The net result of that big brain-dump is that I’m thinking of writing a Stargate SG-1 fanfic telling the back-story of Imhotep as seen in “The Warrior” and linking back to “The Tomb” and “Hathor”.

Elements I know so far include, Hathor killing Coronis but sparing her son Imhotep, emnity between Imhotep and Apophis, the system lord Ra being maneuvered by Apophis into condemning Imhotep to the “Hom-Dai” (locking him in a sarcophagus with scarab beetles), events of “The Mummy” unfold, told through the perspective of future technology rather than magic. “The Mummy Returns” would receive a similar treatment. Once all quietens down in that part of the world, Imhotep would slip off-planet to only be heard of later in “The Warrior”.

We watched “The Mummy” recently and “The Mummy Returns” this evening and it made me wonder about writing a Stargate SG-1 fanfic. I figured I would do some research from a variety of places, plundering and mixing in my own ideas along the way. To credit sources, however:

http://www.jimloy.com/egypt/gods.htm

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/i/imhotep.html

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/coronis.html

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/apollo.html

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/artemis.html

http://www.gateworld.net/omnipedia/characters/i/imhotep.shtml

http://www.gateworld.net/omnipedia/races/g/goauld.shtml

Hathor was the love goddess, cow or woman with cow’s ears and horns and sun disc on head. The Greek goddess Artemis was the daughter of Leto and Zeus, and twin sister of Apollo. Artemis is the goddess of the wilderness, the hunt and wild animals, and fertility (she became a goddess of fertility and childbirth mainly in cities). She was often depicted with the crescent of the moon above her forehead and was sometimes identified with Selene (goddess of the moon). Artemis was one of the Olympians and a virgin goddess. Her main vocation was to roam mountain forests and uncultivated land with her nymphs in attendance hunting for lions, panthers, hinds and stags. Contradictory to the later, she helped in protecting and seeing to their well-being, also their safety and reproduction. She was armed with a bow and arrows which were made by Hephaestus and the Cyclopes.

Clearly a nice link of mythology, allowing the jump from Egypt to Greece for Hathor. The link is further strengthened when we see that Artemis was very possessive. She would show her wrath on anyone who disobeyed her wishes, especially against her sacred animals. Even the great hero Agamemnon came upon the wrath of Artemis, when he killed a stag in her sacred grove. His punishment came when his ships were becalmed, while he made his way to besiege Troy. With no winds to sail his ships he was told by the seer Calchas that the only way Artemis would bring back the winds was for him to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia. Some versions say he did sacrifice Iphigenia, others that Artemis exchanged a deer in her place, and took Iphigenia to the land of the Tauri (the Crimea) as a priestess, to prepare strangers for sacrifice to Artemis. In Stargate SG-1’s universe, Hathor was awakened from her sarcophagus on Earth - among the Tau’ri. Iphigenia would link up as a nice female 1st prime to Hathor on Earth in a story.

Coronis was the mother of Asclepius, by Apollo who she cheated on. A raven informed Apollo of her infidelity and the god killed her (according to others it was Artemis). Before her body was consumed on a funeral pyre, Apollo saved the life of his son. In Egyptian mythology, Imhotep was the architect, physician, sage, astrologer, scribe, and chief minister of the Pharaoh Djoser, who reigned from 2630 - 2611 BCE. He designed the first pyramid (the Step Pyramid at Sakkara. The Greeks equited Imhotep with their Asclepius. This would link Coronis as the mother of Imhotep (the Goa’uld) and place Hathor as the one who killed Imhotep’s mother.

Asclepius was a Greek hero who later become the Greek god of medicine and healing. The son of Apollo and Coronis, Asclepius had five daughters, Aceso, Iaso, Panacea, Aglaea and Hygieia. He was worshipped throughout the Greek world but his most famous sanctuary was located in Epidaurus which is situated in the northeastern Peloponnese. The main attribute of Asclepius is a physician’s staff with an Asclepian snake wrapped around it; this is how he was distinguished in the art of healing, and his attribute still survives to this day as the symbol of the modern medical profession.

The Centaur Chiron taught Asclepius the art of healing. According to Pindar (Pythian Odes), Asclepius also acquired the knowledge of surgery, the use of drugs, love potions and incantations, and according to Apollodorus (the Library), Athena gave Asclepius a magic potion made from the blood of the Gorgon. Legend tells that the blood of the Gorgon has a different effect depending from which side the blood was taken. If taken from the right side of the Gorgon, it has a miraculous effect and is said to be able to bring the dead back to life, but taken from the left side it is a deadly poison.

Asclepius offended the great god Zeus by accepting money in exchange for raising the dead - the goddess Artemis who implored Asclepius to resurrect Hippolytus, a favourite of hers. In the eyes of Zeus, Asclepius’ action upset the natural order of the universe, or unbalanced the Goa’uld socio-political network.

