The Egyptian Origins of Islam, Christianity and Judaism

[Onyiiboy]

This is a continuation of conversations started in the "10 plagues of Egypt" thread as well as the "Zietgiest" one. In it, I plan to demonstrate how these three religions are derived from Egypt.

Point #1: The Biblical Character of Solomon is based on an Egyptian Pharaoh

"In the Bible, King Solomon is said to have:

1. Inherited a vast empire conquered by his father David that extended from the Nile in Egypt to the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia (1 Kings 4:21; Gen. 15:18; Deut. 1:7,11:24; Joshua 1:4; 2 Sam. 8:3; 1 Chron. 18:3).
2. Accumulated great wealth and wisdom (1 Kings 10:23).
3. Administered his kingdom through a system of 12 districts (1 Kings 4:7).
4. Possessed a large harem, which included "the daughter of Pharaoh" (1 Kings 3:1; 1 Kings 11:1,3; 1 Kings 9:16).
5. Honored other gods in his old age (1 Kings 11:1-2,4-5).
6. Devoted his reign to great building projects (1 Kings 9:15,17-19), including:


1. the Temple (1 Kings 6).
2. the Royal Palace (1 Kings 7:2-12).
3. the walls of Jerusalem,
4. the Millo (an earthen fill made to enlarge Jerusalem) (1 Kings 11:27)
5. the royal cities of Megiddo, Hazor, and Gezer
6. the store cities, the cities for his horsemen and the cities for his chariots throughout his empire.

To be consistent with the pattern of other great Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the ancient Near East (Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Hittite), it would be expected that numerous documents, art, and inscriptions on buildings or public monuments would have been left by such a great king or by his descendants later in honor of him.(2) Yet no article of any kind bearing his name has ever been found.(3)"

[Onyiiboy]

"The cities of Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer have now been extensively excavated. A stratum containing large palaces, temples and strong fortifications was found in each of these cities. The name of Solomon was not found, but the cartouche of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III instead.(4) In Jerusalem, it has not been possible to excavate the temple mount, however, extensive excavations in the city, including the areas adjacent to the temple mount have not revealed the existence of a Solomaic palace complex.(5) Moreover, excavation of the Millo has revealed (due to pottery found in the Millo) that its original construction was also contemporary with the Egyptian 18th Dynasty of Amenhotep III.(6)

Amenhotep III, known in ancient times as the "King of Kings" and "Ruler of Ruler's,"(7) was a Pharaoh of Egypt's glorious 18th Dynasty. He, like Solomon, inherited a vast empire whose influence extended quite literally from the Nile to the Euphrates.(8) In contrast to the empire of Solomon, the empire of Amenhotep is indisputable.(9) The buildings, monuments, documents, art, and numerous other vestiges of his reign are ubiquitous and unparalleled (with the possible exception being those left by the 19th Dynasty Pharaoh, Ramses II).

The entire reign of Amenhotep III was devoted to monumental construction throughout Egypt, Canaan, and Syria.(10) In addition to the ancient world's most glorious temple at Luxor,(11) he built many other temples of similar design throughout Egypt and in the rest of his empire,(12) including the Canaanite garrison cities of Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer,(13) Lachish and Beth-shean.(14)

According to Egyptian records, Amenhotep's father Thutmose IV and grandfather Amenhotep II deported over 80,000 Canaanites. The Canaanite inhabitants of Gezer were specifically included in this deportation.(15) It was during Amenhotep III's reign that Gezer and other major Palestine cities were refortified as royal Egyptian garrisons, and endowed with fine temples and palaces.

The Bible states that in Solomon's day, the Pharaoh of Egypt captured the Canaanite city of Gezer and presented it to his daughter as a dowry upon her marriage to Solomon (1 Kings 9:16-17).(16)

It was customary and obligatory for Amenhotep III to marry "the daughter of Pharaoh" in order to secure the throne.(17) This is precisely what was done when he was married to Sitamun, the daughter of his father, Pharaoh Thutmose IV.

