Sacred Horizon and Ferryman

Problem:  References in the Pyramidtext point to a neolithic  cosmos  of more northern origin, supportimg the hypothesis that northern Megalithicans brought -
at least in the third millennium BC-  a natural religion down to the Mediterranen
and Near East.

This in mind Pyramid Text: 1705
*The reed-floats of the sky are set down for Re, that he may  cross theron  to  the horizon,  to the place  where  the  gods were born.*
  (2500 b.)
Where to look world wide for a horizon in a country   where *earthlings* believed
that gods were born ? Where to look  for a divine  horizon, a  horizon full of mythi-
cal secrets? What a horizon to look for in the Egyptian floodplain surrounded by
deserts?
                              A simpe differentiation may help
                                       One could divide horizons into
                                 a land- and into a  sea-borne  horizon

Within a  land-territory  the horizon  is an optical  boundary line between  the sky
and   range  of  vision. Formed  by  the  environment  a  land-horizon is  infinitely
variable  in  its  appearance. The  line  is  given  by  the shape of the next tree, a
house   or  mountains.  The  circular  horizon in  a  forest   becomes   completely
 closed  or wildfissured in the mountains.
A  landbound  horizon  always lies in  the * neighbourhood * of the viewer. If  one
wants one can make an effort to walk to the horizon to meet the gods. A useless
attempt. One finds no god, one finds the next *horizon*

Completely  different   the  *mental*  situation  on  a  coast.  Along  the  Eurpean
coastal  regions  one knows  from experience  that    the ' sea-bound ' horizontal
line, completely far  outside, is out of  range. It is a banal knowledge  of neolithic
sailors!   Nobody  drives unpunished  far into  the  open water. None of even the
most daring colleagues returned . Beware of the giant Midgard-Serpent !
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Problem:: In general all humans try to find a belief allowing mentally  to * contact*
the divine otherworld.The problem in  practice, the  way  from the  grave  upward
into the sky. Meditation, angels, even a  latter or most  effective  a  mighty  priest
 may show  the path way up to God.

This in mind back to  the  above Pyramidtext 1705. If people  believe that  Gods
live  beyond the *Winding waterway* at the horizon, then the *inborne* desire of
man to attain immortality after death begins with a transport problem. 
          How to cross the ocean to reach the horizon and thereby the Gods?

The sailors resign.They know, the horizon  though *nearby* visible is out of reach.
Nobody  that  tried  returned. Obviously  it requires  supernatural  forces. A  more
metaphysically engaged colleague finds a way out:The solutionin North an South
                                                the mythic ferryman

Pyr.599 *O Re,  commend  to  me-xyz—the  ferryman of  the  Winding Waterway,
so that he may bring me his ferry-boat  which  belongs to  the Winding Waterway,
to the eastern side of the sky, so that he may ferry me over  to yonder  side of the
Winding Waterway , to the eastern side of the sky.*
Pyr.1223 *If you delay to ferry me over in this ferry boat , I  will  tell  your names to
men whom I know, to everyone.*

The next step: The deceased reached he wished for.
Pyr.1345 *He goes abord the bark like Re at the banks of the Winding Waterway*  

Later in the Middle Period the old ferryman is less needed.
CT. 62 (267)  *I  have  cause  you  to cross  the Waterway of the  Sky-Windows, to
cross the lake  and  travers  the  sea (with)  the sole of  the foot as if you were per-
forme on the land *
The dead one becomes independent of the ferryman. He can go  by  foot over the
water, like Jesus years later.

                     
       Egypt Cheops 2400 b.      Norwegen Oseberg  800 

Archaeology supports the ferryman story. Ramses II (1250 b.) made a present of
of  178  ships  to  different  temples . Conceivable  the dead  one,  owing  a  boat
becomes more independent of the ferryman.
Perhaps thereby he could avoid the examinations  of the last court ?  The  size of
these boats varies  between votiv boats as big as a hand  and  boats  in  original
size. Near the Cheops-Pyramid  five boat pits were excavated  At the time of the
Pyramid Texts  (2500-2200 b.) Cheops (2400 b,) ordered a ship, 43 m of length
 for his last yourney.
 
  In  the  North  appropriate boats would be Sutton Hoo and Oseberg. Sutton Hoo estate near  Woodbridge, Suffolk, England,that is the site of
 an early grave or cenotaph of  an  AngloSaxon  king. (about
630 AD).he rite of ship burial and certain  items in the grave  
have parallels in  Sweden and  suggest a hitherto unsuspec-
ted Swedish origin for  the East Anglian royal dynasty.

Beowulf, a heroic poem, highest achievment of  Old  English literatur, composed
                          between 700 -750 AD . The water burial of a king:

"Then high above his head they placed
a golden banner and let the waves bear him,
bequeathed him to the sea; their hearts were grieving,
their minds mourning. Mighty men
beneath the heavens, rulers in the hall,
cannot say who received that cargo."

                       Votiv-boats are provable also in the North.

                                  

     

The  singular  “fleet”  o f more  than 100  golden mini nature ships, found in Nors
(Denmark), give further note  for  the  meaning  of ships in  the  Bronze-Age cult.
 Some the golden mini ships carry an ornament from marked, concentric  circles, which can be understood as sun symbols.

