Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, San Jose, Ca.11/4/2013

Notice this posting contains information about ancient Egyptian Civilization and religious practices and beliefs which are contrary to my personal beliefs. Also contained is some information on the Rosicrucian teachings which is a school of modern mysticism which is also against my personal beliefs and contrary to the teachings of the Holy Bible.

Today, January 4, 2013 was a busy day and it will takes several days after I get back to Ohio to catch up on postings of what we did and saw. A great day. First Janice took me to see the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum which was very interesting. I need to point out that my comments are those gathered from the materials given out by the museum,  photos taken at the museum, signs and plaques in and around the museum and my observation and thoughts.

Again I am having trouble getting my photos to upload. I am going to go ahead and post this now to clear this out and try again tomorrow night.

I love you all. Grandpa Bill.

As you will recall I last left you with problems up loading photographs. The beauty of having you own personal IT person ( Grandson Michael ) is to get things fixed. Mike went through all the check list thingies that ITs do and found that the problem was with Internet Explorer. It seems many people national wide were having the same problem and the blog folks were working to fix the problem. The fix for me was to switch off Internet Explorer and go to Google Chrome - problem fixed. Thanks Mike. The thing I like about this it was not my fault. Like something I did or did not do or should have done. Oh well problem fixed so on with the story about the museum.

Sign At Entrance Of Museum

First lets look at some general scenes around the museum.

Entrance To Museum

Gateway To Garden Area

Garden Area

Fountain And Back of Museum

Statue Of Augustus Caesar

Garden Trees

Obelisk

The obelisk pictured above is a three-quarter size replica of the original, which stood before the House of the Sun ( Sun Temple ) at Heliopolis, the Biblical city of On, in lower Egypt. This replica  was constructed in 1941. The original obelisk, which is now almost 4,000 years old, is the oldest surviving obelisk in Egypt. The inscription indicates that it was erected by Senusret I, second pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty, on the occasion of his jubilee.

Entrance To Museum

Grandpa Bill Near Statues - He's The One In Blue.

Entry Way

Upper Class Mummy

The photograph above is of a Upper - Class Egyptian male mummy. This mummy arrived at the museum in the coffin of Usermontu, which is also displayed at the museum. This mummy is probably not Usermontu who lived during the Saite Period ( 664 - 525 BCE ). The style of mummification performed on this individual matches the style used on mummies known to be from the New Kingdom ( 1549 - 1064 BCE ).  Information at the museum describes this mummy as excellently preserved but did not have any wrappings or other decorations on his body that might help to identify him. The wrappings are ancient, but did not come from this mummy. His finger nails were dyed with henna, but his hair appears to be naturally red. Henna  was a skin and hair dye. It was used to apply temporary tattoos to the hands and body. The high quality of his mummification indicates that he was from the upper class of society. The question of when this man lived still exists. In 2004 some radiocarbon test of a piece of original linen adhered to his wrist dated to 400 BCE which is later than the Saite Period. This does not mean the man actually died in 400 BCE. It was explained that often when mummies were disturbed in ancient times Egyptian priests who found the unwrapped bodies would re wrap them and hide them again. So the mystery remains. He may have been unwrapped and then  re- wrapped around 400 BCE.

Dei el Bahri Mortuary Temple

The above photographs is of a model of the vast mortuary complex of the Pharaoh Hatchepsut, one of the few women to rule ancient Egypt. She followed the traditions of the pharaohs and had her mortuary temple, Dei el Bahri, erected in the Valley of the Kings. The ancient Egyptians called this place the Djeser - djeseru, the " Holy of Holies ".  The temple is believed to have been built by Senenmut, who was a teacher of Hatchepsut's daughter Neferure. The temple is made up of three courtyards separated by colonnades. It is inside this temple that can be found the carvings of Hatchepsut's expeditions to the land of Punt in Eastern Africa. An inscription inside the temple describes import goods obtained during the expeditions as follows:

" loading of the ships very heavily with marvels of the country of Punt; all goodly fragrant woods of God's - land, heaps of myrrh resin, with fresh myrrh trees, with ebony and pure ivory, with green gold of Emu, with cinnamon wood, khesyt wood, with two kinds of incense, eye - cosmetics, with apes, monkeys, dogs, and skins of the southern panther, with natives and their children. Never was brought the like of this for any king who has been since the beginning. "

Statue Of Cleopatra VII

When I think of Cleopatra I think of the Cleopatra created by the film industry and mainly her romancing with the Roman Mark Anthony. The fact is there must have been more than one Cleopatra over time but this Cleopatra was in fact involved with Mark Anthony.

