Reading Wallis Budge's translation of the Egyptian Book of the Dead I was very surprised. In a certain paragraph he writes: "I really know the routes of Heaven ... The rabid demon with the head of a Bull [Taurus] will not be able to stop me ... Every day I go through the Abode of the Lion-god, and from there I go to the abode of Isis ”. Years ago, when I came across this same passage in A. Laurent's translation (a poetic version of R. Lepsius's), I came to the conclusion that this text had a clear astronomical component: the asterisms of Taurus, Leo and Virgo are in themselves a great find, since they show that the Egyptians had, at least four thousand years ago, knowledge of these constellations, which are still important in the Chaldean and Greek Zodiac.

But later, after a careful reading of Wallis Budge's translation, as well as that of A. Laurent and R.O. Faulkner, I have come to the conclusion that these paragraphs allude to something more than a description of the flight of the dead man's ka (assuming the role of Osiris; in this case, Osiris Ani) through the starry skies. Some years ago the researchers Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert, in The Mystery of Orion (Emecé, 1995) assured that the three pyramids of Giza (Cheops, Khafre and Menkaure) represent the expression on Earth of the Orion belt, and the Milky Way the river Nile. That would be an assumption; but if the aforementioned text of the Egyptian Book of the Dead is something more than an allusion to some zodiacal signs (Taurus, Leo, Virgo), and constituted a “map of the Giza necropolis”, as I suppose, Bauval and Gilbert  hypothesis could be strengthened. In this case, the so-called houses of the Lion and Isis would represent something more than constellations, to become artificial constructions, located in the Giza necropolis (the Egyptian Re-stau, which literally means “door of the necropolis”).

What if the Great Pyramid, the pyramid of Cheops, is not what we are told it is? Next I will present the transcription of the three Egyptologists mentioned above. I have highlighted some aspects in bold, which will later lead to an exhaustive reflection on the problem. This is it: What if the Great Pyramid was actually the House of Isis, and it was long before the reign of Cheops? Let's go by parts.

The three versions of the passages from the Book of the Dead

R. O. Faulkner. The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. British Museum Press, 2000.

Spell 41. Spell for preventing the slaughter which is carried out in the realm of the dead (página 61).

O Atum, spiritualise me in the presense of the Double Lion, the Great God; may he open for me the portal of Geb, that I may do homage to the Great God who is in the realm of the dead... (El león doble es Aker, representado como un par de leones o de esfinges situados espalda contra espalda.)

Spell 78. Spell for being transformed into a divine falcon (página 74).

The Double Lion who is in his cavern, warden of the House of the Royal Wig-cover [la corona Nemmés], said to me: “How can you reach the confines of the sky? Indeed you are equiped with the form of Horus, but you do not possess the Wig-cover... Repeat to me what Horus has said as the word of this father Osiris in the ... on the day of burial. Then I shall give you the Wig-cover - so said the Double Lion to me - that you may come and go on the roads of the sky. Then those who dwell in the horizon shall see you, and the gods of the Netherworld shall fear you”.

... O Heret, clear my way for me. I am high in the form of Horus, and the Double Lion has taken out the Wig-cover for me, he has given me my wings... I am he who knows the roads of Nut, the winds are my protection, and the raging bull [Taurus] shall not drive me back. I go to the place where dwells He who sleeps, being helpless, who is is in the Field of Eternity, who was conducted to the painful western darkness, even Osiris.

I come today from the House of the Double Lion, I have come forth from it to the House of Isis, to the secret mysteries, I have been conducted to her hidden secrets, for she caused me to see the birth of the Great God. Horus has invested me with his shape in order that I might say what is there...

Horus has commanded: “Lift up your faces and look at him; he has made his appearance as a divine falcon, the Double Lion has taken out the Wig-cover for him, he has come with the word of Horus to Osiris... Let him pass by, O you who dwell in your caverns, wardens of the House of Osiris”.

Spell 78. Spell for arriving in Rosetjau (página 113).

I was one who was born in Rosetjau, and benefits have been given to me by those who are among the noble dead, with the pure things of Osiris; I received praise in Rosetjau when I conducted Osiris to the Mounds of Osiris. I am unique, having conducted them to the Mounds of Osiris.

Spell 126 (página 126).

Enter into Rosetjau, pass by the secret portals of the west...

Spell 130 (página 117).

... I have broken up the storm of Apep, O Double Lion, as I promised you. See, I have come; O you who are before the Great Trhone, hearken to me. (Aset, el nombre egipcio de Isis, significa “Trono”; el Gran Trono puede referirse a Isis.)

Spell 144 (página 133).

I was born in Rosetjau, and the power of the Lord of the Horizon was given to me. (La esfinge era conocida, entre los egipcios del Imperio Nuevo, como Hor-em-akhet: Horus en el Horizonte. Los griegos la llamaban Harmaquis.)

