Red Haired Mummies of Egypt

Mary Sutherland Copyright 2003 - 2004
Author of Living in the Light 'Believe in the Magic'
Researcher of Ancient Man
BUFO Paranormal and UFO Radio
Burlington UFO and Paranormal Research Center
A well preserved body from the
pre-dynastic period in Egypt, circa
3,300 BC. Buried in a sand grave, the
natural dryness of the surroundings kept
the body preserved. His red hair  have
been so well preserved that he has been
given the nickname "Ginger" at the
British Museum where he is kept on
public display.
Right: "Ginger's" head.
Queen Hetop-Heres II, of the
Fourth Dynasty, the daughter of
Cheops, the builder of the great
pyramid, is shown in the colored
bas reliefs of her tomb to have
been a distinct blonde. Her hair is
painted a bright yellow stippled
with little red horizontal lines,
and her skin is white. (â€˜The
Races of Europeâ€™, Carleton
Stevens Coon, New York City,
Macmillan. 1939, p.98)
Mary's Tidbits

The mummy of the wife of King Tutankhamen has auburn hair.

by the pyramids at Saqqara.



The mummies of Rameses II  and Prince Yuaa  have fine silky yellow hair. The


A blond mummy was found at Kawamil along with many
chestnut-colored ones.

Chestnut-haired mummies have been found at Silsileh.

The mummy of Queen Tiy has "wavy brown hair."


tomb painting shows him as having light red hair.  Also, his features are quite caucasian

Meketre shows redheads.


Lady Cheritwebeshet (21st Dynasty), found in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

supervising two
dark-haired workers scooping grain.




Ramessides, did Egypt
his time."

Amenhotep III looks northern European in his statues.

blue eyes.

Paintings of blonds and redheads have been found among the tombs at

Blond hair and blue eyes were painted at the tomb of
Pharaoh Menphtah in the valley of the Kings.

Paintings from the
Third Dynasty show native Egyptians with red hair and blue eyes.
They are shepherds, workers and bricklayers.



The god Nuit was painted as white and blond.


violet-blue stones.



and northern Germany.

jacket cover. It shows his yellow hair.



European-looking face.
It was once painted sunburned red.  The Egyptians often painted
however, usually stayed inside.


1902), p. 49.]



1925), p. 50.]



mummy picture)



[Ibid., p. 132.]




has this to say about her:

women, blonde-haired with rosy cheeks. By her, it is said, the third pyramid was reared, with the

University Press, 1938), p. 42.]




232.] The Graeco-Roman author Diodorus Siculus (I, 12), says that the Egyptians thought the
1968), p. 45.]

complexion. [Ibid., p. 151.]
The Law Code of Hammurabi, 1750 BC. The code has been preserved intact on this stela, now in the Louvre
Museum in Paris. At the top of the stela is picture of the king before Shamash, the (typically
Indo-European) sun-god, who was also the god of justice. The introduction to the code is directly below the
pictures, in which Hammurabi asserts that he has come to rule over the "dark haired people". The 282 laws
cover such things as offenses against other people and property; disputes concerning land, trade, fees,
professional services and family. Some of the punishments would be considered harsh by modern standards,
but on the whole the laws present a picture of a well ordered society which lived by recognized standards
and offered protection to all its citizens. Alongside is a detail from the stela showing the great Nordic King
Hammurabi in profile. His racial features are clear in this depiction made during his lifetime.
King Hammurabi has become most famous for his Code of Laws, dating from 1750 BC, which is widely but
incorrectly held to be the first written legal code in the world (it was the second, the first being the code
drawn up by the earlier White Sumerians). Hammurabi's Code of Law was engraved in stone and set up in
the great cities of the region - to this day the Code is regarded as the father of the all legal codes of the world.
While some of the laws themselves seem harsh to the modern mind (death for being unable to repay debt, for
example) nonetheless the wording of the prologue to Hammurabi's Law Code provides a fascinating glimpse
into the conflict between the Semitic and Indo-European populations in the region.
In the prologue, Hammurabi announces that he has come to "rule the black haired people"; he is also referred
to as "the White King" and the "White Potent", obviously in reference to his coloring.
The original introduction on the Hammurabi Code, which was engraved in stone and is still existent, reads as
follows :
over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of mankind..."
"Hammurabi, the prince, called of Bel am I, making riches and increase,...who enriched Ur;...the white
king,...the mighty, who again laid the foundations of Sippara...the lord who granted new life to Uruk, who
brought plenteous water to its inhabitants...the White, Potent, who penetrated the secret cave of the bandits

