HELIOPOLIS

"What was the Benben and what became of it? It was clearly at the center of an important royal cult which later built pyramids . As we have said, the holy city of Heliopolis was in the hands of a priesthood which wielded considerable power in the pyramid age, and there can be little doubt that the design of the pyramids was under their direction. The word priest as we understand today it is somewhat misleading, for the Heliopolitan sages were most likely highly trained initiates conversant not only with religious ideologies but with the study of celestial bodies and, probably, the art of symbolic architecture and hieroglyphics, the sacred form of writing invented by the Egyptians . Clearly, then, the Heliopolitan priesthood would have known about the mysterious stellar religion alluded to in the 'Sirius Mystery .' "Egyptologists consider that Heliopolis provided the nearest thing to a cult state, for while every local district had its own local gods, the Heliopolitan religion, whose pantheon was the Great Ennead of gods , was recognized everywhere. This great pantheon, composed of nine deities, formed the family ruled by Atum-Ra. Originally un-manifest , Atum or Atum-Ra, masturbated and thus created Shu, the air god , and Tefnut, the moisture goddess. This couple created Geb, the earth god, and Nut, the sky goddess. Geb and Nut mated, though their copulation was interrupted by their father Shu, who, as the air, came between them and lifted the canopy sky away from the earth, thereby parting the divine lovers. In spite of their 'coitus interruptus', Nut, the sky goddess , gave birth to four anthropomorphic gods who lived on earth . These were Osiris and Seth, two male gods , and their sisters, Isis and Nephthys. Osiris and Isis were united and became the subject of ancient Egypt's greatest myth as the first divine couple who ruled Egypt . Isis gave birth to an only son, Horus , from the seed of Osiris . Since Osiris or his 'soul ' was often identified with the phoenix, it is probable that the Benben Stone, symbolizing , among other things, his seed, and thus the generative power that created Horus from the womb of Isis. "It is with these last five anthropomorphic or human form gods that we shall be mostly involved, and especially with Osiris, for he was not only seen as the first divine king of Egypt, but his tragic death and miraculous resurrection provided the basis of the ancient Egyptian mysteries and the origin of their rebirth cult." P.18-19. THE ORION MYSTERY by Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert (1994)