the Eye, or Hathor, results in a series of natural disasters
in Egypt, where perpetual night prevails.” End of quote. A similar scenario is described in the
Magical Texts of Papyrus Leiden, a text which dates from the early Middle Kingdom.
Quote, “Beware of the mourning of the gods! For then primeval darkness will set in.”
End of quote. So too Sumerian mythological traditions report that a cosmic disturbance
associated with Inanna Venus resulted in apocalyptic darkness.
Thus a passage in a hymn to the goddess Inanna credits the planet goddess with
the power to make the midday light turn into darkness. Quote, “When you are angrily
staring that which is bright gets dark, you turn midday light to darkness.” End of quote.
Such imagery is extremely difficult to explain by reference to the familiar
Venus, needless to say. That said, it is consistent with the
planet's role in ancient Babylonian astronomical omens which point to an
intimate association between Venus and the sudden onset of darkness. Quote, “As
clearly stated in the omen texts, the responsibility for the darkening of the
daylight is Ishtar’s.” End of quote It is doubtless because of the cosmic
disaster wrought by Inanna Venus, that ancient words for “mourning” often convey
the sense of darkness or a darkening of the heavens or Sun. The Sumerian term
”su-mu-ug” is representative in this regard, denoting “darkness;
misfortune, calamity, mourning.” End of quote. And so does the Babylonian astronomer
describe the eclipse of the Sun by the term “er” denoting “mourning”.
The recurring motif in the Sumerian traditions describing the lamentations
for Dumuzi is that the cosmos was thrown into confusion by the tragic
events in question. In the following hymns Inanna 's tortured
mourning caused the heavens to quake or rumble. Quote, “She of lament,
she of lament struck up a lament... The hierodule of heaven, Inanna, the
devastatrix of the mountain... she who causes the heavens to rumble... she
who shakes the earth.” End of quote. Inanna 's preternatural ability to shake
Heaven and Earth is a recurring theme in Sumerian tradition and naturally recalls
the cataclysmic effects precipitated by the Egyptian Eye. The following passage is one of dozens
that could be cited in this regard. Quote, ”You make the heavens tremble and the
earth quake. Great priestess, who can soothe your troubled heart?
You flash like lightning over the highlands; you throw your firebrands
across the earth. Your deafening command... splits apart great mountains.” End of quote.
The terror inspired by the rampage of the mourning goddess was never wholly
forgotten and is alluded to in the legendary accounts surrounding the great
kings. In a Sumerian hymn dating to the third millennium, the death of the king
Ur-Nammu is compared to an eclipse of the Sun and is greeted by bitter mourning
throughout the land. It is in this context that the following
passage occurs, quote, “Then Inanna, the fierce storm... made the heavens tremble, made the earth
shake.” End of quote The comparison of Inanna Venus to a
furious storm and star of lamentation, while wildly incongruous as a
description of the familiar Venus, is a perfectly apt description of a celestial
body whose comet-like hair became disheveled and appeared to whirl about
it like a great tornado-like rope. A Sumerian hymn celebrating the mourning
goddess Geshtinanna, captures this image perfectly, quote “My
hair will whirl around in heaven like a hurricane for you.” End of quote.
If such archaic mythological traditions have an origin in historical
astronomical events and it is impossible to explain the imagery surrounding
Inanna Venus apart from a spectacularly turbulent celestial prototype,
it is deducible that it was Venus's swirling hair that darkened the
prehistoric skies, thereby ushering in a period of cosmic disorder marked by
terrifying storms and the shaking of heaven and earth. And so it is that comets are associated
with apocalyptic disaster and the death of great kings around the globe. To summarize,
the evidence pertaining to Venus's cometary history encoded in ancient
mythology and early artworks will never be explained by reference to the present
solar system. The evidence in question is there for everyone to see.
And in the final analysis it is the evidence that will dictate the course of 21st century science.
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