Tracing the solar boats in Egypt
Tracing the solar boats in Egypt
The Nile River gleaming like metal glistens through the gates gleaming in the wind from one end of the Ben Ben boat to the other transporting us to a distant land from one place to another A sense of impending release of energy in the ancient powerful reality of the ancient Egyptian boat reminiscent of a ritual performed by Egyptian gods on a long mountain-like vessel in a dark deserted land Sunlight shines on the wood of a large papyrus-shaped boat built as a tribute to a king and later dismantled and buried here Much of this work was the work of one man Ahmed Yusuf Mustafa head of restoration at the Egyptian Department of Antiquities a man almost legendary for his skill and ingenuity in restoring intricate antiquities Incredibly after years of painstaking work the dismantled wood remains almost perfectly intact The boat was restored to its original splendor
The ship was discovered in 1954 when two large sealed holes were discovered beneath a pile of rubble south of the Great Pyramid of Giza This discovery provides a wealth of information about the ancient origins of this elegant and graceful vessel Measuring nearly 45 meters from bow to stern it is the oldest known ship in the world and many historians and archaeologists believe it may have sailed the Nile It is the largest and best-preserved ancient ship known to archaeologists Inside the wreckage was discovered the ship's timbers disassembled and its 651 pieces carefully arranged
The approximately 13 layers of fragments were stacked as if they had been placed approximately 4,500 years ago presumably around the same time that King Khufu was buried in the central tomb of the adjacent pyramid which appears to be part of the Great Pyramid's tomb. When opened the two holes were carved into the limestone of the Giza Plateau It is the pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu the second king of the Fourth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt famous for building the Great Pyramid of Giza. King of Upper and Lower Egypt around the middle of the 3rd millennium BC.
The Benben stone resembling a small pyramid or obelisk is associated with the sun god Ra and the original mound the origin of the solar boat similar to that discovered near the Great Pyramid of Giza It provided guidance for the pharaoh's soul during its journey through the afterlife and ascension to heaven and was used to transport the pharaoh's soul to the afterlife The Egyptian Benben stone which is associated with the Benben stone was a sacred object in ancient Egyptian religion and may have been a solar boat like the pyramids
