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Al-Dimashqi's Medieval Account of the Pyramids and Temples of Egypt

7/19/2018

19 Comments

 
As most readers know, I have collected what is probably the most voluminous compendium of medieval myths about the pyramids of Egypt available in English. There are a few texts, however, that even I had not yet read and translated. One of them belonged to the Syrian cosmographer al-Dimashqui, who died in 1327. His Cosmography is quite similar to the Akhbar al-zaman, though tending toward the geographical rather than the historical, and with much less interest in Egypt. Nevertheless, it contains an interesting section on the pyramids of Giza that is clearly a derivative of the earlier pyramid stories known from the Akhbar on down.
I hadn’t looked into this before because al-Suyuti, the Ottoman-era historian, included large chunks of al-Dimashqi’s text verbatim in his own treatise on the pyramids, albeit without identifying the source, and I assumed from the translator’s notes to al-Suyuti that there was little reason to read the original. The two versions are manifestly derived from the same source, but al-Suyuti was apparently only an indifferent copyist of this passage, interpolating material not found in the original and omitting points he considered irrelevant. Comparing the two versions, however, offers us an object lesson in the dangers of trusting that material has been faithfully preserved unchanged across the centuries.
 
My translation of al-Dimashqi (from the French edition) is at left (or first, if you are reading this on a mobile device), with al-Suyuti as translated by Leon Nemoy at right (or below). I have broken up the text a bit to make it easier to read.
al-Dimashqi
According to historians, they (the pyramids) were raised before the Flood by Sahlūq ibn Shiryāq or by Hermes Trismegistus who is identical with Idris, called in Hebrew Enoch. Hermes, after having foreseen by the stars the arrival of the Deluge, ordered them to be raised and to enclose therein the manuscripts and the treasures which they feared to lose on this occasion. Each of its pyramids has a quadrangular base with a conical shape; its perpendicular height rises to 317 cubits, forming four planes with equal sides, each of which is 460 cubits; but, in spite of this height, they have such solidity, durability, and such good proportions that they have experienced no alteration either by rainwater or by earthquakes. Between the stones there is no cement, but one would believe that a white canvas has been spread tight over the stones, since there is not even the distance of a hair separating them. The length of each stone is five cubits with a width of two cubits. It is said that the architect constructed vaults, one atop the other. They have doors built of stone in the same style as the rest; the length of each vault is twenty cubits. Each door is of a stone that turns on hinges; when it is closed, one cannot even tell that there is an opening. There is a vault to the south, one to the east, and one to the west, and each door leads to seven chambers, dedicated to the seven planets and closed by bolts. In front of each of these apartments, there is an idol hollowed out of gold, holding his hand in his mouth; on his forehead he bears a Himyarite inscription; when one reads it aloud, he opens his mouth, and therein is the key to the lock.
 
The Copts claim that these two pyramids and the little ones are tombs; the eastern pyramid contains the tomb of King Soweid [Sūrīd], the western one of his brother Herdjlb, and the colored pyramid that of Afroûbin b. Herdjlb). According to the opinion of the Sabeans, one of these pyramids is the tomb of Agathodaemon, identical with the prophet Seth, and the other is that of Hermes or Idris the prophet, whom we have previously mentioned; the colored pyramid belongs to Sāb b. Hermes who gave the name to the Sabeans. They make pilgrimages (here) and immolate a rooster, by whose convulsions at the moment of immolation they claim to know that which is hidden about the future.
 
