Atlantis and the Ten Plagues of Egypt: The Secret History Hidden in the Valley of the Kings

by Phillips, Graham

  All that now remain of the religion of the ancient Egyptians are its ruined temples, its broken statues and its faded texts; its adherents long since gone. The religion of the Israelites, however, still survives. Not only the Jews, but other great religions now revere their God. Those who worship Him are numbered in the hundreds of millions. If the Thera eruption really was responsible for the Israelite Exodus from Egypt, then its cataclysmic effects were the salvation of a people whose faith was to influence profoundly the entire course of human history. Was this all a remarkable coincidence, or was it really an act of God?

  SUMMARY

  • The final years of Akhenaten's reign show all the signs of a further natural disaster. If the royal family is anything to go by, then the population was dropping like flies.

  • In fact, we have proof positive that a virulent plague was sweeping through the Egyptian vassal states. The king of Alashia writes to Akhenaten in one of the Amarna letters that Nergal – the god of disease and pestilence – was abroad in his land.

  • In fact, it may have been a series of different viruses, perhaps started by the aftermath of the Thera eruption. With the number of dead carcasses littering the countryside, the abundance of rodents, and the mass of disease-carrying insects, many outbreaks could have resulted. It is with disease in Egypt that we again find a familiar echo in the Exodus account. According to Exodus 7:29–30, the last plague that God brought down upon the Egyptians was the most terrifying of all: 'And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt . . . there was not a house where there was not one dead.'

  • The specific reference to the firstborn could be a confusion of two separate calamities to have affected Egypt. From the moment Akhenaten comes to the throne – seemingly right after the 'plagues' caused by Thera – no pharaoh sires a male heir for well over half a century. For a people whose pharaoh was considered the personification of the chief god on earth, around whom the whole of society revolved, it must have seemed as if they were indeed a cursed nation.

  • The mystery of Tomb 55 may at last be solved. Following such a terrible series of natural disasters, Smenkhkare may have blamed Akhenaten for abandoning the old gods and had him blasphemously reinterred in the belief that it would break the curse. In the reign of Tutankhamun, however, with the plague still persisting, Smenkhkare himself may have been blamed and was reinterred in the manner he had entombed Akhenaten.

  • Although Smenkhkare may have believed that the androgynous Aten was responsible, both Ay and Tutankhamun continued to respect, if not actually practise, Atenism themselves. Smenkhkare, therefore, may have been buried in the desecrated female effects because he was thought to have personified the goddess of devastation, Sekhmet. Apart from being the king – whose destiny was deemed to be linked to the land of Egypt – Smenkhkare appears to have been born at the very time the problems began. By burying him in this way, the goddess herself may have been thought to have been entombed and imprisoned with him.

  • This may also explain why Tutankhamun's tomb was also left intact by Horemheb. The perpetrators were attempting to imprison a goddess. In Egyptian thinking, the only one who could banish a god – let alone imprison one – was another god: the pharaoh himself. To his subjects, Tutankhamun was exactly what his name implies – 'The living image of Amun'. Tutankhamun's seal was on the door of Tomb 55, and it was his influence, as the incarnation of Amun-Re, which would have been considered the power that would keep the goddess trapped.

  • Tutankhamun's tomb is only thirteen metres across the valley floor from Tomb 55 and their entrances directly face each another. Knowing what they had done to the occupant of Tomb 55, it is unthinkable that Tutankhamun would want to be interred as his eternal nextdoor neighbour, or that Ay would have allowed it. Unless, of course, it was essential.

  • As the living incarnation of the god Amun-Re, Tutankhamun was believed to have within him the life-force of the god Re. Re had been the father of Sekhmet and he had restrained her when she had tried to destroy mankind before. In Egyptian thinking, it would be his power that was needed to restrain her once again. Accordingly, it may have been essential for the body of Tutankhamun to be buried close to Tomb 55. So long as Tutankhamun's tomb remained intact, the king – in his personification as Re – could continue to revisit the earth and so keep watch over the prisoner in Tomb 55.