Spell 169 (página 166).

You are the Lion, you are the Double Lion, you are Horus the protector of his father [Osiris].

A. Laurent. Versión poética de la traducción de Richard Lepsius. El libro egipcio de los muertos. Edicomunicación, 1998.

Conjuro 128. El halcón de oro (página 142). 

He aquí que el dios propuesto para el Templo de la Corona de Nemmés [peinado real semejante a una peluca], el dios de la doble cabeza de León, pero que se encuentra en lugar oculto, me dice: “Puedes irte. Transita los límites más lejanos del Cielo. Así como siendo Horus, has adquirido un cuerpo glorioso, Sahú, de la misma manera la corona de Nemmés te ha sido concedida. Tu palabra de Potencia, en verdad, llega hasta los límites extremos del Cielo”.  

Tomo posesión pues de los atributos divinos de Horus, que son los de Osiris en la Región de los Muertos... Así es que Horus repite para mí las palabras consagradas, pronunciadas por su padre el día de los funerales: “Haz que el dios de doble cabeza de León te conceda la corona Nemmés que él guarda, a fin de que puedas transitar los caminos del Cielo, y observar lo que existe, hasta los límites extremos del Horizonte”...

Yo conozco en verdad las rutas del Cielo... No podrá detenerme el demonio rabioso de cabeza de Toro [Tauro]... Todo los días yo atravieso la Morada del dios-León, y de allí me dirijo a la morada de Isis. Estoy preparado y soy digno para asistir a la consagración de los Misterios como maestro... ¡Ojalá sea admitido en el culto secreto y me sea posible contemplar el misterio del Nacimiento de la Divinidad!

¡Oh vosotras, divinidades de la Región de los Muertos, que hacia mí inclináis vuestras frentes y vuestros rostros, vosotras, que como guías de las Estrellas Fijas del Horizonte, creáis la Vía sagrada [¿la Vía Láctea?] para el Señor del Terror, he aquí que una orden de Horus ha llegado! ¡Alzad vuestros rostros! ¡Observadme, para que yo a mi vez pueda observaros cara a cara! Pues yo, ¡yo he sido coronado Halcón divino! Mi cuerpo glorioso, ¿no es el de Horus? (La esfinge era conocida entre los árabes de su entorno como Abu el Hol: padre del terror.)

E. A. Wallis Budge. El libro egipcio de los muertos. Sirio, 2017.

Página 481: “He aquí la banda nemes, la banda nemes, que vino como la luz, que vino como la luz; vino como el ojo de Horus, el brillante; vino desde Nekheb. Los dioses estaban ligados con ella, ligado está tu rostro con ella y su nombre es Hetch [luz, o brillo]...” 

Página 490: Un pilón con puertas llamado Re-stau: “Puerta de los pasajes funerarios”. 

Página 551: “El doble dios-León, el guardián de las cosas que pertenecen a la casa de la corona nemmes que está en su lugar oculto, me dice: 'Vuelve a las alturas del cielo, viendo que a través de Horus tú has quedado glorificado en tu forma; la corona nemmes no es para ti; tus palabras llegan hasta los extremos del cielo. Yo, el guardián, tomo posesión de las cosas que pertenecen a Horus y a Osiris en el submundo'. Horus me dijo en voz alta aquello que su padre había dicho con relación a mí en años [pasados], el día del entierro [de Osiris]. Yo te he dado el nemmes del doble dios-León que poseo para que puedas seguir adelante y viajar sobre las rutas del cielo, para que los que habitan en los confines del horizonte puedan verte, y para que los dioses del submundo puedan temerte y luchen por ti en sus habitáculos. 

El doble dios-León lo ha decretado, el dios Aahet ha abierto un camino para mí. Yo, yo mismo, estoy exaltado, y el doble dios-León ha ceñido la corona nemmes sobre mí, y me ha sido dado el recubrimiento de mi cabeza. (Los “héroes culturales” de los aborígenes australianos, en el tiempo de los sueños, representados como las figuras wandjina de sus cuevas, son llamados Nimis. ¿Recibirían acaso este nombre de los egipcios que habrían llegado allí, en alguno de sus viajes al lejano y exótico país de Punt? Nótese que éstos se ponían en la cabeza unos paños llamados nemes. Y los wandjina australianos parecen portar una especie de tocados, tal vez similares a los nemes egipcios.) 

