The Wonder of Djadjamankh is a story of the Westcar Papyrus. The story is set as though being told to the Pharaoh Khufu by his son Baufre. This story is in my opinion, quite extraordinary in terms of its treatment of Snofru who appears to be somewhat petulant and devious, starting out with his introduction as being bored or depressed and in need of cheering up:
Djadjamankh’s prescription that Snofru requires being rowed on his lake by the most beautiful women in his palace again appears odd to me. The story appears to make even more of a mockery of Snofru by suggesting Snofru takes up Djadamank’s suggestion and prescribes that these women be full breasted, have braided hair, take off their clothes and wear nets:
According to Wikipedia, modern Egyptologists interpret the story as indicative of Snofru's personality. I interpret the story in a different manner that it is disseminating some knowledge of astronomy and is using elements of mythological storytelling to convey that knowledge, designed to be handed down verbally rather than the written form we have received. The characters in the story thus far have become highly memorable. The story also uses significant elements of repetition.
At this point in the story, we are told that the stroke rower has become still and therefore her entire side of rowers have stopped rowing. There is no information about the other side of rowers having stopped, so we must assume that they have continued to row. For anyone that has rowed a boat, the consequence of rowing on one side only is that the boat will no longer be travelling in a straight line but will be constantly turning. As such, I propose that the boat is travelling in a circular motion on the lake. In my opinion, this is evocative of the stars and constellations travelling at night as observed from sunset to sunrise, the stars will travel in a circular motion through the sky.
Thus far in the story, we have the following characters that could be asterisms or constellations:
(1) The Fish Pendant;
(2) The lake;
(3) The boat;
(4) The nets worn by the rowers;
(5) The rowers themselves; and
(6) The Pharaoh Snofru.
Starting with the fish pendant, the fish pendant is described in the story as of new turquoise. My initial research led me to believe that the colour turquoise is typically associated by the ancient Egyptians with a Talapia fish. Talapia being an important enough species of fish to the Ancient Egyptians to have a specific hieroglyph which is denoted as K1 in Gardiner’s list. Reviewing Nederhof’s conversion of the Westcar Papyrus original hieratic into equivalent heiroglyphs, I was curious to find that no instance of the fish in fish pendant uses the K1 glyph. Instead, the most closely related glyph is K5.
Reviewing the work of Lull and Belmonte, the K5 glyph makes an appearance in table 6.2 on p163 in the Egyptian constellation hnwy or the 2 Khanuwy Fishes. The same species of fish and indeed fashioned in the form of the K5 glyph appear in the Zodiac of Dendera in figures 6.16 and 6.17. On p183, Lull and Belmonte identify these two fish as Pisces noting there is “an inundated field in the middle of Pisces”. I argue the inundated field is merely the sign for a body of water (she) such as a lake.[4]
Moving to the nets which are worn by the women rowing the boat. We aren’t told much of these nets, but I was surprised to find in table 6.2 of Lull and Belmonte, a constellation the Egyptians knew as Kdty or the 2 nets.
The boat is similarly a known constellation, in table 6.1 of Lull and Belmonte wi3 or “The Boat” is found to be Sagittarius.
The female rowers I believe would be representative of the Goddess Nut who Lull and Belmonte identify to the Milky Way.
The Pharaoh is represented by the constellation “Nht” which has been translated as “The Giant” by Lull and Belmonte in Table 6.1. Nht is also translated as strong, victorius or strong arm. Referring to Thunderbird [3], there appears to be grounds to link Nht to Horus. Horus is in turn linked to the Pharoah. According to Wikipedia on Horus: “The earliest recorded form of Horus is the tutelary deity of Nekhen in Upper Egypt, who is the first known national god, specifically related to the ruling pharaoh who in time came to be regarded as a manifestation of Horus in life and Osiris in death.”
Putting these together into a constellation diagram in Stellarium:
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[1] Nederhof, Westcar Papyrus accessed from [mjn.host.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk]
[2] Lull and Belmonte, The Constellations of Ancient Egypt, accessed from [www.iac.es]
[3] Thunderbird’s post GHMB: [grahamhancock.com]
[4] Pool (She) accessed from [www.egyptianmyths.net]
Quote
Westcar Papyrus translation by Mark-Jan Nederhof
Then Bauefre stood up to speak, and said:
'I will let Your Majesty hear a wonder that happened in the time of your forefather Snofru, justified,and that is something that the chief lector priest Djadjaemankh did.
[...] day, the things that have not happened every [room] of the palace (l.p.h.!) to seek distraction for himself, but he couldn't find any.
Then he said: "Go and bring me the chief lector priest and book-scribe Djadjaemankh."
And he was brought to him immediately. Then His Majesty said to him:
"I've gone through every room of the palace (l.p.h.!) to seek distraction for myself, but I couldn't find any."
Djadjamankh’s prescription that Snofru requires being rowed on his lake by the most beautiful women in his palace again appears odd to me. The story appears to make even more of a mockery of Snofru by suggesting Snofru takes up Djadamank’s suggestion and prescribes that these women be full breasted, have braided hair, take off their clothes and wear nets:
Quote
Westcar Papyrus translation by Mark-Jan Nederhof
Then Djadjaemankh said to him:
may Your Majesty proceed to the lake of the palace (l.p.h.!), and man a ship with all beautiful women from inside your palace. The heart of Your Majesty will be gladdened by seeing them row a trip back and forth, and seeing the beautiful reeds of your lake, and seeing its (surrounding) fields and its beautiful watersides. Your heart will be gladdened by this."