  Appendix

  LA TEST RADIOCARBON DATES FOR THE ERUPTION OF THERA

  In order to date the eruption of Thera by radiocarbon tests, organic matter was obtained from Akrotiri which had perished when the city was covered in volcanic material. Because most of the wood found at the excavation was in a bad state of preservation, having been burned beyond utilization, the best remains were those which had been protected inside storage vessels: foodstuffs such as fruit and grain. However, much of this was contaminated from two main sources. Firstly, volcanic carbon dioxide emanating from fissures in the ground had been assimilated into the plants before the eruption. Secondly, wooden lids that were used on the storage vessels had been charred during the eruption and mixed as organic dust into the contents. Fortunately, some organic material was found to be relatively uncontaminated and acceptable for dating purposes, the best samples being seeds from the Lathyrus cicera plant.

  Tests on the Lathyrus samples were conducted separately in 1990 at the Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory of Copenhagen and the AMS facility at Oxford University. Both sets of results were published in that year by the London-based Thera Foundation in the society's journal Thera and the Aegean World: Volume III. The Copenhagen group, W. L. Friedrich, P. Wagner and H. Tauber, obtained three sets of results and the Oxford team, R. A. Housley, R. E. M. Hedges, I. A. Law and C. R. Bronk, gained seven, providing the following dates as years before the time of the tests (1990):

  Lathyrus results from the Radiocarbon

  Dating Laboratory of Copenhagen

  3310 plus or minus 65 years

  3430 plus or minus 90 years

  3340 plus or minus 55 years

  Central date: 3360 years before time of testing – 1370 BC

  Lathyrus results from the AMS facility at Oxford University

  3390 plus or minus 65 years

  3245 plus or minus 65 years

  3335 plus or minus 60 years

  3460 plus or minus 80 years

  3395 plus or minus 65 years

  3340 plus or minus 65 years

  3280 plus or minus 65 years

  Central date: 3349 before time of testing – 1359 BC

  Both these findings taken together place the eruption of Thera to around 1365 BC, a year or two before the reign of Akhenaten, as proposed in the current work.

  Some researchers (see Chapter Nine), believing that the dates were too late for the eruption of Thera, have applied a so-called 'calibration curve' to the results. This highly controversial procedure places radiocarbon dates of the period very much earlier than the generally accepted chronology.

  Events of the fourteenth century BC, for example, are recalibrated to around 310 years earlier. Accordingly, the Copenhagen group dated the Thera eruption to around 1675 BC. If the procedure is correct, however, it would mean that all radiocarbon dates obtained for this era would also need to be moved some 310 years into the past. Tutankhamun's tomb, for instance – having been radiocarbon dated from cereal grains and the mummy remains – would need to be redated to around 1648 BC, as opposed to around 1338 BC. The reigns of the Amarna kings would therefore be as follows:

  1737–1676 BC: Reign of Amonhotep III

  1676–1659 BC: Reign of Akhenaten

  1659–1659 BC: Reign of Smenkhkare

  1659–1648 BC: Reign of Tutankhamun

  1648–1644 BC: Reign of Ay

  From these dates we can see that the eruption of Thera still falls within a couple of years of the start of Akhenaten's reign. However, if this recalibration procedure is correct, it would mean that virtually every historian and archaeologist who has
ever studied the period in question has been completely wrong concerning ancient chronology by over three centuries. In the opinion of the present author this seems highly unlikely.

  THE RE-CALIBRATION CONTROVERSY

  All organic matter absorbs the radioactive isotope Carbon 14 which gradually decays once an organism has died. As the rate of decay is constant, the period which has elapsed since the organism's death can be gauged by measuring the amount of Carbon 14 which still exists in its remains. The amount of Carbon 14 to which a living organism is exposed was thought to have been constant over time. However, recent scientific evidence suggests that the level of Carbon 14 in the atmosphere may have decreased permanently around 3,500 years ago due to changes in the earth's magnetic field. If so, the quantity of Carbon 14 present in any organism that died before this time would be greater than had previously been supposed and, accordingly, more time would have elapsed since the organism's death than had been estimated. A radiocarbon date derived from such a sample would therefore need to be placed further back in time than was originally thought. The problem facing archaeologists was when and when not to adjust their dating, as the time when the level of atmospheric Carbon 14 dropped could only be estimated approximately to between 1500 and 1000 BC. At what point during these five centuries should they start recalibrating radiocarbon dates? Some turned to dendrochronology – tree ring dating – in an attempt to resolve the issue.