The network of Egyptian 18th Dynasty garrison cities also included Jerusalem. If construction by Amenhotep III at Gezer, Hazor, Megiddo and other garrison cities is any indication, then a magnificent temple undoubtedly was also built by Amenhotep on Jerusalem's venerated Temple Mount.(18) The structure adjacent to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, known traditionally as "Solomon's stables," is consistent with the architecture of Amenhotep's garrison cities.(19) Archaeology has also confirmed that chariots were kept in these cities during his reign in groups of between thirty to one hundred and fifty each.(20)

The ancient mining operations at Timna in the Negev desert, known as "Solomon's mines," "are earlier than Solomon by some three hundred years [in the conventional chronology],"(21) dating once again to the time of Amenhotep III. Copper from Timna, gold from the Sudan,(22) other precious metals, jewels and high quality stone were used in great abundance in Amenhotep's temples, just as they were in Solomon's.(23) A stela from Amenhotep's mortuary temple boasts that the temple was "embellished with gold throughout, its floor shining with silver ... with royal statues of granite, of quartzite and precious stones."(24) The list of materials used in another temple built by Amenhotep is also "staggering: 3.25 tons of electrum [an alloy of silver and gold], 2.5 tons of gold, 944 tons of copper..."(25)

The Biblical Solomon's greatest satisfaction is said to have been the challenge of completing grand projects (Ecclesiastes 2:4-11). The same was said of Amenhotep III. A royal Egyptian text of the period reads, "Lo, His Majesty's heart was satisfied with making very great monuments, the like of which had never come into being since the primeval age of the Two Lands."(26) Only an enormously wealthy king of a long established empire could have built so splendidly and in so many widely distributed locations in the ancient world. Amenhotep III was arguably the ancient world's wealthiest king. The completion of such magnificent projects required management of a considerable and constant source of labor and revenue extending over a period of many decades.

[Onyiiboy]

The administration and taxation system of Amenhotep with its 12 districts(27) is identical to that of Solomon as described in the Bible (1 Kings 4:2-7,27; 5:13; 9:23). Amenhotep also dedicated himself to rediscovering the wisdom, mysteries and traditions of earlier Egyptian Dynasties.(28) A strong relationship has been established between the "Proverbs of Solomon" in the Bible and the "Maxims of Amenhotep III" found in Egypt.(29)

In addition to the projects already mentioned, Amenhotep also built a completely new palace complex in Thebes. The new royal residence included all of the elements contained in the palace complex of Solomon which are described in the Bible (1 Kings 7:2-12),(30) namely:

1. a house made almost entirely out of cedars of Lebanon (built for Amenhotep's Jubilee festival);(31)
2. a colonnade (hall of columns) fronted by a portico (porch) and surrounded by a column-lined courtyard;(32)
3. a throne room built with many wooden columns and whose floor was a painted lake scene (identical to the one crossed in wonder by the Queen of Sheba when she approached the throne of Solomon, as described in the Koran);(33)
4. a separate palace built for Sitamun, "the daughter of Pharaoh;"(34)
5. a royal palace (consisting of his own residence, the residence of his Great Wife, Tiye, and a residence for the royal harem).(35)

Amenhotep, like Solomon, was relentless in his pursuit of women for his harem, especially beautiful foreign women of both royal and common backgrounds alike.(36) Amenhotep's harem included two princesses from Babylon,(37) two princesses from Syria, two princesses from Mitanni, and like Solomon's harem, it included a princess from each of the seven nations listed in 1 Kings 11:1.(38) As the mightiest king of the Middle East, Amenhotep did not send any of his own daughters to other kings in exchange, nor did any other Pharaoh of this dynasty (or likely any other throughout Egypt's history).(39) He specifically denied a request by the king of Babylon for an Egyptian wife.(40) Importantly, the Bible emphasizes Solomon's Egyptian bride, but does not mention that Solomon had any Hebrew wives.(41) Rehoboam, who is said to have succeeded Solomon, was the son of an Ammonite princess.(42)

