Weird Legend Discovered on Ancient Hieroglyphics in Egypt PROVEN TRUE 2021

A Legend of Kenmu and of a Seven Years' Famine The text of this most interesting legend is found in hieroglyphics on one side of a large rounded block of granite, some eight or nine feet high, which stands on the southeast portion of Sahal, a little island lying in the first cataract, two or three miles to the south of Elephantine Island in the modern town of Aswan. The inscription is not cut into the rock in the ordinary way but was stunned on it with a blunted chisel and is in some lights quite visible to anyone standing near the rock unless he is aware of its existence. It is in full view of the river path which leads to the Mahala, Tufile, and yet it escaped the notice of scores of travelers who have searched the rocks and islands in the cataract for graffiti and inscriptions. The inscription, which covers a space six feet by five feet, was discovered accidentally on February 6, 1889, by the late Mr. C. E. Wilbur, a distinguished American gentleman who spent many years in research in Egypt. He first copied the text, discovering in the course of his work the remarkable nature of its contents, and then his friend Mr. Maudslay photographed it. The following year, he sent prints from Mr. Maudslay's negatives to Dr. Bruch, who, in the course of 1891, published a transcript of the text with a German translation and notes in a work entitled Die Biblichen, Sieben Jahre der Hungersnoth. The legend contained in this remarkable text describes a terrible famine which took place in the reign of Cheser, a king of the Third Dynasty, and lasted for seven years. Insufficient Nile floods were, of course, the physical cause of the famine, but the legend shows that the low Niles were brought about by the neglect of the Egyptians in respect of the worship of the god of the first cataract, the great god Khenmu, when, according to the legend, King Cheser had been made to believe that the famine took place because men had ceased to worship Khenmu in a manner appropriate to his greatness, and when he had taken steps to remove the ground of complaint, the Nile rose to its accustomed height, the crops became abundant once more, and all misery caused by scarcity of provisions ceased. In other words, when Cheser restored the offerings of Khenmu and re-endowed his sanctuary and his priesthood, the god allowed Hoppe to pour forth his streams from the caverns in the cataract and to flood the land with abundance. The general character of the legend, as we have it here, makes it quite certain that it belongs to a late period, and the forms of the hieroglyphics and the spellings of the words indicate that the text was stunned on the rock in the reign of one of the Ptolemies, probably at a time when it was of the interest of some men to restore the worship of Khenmu, god of the first cataract. These interested people could only have been the priests of Khenmu, and the probability that this was so becomes almost a certainty when we read in the latter part of the text the list of the tolls and taxes which they were empowered to levy on the merchants, farmers, miners, etc., whose goods passed down the cataract into Egypt. Why if this be the case they should have chosen to connect the famine with the reign of Cheser is not clear. They may have wished to prove the great antiquity of the worship of Khenmu, but it would have been quite easy to select the name of some king of the first dynasty, and had they done this they would have made the authority of Khenmu over the Nile coeval with dynastic civilization. It is impossible to assume that no great famine took place in Egypt between the reign of Cheser and the period when the inscription was made, and when we consider this fact, the choice by the editor of The Legend of a Famine, which took place under the third dynasty, to illustrate the power of Khenmu seems inexplicable. Of the famines which must have taken place in the dynastic period the inscriptions tell us nothing, but the story of the seven years famine mentioned in the Book of Genesis shows that there is nothing improbable in a famine lasting so long in Egypt. Arab historians also mention several famines which lasted for seven years, that which took place in the years 1066-1072 nearly ruined the whole country. A cake of bread was sold for 15 dinar, a horse was sold for 20, a dog for 5, a cat for 3, and an egg for 1 dinar. When all the animals were eaten, men began to eat each other. The human flesh was sold in public. Passengers were caught in the streets by hooks let down from the windows, drawn up, killed and cooked. During the famine which began in 1201, people ate human flesh habitually. Parents killed and cooked their own children, and a wife was found eating her husband raw. Baby fricassee and haggis of children's heads were ordinary articles of diet. The graves even were ransacked for food. An ox sold for 70 dinar. The legend begins with the statement that the 18th year of the reign of King Cheshir, when Matar, the