Related " seaborne" myths in North and  South despite ~3000 years between ?
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                                                   Sumer
Comparable to the Old Egyptians the Sumerian in the southern part of Mesopotamia.

                                                                 
                                                    a)  Sumer. Grave, Ur, 2.Dyn. with votivboat made of bitumen
                                                           b)  Egypt. Model of a grave of Hor-Aha, 1. Dyn, Egypt Length 15 m.  
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                                        In Sumer it is the ferryman Urshanabi who brings king Gilgamesch across the sea.

   "The tavern-keeper spoke to Gilgamesh, saying:
   There has never been, Gilgamesh, any passage whatever,
   there has never been anyone since days of yore who crossed
   the sea. The (only) one who crosses the sea is valiant Shamash
   exept for him who can cross!  
   The crossing is difficult, its ways are treacherous--
   and in between are the Waters of Death that bar its approaches!
   And even if, Gilgamesh, you should cross the sea,
   when you reach the Waters of Death what would you do!
   Gilgamesh, over there is Urshanabi, the ferryman of Utanapishtim.
  (At the other side)

  "Utanapishtim was gazing off into the distance,
  puzzling to himself  he said, wondering to himself:
  "Why are 'the stone things' of the boat smashed to pieces!
  And why is someone not its master sailing on it?
  The one who is coming is not a man of mine, ".(TableX)..

Homer´s  Pheacen  bring  Odysseus  back   to  Ithaka    The  Pheacen  ship. is
not steered. It  finds the way by itself. (  comparable  Friesian  legends  (germ.)).

Pieces of  money  to  pay for the  passage  from  this world  to  the   next  were
placed in the mouth of corpses in  ancient  Mycenae, Greece, Celt, Rome and
in  a pouch in Japan.(Google: ferryman - coin = 1850) Obviously a world wide
at lleast *seaborne* belief.
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Facit:  These  *practical*  data  in  mind a  more  technically   based *seaborn*
natural religion emerged along  the coastal regions of North-West Europe. For
a naive  viewer  along  a  sea  coast the  sky seems  to contact the earth at the
horizon at the other side of the ozean. His belief
              

Reaching the horizon of the *Winding waterway* means reaching the Gods
                            and thereby attaining immortality 
                 In consequence the faith of a ´seafaring people

        That´s why  Cheops and  *Beowulf* needed  a boat after death? In it´s origin the
         same  belief despite four millennia  between? The   *82 degree* horizon on  the
        sky disk of Nebra may support this view.

ferryman-horizon 01.11.03,- 20.10.04
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     Remarkable about 4000 years later the Christian metamorphosis
                                         of the ´neolithic´ ferryman

   

                             The Chapel of Sixtus. Judgement Day
                                                    Vatican, Michelangelo 1549    

           A   symbol for the regained soverenity of the Pope, after the tragic events of the "
           Sacco di  Roma", when  Rome  had been sacked  by th e mercenaries  of  the
           empero Karl V, and after the crisis, which Luther had caused

          Jesus in picture center judged the dead ones.With a hand movement he decides
          the inevitable fate of the good ones and the condamned ones


                                              Noteworthy the cut out right down

  

 Notice,  above  the  ferryman  a figure  with  horns  Did the
´horned´   fetch  a   condamned  on  his   shoulder ?   If   so
 then  a  devil  helped  the  ferryman  to  transport  the  con-
damned across the water on to the way down to hell

Problem:  Along  four  thousand  years  ago a ferryman made the connection to
the gods; far behind the horizon of the Atlantic ocean. Likely that in prechristian
times the ferryman was a keyfigur in a ´northern´ natural religion.. (Gilgamesch,
Greek, Friesi legends)

               The message to the deeply impressed visitor of the Sixtus Chapel
                           Devil and ferryman work in the same company.

A metamorphosis  like Hathor. The horns of the  highest  Egyptian
     Milk-Goddess  Hathor became the symbol of the devil ?

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P.S. 1

P.S  Under  Pope Johannes  Paul II  the  papal    funeral  rite   was  changed.. No
longerr  two  coin s were  put on the eyes of the deceased. His face was covered
with a white silkcloth  (Deutschland Funk  08.04.05) 

P.S 2
Deutschland Funk  11.11.09
Funeral Fort Hood, Texas
The traditional ceremony under the open sky above 20  degrees Celsius  in  a warm, sunny day in Texas, comprised, besides the national anthem, prayers and the funeral orations a "last call" with rifle fire and the bugle  call "Taps." In the appeal, the names
of the dead were called three times, answered by silence.

 Mourners, including the president, threw a coin into the boots of the dead laid down;

next to put on their guns drawn portraits, the helmets on the bulb, with the bayonet in the ground.  The  military  custom of  a coin  for the  ferryman  points back to ancient Greece, when they put coins on the eyes of  the dead,  that  they  could  pay  the  fare across the River Styx on the way to the underworld.

1-index


Next The horizon, symbolized by a ring and later by wreath and crown.
Who wears a ring symbolizes that he is close to the Gods
etr