A LIGHT SHINING IN THE DARKNESS
- The Meaning Of KEMET -
Every Nome (Town Or City) In Ancient Egypt Was Built And Named In Honor Of, Or Represented By, A God Or Goddess. Why Should This Toponym Be Any Different --- Especially When There's An Egyptian God Named Khem?
You’ve been told that the ‘black’ in Kem-et alludes to the fertile black silt of the Nile Valley, and not, as some have speculated, and others have wished, to the complexion of the indigenous populace of ancient North Africa. I wish to present an original hypothesis. Since Kemet is suffixed with the niwt determinative indicative of a town or city (Gardiner's O49, instead of the hieroglyph pertaining to land, N16), I propose that it cannot represent the land of Egypt, both Upper and Lower, in its entirety. Acknowledging the example bequeathed to us by the Greeks when they gave the name Egypt to its capital city of Memphis --- or, more precisely, to the temple of the God of that city --- (which subsequently came to designate the country in general), I assign the name Kemet to one nome in particular, which, like Memphis, was also named after a god (three gods in fact!). But here I refer to that god who also personified the fertility of the black silt : Min.
Herodotus wrote that Min “was the first human king of Egypt*”. [(History of Egypt, Bk II, 1.4). Compare On ]. I'm certainly not the first to associate the land of Egypt (henceforth Kemet) with an eponymous ancestor, since it was certainly the intention of the primary revisionists of Egyptian history (the LXX & Josephus) to allege to its readers that Egypt's namesake was originally Mizraim (the Ugaritic name of Egypt), the son of HAM** (Gen. 10:6) --- a person, as opposed to a conspicuous feature of the country's landscape. And, of course, it's only logical that a land should be named after the king (or the God served by the king) who finds, builds, or conquers it. As the evidence set forth in my hypothesis suggests, Mene is a variant spelling of Men, Menu, or Min, and is therefore one of the first two theophorics born by an Egyptian king. The other being Horus.
*But not the first Pharaoh.
**Which means 'black'; therefore, a black person (or God) --- whose name was given to the land.
The Greek alphabet has no "H", thus the "H" sound is represented by the digraph "CH" (Χχ), pronounced like "Xai", or the hard English "Kay" (e.g., like the /K/ sound in chemistry; but not like the /CH/ in cherry). So Ham becomes Cham/Chem. The Israelites were sojourners in the "land" (Egyptian "ta/te") of "Chem" (Egyptian "Kem"), written as Kem-et, but in the Bible as "the land of Ham" ["Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham." (Ps. 105:23), which is merely a revisionism of the original Egyptian Khem, and not to be accepted as an accurate historical substitute. Even the wording of this passage suggests that Ham is located within Egypt and not identified as the country itself]. Because the ancient Egyptian alphabet was basically consonantal, vowel sounds could be arbitrarily placed before or after a consonant. So "land" could also be written as 'at' or 'et' , giving us either "[the] black land" or "Khem's land".
In his Antiquity of the Jews, Josephus wrote that the Israelites took their journey by Letopolis (the Greek name for Khem), the capital of the 2nd nome of Lower Egypt (Bk 2, Chapter 15, Verse 1, [Ant. 1532]). The nome Khem is situated next to Memphis [the dividing point (or border) between Lower & Upper Egypt]. The JADEISTS possess proof that an altar and pillar to the Lord (Iah) had existed there probably since the times of Pepi I. (Read The Doctrine Of The Ineffable Name). According to the prophecies of Isaiah, the Israelites would return there --- to the "midst," or middle, of the land of Egypt (Isa. 19:19). That prophecy was indeed fulfilled --- in the 13th century before Christ!
It was Mene who united the two lands, and Mene who built Memphis, the first nome of Lower Egypt. The second nome of Lower Egypt was called Khensu, the capital of which was called Khem, an alternate appellation for Min. The reader can appreciate the significance of Khensu’s northern proximity to Memphis when it is recalled that its nome standard is the ‘cow’s thigh’, and that the northern constellation of the ‘bull’s thigh’ was crucial to the builders (followers of Ptah) who aligned temple dimensions with the stars. Then there’s the fact that Min was also called the ‘Protector of the Moon’ (i.e., IAH), as well as being a patron god of Masons.
No one, including Plutarch ⁰, has yet produced physical evidence proving that the general population of Egypt referred to their land as Kemet since pre-dynastic times, or even before the commencement of the 10th dynasty. For it was during the 10th dynasty that a literary work was composed by the nomarch Keti, in which the word Kemet was used for the first time in relation to a coalition of nomes that extended across the north-south border, resulting in a third division of the land that was subsequently termed Middle Egypt. But until the Middle Kingdom (start date c. 2100 BC), Egypt was commonly referred to as "The Two Lands" (South/Upper and North/Lower), especially by its kings! Statuary, particularly one of Mentuhotep II (2060 - 2009 B.C.) support the notion that worship of Min, as the reigning monarch, was revived around this time.¹ During the New Kingdom's 18th Dynasty, Thutmose I refers to Kemet as Ta Mery ("The Beloved Land"); Thutmose II & III to it as Kemet. It appears that it was during the Amarna period that Egypt was suddenly called Misraim [probably as a collective noun (im) referring to the inhabitants of Kemet who are now regarded as the "children" (mes) of Ra]. However, it is a fact that during the 19th Dynasty the name Kemet was (first?) used in a titulary [of Seti I ² (c. 1294 BC)], before receiving the name Egypt [by the Greeks during their colonization of Kemet (c. 7th century BC). But even they eventually called Egypt Kemet as well]. In conclusion, my hypothesis debunks the allegation that Egypt was originally called Kemet, while demonstrating the plausibility that the name Kemet first referred to the second nome of the Northern Land only, then gradually came to encompass the Two Lands in their extremities.