The court of Amenhotep III was an extremely liberal one, and reflected every possible excess of an affluent and secure kingdom.(43) Eroticism in art and court life reached its height during the reign of Amenhotep.(44) The famous "nude dancing girls" mural dates to Amenhotep's reign.(45) As with Solomon, Amenhotep denied himself nothing "his eyes desired" and "refused his heart no pleasure" (Ecclesiastes 2:10). However, the last years of Amenhotep's thirty-eight year reign were not pleasant ones. The long years of indulgence had taken their toll and he had many ailments. As a compassionate gesture, his Mitanni brother-in-law(46) sent him an idol of the goddess Ishtar (i.e., Asherah)(1 Kings 11:5).

The "inescapable conclusion"(47) is that the story of Solomon was patterned specifically after the life of Amenhotep III. The name Solomon itself, which literally means "peace" or "safety" points to Amenhotep III whose long and pervasive reign in the 14th Century B.C. did not include any major military campaigns, but was characterized by unprecedented stability throughout the Near East.(48) After the Egyptian 18th Dynasty, the region between the two great rivers was not controlled by a single power again until the Assyrian empire of Ashurbanipal (the grandson of Sennacherib) who invaded Egypt and pillaged Thebes in the 7th Century B.C.,(49) and the 6th Century B.C. empire of Cyrus, who also conquered Egypt and made it a Persian province.(50) There is no evidence of any empire at any time controlling this region whose capital was Jerusalem.(51)

Solomon is said to have had "a thousand and four hundred" chariots (1 Kings 1:26). This represents a prodigious army by ancient standards, and one which could only have been amassed over a long period of time by an established civilization.(52) Yet we are told that only five years after the great King Solomon's death, the Egyptian Pharaoh Shishak and his allies invaded Judah and captured its fortified cities with little or no military resistance (2 Chron. 12). The Bible adds that Jerusalem itself was spared only after delivering up the entirety of King Solomon's accumulated wealth to Shishak.

The rapidness with which Solomon's empire was established, as described by the Bible, and the ease with which it shortly thereafter submitted to a foreign power is also not consistent with the pattern set by other great ancient civilizations.

Humbly taken from http://www.domainofman.com/ankhemmaat/solomon.html

[Onyiiboy]

The Queen of Sheba, King Solomon, and the Koran:

"In Search of the Lost Monarch"
Published in the Vancouver Sun, Insight Page A15, Tuesday October 10, 2000

"On Monday, September 12, 2000 the University of Calgary announced that excavations of the site of “Marib” (Ma’rib) in Yemen might reveal the identity, life and times of the Queen of Sheba. The university’s Dr. William Glanzman, field director of an international archeological effort to investigate the queen’s traditional capital, said that Canadian-developed GPR, “ground penetrating radar”, would help to discover what might lie under 10 metres of sand.

Although Glanzman acknowledged that Ma’rib had been partly excavated in 1951-1952 by the U.S. archeologist Wendell Phillips of the American Society for the Study of Man, the Canadian-led expedition expects to reveal much more about the Queen of Sheba than the dramatically curtailed Phillips expedition. Perhaps, said Glanzman, the site would provide evidence of the Queen of Sheba’s visit to King Solomon as related in the Bible.

They may find more than they bargained for beneath Ma’rib’s sand, including the battered corpse of Jewish history.

Ma’rib had long been revered in the Arabic world as the capital of Queen Bilqis who “ruled with the heart of a woman and the head of a man”. Bilqis was a queen of Saba, a long-lived kingdom that flourished in modern Yemen and southern Arabia from about 1500 BC to about AD 500. This now desert area was once much more fertile. It was called Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia) in ancient times before the climate became drier. Highly advanced cultures of Yemen and Oman, still mostly a mystery to archeologists, built giant irrigation works before the changing climate defeated them. Some scholars even believe that Eden was located in southern Arabia and that this location is hinted by the still-revered “Tomb of Eve” near Medina, Arabia and by the name of modern Aden in Yemen.