The intentions of the kings to reveal the contents of these two pyramids remained frustrated until the time of the Caliph Ma’mūn who, after arriving in Egypt, ordered one opened. He succeeded only after a great effort. He found success by conducting the search at a point that immediately led him to the goal he sought. The passageway led him to a square apartment, in the middle of which was a basin clad in marble. After removing the lid, nothing was found within except for rotten bones many centuries old. Then Ma’mūn gave the order to stop the excavations. Would to God that he had commanded the opening of the two pyramids or the other three small ones, so that the secret was made visible to him and to everyone. A scholar, looking at the pyramids says these words: “For every building, I fear the ravages of time, but as for this monument, I fear for time.”
al-Suyuti
​Others say that it was HERMES, he of the triple wisdom, called by the JEWS ENOCH, and the same person as the blessed IDRĪS, who deduced from the position of the stars that the Deluge was about to come, and gave orders for the building of the Pyramids and the deposition in them of treasures, books on the sciences, and other valuables which, one might fear, would perish and disappear. Each of the Pyramids has a square foundation and is of gradually tapering shape. Its height vertically is three hundred and seventeen cubits. It is enclosed by four surfaces forming equilateral triangles, each side being four hundred and sixty cubits long. It goes up (into the air) until it (reaches its summit which) is six cubits by six. It is said that on its summit there was (loosely) placed a (round) ​stone shaped like a ball of thread, and although fierce winds continuously pounded at it, yet it was arranged with such superb skill of workmanship, such perfect symmetry, and such fine care, that down to the present time it has never moved, in spite of the fierceness of the winds, the downpours from the clouds, and the shocks of earthquakes. They are so constructed that the layers of cement between the stones (are so excellent in quality that they) look like white cloaks spread (flat) between stones, or (white) sheets (of paper); (the stones are so firmly joined together that) there is not enough of a gap between them to hold a hair. Each of their stones is five cubits by two, and it is said that the builder had made for each of the two Pyramids several doors, built over underground vaults made of stone; the length of each vault is twenty cubits, and each door is made of a single stone revolving upon a hinge in such a way that when the door is shut one would not notice that it was there. Each door leads to seven chambers, and each chamber bears the name of a star and is locked with locks. Before each chamber stands a concave idol of gold with one of his hands upon his mouth and with a Himyaritic inscription upon his forehead. When the inscription is read (aloud) his mouth opens and in it is found a key wherewith the lock may be opened.
 
​The Copts say that both the great Pyramids and the colored one are tombs, the Eastern one being the tomb of king SAWRĪD, the Western one that of his brother HARJĪB, and the colored one that of IFRABIYŪN son of HARJĪB. The Sabians, however, say that one of the great Pyramids is the tomb of SETH, the other one the tomb of HERMES, and the colored one the tomb of ṢĀB, son of HERMES, after whom the Sabians are named. They make pilgrimages to the latter Pyramid, sacrifice cocks and black calves, and burn incense before it.
 
When AL-MA’MŪN opened the Pyramid, he struck a narrow shaft, made of black quartz (so hard) that iron (tools) could not work it, between two railings running along the wall. Hollows were chiseled out in the (railings of the) shaft, so that the visitor might take hold of these hollows and enable himself to walk down the shaft without sliding. In the lower part of the shaft is a large and deep well, and they say that at the bottom of the well are doors leading to many places, (such as) chambers, closets, and other wonderful places. At the end of the shaft AL-MA’MŪN’s men found a square place in the center of which was a covered basin of granite; whenever they lifted up its lid they found nothing but worn out pieces of rope.
Nemoy noted that al-Suyuti’s description of the surface of the pyramid was corrupt, and you can see that the original preserves a clearer meaning, but also one that shows how the corruption completely changes the sense of the text. In the original, the meaning is that the pyramids’ smooth stones are held together without mortar and appeared like a seamless cloth. In the latter, the cement is not only present but said to be spread as thinly as a tablecloth! There’s also more than a little difference between Khufu’s sarcophagus being filled with rope or bones.
 
It’s another good reason not to trust secondary sources.
 
But more interesting to me is something that al-Dimashqui doesn’t say in a part that al-Suyuti does not quote. Only a few paragraphs later, he describes the fabulous temple of Akhmim (Panopolis), which Islamic tradition—following that of the Christian Hermetic philosophers—claimed had been built by Hermes Trismegistus before the Flood to preserve all knowledge. Listen to this: 
Among the most famous of all these temples is that of Akhmim, built of white stone and marble, each block measuring five cubits high and two cubits wide; it comprises seven rooms each dedicated to one of the seven planets, and covered with inscribed stones, painted with azure, of a color so fresh that one would say that the workmen had just finished it. The walls of these rooms are covered with all kinds of figures representing the mysteries of Coptic science: magic, medicine, chemistry, all the branches of astronomy and the cult of the stars.
Did you catch the important part? He claims that the temple of Akhmim is built of the same stones as the Great Pyramid, and that the temple contains the same layout as the underground chambers beneath the pyramid. Given the essential conservatism of Islamic historiography, this can’t be a coincidence. Instead, it appears to be another piece of evidence that the myth of the pyramid as a repository of ancient wisdom—still believed by modern fringe history writers—originated in the transfer of an earlier legend associated with the temples of Egypt, particularly the Hermetic story of the temple at Akhmim, a key center of Hermetic and alchemical mysticism in Late Antiquity. That would be why al-Mas’udi, writing in the 900s, attributed the story of the prophecy before the Flood and the preservation of knowledge to the temples rather than the pyramids, and why Abu Ma’shar, writing in the 800s, told the story of Hermes at the temple in Akhmim. Here, at a surprisingly late date, we see al-Dimashqi preserving part of a conflated story, probably without realizing it. 
19 Comments
Cesar
7/19/2018 11:16:22 am

Where is Only Me? She used to be the voice of harmony and wisdom in this blog. I miss her.