Racially speaking, the inhabitants of Egypt at this period in time were divided into three groups. Skeletal
evidence from grave sites show that the original White Mediterraneans and Proto-Nordics were in a majority
in the area - a well preserved body found in a sand grave in Egypt dating from approximately 3000 BC, on
display in the British Museum in London, has even been nicknamed "Ginger" because of his red hair - (See
Above Photo)
Hammurabi Code
Syrian and Hittite Prisoners in the tomb, south wall of the second court, circa
1325 BC. The Egyptians took care to portray their enemies as accurately as
they could: On the left, a pair of Indo-European Hittites, and on the right,
Semitics from Syria.
Queen of Sheba/Hatshepsut


In the time of King Solomon, however, another individual entered the
picture.  She was The Queen of Sheba (which roughly translated means
â€œthe Queen of the Southâ€�).  Egypt is south of Israel, and
according to the theories of Immanuel Velikovsky, the Queen of Sheba
was Queen Hatshepsut.  Her temple at Luxor in fact describes her visit
to the â€œland of Puntâ€�, and all the things she brought back from
there.  â€œPuntâ€� can be taken to mean, Israel --

After the death of Thutmose II in 948 BC Hatshepsut calls on
Solomon for help. This information we read on one of his statues, `I
was in this land under [her] command since the occurrence of the death
of [her] predecessor...'[P. Dorman, `The Monuments of Senenmut',
(Kegan, Paul, London, 1988)]
But the best thing Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt brought back was the â
€œseed of Solomon (Senenmut)â€�.    When she returned to Egypt,
she gave birth to a child, whose name was Menelik.

The first year subsequent to the death of Thutmose II (948) would
also be the 1st year of Thutmose III while still a child and the
beginning of his co-reign with Hatshepsut. For the next 22 years, his
`years of silence', Hatshepsut with the strong support of her closest
courtiers, among them Senenmut/Solomon (Ir she-El Amon)/Jedidiah [2.
Samuel 12:25; ], rules over Egypt. Even when young Thutmose turned
16-18 years of age she did not relinquish the throne. It appears that
Thutmose realized that he would not have a chance to climb the throne
in his teens because of the influence of Senenmut in particular. And
this why today Egyptologists ask themselves the question, "How
could someone with the drive and military ambition of Thutmose III
stand by and allow Hatshepsut to retain the throne and virtually rule
the country from the time he was 16 until he reached 24, or, even less
likely, 35 years of age?" [KMT, Spring 2000, p. 53] His revenge was
that he sowed strife and discontent in the Egyptian educated servant of
Solomon, Jeroboam. We all know how successful that was.

In about 948 Hatshepsut is seated on the throne as pharaoh and she
begins the construction of her mortuary temple at Deir  
el Bahari in her 7th year in 941 BC. At about this same time Senenmut
begins the construction of his mortuary temple connected to that of his
queen. The queens tomb (TT#353) however was found by Carter in
1903 and penetrates 243 m (800 feet) deep into the rocks, so deep that
air had to be pumped into it for the workmen to breath. Still another
passage leads even further into the rocks but has not been explored to
date. Inside were found her sarcophagus and that of Thutmose I, but
little else remained.

Two tombs prepared for Senenmut were found. Of these tomb 353
was never finished and sealed. The long, large tomb of Senmut (TT#71)
located on the north-east corner of the temple of Hatshepsut, was
found by Winlock in 1927. It was found that his portraits inside were
mutilated everywhere, though the name of Hatshepsut was left
untouched. His quartzite sarcophagus was smattered into small pieces
strewn all around over a large area.

We hear the last from Senmut in his 16th year which corresponds well
with the last 20 years of the reign of Solomon were the scriptures
remain silent about events as if he was not in Israel during that time.
We think that after having met many of the kings from `the ends of the
earth' Solomon indeed lived in peace during the 2nd half of his reign and
that this situation allowed him to become Senenmut at the court of his
royal friend Hatshepsut. Certainly we do not assume that he twittled
his thumbs in Jerusalem. That the Bible is silent about any events
relating to this time may be due to Jewish embarrassment that their
king had such ties with Egypt and therefore they obliterated any
memory of it in their writings.

