King Thutmose IV of Egypt, reign c. 1419-1410 B.C.
“[Sleep and] dream [took possession of him] at the moment the sun was at zenith. Then he found the majesty of this noble god speaking from his own mouth like a father speaks to his son, and saying: “Look at me, observe me, my son Thutmose. I am your father Horemakhet-Khepri-Ra-Atum. I shall give to you the kingship [upon the land before the living]….[Behold, my condition is like one in illness], all [my limbs being ruined]. The sand of the desert, upon which I used to be, (now) confronts me; and it is in order to cause that you do what is in my heart that I have waited.”
Thutmose IV was the eighth Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt. He is the son of Amenhotep II, father of Amenhotep III, grandfather of Akhenaten & great-grandfather of Tutankhamun.
Thutmose’s most celebrated accomplishment was the restoration of the Sphinx at Giza and subsequent commission of the Dream Stele. According to Thutmose’s account on the Dream Stele, while the young prince was out on a hunting trip, he stopped to rest under the head of the Sphinx, which was buried up to the neck in sand. He soon fell asleep and had a dream in which the Sphinx told him that if he cleared away the sand and restored it he would become the next Pharaoh. After completing the restoration of the Sphinx, he placed a carved stone tablet, now known as the Dream Stele, between the two paws of the Sphinx.
Thutmose IV was buried in the Valley of the Kings, in tomb KV43, but his body was later moved to the mummy cache in KV35, where it was discovered by Victor Loret in 1898. An examination of his body shows that he was very ill and had been wasting away for the final months of his life prior to his death. He was succeeded to the throne by his son, Amenhotep III. Recently a surgeon at Imperial College London analysed the early death of Thutmose IV and the premature deaths of other Eighteenth dynasty Pharaohs (including Tutankhamun and Akhenaten). He concludes that their early deaths were likely as a result of a familial temporal epilepsy. This would account for both the untimely death of Thutmose IV and also his religious vision described on the Dream Stele, due to this type of epilepsy’s association with intense spiritual visions and religiosity. ○
Chances are you have already heard something about who anarchists are and what they are supposed to believe. Chances are almost everything you have heard is nonsense. Many people seem to think that anarchists are proponents of violence, chaos, and destruction, that they are against all forms of order and organization, or that they are crazed nihilists who just want to blow everything up. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Anarchists are simply people who believe human beings are capable of behaving in a reasonable fashion without having to be forced to. It is really a very simple notion. But it’s one that the rich and powerful have always found extremely dangerous.
more photos shot on Ilford Delta 3200, from the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, CA
- New Kingdom coffin fragment
- Late Period, wood & pigment
- Dynasty 19, Thebes, lower half of the coffin of a chantress of Amun-Re
- lower view of the same coffin
I finally had a chance to develop my film! I’ll be editing more (hopefully the rest?) tomorrow - for now, round one of Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum film photos. taken with ilford delta 3200.
- Late Period, wood and pigment
- Roman Period, Kom Abu Billo, limestone funerary stele
- Ptolemaic Period, stele of a priest of Hathor
- New Kingdom, wood & pigment coffin fragment