The statue of Cleopatra pictured above is very rare. It is one of seven in the world identified as the most famous queen of Egypt: Cleopatra VII. Cleopatra VII was born into a Macedonian family called the Polemics, who were famous for their victorious infighting. Matricide, patricide and fratricide were common in many generations, including Cleopatra VII's. She had several relatives killed so she might survive. For generations the Romans coveted Egypt, a bountiful source of grain they could use to feed their army.They used the fighting in Cleopatra's family as an excuse to send an envoy to Egypt: Julius Caesar. The Romans expected Caesar to choose someone who would be friendly towards the Roman Empire to be Egypt's new pharaoh. However, Julius Caesar was charmed by Cleopatra's wit and intelligence and brought her back to Rome as his lover. He supported Cleopatra as she struggled against her sister Arsinoe for the throne of Egypt.

Unfortunately Caesar was murdered on the Senate steps, and Cleopatra fled back to Egypt. The new envoy to Egypt was Mark Anthony a friend of Caesar's. Anthony also fell in love with Cleopatra, and together they fought against Rome until they were defeated and Cleopatra was captured. She committed suicide, probably so she would not be dragged through the Roman streets in shame. Many of Cleopatra's statues were destroyed by the Romans after she died.

Her pose is classic Egyptian, probable meant to remind the Romans that her family had ruled Egypt as pharaohs for three centuries. However, her face is done in the Greco-Roman style. The triple uraeus ( snake ) symbol on her brow is rare and helped to identify this statue as Cleopatra VII. This statue was broken below the ankles, and the feet were later restored using another material.

Another Mummy

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world. There was an artist rendition of them but I failed to get a photograph. It is generally believed that they were built by Nebuchadnezzar II for his homesick Medean wife Amytis, who came from a mountainous lush country. according to the Greeks, Amytis, daughter of the King of The Medes who was married to Nebuchadnezzar to create an alliance between the two nations. Nebuchadnezzar decided to construct a man made mountain with stepped gardens on top. By some accounts, the Hanging Gardens covered about three acres of ground and consisted of a series of stepped terraces supported by sun-baked brick arches, spanned with sheets of lead, then tile and finally soil into which flowers and scrubs were planted. A Bucket conveyor lifter water from a nearby canal into the highest terrace, from which it cascaded downwards, irrigating each terrace. The gardens did not actually hang as if suspended from something above but were terraced to appear if hanging.

Although Diodorus and Strabo wrote about the famous gardens, they probably never actually saw the Hanging Gardens. The descriptions given by the Greek historians probably came from the accounts given by Alexander the Greats soldiers. No Babylonian records or concrete physical evidence survives to prove their existence. Babylonian records show that some gardens did exist at the site of Nineveh, far to the north and they in many respect seem to match the description of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon but this is all just speculation.

Babylon plays a very important place in God dealing with his unfaithful people and in fact used the Kingdom of Babylon and it's king Nebuchadnezzar to punish his people. They were led off to slavery in Babylon. Through out the Old Testament of the Bible you find that the Israelites repeatedly went against God command that they were to have no gods other than Him. They repeatedly picked up the worship of the gods of nations surrounding them. This was brought about by them disobeying God in another respect that they were not to intermarry with people of the nations surrounding them. In most instances the foreign spouse introduced the worship of idols and foreign gods into the home and the nation of Israel.

In modern time Saddam Hussein, former dictator of Iraq had many ambitious project and one was he hoped to build a new city of Babylon. In fact for years he worked at building his city of Babylon over the same spot as the original city of Babylon and destroyed much of the important artifacts. Following the disposing of Saddam Hussein the nations of the world have joined to try and save much of the area from further damage.