"So I will arrange my rowing trip. Let me be brought twenty oars of ebony plated with gold, with handles of sqb-wood plated with electrum.
Let me be brought twenty women who have beautiful bodies, who have well-developed bosoms, who have braided hair, and who have not been opened by childbirth. And let me be brought twenty nets and let these nets be given to these women after their clothes have been taken off."
And one did as everything that His Majesty had ordered.
According to Wikipedia, modern Egyptologists interpret the story as indicative of Snofru's personality. I interpret the story in a different manner that it is disseminating some knowledge of astronomy and is using elements of mythological storytelling to convey that knowledge, designed to be handed down verbally rather than the written form we have received. The characters in the story thus far have become highly memorable. The story also uses significant elements of repetition.
Quote
Westcar Papyrus translation by Mark-Jan Nederhof
Then they rowed back and forth, and the heart of His Majesty was gladdened by seeing them row. Then one woman who was at the stroke oar got entangled in her braids and a fish-pendant of new turquoise fell into the water.
Then she became still, without rowing, and her side became still, without rowing.
Then His Majesty said: "Can't you row?"
And they said: "Our stroke has become still, without rowing."
Then His Majesty said to her: "Why aren't you rowing?"
And she said: "This fish-pendant of new turquoise has fallen into the water."
At this point in the story, we are told that the stroke rower has become still and therefore her entire side of rowers have stopped rowing. There is no information about the other side of rowers having stopped, so we must assume that they have continued to row. For anyone that has rowed a boat, the consequence of rowing on one side only is that the boat will no longer be travelling in a straight line but will be constantly turning. As such, I propose that the boat is travelling in a circular motion on the lake. In my opinion, this is evocative of the stars and constellations travelling at night as observed from sunset to sunrise, the stars will travel in a circular motion through the sky.
I propose that the rather specific references to the height of the lake being 12 cubits in the middle and 24 cubits when folded represent the number of hours in the day.Quote
Westcar Papyrus translation by Mark-Jan Nederhof
Then the chief lector priest Djadjaemankh said his magic spell and put one side of the water of the lake on top of the other, and found the fish-pendant lying on a shard.
He then fetched it and gave it to its owner. Now, as for the water, it was twelve cubits in its middle, and it ended up being twenty-four cubits after its folding up.
Then he said his magic spell and returned the parts of water of the lake to their positions.
Thus far in the story, we have the following characters that could be asterisms or constellations:
(1) The Fish Pendant;
(2) The lake;
(3) The boat;
(4) The nets worn by the rowers;
(5) The rowers themselves; and
(6) The Pharaoh Snofru.
Starting with the fish pendant, the fish pendant is described in the story as of new turquoise. My initial research led me to believe that the colour turquoise is typically associated by the ancient Egyptians with a Talapia fish. Talapia being an important enough species of fish to the Ancient Egyptians to have a specific hieroglyph which is denoted as K1 in Gardiner’s list. Reviewing Nederhof’s conversion of the Westcar Papyrus original hieratic into equivalent heiroglyphs, I was curious to find that no instance of the fish in fish pendant uses the K1 glyph. Instead, the most closely related glyph is K5.
Reviewing the work of Lull and Belmonte, the K5 glyph makes an appearance in table 6.2 on p163 in the Egyptian constellation hnwy or the 2 Khanuwy Fishes. The same species of fish and indeed fashioned in the form of the K5 glyph appear in the Zodiac of Dendera in figures 6.16 and 6.17. On p183, Lull and Belmonte identify these two fish as Pisces noting there is “an inundated field in the middle of Pisces”. I argue the inundated field is merely the sign for a body of water (she) such as a lake.[4]
Moving to the nets which are worn by the women rowing the boat. We aren’t told much of these nets, but I was surprised to find in table 6.2 of Lull and Belmonte, a constellation the Egyptians knew as Kdty or the 2 nets.
The boat is similarly a known constellation, in table 6.1 of Lull and Belmonte wi3 or “The Boat” is found to be Sagittarius.
The female rowers I believe would be representative of the Goddess Nut who Lull and Belmonte identify to the Milky Way.
The Pharaoh is represented by the constellation “Nht” which has been translated as “The Giant” by Lull and Belmonte in Table 6.1. Nht is also translated as strong, victorius or strong arm. Referring to Thunderbird [3], there appears to be grounds to link Nht to Horus. Horus is in turn linked to the Pharoah. According to Wikipedia on Horus: “The earliest recorded form of Horus is the tutelary deity of Nekhen in Upper Egypt, who is the first known national god, specifically related to the ruling pharaoh who in time came to be regarded as a manifestation of Horus in life and Osiris in death.”
Putting these together into a constellation diagram in Stellarium:
[1] Nederhof, Westcar Papyrus accessed from [mjn.host.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk]
[2] Lull and Belmonte, The Constellations of Ancient Egypt, accessed from [www.iac.es]
[3] Thunderbird’s post GHMB: [grahamhancock.com]
[4] Pool (She) accessed from [www.egyptianmyths.net]