Joan Grant (1907–1989) rose to fame in 1937 with the publication of The Winged Pharaoh. Through the main character Seketa, the daughter of Pharaoh Grant describes her past life.
Some plot lines in the book regarding Ancient Egypt corresponded to what archaeologists knew, and some facts were confirmed later and became archaeological discoveries.
Of course, since a long-gone civilization seems to be something vague and distant, it is impossible to prove that Joan Grant actually once lived at that time.
The writer H.G. Wells, who believed in the authenticity of what Grant described, once told her: "You need to become a writer."
Wells suggested that Joan keep her knowledge a secret until she became “strong enough to endure the ridicule of fools.”
Joan's father J. F. Marshall was a famous British entomologist, and the writer's mother Blanche Marshall was a social psychologist.
After more than a hundred "memory" sessions under hypnosis, Grant determined the plot of each chapter of "The Winged Pharaoh."
In the 1940s, British writer Jean Overton Fuller (1915–2009) contacted several Egyptologists to conduct research and verify the authenticity of what Grant "remembered".
Grant's husband Leslie was an archaeologist. According to Fuller, Joan accompanied her husband on excavations after the couple went to Egypt, and after a year and a half, Joan began to remember her long-standing connection with Egypt.
Grand remembered that she was the daughter of a pharaoh and a priestess who had passed special training, in which she was also taught to remember previous rebirths. The writer remembered that she was also a pharaoh.
Is Grant the first female monarch?
From the very beginning, Fuller tried to find among the historical figures known to posterity something that matched Grant's description.
In Ancient Egypt, one person could have several names at the same time. Grant said that her (Seketa's) temple name was Merineith. Joan wrote the chapter "The Tomb of Merineith", in which Seketa oversaw the construction of her own tomb.
This name is similar to the name of Queen Merneith of Ancient Egypt (also known as Meretneith), a controversial figure in Egyptology circles.
Merneit lived during the First Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, but it is still not fully established whether she had real power. If so, then she is the first female pharaoh, as well as the first female monarch in history.
Fuller said British Egyptologist Walter Emery (1902–1971) was puzzled by Merneith's tomb: "Her tomb was so huge and prominent that he felt she was the queen regent."
The family tree of the pharaohs of the 1st dynasty of Ancient Egypt (about 5 thousand years ago) supposedly looks like this:
1 . Narmer / Menes / Hor-Aha (ed. note: scientists have not yet established whether these three names belong to different people or one person),
2 . Jer (Itit),
3 . Jet (Waji),
4 . Den (Deven/Udimu).
In Egyptology, Merneith was sometimes described as the daughter of Djer or the wife of Jet, and Fuller has suggested that Merneith and Jet are the same person.
Grant wrote that the choral name* given to Sekete was Zat, which was represented in hieroglyphic writing as a snake. Jet also means the word "snake".
This snake hieroglyph was transliterated as Zet, which is similar in sound to Zat.
Carol Andrews from the British Museum said: "You'll notice that Jet's name... remains controversial." The poisonous snake on serekh**, the poisonous snake in the middle, was usually transliterated as dj or sjt.
In addition to the snake hieroglyphs, the reason Fuller paid attention to Jet is that the next pharaoh after Jet was Pharaoh Den, which was the name of the main character's son in Grant's book.
Modern Egyptologists suggest that after the death of Jet, Merneith became regent for her young son Den.
If what Joan Grant "saw" is true, then the unsolved mystery of the names Narmer, Menes and Hor-Aha is solved.
In the book, Grant explains that before Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt, Narmer ruled southern part(Upper Egypt) and was a pharaoh in the prehistoric period, also the first pharaoh of the 1st dynasty. The descendants of Menes greatly revered Narmer.
Hor-Aha and Menes may be the same person because the Egyptian word "men" means "successful." It is believed that Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt, becoming the first pharaoh of the dynastic period of Ancient Egypt, which corresponds to a successful cause.
According to the rules Greek language es was added to the name Men, so today he is known as "Menes".
The writer also described the silver household items of Seketa. When Grant wrote the book, the fact that the ancient Egyptians used silver during this period was unknown, but later became an archaeological discovery.
In the book, Grant wrote about Seketa's life: “In the sacrificial temple I had only a comb and a small bronze mirror, my figure glowed faintly. Now on my crest of elephant teeth was engraved my sign - “the winged pharaoh”, a trained falcon sits on a victorious ship, this is the upper part; below is my choral name - Zat, a snake is embedded, next to it is the key of life, on both sides there are symbols of power.”
In the book, Grant described facts that diverge from the assumptions of scientists, for example, the appearance of horses and chariots.