  Trees have annual growth rings which are wider when the weather is warmer and narrower when cooler, and so an accurate year by year record of the climate is available from the time the tree began to grow. From the historian's perspective, this can be very useful, so long as there are historical records of weather conditions to which the growth rings can be compared. An undated event referenced in a Renaissance manuscript referring to a particularly cold summer, for example, could be dated by counting back growth rings to an unusually narrow one which corresponded to the period in question. For events predating living trees, dendrochronology utilizes timber from ancient sites or wood preserved in bogland or permanently frozen ground. For events as far back as 1000 BC, however, dendrochronology runs into difficulty as historical records concerning local weather conditions are almost non-existent.

  Nevertheless, it was by comparing radiocarbon dates with dates derived from dendrochronology that some archaeologists attempted to resolve the recalibration issue and so the controversy began. Firstly, they would obtain a radiocarbon date for a sample of ancient timber. Secondly, they would surmise from historical references that a cold summer or harsh winter may have occurred at a particular time. Thirdly, they would make an informed guess as to which narrow growth ring corresponded to the year in question. Having derived this date, they would radiocarbon date organic remains from the area to which the historical records were thought to refer and note by how many years the two dates diverged. Needless to say, many differing recalibration charts resulted and there is still no agreement as to precisely when the procedure should be used.

  As a result, various archaeologists use various recalibration charts, some employing recalibration on radiocarbon dates obtained for as early as 1500 BC and others as late as 1000 BC, while others reject the recalibration theory altogether. To add to the confusion, when archaeologists quote radiocarbon dates when publishing findings some fail to mention that their dates are already recalibrated and colleagues unwittingly recalibrate the results for a second time. To make matters worse, the original radiocarbon date – given as X number of years ago – may even have been misinterpreted due to various renderings of the term 'before the present'. Some scholars use the term 'present' to refer to the time an item was dated, some use it to refer to the time of writing, and some use it to refer to 1950, the scientific 'standard year' used by technicians at radiocarbon laboratories. The result is that many archaeologists, historians and Egyptologists prefer to ignore radiocarbon dating altogether.

  Chronology

  BC – APPROXIMATE CHRONOLOGY

  3150–2686: The Egyptian Archaic Period.

  3100: Narmer Palette – the oldest surviving historical record from Egypt.

  3090: Narmer's successor, Hor-Aha, establishes the First Dynasty and founds the capital city of Memphis.

  2686–2181: The Egyptian Old Kingdom.

  2650: The building of the first stepped pyramid for the pharaoh Zoser.

  2570: Construction begun on the pyramid of Cheops at Giza.

  2470: The Palermo Stone records a series of early kings.

  2181–2040: The Egyptian First Intermediate. Centralized government at Memphis is overthrown, and an age of continual fighting between local warlords and provincial rulers follows.

  2040–1782: The Egyptian Middle Kingdom. A fresh era emerges from a strong line of rulers from Thebes in Upper Egypt.

  2000: The birth of the Mari kingdom at Tell Hariri in Syria.

  1890: A wall painting in the tomb of the nobleman Khnumhotep shows a group of thirty-seven Semites with laden donkeys entering Egypt.

  1782–1570: The Egyptian Second Intermediate.

  1750: The Mari kingdom is invaded by the Babylonians.

  1745: A text from the reign of the pharaoh Sobekhotep III contains a list of seventy-nine household servants, of which forty-five seem to be Hyksos.

  1745–1700: Increasing numbers of Hyksos continue to settle in the Nile Delta, where the authority of the pharaohs is weak.

  1720: The whole of northern Egypt falls to the Hyksos.

