The Cosmic Game

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Cosmic Game © Douglass A. White, 2012 v151207 3 From a Story told in the Middle Kingdom about the Old Kingdom . . . Prince Hordadef stood before the king [Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid during Egypt's Fourth Dynasty], and he said: "Your Majesty has heard tales regarding the wonders performed by magicians in other days, [Lichtheim translates: "of the skills of those who have passed away . . . one cannot tell truth from falsehood" ] but I can bring forth a worker of marvels who now lives in the kingdom." King Khufu said: "And who is he, my son?" "His name is Dedi," answered Prince Hordadef. "He is a very old man, for his years are a hundred and ten . . . and he knows the secrets of the habitation of the god Thoth [Lichtheim translates: " he knows the number(s) of the secret chambers of the sanctuary of Thoth"], which Your Majesty has desired to know so that you may design the chambers of your pyramid." (The name Dedi can also be read as Jedi, Jeda, or Jed-jeda.) King Khufu said: "Go now and find this man for me, Hordadef." [Prince Hardedef finds the magician Dedi and brings him to the court of Khufu. During his audience with King Khufu Magician Dedi performs a sleight-of-hand in which he apparently cuts off the head of an animal and then restores it. After seeing this demonstration . . . ] His Majesty then spoke to the magician and said: "It is told that you possess the secrets of the dwelling of the god Thoth." Dedi answered: "I do not possess them, but I know where they are concealed, and that is within a temple chamber at Heliopolis. There the plans are kept in a box, . . ." [Lichtheim translates: "Please, I do not know their number, O king, my lord. But I know the place where it is." Said his majesty: "Where is that?" Said this Dedi: "There is a chest of flint in the building called 'Inventory' in On. It is in that chest."] "It is no insignificant person who shall bring them to Your Majesty." "I would fain know who will deliver them unto me," King Khufu said. [Dedi tells King Khufu it will be Userkaf, the first king of the next dynasty who will bring the chest. . . . Unfortunately, the story goes on to tell about the birth of Userkaf and his two brothers, the first three kings of Dynasty Five, but the story then breaks off and we never learn what happened to the box that contains the number(s) of the secret chambers of the sanctuary of Thoth.] The city of On was called by the Greeks "Heliopolis" (City of the Sun), and was located in what is now modern Cairo. There is a mystery here, because Khufu would not have been alive when the location of the box was revealed according to the magician's prediction and the Great Pyramid would have already been finished. The information contained in the box would be the secret numbers that encode the structure of the universe. Khufu wanted to use these numbers in the design of his Great Pyramid. We now know that the successors of Userkaf and his brothers were Wenas [Unas, the last of
¯¯ Cosmic Game © Douglass A. White, 2012 v151207 4 the Fifth Dynasty pharaohs], and the early Sixth Dynasty pharaohs who had the magnificent Pyramid Texts carved on the walls of their pyramids, and these contain many of the Secrets of Thoth and may be relevant to the story. Nevertheless, I believe that the missing portion of the story in the damaged Westcar Papyrus relates how Khufu found a way to gain access to the box and its secret information. The Egyptians loved humor and liked to keep their most important secrets openly and repeatedly -- but discreetly -- displayed in public awareness in the form of elaborate interlocking artistic and architectural conventions. In a word, I believe that the story alludes in an elaborately contorted and humorous way to the well-known Senet Board. The statement that it was held in a temple's inventory building tells us that Khufu was interested in the sacred and much more secret Senet Oracle Board rather than the profane Senet Game Board that was widely used by the public for amusement and gambling. The layout of the deities on the Oracle Board contains important keys to the numbers and the geometry that encoded the essence of ancient Egyptian science. This book is about that Senet Oracle Box, the sacred artifacts it contains, and the numbers encoded in its geometry that reveal the secret chambers of the sanctuary of Thoth -- i.e. our physical universe. The story that contains the passage I quoted above may be found in Papyrus Westcar (P. Berlin 3033). The papyrus dates from the Hyksos period (Middle Kingdom) and is written in classical Middle Egyptian, but relates a series of linked stories that supposedly go back to the time of Pharaoh Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid and his successors. You can find the complete translation that I quoted excerpts from in italics online at : http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/texts/westcar_papyrus.htm. The brief comparison passages that I quoted in regular type face are from Miriam Lichtheim's translation that is published in Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975.) Below is my version of the essential statements about the box. oFx¡n95I¢{r§t=rt(^ Awef rekh tennu apetu net Wenet net Jehuti. "He knows the numbers of the chambers that comprise the rectangular box that is Thoth's." ost5@p`n `nGw Gw(_ (_:¯ ¯¥)" )"o AP¥# Aset weresh Hem en Suten Baty Khufu Ma@kheru It happened that His Majesty King Khufu the Truth Speaker had been looking out %`HH 9lfa fano no%{\§ t=rt(^rTf}t¡o ¡oY-> rf her hehy nef na en Apetu net Wenet net Jehuty er aret nef matet ary Aakhet-f. for some time [to find] these chambers that comprise the rectangular box that is Thoth's to make for himself a copy for his Temple of [Eternal] Samadhi (Khufu's Great Pyramid). . . . . . . . don44o¡ on44o¡!HS#Yo Yo-x¡!n95I¢o ¢oYo#Yoo Yoo^1fsN sN^! Jed an Jed-jeda: "Hes-ta, ne rekh-a tennu. Ary-a ty @nekh Weja Seneb.
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The Cosmic Game

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