Page 352 - Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

Egypt. The priests of Heliopolis, after all, had taught of the creation, but
who had taught them? Had they sprung out of nowhere, or was it more
likely that their doctrine, with all its complex symbolism, was the product
of a long refinement of religious ideas?
If so, when and where had these ideas developed?
I looked up to discover that we had left Heliopolis behind and were
winding our way through the noisy and crowded streets of down-town
Cairo. We crossed over to the west bank of the Nile by way of the 6
October Bridge and soon afterwards entered Giza. Fifteen minutes later,
passing the massive bulk of the Great Pyramid on our right, we turned
south on the road to upper Egypt, a road which followed the meridional
course of the world’s longest river through a landscape of palms and
green fields fringed by the encroaching red wastes of pitiless deserts.
The ideas of the Heliopolitan priesthood had influenced every aspect of
secular and religious life in Ancient Egypt, but had those ideas developed
locally, or had they been introduced to the Nile Valley from elsewhere?
The traditions of the Egyptians provided an unambiguous answer to
questions such as these. All the wisdom of Heliopolis was a legacy, they
said, and this legacy had been passed to humankind by the gods.

Gift of the Gods?

About ten miles south of the Great Pyramid we pulled off the main road
to visit the necropolis of Saqqara. Rearing up on the desert’s edge, the
site was dominated by a six-tier ziggurat, the step-pyramid of the Third
Dynasty Pharaoh Zoser. This imposing monument, almost 200 feet tall,
was dated to approximately 2650 BC. It stood within its own compound,
surrounded by an elegant enclosure wall, and was reckoned by
archaeologists to be the earliest massive construction of stone ever
attempted by humanity. Tradition had it that its architect was the
15
legendary Imhotep, ‘Great of Magic’, a high priest of Heliopolis, whose
other titles were Sage, Sorcerer, Astronomer and Doctor.
16

15 humanity.15 Tradition had it that its architect was the legendary Imhotep, ‘Great of
Magic’, a high priest of Heliopolis, whose other titles were Sage, Sorcerer, Astronomer
and Doctor.16
16 Ibid., p. 158.

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