Reply
Answer
7/19/2018 02:07:24 pm

Feeling her rosary beads

Reply
Cesar
7/19/2018 04:27:26 pm

Then she is fine.

Americanegro
7/19/2018 01:44:22 pm

"But more interesting to me is something that al-Dimashqui doesn’t say in a part that al-Suyuti does not quote.
....
Did you catch the important part?"

This confuses me. If something isn't said and then isn't quoted, how can I catch it?

Further up, the text on the left is a translation of a translation (no offense) therefore inherently less reliable so I don't get how this makes al-Suyuti "apparently only an indifferent copyist, interpolating material not found in the original." But Jason, one might say, you *can't read the original*; that's the whole point of using the French translation, of which more below.

Knowing nothing about Baron Carra de Vaux I (and, I suggest, you) have to allow for the possibility that he commissioned a translation by a local during his travels or at best collaborated, then punched it up according to his thought. Not an uncommon practice and a possibility that must be allowed for.

Nemoy, on the other hand... https://www.jstor.org/stable/1454581?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Al-Suyuti جلال الدين عبد الرحمن بن أبي بكر بن محمد الخضيري] السيوطي‎] was Egyptian, not Turkish and was renowned as a scholar during his lifetime, cf. "indifferent copyist" above.

Reply
Jason Colavito link
7/19/2018 01:58:25 pm

Sorry... I meant to write "Ottoman-era historian," not "Turkish historian."

The thing al-Dimashqi didn't say is the inference one might easily draw from the comparison of his two passages.

While you are right that I can't read the original, I can and did consult the scholarly literature where such passages are discussed, and the scholarly notes make clear that the two texts have differences--not least because al-Suyuti's text was transmitted in corrupt form.

The French text was translated by A. F. Mehren, not Carra de Vaux. It would be silly to accuse Mehren, an Arabic scholar, of punching up a text that he published in Arabic (1866) before translating it into French (1874).

Al-Suyuti, in this case, though obviously not in others where his quotations are verbatim, was acting indifferently in copying, not though because he didn't know the author's words but probably because he was either combining different texts or correcting what he considered incorrect. That's likely why he didn't name his source.

Reply
Americanegro
7/19/2018 02:17:41 pm

I was misreading and conflating al-Dimashqi's Cosmography and Akhbar al-Zaman, so correction accepted.

If you're allowing for the possibility of al-Suyuti using different texts that argues against "indifferent copyist".

I still don't get the did you catch it thing.

And I still don't have my diet soda.

Americanegro
7/20/2018 08:19:38 am

Saying "Ottoman-era" is saying "sometime between 1453 and 1922". Weak as water, Captain Peacock! And I am unanimous in that.

Cesar
7/19/2018 04:19:10 pm

As the Roman Empire of the East preceded Islam I was wondering why you do not use "Byzantine" sources. I researched the Myrobiblion of Photios (c.820-893) and there are several references to Egypt, but nothing about pyramids. It seems it is because the Cotton Genesis taught them that the pyramids were the granaries of Joseph.

Taking today's article as an example, could you be a bit more didactic? With all due respect, sometimes it seems that you are writing to yourself.

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Jason Colavito link
7/19/2018 04:48:27 pm

As you mentioned, the Byzantines, like Western European sources, had nothing to say about the pyramids except that they were granaries.

I treat blog posts basically like notes on whatever happens to be interesting on a given day. Sometimes, a subject really needs a chapter or a book to fully explain, and I don't have the time for that. The notes, which I hope are interesting on their own, will someday become pages in a book. In the case of this particular subject, I concede that it does require having read all the preceding blog posts in the series to make complete sense.

Reply
Cesar
7/19/2018 04:58:33 pm

Thank you very much!

T. Franke link
7/20/2018 07:45:55 am

Well done again! I stumbled upon the transfer of "occult" ideas from the Greek world to Egypt in the book "Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition" by Peter Kingsley. From the Pythagoreans to Egypt, and then to the Islamic authors, really a nice line of tradition.

See my book review with details (and criticism) here:
https://www.amazon.de/gp/customer-reviews/R356QRH9OE9CUR/

Even the idea that the hell is a burning fire once came from Southern Italy (it could only come from there).

Reply
Americanegro
7/20/2018 09:57:35 am

"Even the idea that the hell is a burning fire once came from Southern Italy (it could only come from there)."

That is some anti-Italian bullshit. Unfortunate given the support they gave your grandparents during WW1 and WW2.

