Sodom and the destructive “chasm” of era of Boethos

 by

 

Damien F. Mackey

 

 

Manetho states that during the 38 years reign of Boethos (or Bochos)

a “chasm” opened at Bubastis and many people died.

 

 

This present article has been lifted from Volume Seven (“Sodom to Saqqara”) of my book, “From Genesis to Hernán Cortés”.

 

 

The combined lives of (Abram) Abraham and Isaac may have enabled us to put together a long-reigning first ruler of Egypt and southern (Philistine) Canaan, Menes Hor-Aha (‘Min’), or, in Hebrew terms, “Abimelech”, whose name, I thought, had some resonance with the Egyptian name Raneb of the Second Dynasty.  

And from the name Raneb I conjectured a possible connection with the celebrated, but obscure, Old Kingdom ruler, Nebka, who, in turn, could be the Nebkaure (Nebkare), said by Pliny to have been the ruler at the time of Abraham.

 

This was pointed out by David Rohl, who had proceeded from there to identify that Nebkaure with Khety IV of the Tenth Dynasty.

 

These combinations, which I would accept as a working hypothesis, would (if correct) enable for a synthesising of the Old Kingdom (First and Second dynasties) with the ‘Middle’ Kingdom (Tenth Dynasty), in accordance with Dr. Donovan Courville’s suggestion that the Old and Middle were by no means vastly separated in time the one from the other, but were to some degree concurrent.

 

One also reads at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weneg_(pharaoh) that a scholar has identified Raneb, in turn, with Weneg, and, further, that N. Grimal and others think that Weneg corresponds to Hor-Sekhemib-Perenmaat.

Such a series of identifications would minimise the number of rulers in the Second Dynasty.

 

The first listed ruler of the Second Dynasty is given as Hetepsekhemwy, whom Manetho calls “Boethos”. His position at the beginning of the dynasty might necessitate an identification of him with the very first ruler of Egypt, the one known to Abraham and Isaac.

While that may be an extremely tenuous connection, I notice that David O’Connor (Leaving No Stones Unturned: Essays on the Ancient Near East and Egypt ….), has embraced an identification of Hetepsekhemwy with Raneb (p. 170): “The earlier rulers of Dynasty II (perhaps as many as six individuals) were probably all buried at Saqqara, where so far only two of the actual tombs have been located, one for king Hotepsekhemwy or Raneb, the other for king Ninetjer”.

The Second Dynasty was unlikely composed of “as many as six individuals”, far fewer.

And I likewise would suggest that the conventional nine or so rulers of the First Dynasty might be similarly in need of a reduction.

Hetepsekhemwy (or Hotepsekhemwy) is so poorly known for a ruler of anything from 38 (Manetho) to 95 (Turin canon) years that he needs one, or more, alter egos.

That is apparent from the following: https://www.crystalinks.com/dynasty2.html

 

Little is known about Hotepsekhemwy's reign. Contemporary sources show that he may have gained the throne after a period of political strife, including ephemeral rulers such as Horus "Bird" and Sneferka (the latter is also thought to be an alternate name used by king Qaa for a short time). As evidence of this, Egyptologists Wolfgang Helck, Dietrich Wildung and George Reisner point to the tomb of king Qaa, which was plundered at the end of 1st dynasty and was restored during the reign of Hotepsekhemwy. The plundering of the cemetery and the unusually conciliatory meaning of the name Hotepsekhemwy may be clues of a dynastic struggle. Additionally, Helck assumes that the kings Sneferka and Horus "Bird" were omitted from later king lists because their struggles for the Egyptian throne were factors in the collapse of the first dynasty.

Seal impressions provide evidence of a new royal residence called "Horus the shining star" that was constructed by Hotepsekhemwy. He also built a temple near Buto for the little-known deity Netjer-Achty and founded the "Chapel of the White Crown". The white crown is a symbol of Upper Egypt. This is thought to be another clue to the origin of Hotepsekhemwy's dynasty, indicating a likely source of political power. Egyptologists such as Nabil Swelim point out that there is no inscription from Hotepsekhemwy's reign mentioning a Sed festival, indicating the ruler cannot have ruled longer than 30 years (the Sed festival was celebrated as the anniversary marking a reign of 30 years).

The ancient Greek Manetho called Hotepsekhemwy Boethos (apparently altered from the name Bedjau) and reported that during this ruler's reign "a chasm opened near Bubastis and many perished". Although Manetho wrote in the 3rd century BC - over two millennia after the king's actual reign - some Egyptologists think it possible that this anecdote may have been based on fact, since the region near Bubastis is known to be seismically active.

The location of Hotepsekhemwy's tomb is unknown. Egyptologists such as Flinders Petrie, Alessandre Barsanti and Toby Wilkinson believe it could be the giant underground Gallery Tomb B beneath the funeral passage of the Unas-necropolis at Sakkara. Many seal impressions of king Hotepsekhemwy have been found in these galleries.

Egyptologists such as Wolfgang Helck and Peter Munro are not convinced and think that Gallery Tomb B is instead the burial site of king Raneb, as several seal impressions of this ruler were also found there. ….

 

Most important for our study here, about great geophysical rifts appearing in the region, is that piece of evidence from Manetho about the “chasm” during the reign of “Boethos”.

If, as I am tentatively suggesting, “Boethos” had been a contemporary of Abraham and Isaac, then one might expect that the “chasm” that killed many people had to do with the destruction witnessed by Abram (Genesis 19:24-28):

 

Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.  

 

That “chasm” may be a something in the life of the monarch, “Boethos”, that could relate to the catastrophism that caused the extinction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, with “Bela (that is Zoar)” saved for the sake of Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19:20-23).  https://www.crystalinks.com/dynasty2.html

“The ancient Greek Manetho called Hotepsekhemwy Boethos (apparently altered from the name Bedjau) and reported that during this ruler's reign "a chasm opened near Bubastis and many perished". Although Manetho wrote in the 3rd century BC - over two millennia after the king's actual reign - some Egyptologists think it possible that this anecdote may have been based on fact, since the region near Bubastis is known to be seismically active”.

 

Manetho, living very long after the “chasmic” event, may have done what Herodotus made bold to do regarding the destruction of Sennacherib’s Assyrian army, which Herodotus transferred geographically from Palestine to the Egyptian Delta, to Pelusium.

 

For Manetho will locate the “chasm” of “Boethos” in Bubastis.

 

Commenting on this, Swiss archaeologist, Henri Édouard Naville wrote in an article, “Bubastis” (1891): “We learn from Manetho that under the King Boethos, the first of the second dynasty, a chasm opened itself at Bubastis, which caused the loss of a great many lives. Up to the present day, we have not found in any part of Egypt monuments as old as the second dynasty”.