Realising the good Asclepius had brought to man, Zeus made him into a god, placing him among the stars, transforming Asclepius into the constellation Ophiuchus (the serpent-bearer). Since we know Apophis to be the snake god - god of the underworld / chaos - this link might suggest a family relationship between Apophis and Asclepius/Imhotep.

The snake was used in the Asclepius healing ritual; non-poisonous snakes were left in the dormitory where the sick slept overnight on the bare ground. Or, was the snake merely a representation of a fully grown (or larval) Goa’uld - since it’s well established that the symbiote has healing power once blended with its host. The process of Asclepius healing ritual was known as incubation. The patient would spend the night in a dormitory. It is also said that Hippocrates was a descendant of Asclepius.

During Stargate SG-1 season 4 - in an episode called The Tomb - we saw the team investigate the crypt of ‘Marduk’ (a Babylonian deity) on a planet designated P2X-338. He’d been buried alive in his sarcophagus device with a carnivorous creature. As it ate him the machine proceeded to repair the damage. Compare this with the movie “The Mummy” where Imhotep was condemned to the ‘Hom-Dai’ - the curse of being buried alive with a sarcophagus full of scarab beetles. Ancient Egyptian magic condemned Imhotep to an eternity of suffering in much the same way as was seen in Stargate SG-1 with Marduk.

Season 5’s episode The Warrior told us that that Imhotep is a Goa’uld. They established clearly that he was a minor player and had been laying low. Many thought he’d been eliminated. In the time he was laying low, did Imhotep visit Earth, in (say) the 1920’s? The Magi (in “The Mummy”) with all their facial tattoos would be a good cover for Jaffa who would be watching to make sure that he never rose again after the punishment inflicted on him at the hands of the system lords.

Isaiah 11:1-8 says:

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him — the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD — and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.

I’ve been thinking recently about some things I’ve read online, about the whole pacifism, anti-war and non-violence movements. Something didnt sit right internally and I was trying to fathom what it was that didnt fit.

I dont see violence as the answer. Proverbs 15:1 clearly says

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Which in practice is an incredibly useful thing to remember. However, a time comes when all the peaceful, quiet methods fail and a line must be drawn. This is especially true in the realm of nations and governments.

Radical peace and the cessation of all violence will eventually come, of that I am sure. However, I dont think that it is even possible until the time after Jesus returns to the Earth. Until that time there will be violence and wars. “Perfect Peace” to me is an eschatological concept, in much the same way as the establishment of the Kingdom of God on the Earth; as much as the Religious Right are making a mistake by trying to take a future tense spiritual concept and enact it through human means, to being about the “Kingdom Now” (aka “Dominion Theology”), I think that there’s a mistake to be made in going the extreme route of pacificsm also.

Frank Herbert, Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear (from the “Dune” series of books)

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

What role does fear play in your life?

N.T. Wright explores the relationship between freedom & liturgy in worship. Fascinating stuff - well worth the time to view!

Wright gets quoted frequently by the VLI-AD teachers. I really must research something about the guy more than he’s English. Maybe I’ll add that to my list of “things to do after graduation”

I preached my first sermon last week as part of the VLI-AD mentoring program. 6 peple from the class were assigned the book of Ephesians to preach from, told to pick some verse and to preach a 15 minute sermon. I chose Ephesians 2:1-10

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

I went into the preparation time with an attitude that I wanted to preach their socks off - to me this wasnt a classroom, a clinic or a dry-run - this was the real thing with a small congregation (albeit about 12 people in size). During my preparation I felt the Lord speak to me about something specific to share - a conclusion - so I wrote that in, attempting to be obedient to what I thought I’d heard. Seems I heard accurately enough - one of the feedback sheets came back with a short note on the bottom saying that the conclusion had particularly spoken to one person there. They’d consequently marked me far higher than anyone else giving feedback.

I have to draw a powerful lesson from this: if a given sermon connects with the real needs of a person, the perceived quality will be higher. Totally subjectivity from the perspective of those hearing the sermon, yes, so I need to put my full efforts into pulling together a sermon each time that shoots accurately for the heart. This week clearly demonstrated that a sermon that penetrates deep will make a difference in people’s lives. Nicely crafted intellectual essays that are all well and good, but they just sit there passively for people to appreciate from afar. I saw this week something that was far from passive. God gave the means to crack through whatever defenses were up and to impact a person’s heart, bringing them closer to Him in the process.

Next preaching engagement will be Feb 16^th - the day before my birthday - when I’ll be preaching on “something from the gospels” … Ive already selected the passage from John 9:1-7

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.

Please join me in praying that it will impact people again. This week left me in tears as I sat through a 2 ¹/₂ hour lecture on Romans, after the mentoring.

I’ve finally taken the 2 minutes that I needed to code a block for the irritating blog comment spam that I’ve been getting. There are 2 kinds - empty messages (that I assume are probing to see if I give any hint of my email address on the resulting page) and those trying to sell me pharmaceuticals over the Internet. Not interested in either, thanks! Oh, and if you’re offering to super-size body parts I dont even have, think before you spam me, OK?