I've been studying this subject for a while this afternoon, and as much
as I'd like to claim that the ancient Egyptians had electrical devices
and/or advanced technology that involved electricity, I can't. I'm not
saying that I don't believe that there was an advanced civilization(s)
from long ago that once dwelled on this planet before ultimately
destroying their selves or sunk like the story of Atlantis or perhaps
left earth via advanced spaceships. None of that is important right now,
as this subject is about if it's just a myth or an actual fact that the
ancient Egyptians had electricity.
Anyway, I found a couple decent resources online that covered the
primary possibilities and one of them had elaborate explanations why all
of this is just a myth and was dreamed up by hopeful romantics, more or
less. The first page/resource was obviously from a "believer" in
ancient Egyptian electricity. Their page was called "Ancient Electricity
- Top Ten Contenders." Out of their top 10, only a couple even remotely
had a chance. Those were their sections that covered the "Baghdad
Battery" and the "Electroplated Artifacts." This is not really the
resource I'd recommend, but if you are interested in their views, you
can go here: www.aquiziam.com/ancient-electricity.html [Link is no longer valid]
This next resource is more elaborate and scientific. They cover the
famous "no soot" concepts and the Baghdad battery impossibilities and
much more. Oh, I almost forgot. One of the biggest subjects that this
ancient electricity subject often spawns from, is the 'Dendera light'
theory. The 'Dendera light' is a term used to describe a supposed
ancient Egyptian electrical lighting technology depicted on three stone
reliefs in the Hathor temple at the Dendera Temple complex located in
Egypt. I also used it for the photo in this post. I've seen both sides
of the interpretations from this depiction, and I'm yet to see how it
represents ancient electricity. If you have followed many ancient
carvings, drawings and hieroglyphics, you will know what I mean.
Now, back to the main subjects at hand. The Baghdad batteries just don't
have enough juice, even if it was operational. The guy reconstructed
one or more of these things and came to the conclusion that one 1 Watt
bulb needs 40 of these ancient batteries per working day. Yeah, all for 1
watt! He also figured up that each worker would need a lamp with 10
workers per each site for 2 years and that it would equate to 292,000
batteries with a total weight of 584 tons! Then, if you factor in the
400 (or thereabouts) underground sites in Egypt, you would then need 116
million of these Baghdad batteries that would approximately weigh
233,600 freakin' tons! Think about all of the scrap iron and waste
material that we would have to find nowadays, if they used those
particular batteries to power light bulbs. Yikes! Anyway, just that
mathematical reason alone, pretty much debunks the ancient battery
notion, in my opinion.
Then you have the extremely popular "there was no soot" found deep
inside some of these sites. Here's a quote from a famous material expert
on this subject: "The absence of smoke-blackening in the tombs of the
kings is also no difficult explanation. If olive-oil is used, there is
very little smoke, and a suitable covering over the lamp, for which
various methods readily suggest themselves, would very easily prevent
carbon being deposited on the ceiling." In a thumbnail, even the author
of that web page said: "There is soot, although the Egyptian lamps were
almost sootless and even buildings in no need of artificial illumination
contain soot. This whole argument is as wrong as an argument can be."
Either way, this is by no means evidence for artificial lighting
methods. If you'd like to read an elaborate, highly detailed version, go
here: www.world-mysteries.com/sar_lights_fd1.htm [This link is also no longer valid]
By what I've read in the past, most of the chambers and passages in the
Egyptian pyramids were built in open ditches anyway. They constructed
this stuff in broad daylight! However, you have the right to believe
whatever you want to believe. When it comes to ancient Egyptian
electricity,
fact or myth, I'll let you decide; cheers!
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Source =
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendera_light
---End of Post "Fact or Myth: Ancient Egyptian Electricity"