Year 9 of Hatshepsut (-939) is the year when the Punt Expedition was
sent out. For the next 10 years Hatshepsut was engaged in carrying out
her many constructions. But in 930 BC Solomon/Senmut died followed
by the death of Hatshepsut in 926 BC.
The Queen was followed by Thutmose III who invaded Jerusalem in
-925, the 5th year of King Rehoboam of Judah. The reign of Thutmose
III lasted until about 899 BC.

For More Information on this
The mummy  of Ramses III was so
unattractive that he became the model for
Boris Karloff's characterisation in the film
'The Mummy'
The mummy of the red
haired Egyptian King,
Ramses II, is on public
display at the Egyptian
Museum, Cairo
Forensics tests were done
on Ramses, proving that
his red hair was 'natural'.
Ref: Ramses the Great by
National Geographics.

Egypt's last display of national vigor came with the red haired Pharaoh Ramses II
(1292 - 1225 BC). Ramses II managed to re-establish the already decaying
Egyptian Empire by recapturing much land in Nubia.

He also fought a series of battles against invading Indo-Europeans, the Hittites.
This was culminated with the battle of Kadesh in northern Syria. Ramses signed a
treaty with the Hittites in 1258 BC, which ended the war. In terms of the treaty,
Ramses took as his wife an Indo-European Hittite princess. His other
achievements included the building of the rock-hewn temple of Abu Simbel, the
great hall in the Temple of Amon at Karnak, and the mortuary temple at Thebes.

After this king, Egypt entered into a steady period of decay, caused directly by
the elimination of the original Egyptians, and their replacement with a mixed
population made up of Black, Semitic and the remnant White population. This
racially divergent nation was never again to reach the heights achieved by the First,
Second or the first part of the Third Kingdoms. In these later years there were
competing claimants to the pharaohs throne, many of whom, racially speaking,
bore no resemblance to the original pharaohs at all.
The mummy of Pharaoh Seti I is the most lifelike of the great pharaohs
of Egypt, and a tribute to the embalmer's art. His caucasian features
remain crystal clear and because of the excellent preservation process,
Seti's mummy can easily be compared with a relief of his face made in
his lifetime at the Temple at Abydos. Seti was the son of the great
Ramses I, and became pharaoh in 1320 BC. He reoccupied lands in
Syria lost to earlier Syrian invasions, conquered Palestine and
conducted campaigns against the Semitic Libyans and the
Indo-European Hittites
This is one of the finest statues of Thutmosis III, on the
picture. This statue of basalt is kept in the Egyptian
Museum, Cairo. Perhaps it has the actual size, it is about
five feet tall - corresponding the ancient Egyptian
average. It has nicely formed muscular structure,
counterpointed by a face which has a hint of discord. It
is not disturbing, but proves that the statue is strongly
idealized. His benevolent look and nice smile are
overruled by his strong nose, but his chin is definitely
small. Since the statue had to resemble, these characters
could not be changed.
After the death of Solomon, Sheba was assassinated and
evidence of her existence deliberated destroyed by
Thutmossis III. We are lucky to have any thing left of
this time in history.
If the Exodus occurred at 1440 B.C. then the 18th Dynasty of
Thutmose III (1504/3?-1450/47 B.C.) and his mother Hatshepsut
(1503-1482), the woman king, would be considered Moses protectors.
Hatshepsut, the queen was forced to flee during the reign of Thutmose

"Moses was an initiated priest of Amon and the presumed son of
Pharaoh's daughter.There is no definite reference to Moses in
Egyptian texts, but there is a great relationship between the Egyptian
Akhnaton and Moses in activities and events.  Akhnaton had a
definite relationship between himself and the priest of Amon

Historian Josephus asserted that the Scribes and the king eventually
knew that Moses was the 'one of the Prophecy' but did not slay him
because of the royal protection.

At Deir El Bahri, there is a wall which depicts the birth of the future
heir to the throne, one scene shows a baby boy in the arms of
Hatshepsut-the infant Moses!  There is also another statue found
deplicting Solomon holding a boy child indicating that he holds
protection over this child.