Él ha estabilizado mi corazón con su fuerza y su gran poder, y yo no me caeré en Shu... No seré rechazado por el toro que hace temblar a los hombres [Tauro], sino que vendré diariamente a la casa del doble dios-León, y pasaré de allí a la casa de Isis. Contemplaré las cosas sagradas que están ocultas, se me dedicarán santos ritos ocultos, veré lo que está allí... Yo, yo mismo, soy Horus que habita en esplendores. He conseguido poder sobre su corona, he conseguido poder sobre su irradiación, he viajado a las partes más remotas del Cielo. Horus está en su trono, Horus está en su asiento... 

Yo he surgido con la apariencia de un halcón divino, y Horus me ha apartado por ser semejante a su propia alma, para que tome posesión de lo que perteneció a Osiris en el submundo. Yo he recorrido el camino, he seguido viajando y he llegado hasta aquellos que viven en sus lugares ocultos, y que guardan la casa de Osiris”. 

Página 563: “Me he acercado al lugar donde no crece el árbol de acacia, donde no existe el árbol frondoso lleno de hojas, y donde la tierra no da hierba. Y he entrado en el lugar de las cosas ocultas y secretas, he mantenido conversación con el dios Sut ... Osiris, el escriba Ani, ha entrado en la casa de Osiris, y ha visto las cosas ocultas y secretas que hay allí. Los sagrados regentes de los pilones tienen las formas de los resplandecientes (?). Anubis le habló con el discurso humano cuando él vino a Ta-mera [país de Mera, o de la pirámide], diciendo: Él conoce nuestros caminos y nuestras ciudades, yo he sido pacificado, y su olor es para mí como el olor de uno de nosotros ... He entrado en Re-stau, y he contemplado las cosas ocultas que hay allí”.

Analysis of the texts

The Double Lion (Aker) is "guardian of the house of the nemes" (or head covers), which are carried by the gods. Without a neme, the spirit (ka) of the dead will not be able to fly through the sacred spaces of the underworld, located -on Earth- in the Rosetau necropolis (Giza). In his flight he meets Taurus, a fierce animal that tries to make his way difficult, and even with Apep, a celestial serpent (perhaps Draco) that threatens the Sun. It avoids the first and defeats the second. Thus it earns the respect of Horus, lord of the house of the Double Lion (Aker). R. O. Faulkner describes this place for us, and he says that in Rosetau (Re-stau) are the "mountains of Osiris." Wallis Budge calls the latter by the name of Ta-Mera, which literally means "place of the mounds" (or of the pyramids).

Now we know that in Rosetau there are (artificial) mounds, or pyramids. But where are these "mountains of Osiris" (the pyramids) located? . The text makes it very clear: "Oh, Double Lion ... Oh you who are in front of the Great Throne". Taking into account that Throne is Aset in Egyptian, and that this is the Egyptian name of Isis, we can suspect that the Great Throne is the House of Isis, to which the dead man goes after visiting the House of the Double Lion: "I go from the House of the Double Lion to the House of Isis”. Later we will verify that this House of Isis could actually be the Great Pyramid. But let's go on.

What is actually the House of the Double Lion? The text makes it clear to us: "You are the lion, you are the Double Lion, you are Horus protector of his father" (Osiris). And it is added: "I was born in Rosetau, and the power of the Lord of the Horizon has been granted to me". It must be borne in mind that the Lord of the Horizon is Horus, and that the sphinx is called Hor-em-akhet: Horus on the Horizon. Horus is also called the Lord of Terror, and the sphinx was known as Abu el Hol (father of terror).

Thus, the Double Lion (the sphinx), also known as the House of the Lion, is located in front of the House of Isis (the Great Pyramid), in Rosetau (the “door of the necropolis”), in the “mountains of Osiris” (the pyramids), in a place called Ta-Mera (the place of the pyramids).

In short, the astronomical reading of these texts can be extended to another reading, geographical, in which each of these signs could represent a place or location, characterized by a construction: the Double Lion could be the sphinx (the double sphinx; see below), and the House of Isis could be the Great Pyramid (again, see below). But then what can we say about the bull, which is mentioned in these passages? This could refer to the necropolis of sacred bulls known as Serapeum de Memphis, a city in which the Apis bull was especially revered. Memphis is a few kilometers away from the Giza Plateau (that is, Rosetau). But this is still speculation.

Memphis, place of worship of the Apis ox, is located a few kilometers away from Giza.

And what was the purpose of the dead man's ka in making this journey through the underworld? Fundamentally, to contemplate the "hidden and secret things", to be "initiated", and to know the rites of the mysteries of divinity; among them, the birth of the divine child ... Symbol of this is the acacia tree, which the Masons would adopt millennia later, along with some names (Re-Stau, or Rosetau, links the symbol of the Rose with that of the Tau), in addition to practices such as those of the "saints and signs" that are asked to the adept before being accepted into the brotherhood.