While scientific circles did not accept that there were horses in Ancient Egypt at the time, it was believed that horses were brought from Asia during the Hyksos era (circa 1600 BC), which is about 1500 years later than the time when Seketa lived .
However, Grant insists that the horses were brought during the First Dynasty because some elements of its history have already been authenticated.
According to Grant's book, horses were brought to the ancient Egyptians by the Zumas (ancient Incas). The academic consensus is that horses were brought to Egypt by 1600 BC. e., was neither confirmed nor denied.
_________
* One of five names in the royal title of Ancient Egypt.
** Four-coal coat of arms in Ancient Egypt, which contained the name of the pharaoh.
The 5th Earl of Carnarvon, George Herbert, hired Egyptologist and archaeologist Howard Carter in 1907 for observations and excavations in the Valley of the Kings, and 15 years later the long-awaited moment came - the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Photos from those years will tell us how all this happened.
Searches in the valley, which lasted for many years, yielded very modest results, which over time brought the wrath of Carter's employer upon him. In 1922, Lord Carnarvon told him that he would stop funding the work from the following year.
1923 Lord Carnarvon, who financed the excavations, reads on the veranda of Carter's house near the Valley of the Kings.
Carter, desperate for a breakthrough, decided to return to the previously abandoned excavation site. On November 4, 1922, his team discovered a step carved into the rock. By the end of the next day, the entire staircase had been cleared. Carter immediately sent a message to Carnarvon, begging him to come as quickly as possible.
On November 26, Carter, along with Carnarvon, opened a small hole in the corner of the door at the end of the stairs. Holding the candle, he looked inside.
“At first I couldn’t see anything, hot air rushed out of the room, causing the candle flame to flicker, but soon, as my eyes adjusted to the light, details of the room slowly appeared from the fog, strange animals, statues and gold - the glitter of gold everywhere.”
Howard Carter
A team of archaeologists has discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun, the youth king who ruled Egypt from 1332 to about 1323 BC.
November 1925. Death mask of Tutankhamun.
Despite signs that the tomb had been visited twice by ancient robbers, the contents of the room remained virtually untouched. The tomb was stuffed with thousands of priceless artifacts, including a sarcophagus containing the mummified remains of Tutankhamun.
January 4, 1924. Howard Carter, Arthur Callender and an Egyptian worker open the doors to get their first look at Tutankhamun's sarcophagus.
Each object in the tomb was carefully described and cataloged before removal. This process took almost eight years.
December 1922. A ceremonial bed in the shape of a Celestial Cow, surrounded by supplies and other objects in the front room of the tomb.
December 1922. Gilded lion bed and other objects in the hallway. The wall of the burial chamber is guarded by black statues of Ka.
1923 A set of shuttles in the tomb treasury.
December 1922. A gilded lion bed and an inlaid breastplate are among other objects in the front room.
December 1922. Under the lion bed in the front room there are several boxes and chests, as well as an ebony chair and Ivory, which Tutankhamun used as a child.
1923 A gilded bust of the Heavenly Cow Mehurt and chests were in the tomb's treasury.
1923 Chests inside the treasury.
December 1922. Decorative alabaster vases in the front room.
January 1924. In the "laboratory" created in the tomb of Seti II, restorers Arthur Mace and Alfred Lucas clean one of the Ka statues from the front room.
November 29, 1923. Howard Carter, Arthur Callender and an Egyptian worker wrap one of the Ka statues for transport.
December 1923. Arthur Mace and Alfred Lucas work on the golden chariot from Tutankhamun's tomb outside the "laboratory" in the tomb of Seti II.
1923 Anubis statue on a funeral bier.
December 2, 1923. Carter, Callender and two workers remove the partition between the front room and the burial chamber.
December 1923. Inside the outer ark in the burial chamber, a huge linen cloth with golden rosettes reminiscent of the night sky envelops the smaller ark.
December 30, 1923. Carter, Mace, and an Egyptian worker carefully roll up the linen.
December 1923. Carter, Callender and two Egyptian workers carefully dismantle one of the golden arks in the burial chamber.
October 1925. Carter examines the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun.
October 1925. Carter and a worker examine the sarcophagus from pure gold.
At the age of 19, Pharaoh, whose real name was Gleb Golubin, became the leader and ideological inspirer of the Dead Dynasty formation, the leitmotif of which was a defiant mixture of nihilism and rudeness. The main themes of his tracks are drugs, girls and sex.