In Acts 7:22 Stephen in an address to the Sanhedrin asserts that
Moses was not only instructed in the science and learning of the
Egyptians but was also endowed with oratorical ability and distinctive
leadership qualities.The last that we hear of Senenmut (Moses was
also named this..after father Senemut/Solomon) is in year 16 of
Hatshepsut's Sheba's)  reign.
Moses  slays an Egyptian (Ex 2:12) and flees Egypt (Ex 2:15) because
pharaoh (Moses replacement) wanted to kill him. Tomb No. 353 was
for Moses, but work stopped when he fled Egypt. The tomb remains
unfinished .  At the death of the great Pharaoh, God appeared in a
burning bush to Moses.

There is no definite reference to Moses in Egyptian texts, but there is
a great relationship between the Egyptian Akhnaton and Moses in
activities and events. The old religion of Egypt at one time had lost its
inspiration because materialism was increased and a reformation was
greatly needed. Akhnaton had a definite relationship between himself
and the priest of Amon.

Senmut, (Solomon) holding child under his chin. When 'queen of sheba'
claiimed Moses as her son, he became the child heir-apparent to the
throne of Egypt. The child wears the serpent on the forehead and lock
of hair on the right side of the head that designates a prince of Egypt!
It is Moses\

Acts 7 that Moses could have become the ruler of Egypt cf. Hebrews

Thutmose III apparently did something that only occurred one
additional time in the span of Egyptian history.  Thutmose III, who
undoubtedly hated her, completely eradicated nearly all her
monuments throughout Egypt. Only on one other occasion  Egyptian
authorities eradicated the monuments of a previous pharaoh and erase
his name wherever found. That was the case of the heretic pharaoh
Akhenaten who closed all the temples of the Egyptian gods and tried
to get them all to worship a single deity -- the god of the sun.
Portrait of Tuthmosis I from
his daughter's temple at Deir
(Tuthmosis II)   
The mummy of Tuthmosis II
was found at Deir el-Bahri in a
replacement coffin (the
original owner is unknown)
covered in the remains of his
original wrappings.
Tuthmosis II was a frail,
rather weak-looking
individual,.X-rays have tended
confirm that Tuthmosis II died
when he was around 30.
(Tuthmosis IV)
Tuthmosis IV was x-rayed
again in the 1970s, it was
possible to more accurately
evaluate his age at around 35
years old, which accords well
with the historical record,
which indicates that
Tuthmosis IV must have been
around 40-46 when he died.
Were the patriarchs and the Egyptian Pharaohs the Same?
History describes them as a darker race, but in truth they were Caucasian .

In the study of Egyptian Kingdoms things can get quite confusing. For example the reigns of the early New
Kingdom pharaohs  Tao II, Kamose, Ahmose, Amenhotep I, Thutmose I and Thutmose II were not
sequential, but overlapped substantially. many names were given to one individual and several nations
could claim the pharaoh as their own under another title, ie. King, Emperor, etc.

Abraham was Thutmose. Thutmose is a compound name coprised of thus (From Thoth, the Egyptian God
of Wisdom) and Mose (an Egyptian title or suffix indicating son or rightful heir) .
Egyptian Female Pharaoh: Queen Hatshepsut, wife of Pharaoh Thutmosis II. She ruled Egypt after
Thutmosis' death in 1520 BC. Her long blonde hair and  facial structure has been well preserved by the
embalming process of the time

Genesis Patriarch Lamech (First line of Adam) is Thoth (Seth)whom murdered Osiris. In biblical history
we show Lamech as blind and murdered Patriarch Mehujael

The myths and legends of Greece, India and South America describe the rule of Osiris and Isis. '
The Mighty Osiris and Isis walked into the Egyptian Valley out of nowhere and assumed command.'
They were taller and more imposing than the men of the time, with long blond hair, marblelike white skin
and remarkable powers that enabled them to perform miracles.

Abraham was shown to be the faithful elder half-brother of both Tao II and Thutmose I (Mose=Son,

In Genesis 14, Abraham is given the pseudonym of Shem-eber king of Zeboiim (Memphis). Shemeber is
translated as "Illustrious." However, it is also a compound name comprised of Shem (Sabium) and Eber
kingship. Zeboiim, that is Memphis, was the ancient seat of kingship and wisdom in Egypt. (Ref: Living in
Truth: Archaeology and the Patriarchs by Charles N. Pope)

ThutmoseIV According to legend, nearly three and a half thousand years ago, one of the sons of the
Egyptian Pharaoh Amenophis II was out hunting near a plateau some ten miles from Cairo. Tired from his
endeavours, the Prince Thutmose rested in the shadow of a mysterious head protruding from the desert

Thutmose duly fell asleep and, in a dream, heard the carved stone head whispering to him that one day he
would become ruler of all Egypt ahead of his older brothers. The prince was also told that he would then
free the body of the forgotten god from the desert sands where it had lain buried for centuries. Thutmose
awoke refreshed, and, recalling the dream silently committed himself to clearing away the sands, intrigued
that as a younger son, he could possibly become Pharaoh. He then left to continue his hunting.

