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Hi! I’m David Miano, and I’m answering voicemails. Let’s give one a listen.
“Hi David. I have been enjoying a lot of your videos debunking all those ancient
technology stories. So it would be interesting to hear your opinion [on] the Edfu temple texts
that people also cite as a possible source for the Atlantis myth. It’s like they also have, like,
a story about an island, some kind of war, and it ends in a catastrophe.”
Ah yes, the Edfu temple texts. It's a good one. Thank you.
Those texts have captured the imaginations of a lot of people, and that may be because it is the best-preserved of all
ancient Egyptian temples, and it has plenty of writing all over its walls.
What a temple, though.
There were annual dramatic performances at this temple, in which the victory of the god
Horus of Behdet over his foes was celebrated, along with his coronation as king of Egypt,
and his marriage to the goddess Hathor of Dendera. That's who the temple is dedicated to - those two gods.
The construction of the temple began in 237 BCE, so it's a relatively late temple.
It was common for the walls of Egyptian temples to be inscribed with texts,
many of which outline rituals that were practiced there. But among these texts were accounts of how
the temple came to be. We don’t have much of this from Egypt’s dynastic period, but we do from the
Greco-Roman period. And at the temple of Edfu, because it is so well-preserved, these texts are
extensive. They are written in the characteristic bold characters of the Ptolemaic period, and the
kings Ptolemy VIII, IX, and X are mentioned, as well as their queens Cleopatra II and III.
There are what are called the greater building texts, which are found on the exterior of the Naos
and on the inner and outer faces of the Enclosure Wall,
and the lesser building texts, which are inside the rooms and the halls.
Now, when I say that temple inscriptions contain the story of how the temple came to be,
what we find is not only an exposition of facts about the historical temple,
but also hints at the existence of a mythical temple on the very same site
prior to the building of the historical temple. This was to establish that the site was
holy ground, consecrated long before the actual temple came to be. In such a way the priests could
say that the historical temple had its roots in the mythical age and was the work of the
gods themselves. Much of this is found at Edfu on the exterior wall of the Naos
and on the inner face of the Enclosure Wall. Other temples had similar texts.
A temple, you see, wasn’t only thought of as a residence of the god to whom it was dedicated,
but it also was thought to be the island of creation,
the land that arose from the watery abyss at the very beginning.
Yes, every temple was thought of in this way, and the contradiction didn’t seem to bother anyone.
There are references in the Edfu texts to books that may have been used as sources
for what we find on the walls, such as The Sacred Book of the Temples,
which may have contained traditions and beliefs about various sacred places in Egypt,
and mythological books called Specification of the Mounds of the Early Primeval Age,
the Sacred Book of the Early Primeval Age of Gods, and The Coming of Re to his Mansion of Ms-nakht.
These books no longer exist, but It seems likely that there are extracts from them
on the walls. The walls do not preserve these books in their entirety - probably nowhere near
that - but the parts they do preserve reveal some interesting aspects of Egyptian beliefs.
The texts at Edfu are very difficult to interpret for
several reasons. There are references to things that we don’t know what they are, there are words
whose meaning is obscure, and parts of the inscriptions are destroyed.
But yes, I too have heard the claim made that its contents include a story very similar
to the Atlantis tale as found in Plato’s Timaeus. For example,
Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval mention it in their book, The Message of the Sphinx.
-The Temple of Horus at Edfu. Horus is the son of Osiris in the traditions of the ancient Egyptians.
At this temple of Horus, there are whole walls covered with texts, and those texts are known
as the Edfu building texts, and this is what they look like, and they're very mysterious.
Many people, many archaeologists, will tell you that there is no flood tradition in Egypt. This
is absolute nonsense. They clearly have not read the Edfu building texts, because the Edfu building
texts speak of the homeland of the Primeval Ones. They say it was an island. They say it
was where the gods lived. They say there was a Great Flood there, which utterly destroyed it,
and that those gods who survived, came to Egypt, settled in Egypt, and started
to reestablish what they had had before. They built what were called primeval mounds
all over Egypt, which were to be the sites of all future temples and religious structures in Egypt.
- You see, in the Timaeus, Critias tells Socrates that an old priest from Egypt says the accounts
of the old times were preserved on the walls of their temples. So if the tale of Atlantis
could be found on a temple, that would be proof that the tale originated in Egypt,
not in Plato’s mind. So it’s no wonder that people like Hancock have been dying to find it somewhere.