Irpa prince and ha, was the governor of the temple properties of the south and north, and was also the director of Kenti Men at Elephantine. Class I. A royal dispatch was delivered to him, in which the king said, I am in misery on my throne. My heart is very sore because of the calamity which hath happened. For the Nile hath not come forth for seven years. There is no grain, there are no vegetables, there is no food, and every man is robbing his neighbor. Men wish to walk, but they are unable to move. The young man drags along his limbs. The hearts of the aged are crushed with despair. Their legs fail them. They sink to the ground, and they clutch their bodies with their hands in pain. The counselors are dumb, and nothing but wind comes out of the granaries when they are opened. Everything is in a state of ruin. A more graphic picture of the misery caused by the famine could hardly be imagined. The king then goes on to ask Matar where the Nile is born, what god or goddess presides over it, and what is his or her form. He says he would like to go to the temple of Thoth to inquire of that god, to go to the college of the magicians, and search through the sacred books in order to find out these things. When Matar had read the dispatch, he set out to go to the king and explain to him the things which he wished to know. He told him that the Nile rose near the city of Elephantine, and that it flowed out of two caverns, which were the breasts of the Nile god, that it rose to a height of twenty-eight cubits at Elephantine, and to the height of seven cubits at Sma-Behutet, or Diospolis Parva in the Delta. He who controlled the Nile was Kenmu, and when this god drew the bolt of the doors, which shut in the stream, and smote the earth with his sandals, the river rushed forth. Matar also described to the king the form of Kenmu, which was that of Shu, and the work which he did, and the wooden house in which he lived, and its exact position which was near the famous granite quarries. The gods who dwelt with Kenmu were the goddess Sept, Sothis, or the Dog Star, the goddess Enkhet, Hop, or Hep, the Nile god, Shu, Keb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Horus. Thus we see that the priests of Kenmu made him to be the head of the company of gods. Finally Matar gave the king a list of all the stones, precious and otherwise, which were found in and about Elephantine. When the king who had, it seems, come to Elephantine, heard these things he rejoiced greatly, and he went into the temple of Kenmu. The priests drew back the curtains, and sprinkled him with holy water, and then he passed into the shrine, and offered up a great sacrifice of bread-cakes, beer, geese, oxen, and all kinds of good things to the gods and goddesses who dwelt at Elephantine, in the place called Couch of the Heart in Life and Power. Suddenly he found himself standing face to face with the god Kenmu, whom he placated with a peace offering and with prayer. Then the god opened his eyes, and bent his body towards the king, and spake to him mighty words, saying, I am Kenmu, who made thee. My hands knitted together thy body and made it sound, and I gave thee my heart. Kenmu then went on to complain that, although the ground under the king's feet was filled with stones and metal, men were too inert to work them, and to employ them in repairing or rebuilding of the shrines of the gods, or in doing what they ought to do for him, their lord and creator. These words were, of course, meant as a rebuke for the king, who evidently, though it is not so stated in the text, was intended by Kenmu to undertake the rebuilding of his shrine without delay. The god then went on to proclaim his majesty and power, and declared himself to be new, the celestial ocean, and the Nile god, who came into being at the beginning, and riseth at his will to give health to him, that labyrinth for Kenmu. He described himself as the father of the gods, the governor of the earth and of men, and then he promised the king to make the Nile rise yearly, regularly and unceasingly, to give abundant harvests, to give all people their heart's desire, to make misery to pass away, to fill the granaries, and to make the whole land of Egypt yellow with waving fields of full ripe grain. When the king, who had been in a dream, heard the god mention crops, he woke up, and his courage returned to him, and having cast away despair from his heart, he issued a decree by which he made ample provision for the maintenance of the worship of the god in a fitting state. In this decree the first copy of which was cut upon wood, the king endowed Kenmu with twenty shoinoi of land on each side of the river with gardens, etc. It was further enacted that every man who drew water from the Nile for his land should contribute a portion of his crops to the god. Fishermen, fowlers, and hunters were to pay an octroy duty of one-tenth of the value of their catches when they brought them into the city, and a tithe of the cattle was to be set apart for the daily sacrifice. The