Ancient Egyptian texts relate that Osiris, son of the sun, was ‘fed’ with magic food of yellow cake U-235, which enabled him to be transformed into a ‘being of light’.
Explicit references and text extracts are presented below.
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A naïve temple mural at Thebes ca 1400 BCE, showing ‘food offerings’ including ‘yellow cakes’. (Brit Museum)
… may you eat the food of the gods … the youth of southern Egypt gives you the incense wherewith the gods are fumigated … he gives incense wherewith the gods cense themselves (Pyramid Texts)
In a commentary on ancient Egyptian religion, Lehner (1997) explains that the pyramid was a ‘cosmic engine’ which enabled the transformation of Osiris to take place. His spirit ka and body ba combined (fused) in transformation … becoming an akh, a glorified being of light. The pyramid was an instrument that enabled this alchemy to take place. [1, extract below] Lehner couched this commentary in personified mystical or religious terms, but others have noted that early Egyptians actually believed it … as if it were literally true.
The Pyramid Texts and Book of the Dead spelled out the site of the transformation in the inner chamber of the pyramid … the cavern, the cooking pot of Horus … [where] the king comes into being … by means of great magic [2]
According to the Pyramid Texts, Osiris was ‘fed’ with food of cakes and ale so that he would not be ‘inert’ but would have ‘power’ by means of magic waves of efflux, perfume, ferment, exudation or incense of the fire. The magic was in its belly … the offering [of bread or cakes] were in it … it was filled with the power of the wind … to go up like the sun from the horizon. [3]
Elsewhere in the Book of the Dead the offerings of ‘cakes’ were explicitly detailed as ‘saffron [yellow] cake’. Cakes of saffron have been brought to him [Osiris] … he has been given saffron cakes in the chest [coffer] which holds the intestines of Osiris. [4, extract below] Literally ‘yellow’ cakes, but early European translators thought the offerings were ‘food’ so they interpreted yellow as saffron … a yellow food dye.
The Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts spelled out that the ‘offerings’ were in portions [designations] of 5-3-2 … read right to left = 235. The King [Osiris] has five meals in the Mansion, three in the sky and two on earth. The great illuminator who came forth from the heat … has five portions in On, three in the sky, two on earth. [5] These were not just isolated or ambiguous allusions, but are spelled out in a block of ‘Eating spells’ [# 180-220] in the Coffin Texts … in which Osiris, the Radiant One, says he will not eat filth but only the offerings of cakes and ale, the ‘efflux of the earth’ from the sacred Field of Offerings.
Collectively, several sources [Pyramid texts, Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead] plainly relate that the phenomenon of Osiris arose like the sun from the horizon [pyramid] after being ‘fed’ an ‘efflux ‘ which emanated from magic food designated as yellow cake -235 … the common term for the semi-refined ore of uranium -235.
Samuel Birch at the British Museum in the 1860s remarkably captured the literal language of radioactive ‘flux’ which emanated from Osiris. One could not accuse Birch of misinterpretation because the very concept of radiation was not recognised at that time.
Without any knowledge of nuclear radiation, Birch rendered a literal translation of Egyptian texts … from the god in his box ... it was light at its birth … from the sun in its transformations … its drink [waves] poured out of the lapis lazuli … its water of fire [was] … a foul flux emanating from Osiris. (Book of the Dead, Birch trans. 1860s)
References and extracts of key texts are provided below -
[1] Lehner, (1997). The Complete Pyramids, 20 [extract below]
Edwards, (1993). The Pyramids of Egypt, 286
[2] The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Utt. 240, 685 (Faulkner trans, 1969)
The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, Sp.72 (Faulkner trans)
[3] Pyramid Texts, Spell 32-34; 72-77, 539, 587, 602, 598 (Faulkner trans)
[4] Book of the Dead, Plate X, (Budge trans 1895)
[5] Pyramid Texts, Utt 205, 409 (Faulkner trans)
Coffin Texts, Eating (or Food) Spells 181,191,208,211,212,217,218 (Faulkner trans, 1973)
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Explicit references and text extracts are presented below.
