The 'Amun Oracle Inner Sanctum Double-Window Alignment' Discovery and 'Ritual Festival' Theory
After discovering the precise Spring and Fall Equinox solar alignments over the Amun Oracle when viewed from Timasirayn Temple, The Source In The Sahara's Dustin T. Donaldson and Robynn Iwata wondered if there may be some sort of previously-unnoticed companion event happening at the Amun Oracle itself during the Equinox. Indeed, there is! The process for uncovering this second discovery began by going to the Timasirayn Temple at the sunrise. Of course, from here one is looking directly East at the Amun Oracle, over which the sun rises directly on the 2 equinoctial days of the year (one every 6 months). Later that day, we journeyed to the Oracle itself, to see the sun set (looking directly West) towards Timasirayn, thinking that we might see something interesting. However, there is no obvious 'setting-sun-viewing-platform' at the Amun Oracle. So, where to begin? We checked all of the potential locations and quickly determined that nothing of note can be seen toward Timasirayn Temple on the western horizon from the Amun Oracle/Aghurmi mound. However, as we moved deeper into the temple itself, back to the two deepest rooms, we got a very big surprise indeed. . .
But first, a bit of spacial-orientation information is needed so as to be able to truly understand this marvel of ancient philosophy-science-religion and archaeo-astronomical engineering:
When walking from the front to the back of the rectangular-shaped Amun Oracle, one first moves through three single large rooms. At the end of the third room, and now at the fourth and final section of the structure, the forward motion of the traveler is split, and one needs to go left/forward into another large room, or straight forward into a smaller room. This forward, East-side room is the inner sanctuary, the 'Holy Of Holies', where the statue-representation of the god Amun sat, mid-room, in almost complete darkness. It was in this room that the question would be asked of the Oracle. After asking the question, the visitor (say, Alexander The Great) would leave this chamber (the most sacred space of any temple in Siwa) and enter the adjacent 'left/forward' room. The questioner would wait in this darkened, West-side room for the Ancient Egyptian priest to bring a piece of paper, on which would be written the reply given by the Oracle. In this 'Receiving Room' there is a small opening that begins about 440cm/ 173.22" up from the floor, on the western wall. The sheer height of this 'window' precludes any reasonable expectation of a normal 'viewing' usage. Between these two rooms, in the inner wall separating them, there is also a 24"/61cm wide opening, beginning at about two meters (70.86") above the floor. This East/West 'window' opens a connection between these spaces. These two portals are in the same general spot in their respective walls horizontally, and therefore create a direct alignment with each other and, importantly, with the exact location of the now-missing statue. That is, if one now positions oneself in the place where the god once resided and looks to the inner wall window and up, one can, in a direct line, see the sky through the outer window. This sightline is devoid of anything but empty sky for about 360 days a year.
Luck, as they say, favors the prepared. And, that day, we were prepared for seeing Equinox alignments. As we walked to the back of the temple, our minds were on the sun on the other side of the thick temple wall, preparing to set on the western horizon. Instinctively upon entering the 'Receiving Room' we looked up and saw the sun shining through the high window. Naturally, we turned around 180 degrees to follow the path of the rays, and were stunned to see the glowing, sun-formed rectangular shape of the high window slowly moving across the inner, shared wall, unmistakably floating directly towards the 2nd, lower window. Excitedly, we moved into the sanctuary room and, from the exact spot that that the ancient Amun Oracle once sat, peered through the two windows to see the solar orb itself slowly gliding into view, in perfect alignment. We stood and watched for about 20 minutes in stunned silence. It was then that we knew the 'windows' were masterfully designed to allow the rays of the aligned sun to precisely penetrate both windows simultaneously and illuminate Amun— the "hidden god"— twice a year, only at the time of the Equinoxes.
We subsequently spent the next full year documenting the proceedings, with a couple unforeseen major twists and unexpected turns thrown in for good measure (as anyone who who works on this stuff will tell you, the Ancient Egyptians never did anything the easy way, and they loved symmetry and mirroring, and multi-level layering in general).
To put it simply, it ultimately isn't quite as straightforward as it first seemed, and there are still some big mysteries at play here. For example, and most importantly: the sun doesn't penetrate the openings on the actual days of the Equinoxes. Why? Why didn't the Ancient Egyptian engineers design the rooms and the light boxes to align exactly on these holy days? That is, why did they choose approximately 12 days before the Spring Equinox and the same number of days after the Fall Equinox for the alignments? Clearly this choice is intentional due to the unmistakable precision on display here, so what does it mean? This question was foremost in our minds during the year that we tracked this process. The conclusion? Well, we will be revealing this at a later date (Issue 1 of The Source In The Sahara Journal), but here are a few tantalizing clues:
1. Remember that the Oracle predicts the future.
2. Amazingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, it is connected with the Timasirayn Temple/Amun Oracle Equinox Alignment. Yes, these two discoveries are a related pair and work together!
3. Finally, and most revealingly, there is a very well known annual Amun festival that took place between the temples of Karnak and Luxor that had some very compelling and specific similarities to the present situation....
Enough for now. Here are the proofs of the physical reality of the Amun Oracle Inner Sanctum Double-Window Alignment Discovery:
1. The Aghurmi mound with the Temple of the Amun Oracle (circled) as viewed from the southeast.
2. The Aghurmi mound with the Temple of the Amun Oracle (red rectangle) as viewed from the west.
High in the top northwestern-most wall at the back of the temple, there is a very small, window-like opening (circled).