masters of caravans coming from the Sudan were to pay a tithe also, but they were not liable to any further tax in the country northwards. Every metalworker, ore-crusher, miner, mason, and handicraftsman of every kind was to pay to the temple of the god one-tenth of the value of the material produced or worked by his labor. The decree provided also for the appointment of an inspector whose duty it would be to weigh the gold, silver, and copper which came into the town of Elephantine, and to assess the value both of these metals and of the precious stones, etc., which were to be devoted to the service of Kenmu. All materials employed in the making of the images of the gods, and all handicraftsmen employed in the work were exempted from tithing. In short, the worship of the god and his company was to be maintained according to ancient use, and won't, and the people were to supply the temple with everything necessary, in a generous spirit, and with a liberal hand. He who failed in any way to comply with the enactments was to be beaten with a rope, and the name of Cheshire was to be perpetuated in the temple. In the eighteenth year of the Horus, Netarkot of the king of the south and north, Netarkot of the lord of the shrines of Uachit and Nekibit, Netarkot of the golden Horus Tetsher, when Matar was ha-prince and erpa, the governor of the temple cities in the land of the south, and director of the kenti folk of Aptu, there was brought unto him the following royal dispatch. This is to inform thee that misery hath laid hold upon me, as I sit upon the great throne by reason of those who dwell in the great house. My heart is grievously afflicted by reason of the exceedingly great evil which hath happened, because hoppy the Nile hath not come forth in my time to the proper height of seven years. Grain is very scarce, vegetables are lacking altogether, every kind of thing which men eat for their food hath ceased, and every man now plundereth his neighbor. Men wish to walk, but are unable to move. The child waileth, the young man draggeth his limbs along, and the hearts of the aged folk are crushed with despair, their long legs weigh under them, and they sink down to the ground, and their hands are laid upon their bodies in pain. The Shennu nobles are destitute of counsel, and when the storehouses which should contain supplies are opened, there cometh forth therefrom nothing but wind. Everything is in a state of ruin. My mind hath remembered going back to former time, when I had an advocate, to the time of the gods, and of the Ibis-god, and of the chief Kirheb priest Iyemhetep, the son of Ta of the southern wall. Here is the place of birth of Hapi, the Nile. What god or what goddess presideth over it? What manner of form hath he? Is it he who establish revenue for me, and a full store of grain? I would go to the chief of Hexetet, whose beneficence strengtheneth all men in their works. I would enter into the house of life, would unfold the written rolls therein, and I would lay my hand upon them. Then Matar set out on his journey, and he returned to me straightway. He gave me instruction concerning the increase of Hapi, and told me all things which men had written concerning it. And he revealed to me the secret doors, whereto my ancestors had betaken themselves quickly, the like of which has never been to any king since the time of Ra. And he said unto me, There is a city in the middle of the stream, wherefrom Hapi maketh his appearance. Abu was its name at the beginning. It is the city of the beginning, and it is the gnome of the city of the beginning. It reacheth to Uahwa, which is the beginning of the land. There is to a flight of steps, which reareth itself to a great height, and is the support of Ra. When he maketh his calculation to prolong life to every one, Netchemchem, Ankh, is the name of its abode. The two kirti is the name of the water, and they are the two breasts from which every good thing cometh forth. Here is the bed of Hapi the Nile, wherein he reneweth his youth in his season, wherein he causeth the flooding of the land. He cometh and hath union as he journeyeth as a man hath union with a woman, and again he playeth the part of a husband, and satisfieth his desire. He riseth to the height of twenty-eight cubits at Abu, and he droppeth the sma behutet to seven cubits. The union there is that of the god Kenmu in Abu he smiteth the ground with his sandals, and its fullness becometh abundant. He openeth the bolt of the door with his hand, and he throweth open the double door of the opening through which the water cometh. Moreover he dwelleth there in the form of the god Shu, as one who is lord over his own territory, and his homestead, the name of which is Aw, i.e. the island. There he keepeth an account of the products of the land of the south, and of the land of the north, in order to give unto every god his proper share. And he leadeth to each the metals, and the precious stones, and the four-footed beasts, and the feathered fowl, and the fish, and