Childhood and family of Gleb Golubin (rapper Pharaoh)
Gleb Gennadievich Golubin was born and raised in Moscow, in the Izmailovo district, in the family of a sports functionary. His father Gennady Golubin was the general director of the Dynamo football club, and later became the head of a company specializing in sports marketing.Rapper Pharaoh as a child
Naturally, the parents predicted a sports career for their son. From the age of six, the boy played football professionally. At a young age, Gleb managed to play for Lokomotiv, CSKA and Dynamo. Until the age of thirteen, his life consisted mainly of daily training and school. But in adolescence, he realized that he would not turn out to be a second Pele, and his father was not delighted with his son’s sporting achievements.
Music replaced football. At the age of 8, Gleb became interested in the work of the German band Rammstein, for which he even enrolled in courses German language. Another idol of the teenager was American rapper Snoop Dogg. The musical sympathies of the future musician did not find support from his classmates (other performers were in fashion at that time), but this did not bother Gleb.
At the age of 16, the young man went to America for six months. There he finally decided on his musical preferences and opened new horizons for creativity.
Rapper career Pharaoh
In 2013, Gleb returned to Moscow and entered the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University. At the same time, he recorded his first track, Cadillak, and began performing as part of the Grindhouse group under the pseudonym Pharaoh.But the video clip for the track “BLACK SIEMENS” brought real fame to the aspiring musician. In it, Gleb raps against the backdrop of a white Lincoln, which Dmitry Dyuzhev drove in the cult TV series “Brigada”. The song constantly repeats the “skrr-skr” sounds, which later became his trademark.
Rapper Pharaoh - skrrt-skrrt
Tired of constant questions from fans about what this mysterious “skrr-skr” actually means, Pharaoh eventually explained that this was the sound that Bruce Lee made during training. Another version said that “skrt” is an imitation of the sound of car tires.
Pharaoh's next video, "Champagne Squirt", has nearly 10 million views on YouTube. After the premiere of the video, the phrase “Champagne squirt in the face” spread across social networks, and the Pharaoh became a truly cult character among the youth audience.
Since 2014, Pharaoh has collaborated with rappers Fortnox Pockets, Toyota RAW4, Acid Drop King, Jeembo and Southgarden as part of the Dead Dynasty project.
Pharaoh - 5 Minutes Ago
Because of the mysterious image that Pharaoh cultivates in in social networks, fantastic rumors are constantly spreading about his life. In 2015, information appeared that the rapper died of a drug overdose. After this, Pharaoh released a new album, Phosphor (“Phosphorus”), the video for the composition from which “Let’s Stay Home” again gained a huge number of views on the Internet.
In February 2017, he traditionally posted on the Internet a new track “Unplugged (Interlude)”, which stood out from the rapper’s general work - it was recorded with a guitar. Fans of Pharaoh suggested that this is a composition from the upcoming acoustic album, which Pharaoh has mentioned more than once before.
Personal life of Pharaoh
Pharaoh has no shortage of girlfriends. One of his ex-girlfriends is the current lead singer of the Serebro group, Katya Kishchuk.At the beginning of 2017, Gleb began dating the scandalous model, daughter of the famous tennis player Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Alesya.
For the first time they appeared in public in one of the capital's cinemas, openly demonstrating their feelings for each other. The model has repeatedly stated that she became a fan of his work long before they met in person. However, in May of the same year, Alesya Kafelnikova wrote on social networks that she was taking a break in her relationship with Pharaoh. Information appeared in the media that the model’s father insisted on separation, who did not like the aura of “notoriety” around her chosen one.
Pharaoh now
In August 2018, Pharaoh presented listeners with a new album “Phuneral” (play on words: pharaoh + funeral, funeral). It is noteworthy that Sergey Shnurov and his project “Ruble” took part in the recording of the tracks “Flashcoffin” and “Solaris”.Pharaoh – Smart
One traveler told the story of Tutankhamun’s tomb and provided a photo report of the excursion.
The tomb of Tutankhamun, which has reached us almost in its original form after more than three thousand years, is considered one of the most important finds in archaeology. Since 1922, when Howard Carter discovered a burial in the "Valley of the Kings" near Thebes, the little-known Tutankhamun has become perhaps the most famous pharaoh in history. Inside the tomb, the British Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered numerous jewelry, household items, furniture, works of art of that era, as well as a golden sarcophagus weighing more than 110 kilograms with the mummified body of the young king of Ancient Egypt. From March 9 to September 1, 2013, the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun and treasures from the tomb can be seen at a unique exhibition in Berlin. Interesting? Then let's go inside.
Exhibition “Tutankhamun. His tomb and treasures" (German: Tutanchamun Sein Grab und die Schätze, official website: www.tut-ausstellung.com) is located on a space of 4 thousand square meters in Arena Berlin (Eichenstraße 4 12435 Berlin). An international tattoo convention was held here last year.