On the death of his father the prophecy become true, with the former hunter ascending the throne as
Pharaoh Tuthmosis IV. Shortly afterwards the Pharaoh, who was only to reign for eight years
(1413-1405BCE), honoured the pledge made as a younger man and cleared the area around the Sphinx
revealing the God in its true magnificence
Thutmose IV and Joseph (YUYA)
Ahmed Osman proved that the identity of Biblical Joseph was that of Prime Minister Yuya in the
Egyptian New Kingdom.  *An ancestor of Yuya in the Egyptian Middle Kingdom served as his role
model.  This earlier member of Yuya's family had a similar name and held an identical office to his own.  
Working backwards from the time of Yuya in the Egyptian 18th Dynasty, the identity of the first Joseph
can be found among the great princes of the 12th Dynasty
Ahmed Osman reveals that when Joseph revealed his identity to his kinsmen who had sold him into
slavery, he told them that "God had made him 'A father to Pharaoh'. Throughout the long history of
ancient Egypt, only one man is known to have been given the title 'A father to Pharoah' - Yuya, a vizier of
the eighteenth dynasty King Tuthmosis IV.
Yuya has long intrigued Egyptologists because he was buried in the Valley of Kings even though he was
not a member of the Royal House.
Akhnaten was titled the 'heretic' king being that it was him and his mother Queen Tiy which created the
rise of monotheism in Egypt. During his reign, the Pharaoh Akhenaten was able to abolish the complex
Pharaoh Akhenaten's Hymn to Aten is  the same as Psalm 104 of the Bible.

Horemheb may have been the oppressor king in the Book of Exodus. The time of departure of the
Hebrews from Egypt would have been during the short reign of Ramses I, the first king of the nineteenth

Pharoah THUTMOSE III.. Egyptian ancient writings show: "One winter morning around the
year 1,482 B.C. Thutmose III first saw a 'UFO'.... Described as; " a CIRCLE of FIRE",
emitted no sound, it had no voice', according to inscriptions. After some days had passed,
these things became more numerous in the skies than ever. "Were extremely bright or
more...than the brightness of the sun, and were relatively small about 16' in diamater.
Thutmose III was taken aboard and flew up to the sky and learned the secrets of Heaven
Moses=Son of
The Exodus
Moses would
then mean Son of

There were the blue-bloods of Ancient Times
which extended into European Times. . They
actually did have blue blood, and it was not
hemoglobin based but copper based. They
were semi-human. There are still to this day,
some animal species in South America that
have copper based blood systems. There was a
problem with hemophilia, and not because of
intermarrying. The problem was that they
started to marry outside of the copper based
blood system. Hemoglobin and copper
systems don't mix. That's where the laws
against marrying commoners originated.
Lobsters, octopuses, squids and horseshoe
crabs have copper based blue blood
mummy's scalp. Ramesses II was thought to be 87 years-old when he died, and his
was due to a dye with a dilute henna solution. Many Egyptians dyed their hair,
and this personal habit was preserved by the embalmers. However, traces of the
hair's original color remained in the roots. Microscopic examinations showed that

From the Royal Tombs of UR. Giant gold headress
of Queen Puabi. This Gold headress is three times
the size of a 'normal' human head.
Queen Tiy (Taia,Tyre)
Father was Yuya
Mother Thuya
Mother and wife of
Akhenaten (Pharaoh
Priestess of the God Amun
AmenhotepIII who was the
father of Aye whom replaced
Tutankhamun after his death)
The most brilliant and famous
of Egypt's queens in 18th
Dynasty Egypt.
This statue was found in the
Temple of Hathor near the
turquoise mines.
Yuya-(Joseph II)
Biblical Joseph  Egyptian
Prime Minister during 1400
Father of Tiy. Yuya's blonde
hair and Caucasian facial
struture have been well
preserved by the embalming
Thuya, Wife of Yuya.
Equally blonde and
caucasian. She was the
great grandmother of
Mother of Tiy
Egyptian Female Pharaoh:
Queen Hatshepsut, wife of
Pharaoh Thutmosis II. She
ruled Egypt after Thutmosis'
death in 1520 BC. Her long
blonde hair and  facial
structure has been well
preserved by the embalming
process of the time
The Exodus