Above, I made mention about the speculation of whether the Hanging Gardens of Babylon  ever existed. One thing that is not speculation is that the City of Babylon existed and will exist at some time in the future and will play a major part in future biblical prophecy.

The Great Sphinx Tablet

More than a thousand years after its completion, the Pharaoh Thutmose IV (1400 - 1390 BCE ) undertook the first major restoration of the Great Sphinx. He erected a massive granite stele between the paws of the Spinx as a monument to that restoration and to commemorate his succession to the throne. The inscription recounts a dream the young prince had while sleeping under the head of the Sphinx which was half buried in sand at the time. It states:

" Now the statue of the very great Khepri ( the Great Sphinx ) rested in this place, great of fame, sacred of respect, the shade of Ra resting on him. Memphis and every city on its two sides came to him, their arms in adoration to his face, bearing great offerings for his ka. One of these days it happened that prince Thutmose came traveling at the time of midday. He rested in the shade of this great god. ( Sleep and ) dream ( took possession of him ) at the moment the sun was at zenith.

" Then he found the majesty of this nobel god speaking from his own mouth like a father speaks to his son, and saying: ' Look at me, observe me, my son Thutmose, I am your father Horemakhet-Khepri-Ra-Atum. I shall give to you the kingship ( upon the land before the living ) ( Behold my condition is like one in illness ), all ( my limbs being ruined ).  The Sand of the desert, upon which I used to be, ( now ) confronts me; and it is in order to cause that you do what is in my heart that I have waited.' "

During the first year of his reign as king, Thutmose IV fulfilled his promise to the Sphinx. His restoration project freed the Sphinx from the sand and reestablished its worship center at Giza.

The cast pictured above is life-size, but only shows the readable portion of the tablet. The original stela is 12 feet tall and weighs approximately 15 tons. The Sphinx tablet is an example of a substantial recreation. Often when these large pieces are created, durable materials such as metal or wood may be added to the plaster in order to give the piece more strength and stability.

 One thing I found interesting was the program the museum has for children although I suppose anyone could take part. Upon entry to the museum you will find a small booklet entitled " Passport to Ancient Egypt." As you proceed through the museum you are to answer questions in the booklet about the area of the museum you are visiting. In each gallery you will learn about a different aspect of Egyptian culture beginning with the ancient Egyptian temple and religion. As you leave each gallery you will find a stamp pad and stamp with which you can stamp your passport book with a hieroglyphic symbol. You are asked to imagine yourself as someone who lived in ancient Egypt and you worship many gods and goddesses and you make offerings to the deities to ensure that they protect and help you. You are asked what types of offerings you would leave for the goddess. In another gallery you are told that to the ancient Egyptians, the king is a living god, and such is very powerful and is a living version of the falcon god Horus and thought to have magical powers. It is the Pharaoh's responsibility to keep you safe, prosperous and happy.  In each gallery you are asked to believe you are an ancient Egyptian and imagine yourself doing the things described or use the tools shown. In the Afterlife Gallery you are told that when the Egyptian died, they believed that their souls would continue to live on in the afterlife as long as they were mummified and buried with all of  the proper equipment. Think about what each object meant to the owner and why it would be needed in the after life. The final question in this section of the booklet is " what items would you want to accompany you to the afterlife?"  Finally you enter " The Tomb " after you have prepared the objects that you want to bring to the afterlife. As you walk through the tomb, picture it as your own and think about the meaning and significance of each part. You are asked to think about things you saw and how you would design these for your own tomb. The final question is " How would the elements of the tomb that you selected help you to achieve eternal life? "

I don't know about you but I see this as a specific action to introduce this worship process to the children and at the least just plant the seeds for a pagan worship system. I saw many parents going through the museum with their children and helping them answer the questions and write answers and complete exercises in the passport booklet. The back of the passport booklet is a Hieroglyphic Alphabet and children were asked to write their names using these symbols. Can you do it?

With that little exercise I finish my visit to the Egyptian Museum and I hope you enjoy the visit as much as I did. I always have such a feeling of foreboding when I am in an atmosphere of pagan religions and practices and I constantly wonder how these people could follow such beliefs and practices. I am confident this feeling I have is the Holy Spirit protecting me and helping me keep my eye on the true and living God.

Grandpa Bill and I love you.