When looking into this, I found that nowhere does Hancock or any other proponent of this
view provide the actual words of the inscription at Edfu to show us that the writings do indeed say
what they are claiming. It turns out that finding an English translation of that part of the temple
is very difficult, and the source that I saw kept getting mentioned is a book by Eve Reymond called,
The Mythical Origin of the Egyptian Temple. Reymond was an Egyptologist, and her work is
thorough and scholarly. The book is out of print, and not available online, except in Google books,
where it is only partially available, and the necessary translation is not part of the preview.
Amazon has it on sale for $1500. But fortunately, I was able to obtain a copy through interlibrary
loan at the college I teach at. Turns out, there is no translation of the pertinent text in the
book. There is only a summary of the contents of the inscriptions, and this summary appears to be
the source of the claims made by the Atlantis proponents. But here is what I can tell you:
The Edfu records recount all the stages of the growth of the temple,
going way back to how the land was believed to have been created in the first place.
The earliest stuff probably comes from the Sacred Book of the Early Primeval Age of the Gods.
Keep in mind that Egypt was very diverse, and there were many myths of creation going around
that were different, and even contradicted each other. It’s probably fair to say
the beginning of the world was a subject of speculation for the Egyptians. There also was
mixing of myths, so trying to unravel it all is a real headache and probably is impossible without
more information. But for our purposes, we’ll stick to what is written at Edfu.
The story begins with an island in the primeval waters,
called the Island of the Egg or the Island of Trampling. This is the first piece of land
where creation began and where the primeval gods resided in their mansions. There is no
light at this time. They say that the ground was created by a god known as the Earth-Maker,
also known as the First Primeval One, who existed before all other gods. The next creative act was
to fertilize the land. Then the spirits, the first generation of gods, took bodily form,
and the elements were created. The gods then built their abodes. These early gods are never
individualized. They remain nameless and are always spoken of in a group. They’re called
the Most Aged Ones and the First Generation of Mesenty. Who Mesenty is, we don’t know.
They live at a time before the more well-known gods of Egypt, the Neteru, come into existence.
This first generation of gods is succeeded by another generation, called the Kas.
They assume power to create the rest of the world. Then the lotus is created,
from which radiance emerges, that is, the sun. Also mentioned is the original djed pillar that
arises from a field of reeds and upon which is the resting place of the original falcon god.
The implication is that this is the site of the present temple, the temple of Edfu.
The fate of this original island is apparently what drew the attention of Hancock and Bauval.
It’s the time when the island apparently got its name Island of Trampling. There is some kind of
conflict that occurs, involving a snake god, though the texts are very unclear about this.
It appears to have brought the original domain of the gods to an end. Dr. Reymond writes,
“The primaeval water might have submerged the island as a consequence of a fight,
and the island became the tomb of the original divine inhabitants.” (p.109) Her reason
for this interpretation is that the following generation of gods, the Shebtiw, Wa and ‘Aa, are
said to have seen the reeds of the island sticking out of the water. It is not explicitly stated in
the texts that there was a flood. In fact, it is not explicitly stated that the original island
is destroyed, but it is implied. She speculates a storm was part of the story. The Shebtiw seem
to have revived the island, by the way, and the Neteru gods will appear subsequently.
Hancock and Bavaul jumped on this, and although there was no explicit mention of a flood,
that was good enough for them. An Egyptologist surmised the story may have included the flooding
of an island, and snap! It’s just like the Atlantis story...except that it isn’t at
all. The bar is very low indeed if all you need to corroborate the Atlantis story in Plato’s Timaeus
is a myth with a possible allusion to a flood - in an entirely different context.
This is at the beginning of the world before humans were created,
and it isn’t located where the Timaeus says Atlantis was located.
And think about this: if we surmised that this Egyptian tale was somehow
the inspiration for the story of Atlantis in Plato, then we would be forced to admit that Plato
fabricated most of his story, since most of his story doesn’t match the Egyptian one.
So to answer your question, a connection between the Atlantis story and this Egyptian myth
is highly improbable. Atlantis proponents are grasping at straws.
Next time someone brings this up, just ask them to show you the part of the inscription
that says what they claim. They won’t be able to.
If anyone else would like to leave me a question on my voicemail, you can do so
at speakpipe.com/DavidMiano. I can’t guarantee that I will answer every voicemail I receive. It
depends on how many I get and what you ask about. If it is a question about prehistoric times,
or about medieval times, I am less likely to answer it. Ancient history questions are best,
and how interesting I think the general audience will find it is important too.
Thanks for watching. We’ll see you next time.
You might like my little e-booklet, "Why Ancient History Matters.
It's designed to persuade people that the subject is important,
even in the modern world. You might also wish to use it to help spread the word,
so feel free to share it with someone you know. It's free for anyone who wants it.
I've left the link in the description box below the video for you to grab a copy. Catch you later!