every thing whereon they live, and the cord for the measuring of the land, and the tablet whereon the register is kept are there. And there is an edifice of wood there, with the portals thereof formed of reeds, wherein he dwelleth as one who is over his own territory, and he maketh the foliage of the trees to serve as a roof. His god-house hath an opening toward the south-east, and Ra, or the sun, standeth immediately opposite thereto every day. The stream which floweth along the south side thereof hath danger for him that attacketh it, and it hath as a defence a wall, which entereth into the region of the men of Kens on the south. Huge mountains filled with masses of stone round about its domain on the east side, and shut it in. Thither come two quarrymen with things, of every kind, when they seek to build a house for any good in the land of the south, or in the land of the north, or shrines as abodes for sacred animals, or royal pyramids, and statues of all kinds. They stand up in front of the house of the god and in a sanctuary chamber, and their sweet-smelling offerings are presented before the face of the god Kenmu during his circuit, even as when they bring garden-herbs and flowers of every kind. The four parts thereof are in Abu Elephantine, and the hind parts are in the city of Sunt. One portion thereof is on the east side of the river, and another portion is on the west side of the river, and another portion is in the middle of the river. The stream decketh the region with its waters during a certain season of the year, and it is a place of delight for every man. And the works are carried on among these quarries which are on the edges of the river, for the stream immediately faceth this city of Abu itself. And there existeth the granite, the substance whereof is hard, stone of Abu it is called. Here is a list of the names of the gods who dwell in the divine house of Kenmu, the goddesses of the star Sept, Sothis, the goddess Enkhet, Hap, the Nile god, Shu, Keb, Nut, Osiris, Horus, Isis, and Nephthys. Here are the names of the stones which lie in the heart of the mountains, some on the east side, some on the west side, and some in the midst of the stream of Abu. They exist in the heart of Abu, they exist in the country on the east bank, and in the country on the west bank, and in the midst of the stream, namely Beconstone, Meri or Melistone, Atbeqabstone, Rakestone, and White Uchistone. These are found on the east bank, Perchanistone is found on the west bank, and the Teshistone in the river. Here are the names of the hard or hidden precious stones which are found in the upper side, among them being the stone, the name of which hath spread abroad through a space of four atru measures, gold, silver, copper, iron, lapis lazuli, emerald, thean, crystal, kenim, ruby, kai, minu, betka, temi, nah. The following come forth from the four part of the land, Mehistone, Mekistone, Abistone, iron ore, alabaster for statues, mother of emerald, antimony seeds or gum of sehi plant, seeds or gum of the emem plant, and seeds or gum of the incense plant. These are found in the four parts of the double city. These were the things which I learned therefrom, i.e. from Matar. Now my heart was very happy when I heard these things, and I entered into the temple of Kenmu. The overseers unrolled the documents which were fastened up. The water of purification was sprinkled upon me. A progress was made through the secret places, and a great offering consisting of bread-cakes, beer, geese, oxen, or bulls, and beautiful things of all kinds were offered to the gods and goddesses who dwelled in Abu'l, whose names are proclaimed at the place which is called Couch of the Heart in Life and Power. And I found the God standing in front of me, and I made him be at peace with me by means of me thank-offering which I offered unto him. Then he opened his eyes, and his heart was inclined to hear me, and his words were strong when he said, I am Kenmu, who fashioned thee. My two hands were thee and knitted together thy body, and made healthy thy members, and it is I who gave thee thy heart. Yet the minerals or precious stones lie under each other, and they have done so from old in time, and no man hath worked them in order to build the houses of God, or to restore those which have fallen into ruin, or to hew out shrines for the gods of the south and of the north, or to do what he ought to do for his Lord, notwithstanding that I am the Lord and the Creator. I am he who created himself, knew the great God, who came into being at the beginning, and Hopi, who riseth according to his will, in order to give health to him that laboureth for me. I am the director and guide of all men at their seasons, the most great, the father of the gods, Shu, the great one, the chief of the earth. The two halves of the sky, i.e., the east and the west, are as habitation below me. A lake of water hath poured out for me, namely Hop, i.e., the Nile, which embraceth the fieldland, and his embrace provideth the means of life for