The Gospel According to Egypt
Epitome of Ahmed Osman's books:
Stranger in the Valley of the Kings
Moses: Pharaoh of Egypt
House of the Messiah

Aye succeeded Tutankhamun as Pharaoh, but ruled only a few years
before he too mysteriously disappeared.(1) The army commander,
Horemheb, married a surviving heiress (believed to be Mutnodjme, a
sister of Nefertiti) of the royal line and became Pharaoh in his place.(2)
It was during Horemheb's reign that Ramses was appointed commander
of the Egyptian army. Ramses had formerly been the mayor of Zarw,
and upon his appointment as army commander, he began to expand the
fortress city of Zarw which was renamed Pi-Ramses (the House of
Ramses) in his own honor.(3) Renewed building at Zarw was later
inititated by Ramses II.

When Horemheb died without heir and was succeeded by Ramses, the
Egyptian 18th Dynasty came to an end. In the Sinai desert, at the
location known as Mount Sarabit, there are the remains of an ancient
Egyptian temple. It was here that the archaeologist Flinders Petrie
found an exquisite statue of Akhenaten's mother, Queen Tiye.(4) It was
also here that a stele set up by Pharaoh Ramses I was found which
declared that the Aten and all its dominion were now under his rule.(5)
What more logical location would there be for such a stele than at the
very spot where Akhenaten (Moses) would have spent much of his
time in exile? What other reason would Ramses have had to place this
monument in such a remote area?

Osman deduces that if Akhenaten were still living, Ramses I, the
erstwhile underling of Akhenaten, would not have been allowed to make
such a bold proclamation, or to ascend to the throne without a challenge.
The description of Moses' return from the wilderness, found both in the
Bible and the Koran, includes appeals which would have been used by
Akhenaten to convince the elders of Egypt that he was indeed the exiled
Pharaoh and should as the only remaining Thutmosid be duly reinstated
as king.(6)

Despite the former glories of the 18th Dynasty, Akhenaten was not
welcomed back. Ramses had already taken firm control over both the
military and the government of Egypt. Akhenaten was forced once again
to leave Egypt. Perhaps, as the Bible describes, Akhenaten and the rest
of his "chosen" ones who had not accompanied him into exile, would
have been sent away with due respect and with rich gifts (Exodus
12:35-36), but nonetheless they were sent away. As the Book of
Psalms records, at this final departure of Moses and his followers,
Egypt was truly glad (Psalm 105:38), for in their minds, the reign of
Akhenaten was a mistake, and the reason Egypt had been so severely
afflicted by plague. In the 19th Dynasty Akhenaten, Semenkhare,
Tutankhamun and Aye were excised from the king lists. They were
considered to have never ruled and the lengths of their reigns were added
to that of Horemheb's!

The reign of Ramses I lasted only one full year, and correlates well with
the death of the Pharaoh during the Exodus as described by the Bible.(7)
Josephus, quoting Manetho, states that those responsible for Egypt's
13 years of trouble were attacked by "Rampses" and driven out of
Egypt.(8) At the time of the death of Ramses I, his son Seti I, was
involved in a military expedition in the Sinai,(9) because "the foe
belonging to the Shasu are plotting rebellion."(10) The Karnak Temple
mural from which this record is quoted also states, "the rebels, they
know not how they shall [flee]; the vanquished of the Shasu [becoming
like] that which exist not."(11) It stands to reason that an attack on a
tribe of bedouins(12) could have waited at least until Ramses' burial ...
unless Seti believed that they were considered a threat to the throne, or
assisting the people he considered responsible for his father's death.
(The name Seti is derived from the Nile Delta god Set. Set, in Egyptian
legend was the murderer of Osiris. Later in Hebrew/Christian beliefs he
became namesake of the Biblical Satan.)