  1720–1570: The Hyksos kings govern northern Egypt, making their own capital at Avaris at the eastern edge of the Nile Delta. Southern Egypt remains in the hands of the Theban princes.

  Hebrews first arrive in Egypt.

  1660: A circular alabaster jar, found at Knossos, is inscribed with the cartouche of the third Hyksos king, Khyan. Minoan wall paintings decorate the palace of the Hyksos kings in Avaris.

  1570–1070: The Egyptian New Kingdom.

  1570: The Theban prince Amosis reconquers northern Egypt. Expulsion of the Hyksos.

  1567: The god Re is assimilated with the god Amun. Temple cities of Karnak and nearby Luxor are expanded to an unprecedented size.

  1500: Royal List from the city of Karnak includes the names of the kings who preceded Tuthmosis III.

  The greatest expansion of the Egyptian empire under the pharaoh Tuthmosis III.

  Hebrews enslaved in Egypt.

  The oldest reference to the Apiru, on a scene from the tomb of Tuthmosis III's great herald Antef, which lists them among the prisoners of war captured during the pharaoh's campaigns.

  1480: The tomb of Queen Hatshepsut's chief minister, Senenmut, shows scenes of foreign envoys, each in their national costume. Some are called Keftiu and from the goods they bear it is clear that they are Minoans.

  1475: A scene on the tomb of the noble Puyemre at Thebes shows four men working a winepress and accompanying hieroglyphics read 'straining out wine by the Apiru'.

  1450: Minoan ships carry timber supplies from Lebanon to Egypt.

  1430: An inscribed stela at Memphis refers to 3,600 Apiru.

  1390: Central date for Thera eruption indicated by ice core samples.

  1389–1364: Reign of Amonhotep III.

  1366: Most likely date for eruption of Thera and the Israelite Exodus from Egypt.

  Amonhotep erects vast number of statues to the goddess Sekhmet.

  1365: Central date for the eruption of Thera indicated by the latest radiocarbon tests from Akrotiri.

  1364–1347: Reign of Akhenaten.

  1364: The Aten is installed as chief deity.

  1360: Central date for Thera eruption indicated by the first radiocarbon tests from Akrotiri.

  1359: Akhenaten changes his name from Amonhotep IV and founds the new city of Amarna.

  1358: Akhenaten moves his court to Amarna.

  1357: One of the Amarna letters, sent to Akhenaten by King Abimilki of Tyre, talks of the king's horror on visiting Ugarit to find the population gone
and half the city washed away into the sea.

  1355: Akhenaten proscribes the Aten's association with Re-Herakhte.

  1356: Birth of Tutankhamun.

  1352: Death of Amonhotep III.

  1350: The likely deaths of Nefertiti, Queen Tiye and the princesses Meketaten and Neferneferure.

  Inscription on the Hermopolis Talatat refers to Tutankhamun as: 'The king's son of his loins'.

  1349: Smenkhkare appointed senior co-regent. Meritaten becomes Chief Queen.

  Persecution of Amun cult in Thebes. Desecration of the temple of Karnak.

  1348: Death of Kiya.

  1347: Death of Akhenaten.

  Smenkhkare reigns for less than a year.

  Tomb 55 desecrated.

  1347–1338: Reign of Tutankhamun and Queen Ankhesenpaaten.

  1345: Abandonment of Amarna.

  Amun and the old gods reinstated.

  Tutankhamun changes name from Tutankhaten.

  1338: Tutankhamun buried in the Valley of the Kings.

  1338–1334: Reign of the pharaoh Ay.

  1334–1307: Reign of Horemheb.

  Anti-Atenist reprisals.

  Israelites enter Canaan.

  1315: Central radiocarbon date for the burning of Jericho.

  1307–1305: Reign of Ramesses I.

  1300: First archaeological evidence for Israelites in Canaan.

  1305–1292: Reign of Seti I.

  1300: The Apiru are referenced in connection with a revolt at Beisham in Palestine.

  A Royal List from the city of Abydos names seventy-six kings who proceeded Seti I.