Saba has traditionally been identified as the biblical “Sheba”. The Sabaeans populated a territory made prosperous by the production of myrrh and frankincense. In spite of drier conditions, Saba flourished because of irrigation and domestication of camels about 1500 BC. Camels made possible the transport of Sabaean incense across stretches of encroaching desert. Saba declined only when Christianity displaced other Middle Eastern religions. Early Christians disapproved of the use of incense in religious services, and this, along with expanding Arabian deserts, spelled the end of Sabaean economy.

Some biblical scholars have suggested that Sheba’s visit to Solomon was primarily a trade conference. Probably Solomon wanted to deflect some of Saba’s Egyptian-bound incense to his own new Temple in Jerusalem (I Kings 10:10), while the queen was equally interested in opening up new export markets. But popular tradition has always insisted that the two monarchs were attracted by more than trade. This is hinted in the Old Testament (I Kings 10:13): “And King Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty.”

Coptic (“Egyptian”) Christians called the queen “Makeda” and believed that her child by Solomon had founded the great Ethiopian dynasties that ended with Haile Selassie in the 1960s.

The Queen of Sheba has enjoyed much more prominence in the Arab world than in Judeo-Christian tradition, and Westerners were therefore not allowed to visit her capital of Ma’rib in Yemen. In 1843 Frenchman Joseph Thomas Arnaud entered Ma’rib in disguise and made the first European description of the ruins. He was followed in 1869 by another disguised Frenchman, Joseph Halévy, who smuggled out forbidden copies of 686 inscriptions. Austrian Edouard Glaser made three incognito trips to Ma’rib between 1880-1893 and brought hundreds of artifacts and copies of over a thousand inscriptions back to Europe. In 1947, Dr. Ahmed Fakry, later Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Department, openly visited Yemen but was forbidden to see Ma’rib.

[Onyiiboy]

Then, in 1951 Wendell Phillips somehow convinced Yemen’s young Imam ibn-Yaha, who had recently come to power by beheading his regent and First Minister, to allow Americans to dig at Ma’rib. This was a highly unpopular move among the infidel-hating people of the ancient queen’s capital. In a little less than a year of nervous excavation, the Phillips expedition uncovered an exquisite 60 by 82-foot temple within a 250 by 330-foot royal or sacred enclosure bounded by a 30-foot wall. This was said to have been the queen’s royal apartment.

Phillips also discovered the secret of Saba’s longevity. A dam one-third of a mile long across the Wadi Dhana, three miles upstream from Ma’rib, had conserved water from rare torrential rains in order to irrigate market gardens and thousands of hectares of myrrh and frankincense trees. This dam was destroyed either by a flash flood or by unknown invaders about AD 525 and was never rebuilt. The Queen of Sheba’s ancient realm finally succumbed to time and circumstance.

In the spring of 1952, local animosity incited the Yemeni Army garrison in Ma’rib to make several armed attacks on Phillips’ archeological camp. The pretty Frenchwoman acting as the expedition’s secretary was publicly promised the traditional “fate worse than death” by Yemeni Army bullhorn broadcasts five times a day – following each of the daily Moslem calls to prayer. But Phillips and his people fooled the soldiers and contrived to escape in two expedition trucks, leaving all the rest of their equipment behind. After a hair-raising Hollywood desert pursuit, the Americans and their lone French damsel managed to reach the British-held enclave of Bayhan. But, presumably, times have changed and things will go better for men and women of the University of Calgary team.

The Queen of Sheba is fairly well documented in history. The real problem is David and Solomon.

