What has the ancient Egyptian Ennead got to do with stellar nucleosynthesis?
Possibly quite a lot. The scheme of ancient Egyptian celestial gods bears strong parallels to the modern understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis … the formation of elements in the sun.
Stellar nucleosynthesis [in the sun]
The universe is composed of about 74% hydrogen, 24% helium, and 2% of everything else. How those elements were formed by stellar nucleosynthesis in a main-sequence star was elucidated by Fred Hoyle et al in 1957 [1], and may be summarized as follows:
1. Hydrogen (H) and some helium (He) pre-existed by big-bang synthesis … then condensed to form the stars (suns).
2. Pairs of H atoms united by proton-proton fusion to form He, and release energy
3. He atoms fused by the triple-alpha process to form oxygen (O)
4. He atoms fused with O to form carbon (C), and so on forming all the even-numbered atoms down to iron (Fe).
5. Two groups of atoms are formed … the primary group of 10 even-numbered atoms, and the lesser group of 11 odd-numbered atoms.
6. The last atom formed, iron (Fe), #26, characteristically forms red compounds and is the terminator … as the heaviest element in the sun it sinks to the core, eventually causing gravitational collapse and supernova explosion, forming all the higher elements.
Ancient Egyptian theogony
The above scheme of stellar nucleosynthesis is closely paralleled in the now-garbled AE theogony expressed in AE texts.
1. The great sun-god Ra (Tem, Ra-Atem, Re-Atum) was a personification of hydrogen. He was ‘the one’, eternal, everlasting, self-created and pre-existing. [2] He was the creator of whatever exists [3], the ‘father’ figure, illustrated carrying the ankh … the giver of life; and his hieroglyph was a circle with a dot at the centre … the universal symbol of hydrogen.
2. Ra was accompanied by his ‘ka’ … interpreted as double or spirit or soul. He masturbated or copulated with himself … the twin souls found each other and embraced [united]= proton-proton fusion. [4]
3. Ra was creator of whatever exists, and specifically creator of all the gods … the ‘Great One from whom the Ennead came forth’. [5]
4. There were two companies of gods, called the ‘Great Ennead’ and the ‘Little Ennead’, sometimes characterized as the ‘male gods’ and female gods’ [6] … for which the texts gave varying numbers … 7, 8, 9, 10,12, 18 (2 x 9)
5. The last god was ‘Set’ who was characterized by the number 26, the colour red, and the behaviour of a destroyer. He was a personification of iron.
The parallels in the AE texts are too many and too close to be coincidental. They indicate that Egyptians of the Old Kingdom inherited prior knowledge [from somewhere], but the later generations were incapable of understanding and instead declined into the weird animated and personified imagery of Egyptian religion. That body of ‘religious’ texts and temple paintings was discovered by 18-19th century Egyptologists who were technologically clueless and superimposed their own naïve Euro-Christian interpretations. They were unaware of the underlying scheme of stellar nucleosynthesis, which did not emerge until the 1950s.
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The AE ‘creation diagram’. The two souls embraced in proton-proton fusion, forming light at its birth.
[from the Book of the Dead, 11th-10th century BCE. Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum]
[1] Burbidge, E. M.; Burbidge, G. R.; Fowler, W. A.; Hoyle, F. (1957). "Synthesis of the Elements in Stars". Reviews of Modern Physics. 29 (4)
[2] Book of the Dead, Spell 17, 24 [Faulkner trans]
[3] Book of the Dead, Spell 15 [Faulkner trans]
[4] Book of the Dead, Spell 17 [Faulkner trans]
[5] Book of the Dead, Spell 15, 39 [Faulkner trans]
[6] Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians I
Possibly quite a lot. The scheme of ancient Egyptian celestial gods bears strong parallels to the modern understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis … the formation of elements in the sun.
Stellar nucleosynthesis [in the sun]
The universe is composed of about 74% hydrogen, 24% helium, and 2% of everything else. How those elements were formed by stellar nucleosynthesis in a main-sequence star was elucidated by Fred Hoyle et al in 1957 [1], and may be summarized as follows:
1. Hydrogen (H) and some helium (He) pre-existed by big-bang synthesis … then condensed to form the stars (suns).
2. Pairs of H atoms united by proton-proton fusion to form He, and release energy
3. He atoms fused by the triple-alpha process to form oxygen (O)
4. He atoms fused with O to form carbon (C), and so on forming all the even-numbered atoms down to iron (Fe).
5. Two groups of atoms are formed … the primary group of 10 even-numbered atoms, and the lesser group of 11 odd-numbered atoms.
6. The last atom formed, iron (Fe), #26, characteristically forms red compounds and is the terminator … as the heaviest element in the sun it sinks to the core, eventually causing gravitational collapse and supernova explosion, forming all the higher elements.
Ancient Egyptian theogony
The above scheme of stellar nucleosynthesis is closely paralleled in the now-garbled AE theogony expressed in AE texts.
1. The great sun-god Ra (Tem, Ra-Atem, Re-Atum) was a personification of hydrogen. He was ‘the one’, eternal, everlasting, self-created and pre-existing. [2] He was the creator of whatever exists [3], the ‘father’ figure, illustrated carrying the ankh … the giver of life; and his hieroglyph was a circle with a dot at the centre … the universal symbol of hydrogen.
2. Ra was accompanied by his ‘ka’ … interpreted as double or spirit or soul. He masturbated or copulated with himself … the twin souls found each other and embraced [united]= proton-proton fusion. [4]
3. Ra was creator of whatever exists, and specifically creator of all the gods … the ‘Great One from whom the Ennead came forth’. [5]
4. There were two companies of gods, called the ‘Great Ennead’ and the ‘Little Ennead’, sometimes characterized as the ‘male gods’ and female gods’ [6] … for which the texts gave varying numbers … 7, 8, 9, 10,12, 18 (2 x 9)
5. The last god was ‘Set’ who was characterized by the number 26, the colour red, and the behaviour of a destroyer. He was a personification of iron.
The parallels in the AE texts are too many and too close to be coincidental. They indicate that Egyptians of the Old Kingdom inherited prior knowledge [from somewhere], but the later generations were incapable of understanding and instead declined into the weird animated and personified imagery of Egyptian religion. That body of ‘religious’ texts and temple paintings was discovered by 18-19th century Egyptologists who were technologically clueless and superimposed their own naïve Euro-Christian interpretations. They were unaware of the underlying scheme of stellar nucleosynthesis, which did not emerge until the 1950s.
[/img]
The AE ‘creation diagram’. The two souls embraced in proton-proton fusion, forming light at its birth.
[from the Book of the Dead, 11th-10th century BCE. Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum]
[1] Burbidge, E. M.; Burbidge, G. R.; Fowler, W. A.; Hoyle, F. (1957). "Synthesis of the Elements in Stars". Reviews of Modern Physics. 29 (4)
[2] Book of the Dead, Spell 17, 24 [Faulkner trans]
[3] Book of the Dead, Spell 15 [Faulkner trans]
[4] Book of the Dead, Spell 17 [Faulkner trans]
[5] Book of the Dead, Spell 15, 39 [Faulkner trans]
[6] Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians I