(Viper Studios, March 7, 2020) Ancient Egypt was a land of mysteries. No other known civilization has so captured the imagination of scholars and lay persons alike.
Mystery surrounds its origins, its ritual practices and superstitions, and its monumental architecture: colossal pyramids, temples, and an enormous Sphinx.
The Egyptian pyramids -- though not the largest (for the Mexican pyramid at Cholula gets that honor, though Bosnia and other places around the world may have older and larger ones) -- are the most famous of all ancient monuments, the only remaining wonder of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Just as life arose from the waters, the seeds of civilization were first sown along the banks of the river Nile. That mighty river, which flows north from the heart of Africa to the Mediterranean Sea, nourished the growth of the land of the pharaohs.
The long, narrow flood plain was a magnet for life, attracting people, flora, and fauna to its banks. In pre-dynastic times, nomadic hunter-gatherers settled in the valley and began to grow crops to supplement their food supply.
Seen as a gift from the gods (devas, powerful space visitors), the annual flooding of the river deposited nutrient-rich silt over the land, creating ideal conditions for growing wheat, flax, and other crops.
The first communal project of this fledgling society was the building of irrigation canals for agricultural purposes.
The Sun (Ra) was a principal deity whose passage across the sky represented the eternal cycle of birth, death, rebirth, and redeath.
The pharaohs were seen as divine -- hybrid human-gods -- representatives on earth who, through rituals, ensured the continuation of life. After death, they ascended and became immortal, joining the gods in other dimensions of the afterworld.
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