Outside of the Old Testament itself, there is no trace of these two Israelite kings in the histories of surrounding people. Several modern Israeli archeologists, headed by Dr. Chaim Romanescu of Tel Aviv University, have pointed out that there’s also no archeological trace of them or of the far-flung and powerful kingdom supposedly founded by David and later ruled by Solomon. The lowest levels or foundation of the “Temple of Solomon” in Jerusalem, known today as the “Wailing Wall”, could not have been built about 1000 BC. As Egyptologist Ahmed Osman has pointed out, these fortifications were mentioned more than four hundred years earlier in the annals of Tothmosis III during his conquest of Palestine in 1468 BC. This Jerusalem fortress along with the battlements of Megiddo (Har Megiddo, “Armageddon” = Mount Megiddo) may even have been built by Thothmosis III at that time.

Solomon (traditionally ruled about 1000 BC) did not transform these military structures into magnificent temples. It is known that both the Jerusalem and Megiddo fortifications were renovated by Thothmosis’ great-grandson, Amenhotep III (1405-1367 BC). Biblical descriptions of Solomon’s personal palace are almost identical to the real temple complex that Amenhotep III built at Thebes in Egypt, according to American Egyptologist William C. Hayes and Egyptian scholar Alexander Badawy .

The Koran (“The Ants”, Chapter 44) preserves an anecdote about the Queen of Sheba’s visit to “Soloman” that is not found in the Bible. She encountered a tiled mosaic floor depicting a pond’s fish, frogs and water lilies so realistically that she lifted her skirts as if to wade through water. This mosaic exists – in Amenhotep III’s palace at Thebes. Also, Amenhotep III was known to have married many foreign princesses in order to cement diplomatic alliances, just as “Solomon” is supposed to have done.

Does the Queen of Sheba’s visit to “Solomon” supply clues to uncover real history?

Taken humbly from http://www.michaelbradley.info/articles/sheba.html

[RetiredEgo]

I am still waiting for the documents/proof that Prophet Sulaiman as written of in the Holy Quran,was amhotep. His castles not yet being found is a joke, right? they find new stuff everyday.

And his kingdom evaporated quickly cuz his army of chariots etc, were Jinns and not human, seems in ur haste u didnt readthe tale.

Similarity never meant negation. Moreover,this ur story of amhoteps life and styles,IS FAR FAR DIFFERENT FROM MY QURANIC KING AND PROPHET SULAIMAN I really hope U'll come up with some proof I can read or something concrete.

I wait patiently

[Onyiiboy]

Originally Posted by RetiredEgo

I am still waiting for the documents/proof that Prophet Sulaiman as written of in the Holy Quran,was amhotep. His castles not yet being found is a joke, right? they find new stuff everyday.

And his kingdom evaporated quickly cuz his army of chariots etc, were Jinns and not human, seems in ur haste u didnt readthe tale.

Similarity never meant negation. Moreover,this ur story of amhoteps life and styles,IS FAR FAR DIFFERENT FROM MY QURANIC KING AND PROPHET SULAIMAN I really hope U'll come up with some proof I can read or something concrete.

I wait patiently

LMAO! Even your Koran tells you that the palace attributed to Solomon is really that of Amenhotep...if that doens't convince you, nothing will.

[RetiredEgo]

Originally Posted by Onyiiboy

LMAO! Even your Koran tells you that the palace attributed to Solomon is really that of Amenhotep...if that doens't convince you, nothing will.

Reasons why onyiiboy is loosing it.

Solomons aquarium floor palace.

1. That a mosaic that could have been of an aquarium floor palace is said to exist in amhoteps palace does not in any way mean it is King Sulaimans palace.

2. That a mosaic that could have been of an aquarium floor palace is said to exist in amhoteps palace, could mean that after King Sulaimans demise, amhotep took over his palace.

3. That a mosaic that could have been of an aquarium floor palace is said to exist in amhoteps palace could be because amhotep tried to forge and copy the tales of King Sulaimans lifestyle as do many today-

Hey see me, i am in amhoteps Palace-

Common Onyibboy, please feed my intelligence, can't I get one thing to read?

[minglemoon]

retired ego again on religious issues..i got to run.