3. Inside the Amun Oracle Temple, facing north.
Note the inset floor plan of the temple. The red dot denotes the viewer/camera position.
Another two things of note need to be mentioned here: first, after the fall of Ancient Egypt, through the middle ages and even up until relatively modern times, Siwans inhabited the Aghurmi mound and Amun Oracle Temple. Through these long periods, much destruction and fundamental 'redecorating' transpired. Subsequently, there are now many holes in walls that arose as a result of this occupation and are not original design features. The two openings relevant to this discovery are, on the other hand, definitely original to the building, and reflect the Ancient Egyptian stonemasons' precise design intention.
The second—and crucial—point that must be held in the mind when contemplating this discovery is that the building originally had a ceiling/roof over the entire structure. This means that the interior—and most specifically the two rooms that we are examining here—was naturally very dark.
4. Reaching the rear of the structure, one can move forward into the Oracle Sanctuary (the room for asking the question of the god), or left/forward into the 'Receiving Room', where one would receive the answer written in hieroglyphics, as delivered by the Ancient Egyptian priest.
(green dot/person = Oracle. dog = Receiving Room)
5. In the Oracle Sanctuary, standing in the spot where the now-missing statue that represented the god would have resided.
D. Donaldson is facing the western wall of this room, and peering through a head-height,
window-like opening that connects the Oracle room, the Receiving room, and—on a couple of special days a year only—the sun.
6. The view through the sanctuary's western wall 'window', as seen by the 'eyes' in the previous photo (5).
Here, we see the western wall and 'window' of the Receiving Room (we saw the outside of this wall and 'window' in figure 2).
In this amazing image, we can see the setting sun falling down in line with the western Receiving Room wall 'window' below it. Recall, however, that the building does not retain the ceiling/roof that it once had,
which would not have originally allowed for such a sight as we now have here.
7. We now leave the Oracular Sanctuary and move into the Receiving Room.
Note the 'window' high up on the western wall (circled). This is the same opening that we saw
below the sun through the sanctuary 'window' in figure 6 and from the outside of the structure in figure 2.
R. Iwata is facing east, toward the wall which the setting sun shines on,
and contains the head-height sanctuary 'window' that we saw in figures 5 and 6.
8. The viewer's back is now against the Oracle wall, and is facing the high window as the sun glides into alignment.
As one can easily see, this opening only allows for the exact size of the sun. Within days one cannot see it from this position anymore, as the orb continues on its slow path of movement across the horizon.
9. D Donaldson at the wall and 'window' between the Receiving Room and the Oracle Sanctuary
tracking the movement of the sun-powered, window-generated rectangular shape.
As the sun sets in the west behind us, the rectangle moves from the floor to the ceiling.
This photograph was captured on March 22, 2014 (the day after the Spring Equinox).
The rectangle precisely crossed/entered the opening approximately 13 days before.
10. Diagram of the two rooms and openings from above, showing the time-specific solar-window-alignment.
11. Diagram of the two rooms and openings from the south looking north.
Note: this view is not actually possible in reality.
It is shown here in this way so as to illustrate the physical angle of the solar-window-alignment.
12. The basic proof of the solar-window-alignment as a 7-frame animated gif.
From first frame to last, this event takes place over the course of roughly 45 minutes.
During the time of the Spring Equinox, the sun is traveling northward along the horizon and subsequently the rectangular light box will appear slightly further to the left of the window each day, until within about a month's time, it will not enter the room at all. During the time of the Fall Equinox, when the sun is traveling the opposite way, that is, southward along the horizon, the solar rectangle will appear slightly further to the right of the opening day by day, etc.
Note: the day of this precisely-designed event was a bit cloudy, and so the light quality changes from image to image. The bright band of light across the top of the wall above the opening is the result of the lack of ceiling on the structure.
Imagine what this scenario would have looked like when the room was completely dark for the majority of the year, only to be illuminated by the rectangular light-box at the times of the solar-window alignments!
13. The first-ever photograph of a human being lit by the sun through the Equinox-related, double-window alignment.
In the glory days of the Oracle, it was the Amun statue itself in this position.
The pictured event happened during the few minutes that we saw in figure 12 where the sun was shining directly through the sanctuary window, before exiting and continuing up the wall. Within days, the sun won't penetrate into this room at all, until six months later at the next equinoctial-time, when the process will exactly repeat.
This physical discovery and associated conceptual theory was reported to, witnessed by, and accepted
by the Siwa Council Of Egyptian Antiquities on March 8th, 2015 at the Amun Oracle itself.
back to DISCOVERIES and ARTICLES
All content © 2008-2024, Donaldson/Iwata for The Source In The Sahara and Mesmer Detector, Ltd,
with the exception of the Amun Oracle groundplan diagram from Siwa Oasis by Ahmed Fakhry,
and the Aghurmi aerial photo from High Above Egypt's Desert and Oases by M. Bertinetti.
Media and website/blog photo use is permitted ONLY if credited to TheSourceInTheSahara.com.
Please notify us if you use the images or any other content.
All rights reside with the content owners.
Press and media, please see the CONTACT page.