twenty-one every nose, i.e., every one, according to the extent of his embrace of the fieldland. With old age cometh the condition of weakness. I will make Hop, i.e., the Nile, rise for thee. And in no year shall he fail, and he shall spread himself out and rest upon every land. Green plants and herbs and trees shall bow beneath the weight of their produce. The goddess Renanent shall be at the head of everything, and every product shall increase by hundreds of thousands according to the cubit of the year. The people shall be filled, verily, and their hearts desire, and every one. Misery shall pass away, and the emptiness of their storehouses of grain shall come to an end. The land of Ta-Mert, i.e., Egypt, shall come to the region of cultivated land. The districts thereof shall be yellow with green crops. The grain thereof shall be goodly. And fertility shall come according to the desire of the people more than there hath ever been before. Then I woke up. The mention of crops, my heart, or courage, came back, and the equal to my former despair. And I made the following decree in my temple of my father Kenmu. The king giveth an offering to Kenmu, the lord of the city of Kibbet, the governor of Tasti, in return for those things which thou hast done for me. There shall be given unto thee on thy right hand the river-bank of Manu, and on thy left hand the river-bank of Abu, together with the land about the city, for a space of twenty measures, on the east side and on the west side, with the gardens and the river-front everywhere throughout the region included in the measures, from every husbandman to tilleth the ground, and maketh to live again the slain, and placeth water upon the river-banks and all the islands which are in front of the region of these measures, shall be demanded a further contribution from the growing crops, and from every storehouse, as thy share whatsoever is caught in the nets by every fisherman, and by every fowler, and whatsoever is taken by the catchers of fish, and by the snarers of birds, and by every hunter of wild animals, and by every man who snareth lions in the mountains, when these things enter the city, one-tenth of them shall be demanded, and all of the calves which are cast throughout the regions which are included in these measures, one-tenth of their number shall be set apart as animals, which are sealed for all the burnt offerings which are offered up daily. And moreover, the gift of one-tenth shall be levied upon the gold, ivory, ebony, spices, carnelians, saw-wood, seshes-spice, dumb-palm-fruit, neph-wood, and upon woods and products of every kind whatsoever, which the Kentiu, and the Kentiu of Henrissou, and the Egyptians, and every person whatsoever shall bring in, and every hand shall pass them by, and no officer of the revenue whatsoever shall utter a word beyond these places to demand or levy on things from them, or to take things over and above those which are intended for thy capital city. And I will give unto thee the land belonging to the city, which beareth stones, and good land for cultivation, nothing thereof shall be diminished or withheld, all of these things in order to deceive the scribes, and the revenue officers, and the inspectors of the king, on whom it shall be incumbent to certify everything. And further I will cause the masons, and the hewers of ore, and the workers in metal, and the smelters of gold, and the sculptors in stone, and the ore-crushers, and the furnace-men, and handicraftsmen of every kind whatsoever, who work in hewing, and cutting, and polishing these stones, and in gold, and silver, and copper, and lead, and every other worker in wood, who shall cut down any tree, or carry on a trade of any kind, or work which is connected with the wood trade, to pay tithe upon the natural products, and also upon the hard stones which are brought from their beds above, and quarried stones of all kinds. And there shall be an inspector over the weighing of the gold, and silver, and copper, and real precious stones, and the other things which the metal-workers require for the house of gold, and the sculptors of the images of the gods need in the making and repairing of them, and these things shall be exempted from tithing, and the workmen also. And everything shall be delivered or given in front of the storehouse to their children a second time, for the protection of everything, and whatsoever is before thy god-house shall be in abundance, just as it hath ever been from the earliest time. And a copy of the decree shall be inscribed upon a steel, which shall be set up in the holy place, according to the writing of the original document, which is cut upon wood. And figures of this god and the overseers of the temple shall be cut thereon. Whatsoever shall spit upon that which is on it shall be admonished by the rope, and the overseers of the priests, and every overseer of the people of the house of god, shall ensure the perpetuation of my name in the house of god Kenmu-Ra, the lord of Abu, Elephantine, forever.