Summary of the Conference
by Joseph Davidovits
Vth International Congress of Egyptology, Cairo, Egypt,
Oct. 29-Nov.3, 1988.
Egyptologists have long claimed that no records exist which describe how the Pyramids were built. A stone stele is engraved on a rock at the island Sehel, near Elephantine, Egypt, north of Aswan. It was discovered in 1889 by C.E. Wilbour and was deciphered by various egyptologists: Brugsch (1891), Pleyte (1891), Morgan (1894), Sethe (1901), Barguet (1953) and Lichtheim (1973). This stela features three of the most renowned characters of the Egyptian civilization:
- Pharaoh Zoser, around 2,750 BC, built the first pyramid, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. This monument is claimed to illustrate the invention of building with stone.
- Imhotep, scribe and architect of Zoser’s pyramid, who has been honored and deified for having invented the building with stone.
- God Khnum, the potter who, as in the Bible, is fashioning the bodies of humans and gods with the Nile silt, with clay, in other words processing minerals.
Called The Famine Stele, it was engraved during a recent epoch, under the Ptolemees (200 BC), but certain reliable clues have led egyptologists to believe that, in an amplified form it had already become an authentic document by the beginning of the Old Kingdom (2,750 BC).
Yet, the most controversial aspect of this text resides in the fact that to build temples, pyramids and other sacred buildings, Khnum’s instructions and Imhotep’s revelations do not mention any contructional stone, such as limestone or sandstone or granite blocks. These materials are not found in the list. In Zoser’s dream (col. 19) Khnum is giving minerals and “since former times nobody ever worked with them to build the temples of the gods..”. To build monuments, Zoser was given a list of minerals and ores whose hieroglyphic names have not been translated so far. This is the reason why we started an in-depth study of each hieroglyphic word, in order to determine the technical key-words, those which are obviously difficult to translate.
Technical Key-words not translated by previous authors:
Word ‘aa’: This word is translated “pyramid” by Brugsch, “tombs for kings” by Sethe and Barguet, and “palaces for kings” by Lichtheim. All translations relate to the hieroglyphic word ‘aa’ and the determinative for pyramid. According to Sethe and Barguet, this word ‘aa’ is an archaism from the Old Kingdom.
Key-word ARI KAT: This verb occurs three times. In col. 13 and 19, associated with minerals, it has been translated by: “to work with”; in col. 20, the god Khnum “fashions” or “creates” humanity (with clay). The first part of the verb, ARI, means to make, to create, to form, to fashion, to beget; the second part, KAT and the ideograph “man”, means the work done by man. The adjective, ARI, designates an artificial material, for example synthetic lapis-lazuli. The best meaning for the verb, ARI- KAT, could be to process, to synthesize, to manufacture.
Key-word ideograph RWD: Found in col. 11, this ideograph is part of a sentence which qualifies the materials employed for building temples and pyramids (col. 11 and 12).
Translated by Barguet as hard stone, RWD has been thoroughly discussed by Harris (1961) who states (p.23) that ”…in all events, there can be little doubt that RWDT is a term for hard stone in general, though which stone would come into the category it is difficult to say, especially in view of the reference to alabaster as RWDT”.
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