A naïve temple mural at Thebes ca 1400 BCE, showing ‘food offerings’ including ‘yellow cakes’. (Brit Museum)
… may you eat the food of the gods … the youth of southern Egypt gives you the incense wherewith the gods are fumigated … he gives incense wherewith the gods cense themselves (Pyramid Texts)
In a commentary on ancient Egyptian religion, Lehner (1997) explains that the pyramid was a ‘cosmic engine’ which enabled the transformation of Osiris to take place. His spirit ka and body ba combined (fused) in transformation … becoming an akh, a glorified being of light. The pyramid was an instrument that enabled this alchemy to take place. [1, extract below] Lehner couched this commentary in personified mystical or religious terms, but others have noted that early Egyptians actually believed it … as if it were literally true.
The Pyramid Texts and Book of the Dead spelled out the site of the transformation in the inner chamber of the pyramid … the cavern, the cooking pot of Horus … [where] the king comes into being … by means of great magic [2]
According to the Pyramid Texts, Osiris was ‘fed’ with food of cakes and ale so that he would not be ‘inert’ but would have ‘power’ by means of magic waves of efflux, perfume, ferment, exudation or incense of the fire. The magic was in its belly … the offering [of bread or cakes] were in it … it was filled with the power of the wind … to go up like the sun from the horizon. [3]
Elsewhere in the Book of the Dead the offerings of ‘cakes’ were explicitly detailed as ‘saffron [yellow] cake’. Cakes of saffron have been brought to him [Osiris] … he has been given saffron cakes in the chest [coffer] which holds the intestines of Osiris. [4, extract below] Literally ‘yellow’ cakes, but early European translators thought the offerings were ‘food’ so they interpreted yellow as saffron … a yellow food dye.
The Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts spelled out that the ‘offerings’ were in portions [designations] of 5-3-2 … read right to left = 235. The King [Osiris] has five meals in the Mansion, three in the sky and two on earth. The great illuminator who came forth from the heat … has five portions in On, three in the sky, two on earth. [5] These were not just isolated or ambiguous allusions, but are spelled out in a block of ‘Eating spells’ [# 180-220] in the Coffin Texts … in which Osiris, the Radiant One, says he will not eat filth but only the offerings of cakes and ale, the ‘efflux of the earth’ from the sacred Field of Offerings.
Collectively, several sources [Pyramid texts, Coffin Texts and Book of the Dead] plainly relate that the phenomenon of Osiris arose like the sun from the horizon [pyramid] after being ‘fed’ an ‘efflux ‘ which emanated from magic food designated as yellow cake -235 … the common term for the semi-refined ore of uranium -235.
Samuel Birch at the British Museum in the 1860s remarkably captured the literal language of radioactive ‘flux’ which emanated from Osiris. One could not accuse Birch of misinterpretation because the very concept of radiation was not recognised at that time.
Without any knowledge of nuclear radiation, Birch rendered a literal translation of Egyptian texts … from the god in his box ... it was light at its birth … from the sun in its transformations … its drink [waves] poured out of the lapis lazuli … its water of fire [was] … a foul flux emanating from Osiris. (Book of the Dead, Birch trans. 1860s)
References and extracts of key texts are provided below -
[1] Lehner, (1997). The Complete Pyramids, 20 [extract below]
Edwards, (1993). The Pyramids of Egypt, 286
[2] The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Utt. 240, 685 (Faulkner trans, 1969)
The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, Sp.72 (Faulkner trans)
[3] Pyramid Texts, Spell 32-34; 72-77, 539, 587, 602, 598 (Faulkner trans)
[4] Book of the Dead, Plate X, (Budge trans 1895)
[5] Pyramid Texts, Utt 205, 409 (Faulkner trans)
Coffin Texts, Eating (or Food) Spells 181,191,208,211,212,217,218 (Faulkner trans, 1973)