The following is a direct quote from "Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in
Ancient Times" by Donald Redford.(13) "Shasu [literally meaning "a
people who move on foot"](14) are found in Egyptian texts from the
18th Dynasty through the Third Intermediate Period. They most
frequently occur in generalizing toponym lists where the context helps
little in pinpointing their location. But lists from Soleb and Amarah [in
Nubia], ultimately of fifteenth century [B.C.] origin [circa 17th/18th
Dynasty] suggest that an original concentration of Shasu settlements lay
in southern Transjordan in the plains of Moab and northern Edom. Here
a group of six names is identified as in 'the land of the Shasu' and these
include Se'ir (i.e., Edom), Laban (probably Libona, south of Amman),
Sam'ath (cf. the Shim'ethites, a clan of the Kenites: 1 Chron. 2:55), Wrbr
(probably the Wady Hasa) [, Yhw, and Pysps].(15) Elsewhere in texts
of the 19th and 20th Dynasties, the consistent linking of Shasu with
Edom and the Arabah (Timna) places the identifications on the earlier
lists beyond doubt."

"The localization of the 'Land of the Shasu' in the mountainous districts
of Se'ir ... has an interesting consequence for one name in the mentioned
lists from Soleb and Amarah - 'Yhw (in) the land of the Shasu.' For half
a century it has been generally admitted that we have here the
tetragrammaton, the name of the Israelite god, 'Yahweh'; and if this be
the case, as it undoubtedly is, the passage constitutes a most precious
indication of the whereabouts during the late fifteenth century B.C. of
an enclave revering this god. ... Numerous passages in later Biblical
tradition ... depict Yahweh 'coming forth from Se'ir' and originating in

Donald Redford goes on to state that the Shasu "burst with especially
grievous force just before the beginning of the 19th Dynasty across ...
northern Sinai, cutting off Egypt's coastal route ... though Sety I had
little trouble in beating them back ..." But why had these descendents of
Laban (uncle/father-in-law of Jacob and great-great-great-grandfather of
the Biblical Moses, Genesis 28:2) and adherents of Yahweh (i.e.,
Jehovah), whose homeland was in and around Mount Se'ir in Edom,
suddenly appeared along the Via Maris (Mediterranean coastal route
and main artery between Egypt and Canaan) at the same time that
Moses and the Israelites are said (according to Manetho) to have been
driven from Egypt by "Rampses?".

A reasonable deduction is that they were requested by Akhenaten to
assist in his return to Egypt, either to reclaim his throne, or to extract
the remainder of his followers ("speak to Pharaoh about bringing the
Israelites out"). The size of the Shasu force (200,000 by the Karnak
account), which may have included the Exodus party ("the foe belonging
to the Shasu"), and their actions (possibly raiding two Egyptian
garrisons along the Via Maris in order to obtain water)(16) were likely
used as justification for a counterstrike by Seti.

The attacks on the Shasu were continued in the reign of the Pharaoh
Ramses II who succeeded Seti, and were again considered important
enough to be recorded on the walls of the Karnak temple, and at the Nile
Delta city of Tanis(17) as well. Moreover, Ramses II's son and
successor Merenptah lists another group (in lieu of the Shasu) as being a
victim of his father's campaigning in Palestine, namely Israel itself
(Israel stela account), indicating that by Merenptah's time Israel was
recognized as a separate people apart from the groups recorded by the
Egyptians as living in "the land of the Shasu."
Sculpture found in tomb of King Tutankhamun
A version of the Hermopolitan cosmogony involves a celestial goose. This goose,
commonly known as the Great Cackler because it was the first creature to break the
silence, laid an egg on the primordial hill. The sun god Ra, who thereafter continued the
creation process, broke free from this egg. In another slightly different (and later)
version, it is an ibis that lays the egg on the island. This later version was adapted to
the story of the Ogdoad because the priests of Hermopolis wanted to promote their
local god Thoth (whom the Greeks knew as Hermes, hence the name Hermopolis). An
association with the Ogdoad would have given Thoth more power and seniority over
other popular gods.

The most poetic version of the Hermopolitan myth reverts to creation coming out of
the chaotic primeval ocean. Indeed, in this rendition of the story, it is a lotus flower
that is said to emerge from the waters. The petals of the lotus flower unfolded and
sitting on the calix (the centre / heart of the flower) was a divine child, the god Ra. A
remarkable sculpture found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun shows the head of the
young king emerging from a lotus flower, the petals fanning out around his neck -- an
image that depicts the young king with the powers of the creator god Ra (see image

In a variation of the lotus flower theme, it is a scarab beetle that emerges from the
petals of the flower and who then turns himself into a little boy who weeps. The
scarab beetle is an important symbol of the sun god Ra and this will be explored in later