[Onyiiboy]

Originally Posted by RetiredEgo

1. That a mosaic that could have been of an aquarium floor palace is said to exist in amhoteps palace does not in any way mean it is King Sulaimans palace.

In your Holy Book, it says that it was in Solomon's palace, but the exact same thing was found in Amenhotep's palace.

Originally Posted by RetiredEgo

2. That a mosaic that could have been of an aquarium floor palace is said to exist in amhoteps palace, could mean that after King Sulaimans demise, amhotep took over his palace.

Its hard to take over the palace of someone who did not exist.

Originally Posted by RetiredEgo

3. That a mosaic that could have been of an aquarium floor palace is said to exist in amhoteps palace could be because amhotep tried to forge and copy the tales of King Sulaimans lifestyle as do many today-

Hey see me, i am in amhoteps Palace-

Why would one of the greatest Phaorohs of Egypt forge and copy a Hebrew King who was not even important enough for any of his contemporaries to mention?

Originally Posted by RetiredEgo

Common Onyibboy, please feed my intelligence, can't I get one thing to read?

Perhaps you should go back and look at the first few posts of this thread and then get back to me.

[Onyiiboy]

Originally Posted by RetiredEgo

1. That a mosaic that could have been of an aquarium floor palace is said to exist in amhoteps palace does not in any way mean it is King Sulaimans palace.

In your Holy Book, it says that it was in Solomon's palace, but the exact same thing was found in Amenhotep's palace.

Originally Posted by RetiredEgo

2. That a mosaic that could have been of an aquarium floor palace is said to exist in amhoteps palace, could mean that after King Sulaimans demise, amhotep took over his palace.

Its hard to take over the palace of someone who did not exist.

Originally Posted by RetiredEgo

3. That a mosaic that could have been of an aquarium floor palace is said to exist in amhoteps palace could be because amhotep tried to forge and copy the tales of King Sulaimans lifestyle as do many today-

Hey see me, i am in amhoteps Palace-

Why would one of the greatest Phaorohs of Egypt forge and copy a Hebrew King who was not even important enough for any of his contemporaries to mention?

Originally Posted by RetiredEgo

Common Onyibboy, please feed my intelligence, can't I get one thing to read?

Perhaps you should go back and look at the first few posts of this thread and then get back to me.

[RetiredEgo]

Let me ask you this way-

Does finding a mosaic of what might be an aquarium floor in what might be amhoteps construction, mean that a certain other figure could not have had his own, yet undiscovered, or later demolished, castle with an aquarium floor?

2. In the picture above, do u think I am in amhoteps palace( since u assume he did have and was the picture one ever to have what might be aquarium floors)?

opcorn:

[Onyiiboy]

Originally Posted by RetiredEgo

Let me ask you this way-

Does finding a mosaic of what might be an aquarium floor in what might be amhoteps construction, mean that a certain other figure could not have had his own, yet undiscovered, or later demolished, castle with an aquarium floor?

2. In the picture above, do u think I am in amhoteps palace( since u assume he did have and was the picture one ever to have what might be aquarium floors)?

opcorn:

The aquarium floor alone doesn't prove that Solomon was really Amenhotep, but combined with the abundance of evidence that I posted, it kinda seals the case.

[RetiredEgo]

Abundance of evidence

I must be blind.

Is it the kind of evidence D. Rumsfield presented at the U.N, that Saddam Hussein had WMDs

Yeah right. Evidence for is NOT evidence against. And an item being 'lost', does not mean it doesn't exist.

[Onyiiboy]

Originally Posted by RetiredEgo

Abundance of evidence

I must be blind.

Is it the kind of evidence D. Rumsfield presented at the U.N, that Saddam Hussein had WMDs

Yeah right. Evidence for is NOT evidence against. And an item being 'lost', does not mean it doesn't exist.

There is no absence of evidence...its just in the wrong place. The architecture, works, and writings of Solomon can be found in Egypt...just under his real name: Amenhotep III