As final clarification concerning our stance on the matter, I submit that Jade Temple LTD does NOT use the name "Kemet" as a topographical allusion to the color of silt or soil. [Another reason why we don't subscribe to the black-silt definition is because, since the black silt was dependent upon the flooding of the Nile --- which was a sporadic and un-predictable event --- Kemet as a description of fertile land could not have been regularly and consistently applicable. Also, if Kemet meant the color of the land, why did the Egyptians wait so long to acknowlege it as such? And, finally, if it was just a matter of containing black, fertile soil, the Fertile Crescent or some other land could've just as well been called Kemet --- and very well might have, or at least possibly to a colony of Egyptians located in Canaan/Palestine, "...the Zuzims in Ham...." (Gen. 14:5 AKJV)]. Nor do we intend it as a modern, contemporary emphasis on ancient "Black Culture". Instead, we refer to Kemet in its original histo-political context, as an eponym of Khem the God, from whom the land derived its name. To be more precise, it's not simply "The Black Land"; it's Khem's land, as a geographical and political domain. What makes the Jadeists so certain of this? Because we know that the Rosetta Stone paralleled the land of Egypt with Kam-t, and Bak-t, and that Baq and The House of Baq are associated with the god Horus (Hieroglyphic Dict., p. 978a). Therefore, Egypt must also be associated with the god Kam, again hearkening back to the Middle-Kingdom Period and the city of Coptos [Egyptian Gbtjw, the religious, commercial, and administrative center in 5th nome of Upper Egyp. Its main god was Min/Khem, until he was merged with Horus (the King) producing Horus-Min, and at that(?) time earning the city the additional name of Harawi, "The 2 Hawks"! Let the reader be informed that the word Egypt also derives from the name of this city. So that, by the time of the Greeks, the word has become associated with the then administrative nome of Kemet, Memphis. I could further elaborate; but as I stated in the footer, "you must pour your own cup.". I've already provided clues sufficient enough to guide you in the right direction. Just remember: KHEM is the capital of Khonsu, which is named after the moon-god Khonsu, who is also depicted as a falcon as well as a man. That BAK/BIK is the ancient Egyptian onomatopoeic for falcon. And that as Horus was also known as "Horus the Black", so was Min known as "Min The Black"! Thus the Jadeists logically conclude that Kemet refers to The Two Lands when the king (Horus) re-emerged and asserted himself as the god Min. And DO NOT FAIL TO NOTE that The 2 Hawks are specifically depicted as LUNAR deities. IAH is in the house, Y'all!
It becomes inevitable that, during historical compositions based upon original research, an Academic is compelled to introduce concepts that can only be conveyed in neologisms. I therefore present you with the Etymological Complement, defined as A synonymous etymology that expands upon and further define a semantic cognate. I use the words Copt & Egyptian as a primary example.
⁰ Also, the Jadeist is reminded that Plutarch was an Initiate, and when he compared Km.t to the "blackness of the eye", he is speaking in parables; the same as I when communicating with you in public articles. For you already possess the pre-knowledge of what an eye symbolizes, especially when representing the last day of the Egyptian month.
¹ Scholars have erroneously called Mentuhotep II the first pharaoh to be depicted as Osiris, because of the crossed-arms posture and black pigmentation of his mortuary statue. But Osiris had always been color-coded green since the earliest of times, while Min was always black. Green is the true color of resurrection because it symbolized the plant life in its perpetual cycle of death and revival, while the black soil was a symbol of the mysterious matrix from which that plant life emerged. We know that this singular monument of the king was meant to represent Min because: (1) He is depicted in the form of Min. Is it mere coincident that Km.t debuts as the designation for The Two Lands during his reign? Osiris is never seen in the red crown by itself! (see image at beginning of article), and (2) His biological lineage: his father Inyotef III held the title "Divine Father", while that of his mother Iah was "High Priestess of Hathor", two positions consistently associated with the cults of Min and Iah.
When a lie is more profitable, or more pragmatic for a religious or political agenda, the truth will be suppressed at every turn. For bias will attempt to thwart revelation at every opportunity. But if you seek truth relentlessly, you will eventually see The Light!
² As the pictorial scenes of the Book of Gates in his tomb, as well as others, clearly indicate, the Egyptians had yet to be classified as Kmt.jw (people of Kemet). Instead, they are still referred to as Rmt, regardless of racial characteristics!
[Note: Further proof of Min's/Mene's association with lunar theology is preserved in the Greek etymology of the word moon].
For those who are reading me for the first time, you are redirected to SQUARING THE LIGHT.