According to some authors, the Egyptians would have used the pyramid of Cheops to carry out their initiation ceremonies. André Pochan (The enigma of the Great Pyramid, Plaza Janés, 1974) thinks that the underground chamber would have played a major role in the Isiac initiation ceremonies. For example, in times of Ramses II it would be used for minor initiations, and the Queen's chamber for major initiation. In both cases they would be Isiac initiations (page 213). From his point of view, the latter may have been preserved in certain religious practices of the current Catholic Church, as well as in other sects of an esoteric nature (Druze, Essene, etc.). There is no doubt that the Freemasons, the Sons of the Widow, owe this name to Isis, the mother of Horus and the wife of Osiris, the "dead man who rose again", obtaining immortality.

The Stele of the Inventory, a proof that this hypothesis is plausible

A stela, called "of the inventory", found by Auguste Mariette in the mid-1850s in the ruins of the small temple of Isis (close to the Henutsen pyramid), near the Great Pyramid (today it is in the Cairo Museum), has raised some questions. It is said to have been erected by Pharaoh Khufu (figurative author). Literally, it is written: "Long live the Horus-Medyed, king of Upper and Lower Egypt, Khufu, endowed with life! He found the temple of Isis, Lady of the Pyramids, next to the temple of Hurun [Sphinx], in the northwest of the temple of Osiris, lord of Rosetau [Giza necropolis]. He built his pyramid next to the temple of this goddess and he built the pyramid of the royal daughter Henutsen, next to this temple".

From my point of view, the question is to know what the "temple of Isis" actually represents. If it is the Great Pyramid, the official dating is certainly wrong. If it is not, and the pyramid that Khufu builds (next to the temple of Isis) is the Great Pyramid, the conventional interpretation is correct.

To get an idea of the importance of this text, we have to look at a map of the Giza area. In the "inventory stele" it is said that the temple of Isis (lady of the pyramids) is located in the "northwest of the temple of Osiris". The key is to know what the "temple of Osiris" is. Certainly, the pyramid of Cheops (temple of Isis?) Is located to the exact Northwest with respect to the true North, having the Sphinx as a reference point (whose head and arms point to the East). Thus, the “temple of Osiris” could be one of the two temples that are in front of the Sphinx: either the so-called “temple of the Sphinx”, or the “lower temple of Khafre”. Both are dated to the time of the Sphinx, and were built simultaneously (with the stones extracted from the rock), following the same style (cyclopean, or megalithic, without inscriptions and with smooth ashlars). The pyramid of Cheops, as well as that of his daughter (his wife, according to others), could be one of the three located on the east face of the Great Pyramid, called "secondary pyramids".

Map of Giza. Source: Alberto Siliotti (Guía de las Pirámides de Egipto. Folio, 1998).

It is possible that the temple of Hurun (of Horus) is the temple of the Sphinx, and that of Osiris (father of Horus) is the Lower of Khafre, both located in front of the Sphinx. If so, everything would make sense, as long as the expression "temple of Isis (the Great Pyramid?), next to the temple of Hurun (the Sphinx, temple of the Sphinx?)" Is not too strict (it is actually half a kilometer away).

Thus, in the inventory stela, as in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, allusion is made to the House of the Lion (the Sphinx), the House of Isis (the Great Pyramid?), and the House of Osiris (one of the temples in front of the Sphinx?). If the Great Pyramid is the Temple of Isis, according to the "inventory stele", it would have existed in the time of Cheops (Khufu), and he would have limited himself to making a small pyramid on the eastern face of the Great Pyramid.

As regards the Double Lion, in relation to the Sphinx, there is a theory, summarized by Nacho Ares in a magnificent article, which speculates that there were actually not one, but two sphinxes. The second would have been demolished. Various hypotheses can be established on the subject, but I consider the following one as more likely.

Two images where the location of the second sphinx is supposed to be guessed. Source: Nacho Ares.

The so-called “dream stele”, made in the time of Tuthmosis IV (ascended to the throne in 1425 BC), explains a curious story. He had fallen asleep near the Sphinx during a hunt and the great statue spoke to him in his dreams. She asked him to remove the sand that buried her. Tuthmosis complied with the god's demand, and also made some repairs (perhaps he changed the lion's head for his own). In this stela the name of Khafre is also mentioned, although the meaning of this passage is not clear. Perhaps the latter also carried out repairs.

In short: he could have destroyed the second Sphinx, the "twin sphinx", in the process of exchanging the lion's face of the first for that of his own portrait. Was he, or Khafre, who destroyed the second sphinx so that it would not undermine his power and prominence? (Well, there is only one Pharaoh). It is true that the Egyptians did everything in pairs: the obelisks, the pylons, the rows of sphinxes ... But when royal power is at stake, any measure is permitted in order to preserve the prestige of the pharaoh.

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