Aside from that, the idea that a mideast myth could only come from southern Italy ist uber racist.

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T. Franke link
7/20/2018 10:13:22 am

Americanegro,

I really do not like this atmosphere here, where everybody all the time thinks of "racism". Could you please stop this nonsense? It is outraging and childish.

Southern Italy is an area of active volcanism, with many places of hot lava and water streaming out of earth onto the surface. Therefore, the idea came into being that the world of Hades is connected with fire and heat and streams.

The idea of the hell as a burning fire is not a mideast myth. It originated from Southern Italy. Period. Original Greek, Jewish, Babylonian, Egyptian etc. ideas of hell think of a dark, wet and cool place.

But some prefer to cry "racism" all the time instead of using their brain.

And know this: I feel free to think of Italians and all others what I can hold for true, independently what they did in the past. It is childish and irrational to make your judgements dependent on such relations of the past. I prefer to live an enlightend life.

Crying "racism" all the time is an undecent, unenlightened behaviour.

Reply
Americanegro
7/20/2018 07:20:46 pm

"The idea of the hell as a burning fire is not a mideast myth. It originated from Southern Italy. Period."

I'm going to violate Jason's recent directive and say:

You can have your period all month long, friend. Because the Jews went to Italy. And Iceland. And Hawaii.

Jews who went from Iraq (AbraHAM) to EGYPT (so they say), and then Babylon or Saudi Arabia would love to summer in a dark, wet and cool place. And if you Mr. Franke could pipe in some Zyklon-B at not extra charge that would be nice.

Americanegro
7/20/2018 07:31:50 pm

I don't "cry '"racism' al the time", but I did suggest that you are racist. Your knee-jerk response suggests you are.

V
7/21/2018 04:26:17 pm

Dude, AN is a douchebag troll, full stop. That said...he's actually got a point this time. "It could only come from there" is an extremely ignorant comment. Did you fail to notice multiple mentions of seismic activity and vulcanism in the text of the Bible itself? Because you have obviously missed the fact that Southern Italy is HARDLY the only geologically-active area in the world. The entire Middle East is alive, honey. Hell the BURNING BUSH story generally highlights the active vents in the Middle East.

Truth is, hell's association with fire probably has nothing whatever to do with Southern Italy, and EVERYTHING to do with the concept of Gehenna, which was a supernatural extension of a GARBAGE PIT outside Jerusalem where the bodies of sinners were cremated--and the "lake of fire" became associated with that, probably coming not from Italy AT ALL, but more likely from EGYPT(you know, where the Jews were allegedly enslaved for generations?) or POSSIBLY from Greek sources, who may have gotten it from Egypt in the first place, since it was first mentioned in Greek by Plato, long after the earliest sources in Egypt were painted on temples and tombs. The Southern Italian influence? VERY clearly got it from the Greek in the first place.

The fact that I could find all that out from a simple Google search indicates, frankly, that you did not did any homework at all before DECIDING it had to be a Southern Italian influence. That makes your "it could only" comment really SHINE as an example not of truth, but of bias, making it MUCH more credibly bigotry.

In short, if you don't want to be accused of racism, don't make comments that look so much like it.

T. Franke link
7/21/2018 07:23:57 pm

V,

Cite: "The fact that I could find all that out from a simple Google search"

I am really interested whether you found any hints in any Near East, Greek, Babylonian, etc., or Egyptian sources about hell as a burning fire before Pythagoras / Empedocles. And yes, when I read the mentioned book, I checked this. I, too, know what Google is, surprise, surprise, ...

I disagree that volcanic activity in Near East can be compared to Southern Italy. Seismic activity is not counting, we talk of fire and heated streams from inside of the earth, and not only at one place, but throughout a whole region.

I heavily disagree that the burning bush story has anything to do with volcanic activity.

I disagree on Gehenna (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna )
Gehenna "is different from the more neutral Sheol/Hades, the abode of the dead, although the King James Version of the Bible usually translates both with the Anglo-Saxon word Hell."

You say, the concept came from Egypt. Well, it does indeed. After it came there from Southern Italy after the time of Pythagoras and Empedocles. I gave a source for this all. See above.

And know this: My comment does not "look" racist at all. Near East is not the only place where things originated, although an important one. facebook e.g. was invented in the US, did you know this?

/Americanegro
7/22/2018 09:08:40 pm

Racists tend to say they don't look racist. You my friend look racist. Unfortunate but not my problem.

Kal
7/20/2018 12:25:45 pm

So all this Seth built some pyramids stuff and he's descended from antiquity stuff is just a 13th century guess?

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