Audio guides (available languages: German, English, French and Spanish) are available at the entrance and accompany visitors throughout the exhibition. The material was informative, there were a lot of different subtleties and details, I listened to everything with great interest.
Even before we entered the main exhibition area, we plunged into the atmosphere of Ancient Egypt.
The Rosetta Stone is a slab found at the end of the 18th century in Egypt near the city of Rosetta. It contains text identical in meaning in three languages: two ancient Egyptian and Greek. It was he who served as the starting point for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs.
At the entrance, guests are greeted by a statue of young Tutankhamun.
The pharaoh from the XVIII dynasty of the New Kingdom ruled for about 9 years, from approximately 1332 to 1323 BC (died at the age of 19).
Before he reached the age of 20, Tutankhamun died (or perhaps was killed) and was buried in a tomb in the “Valley of the Kings” near Thebes.
On November 26, 1922, English Egyptologist Howard Carter and archaeologist Lord Carnarvon became the first to descend into the tomb in more than three thousand years. All artifacts were photographed, numbered and described.
The exhibition shows two interesting films about that time.
After which the visitor is given the opportunity to see with his own eyes the treasures of the tomb.
Naturally most of The exhibition is devoted to the description of the tomb of the pharaoh. His mummy was located in three sarcophagi nested inside each other. Two of them were made of gilded wood, and the third was made of pure gold. The sarcophagi themselves were closed in four gilded “cabinets”, also located inside each other.
Wall drawings.
The sarcophagi themselves.
And the famous tomb mask of Tutankhamun.
Golden statue of Tutankhamun riding on the back of a black leopard.
Tutankhamun with a harpoon.
Pharaoh's throne.
Ceremonial throne.
Anubis in the form of a dog.
Other treasures.
Despite the fact that the exhibition presents only recreated copies and there is not a single original, it is breathtaking and gives the impression that you are really in that time and have access to the most intimate and inaccessible. Amazing exhibition, great project. I liked it very much.
The pharaohs in Egypt were treated as gods. They were the rulers of one of the first great civilizations, living in absolute luxury and ruling over an empire the likes of which the world had never seen. They lived on milk and honey while thousands of people died during the construction of huge statues in their honor. And when their own lives came to an end, pharaohs were buried in such a way that their bodies were preserved for more than 4,000 years. They had absolute power, they enjoyed life like no one else at that time, but sometimes they clearly went too far.
1. Giant monuments with genitals 
Giant monuments with the genitals of Sesostris.
Sesostris was one of the greatest military leaders in Egyptian history. He sent warships and troops to every corner known world and expanded his state more than anyone in Egyptian history. And after each battle, he celebrated his success by installing a large column with the image of the genitals. Sesostris left such pillars at the site of every battle.
Moreover, Sesostris did this quite funny: if the army opposing him fought valiantly, then he ordered an image of a penis to be engraved on a column. But if the enemy was defeated without the slightest problem, then an image of a vagina was carved on the column.
2. Washing with urine 
Washing with Feros urine.
The son of Sesostris, Feros was blind. It was most likely some kind of congenital disease that he inherited from his father, but official Egyptian history stated that he was cursed by offending the gods. Ten years after Feros went blind, an oracle told him that he could regain his sight. All Feros had to do was wash his eyes with the urine of a woman who had never slept with anyone other than her husband.
Feros tried to do this with the help of his wife, but it didn't work. He was still blind, and his wife had a number of questions. After this, Feros forced all the women in the city to urinate in a pot in turn and throw the urine in his eyes. After many dozens of women, a miracle happened - their vision returned. As a result, Feros immediately married this woman, and ordered his previous wife to be burned.
3. A city built on broken backs 
Akhenaten's city, built on broken backs.
Akhenaten completely changed Egypt. Before he took the throne, the Egyptians had many gods, but Akhenaten banned belief in all gods except one: Aten, the sun god. He also built a whole new city, Amarna, in honor of his god. 20,000 people were involved in the construction of the city.
Based on bones found in a local city cemetery, scientists determined that more than two-thirds of these workers broke at least one bone during construction, and a third of the people suffered a spinal fracture. And it was all in vain. Once Akhenaten died, everything he had done was destroyed and his name was erased from Egyptian history.
4. Fake beard 
Fake beard of Hatshepsut.
Hatshepsut was one of the few women to rule Egypt. Hatshepsut became famous for building some of Egypt's greatest wonders, but it didn't come easy for her. Egypt may have been a little more progressive than other countries around it, but the country still did not treat women as equals. Therefore, it was very difficult for a woman to rule Egypt. It is not surprising that Hatshepsut ordered her people to portray her as a man.
