For the last century, archaeologists have been trying to piece together fragments to this 3,000-year-old document, written on a papyrus stem. The Egyptian document enumerates all the Egyptian kings and when they ruled. It revealed something that shocked the historians’ society to its core.

According to an ancient texts, there was a time in ancient Egypt, before the land of the Pharaohs was ruled by mortals where beings that came from the heavens reigned over the land. These mysterious beings are referred to as ‘Gods’ or ‘Demigods’ that lived and ruled over ancient Egypt for thousands of years.

The mystery of the Turin King List

The Turin King List is a scriptural canon from the Ramesside period. A “canon” is basically a collection or list of scriptures or general laws. The term comes from a Greek word meaning “rule” or “measuring stick”.

Of all the so-called king lists of ancient Egypt, the Turin King List is possibly the most significant. Although it has sustained much damage, it provides very useful information for Egyptologists and is also somewhat in-line with Manetho’s historical compilation on ancient Egypt.

The discovery of the Turin King List

Written in an ancient Egyptian cursive writing system called hieratic, the Turin Royal Canon Papyrus was purchased in Thebes by the Italian diplomat and explorer Bernardino Drovetti in 1822, during his travels to Luxor.

Although at first it was mostly intact and was placed in a box along with other papyri, the parchment crumbled into many fragments by the time it arrived in Italy, and had to be reconstructed and deciphered with much difficulty.

Some 48 pieces of the puzzle were first assembled by French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832). Later, some other hundred fragments were pieced together by German and American archaeologist Gustavus Seyffarth (1796-1885). Historians are still finding and piecing together the missing fragments of the Turin King List.

One of the most important restorations was made in 1938 by Giulio Farina, the museum’s director. But in 1959, Gardiner, the British Egyptologist, proposed another placement of the fragments, including the newly recovered pieces in 2009.

Now made of 160 fragments, the Turin King List basically lacks two important parts: the introduction of the list and the ending. It’s believed that the name of the Turin King List’s scribe could be found in the introduction part.

What are king lists?

Ancient Egyptian King Lists are lists of royal names that were recorded by the ancient Egyptians in some kind of order. These lists were usually commissioned by pharaohs in order to show off how old their royal blood is through listing all the pharaohs in it in an unbroken lineage (a dynasty).

Though at first this may seem to be the most helpful way of tracking the ruling of different pharaohs, it wasn’t very accurate because the ancient Egyptians are famous for omitting information they didn’t like, or exaggerating information they felt made them look good.

It is said that these lists were not meant to provide historical information so much as a form of “ancestor worship”. If you remember, we know the ancient Egyptians believed the pharaoh was a reincarnation of Horus on earth and would be identified with Osiris after death.

The way that Egyptologists used the lists was by comparing them to each other as well as to data collected through other means and then reconstructing the most logical historical record. The King Lists we know of so far include:

• Royal List of Thutmosis III from Karnak
• Royal List of Sety I at Abydos
• The Palermo Stone
• Abydos King List of Ramses II
• Saqqara Tablet from the tomb of Tenroy
• Turin Royal Canon (Turin King List)
• Inscriptions on rocks in Wadi Hammamat

Why the Turin King List (Turin Royal Canon) is so special in Egyptology?

All the other lists were recorded on hard surfaces meant to last many lifetimes, such as tomb or temple walls or on rocks. However, one king list was exceptional: the Turin King List, also called the Turin Royal Canon, which was written on papyri in hieratic script. It is approximately 1.7 meters long.

Unlike other lists of kings, the Turin King List enumerates all rulers, including the minor ones and those considered usurpers. Moreover, it records the length of reigns precisely.

This king list seems to have been written during the reign of Ramesses II, the great 19th dynasty pharaoh. It is the most informative and accurate list and goes back all the way to King Menes. It not only just lists the names of the kings, as most other lists did, but it gives other useful data such as:

• The length of the reign of each king in years, in some cases even in months and days.
• It notes names of kings that were omitted from other king lists.
• It groups together kings by location rather than chronology
• It even lists the names of the Hyksos rulers of Egypt
• It stretches back to a strange period of time when gods and legendary kings ruled Egypt.

Among these, the last point is an unresolved intriguing part in Egypt’s history. The most intriguing as well as controversial part of the Turin Royal Canon tells of Gods, Demigods and Spirits of the Dead who physically ruled for thousands of years.

The Turin King List: Gods, Demigods and Spirits of the Dead ruled for thousands of years

According to Manetho, the first “human king” of Egypt, was Mena or Menes, in 4,400 BC (naturally that “moderns” have moved that date for much more recent dates). This king founded Memphis, having turned aside the course of the Nile, and established a temple service there.

Prior to this point, Egypt had been ruled by Gods and Demigods, as reported by R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz, in “Sacred Science: The King of Pharaonic Theocracy” where the following statement is made:

…the Turin Papyrus, in the register listing the Reign of the Gods, the final two lines of the column sums up: “Venerables Shemsu-Hor, 13,420 years; Reigns before the Shemsu-Hor, 23,200 years; Total 36,620 years.”

Obviously, these ending two lines of the column, which seem to represent a resume of the entire document are extremely interesting and remind us of the Sumerian King List.

Naturally, that materialistic modern science, cannot accept the physical existence of Gods and Demigods as kings, and therefore dismisses those timelines. However, these timelines ― “Long list of Kings” ― are (partially) mentioned in several credible sources from History, including in other Egyptian King Lists.

The mysterious Egyptian reign described by Manetho

If we are to allow Manetho, chief priest of the accursed temples of Egypt, to speak for himself, we have no choice but to turn to the texts in which the fragments of his work are preserved. One of the most important of these is the Armenian version of the Chronica of Eusebius. It begins by informing us that it is extracted “from the Egyptian History of Manetho, who composed his account in three books. These deal with the Gods, the Demigods, the Spirits of the Dead and the mortal kings who ruled Egypt.”

Citing Manetho directly, Eusebius begins by reeling off a list of the gods which consists, essentially, of the familiar Ennead of Heliopolis – Ra, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Set, and so on. These were the first to hold sway in Egypt.

“Thereafter, the kingship passed from one to another in unbroken succession… through 13,900 years… After the Gods, Demigods reigned for 1255 years; and again another line of kings held sway for 1817 years; then came thirty more kings, reigning for 1790 years; and then again ten kings ruling for 350 years. There followed the rule of the Spirits of the Dead… for 5813 years…”

The total of all these periods adds up to 24,925 years. In particular, Manetho is repeatedly said to have given the enormous figure of 36,525 years for the entire duration of the civilization of Egypt from the time of the Gods down to the end of the 30th (and last) dynasty of mortal kings.

What did the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus find about the mysterious past of Egypt?

Manetho’s description finds much support among many classical writers. In the first century BC, the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus visited Egypt. He is rightly described by C.H. Oldfather, his most recent translator, as an uncritical compiler who used good sources and reproduced them faithfully.

In other words, what this means is that Diodorus did not try to impose his prejudices and preconceptions on the material he collected. He is therefore particularly valuable to us because his informants included Egyptian priests whom he questioned about the mysterious past of their country. This is what Diodorus was told:

“At first gods and heroes ruled Egypt for a little less than 18,000 years, the last of the gods to rule being Horus, the son of Isis … Mortals have been kings of their country, they say, for a little less than 5000 years.”

Source: https://news156media.com/