In all the paintings she was depicted with prominent muscles and a thick beard. She called herself the "son of Ra" and (according to some historians) wore a fake beard in real life. As a result, her son ended up doing everything to "erase" the memory of Hapshesut from history in order to hide the fact that the woman was a pharaoh. He did it so well that no one knew about its existence until 1903.
5. Stinking diplomacy 
Amasis' stinking diplomacy.
Amasis was clearly not the most polite pharaoh who ever sat on the throne of Egypt. He was an alcoholic and kleptomaniac who would steal his friends' things, bring them into his own house, and then try to convince his friends that the things had always belonged to him. He gained the throne by force. The previous ruler sent Amasis to suppress the uprising, but when he arrived to the rebels, he realized that they had a pretty good chance of victory. Therefore, instead of suppressing the rebellion, he decided to lead it.
Amasis sent a declaration of war to the pharaoh in a very extravagant manner by raising his leg, passing farts and telling the messenger, “tell the pharaoh everything that is behind me.” During his reign, Amasis continued to steal things from those close to him, but now he sent for oracles to tell them whether he was guilty or not. If the oracle said that the pharaoh was innocent, then he was executed as a fraudster.
6. City of Noseless Criminals 
City of noseless criminals Actisanes.
Amasis did not remain on the throne for long. He was an overly harsh ruler, and he was soon overthrown. This time the revolution was led by a Nubian named Aktisanes. When he came to power, Aktisanes began to fight criminals, and in a very original way. Every person who committed a crime during his reign had their nose cut off.
After this, they were exiled to the city of Rinocolura, whose name literally translated as “city of cut off noses.” It was a very strange city. It was inhabited exclusively by noseless criminals, forced to exist in some of the harshest climatic conditions in the country. The water here was polluted, and people lived in houses that they built themselves from pieces of rubble scattered everywhere.
7. 100 children from nine wives 
100 children of Ramses II.
Ramses II lived so long that people began to seriously worry that he would never die. While most rulers were killed within the first few years of their reign, Ramses II lived to be 91 years old. During his life, he built more statues and monuments than any of the Egyptian pharaohs.
Also, naturally, he had more women than anyone else. By the time of his death, Ramses II had at least 100 children from 9 wives. When he invaded the Hittite kingdom, he refused to sign a peace treaty unless the ruler's eldest daughter was given to him as a wife. He also did not “disdain” his daughters, marrying at least three of them.
8. Hatred of animals 
Cambyses' hatred of animals.
Cambyses was not actually an Egyptian, he was a Persian and the son of Cyrus the Great. After his people conquered Egypt, Cambyses was placed in charge of that country. Almost every story the Egyptians told about Cambyses involved him abusing one animal or another. At the very beginning of his reign, he went to Apis - the sacred bull, which the Egyptians considered a god.
Right in front of the priests of Apis, he pulled out a dagger and began to stab the bull, laughing at them and saying: “Such a god is worthy of the Egyptians!” Moreover, this was not done just to mock the Egyptians, he simply loved to watch animals suffer. In his free time, he often arranged fights between lion cubs and puppies and forced his wife to watch them tear each other apart.
9. Pygmy obsession 
Pepi II's obsession with pygmies.
Pepi II was about six years old when he inherited the throne of Egypt. He was just a small child ruling over a vast kingdom, so it was not surprising that his interests were about the same as those of an ordinary six-year-old boy. Shortly after Pepi II became pharaoh, an explorer named Harkhuf wrote him a letter informing him that he had encountered a dancing pygmy. Since then, it has become an obsession for Pepi II.
Pepi II ordered to immediately drop everything and bring a pygmy to his palace so that he would entertain him with dancing. As a result, the whole expedition nevertheless delivered a pygmy to the pharaoh boy. When he grew up, he was already so spoiled that he ordered his slaves to strip naked, smear themselves with honey and follow him. And this was done so that the pharaoh would not be bothered by flies.
10. Refusal to die 
Mikerin's refusal to die.
Although the pharaohs were called immortal, they nevertheless died. And although they built pyramids for the afterlife, every pharaoh actually had doubts about what would happen when he closed his eyes for the last time. When an oracle came to Pharaoh Mikerin, who ruled in the 26th century BC, and said that the ruler had only 6 years to live, the pharaoh was horrified.
He did everything he could to avoid this, deciding to deceive the gods. Mikerin believed that it was possible to stop time, making the day endless. After that, every night he lit so many lamps that it seemed that the day was continuing in his chambers, and he never slept, holding feasts at night.
