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Egyptian mythology
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Ancient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over at least 3,000 years, from the predynastic period until the adoption of Christianity in the early centuries C.E. These beliefs centered on the worship of multiple deities who represented various forces of nature. These deities were worshipped with offerings and prayers, in local and household shrines as well as in formal temples managed by priests.
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Ancient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over at least 3,000 years, from the predynastic period until the adoption of Christianity in the early centuries C.E. These beliefs centered on the worship of multiple deities who represented various forces of nature. These deities were worshipped with offerings and prayers, in local and household shrines as well as in formal temples managed by priests. Different gods were prominent at different periods of Egyptian history, and the myths associated with them changed over time, so Egypt never had a coherent hierarchy of deities or a unified mythology. However, the religion contained many overarching beliefs. Among these were the divinity of the pharaoh, which helped to politically unify the country, and complex beliefs about an afterlife, which gave rise to the Egyptians' elaborate burial customs.
Core concepts
Theology
Egyptian religion was generally polytheistic, believing in a number of gods and goddesses. Many of these deities controlled a specific aspect of nature, for instance both the god Ra and the goddess Hathor were considered to be deities of the sun.
Particular deities were associated with a specific area or city in Egypt. To the people in that area they were often seen as chief among the gods.
There was no one chief deity over the entire history of ancient Egypt. At times and places the chief god was Atum, who was later amalgamated with another important god, Ra, to form Atum-Ra. Ra was later amalgamated with Horus to form the god Ra-Horakhty.
The most notable gods included:
- Atum, god of creation.
- Ra, god of the sun.
- Heru (later hellenised as "Horus"). falcon, symbol of resurrection / rising sun.
- Het Heru / HT HR (later hellenised as "Hathor"), goddess of the sun.
- Asar (later hellenised as "Osiris"), the ruler of the underworld, and husband and brother of Ast/Isis.
- Ast/Aset, (later hellenised as "Isis").the mother goddess, and wife and sister of Asar.
- Anpu,(later hellenised as "Anubis"), god of the embalming of the dead.
- Tehuti, (later hellenised as "Thoth"),god of the moon, writing and knowledge.
- Set, god of chaos.
Deities in the Egyptian pantheon sometimes played different, and at times conflicting, roles. As an example, the lioness Sekhmet being sent out by Ra to devour the humans for having rebelled against him, but later on becoming a fierce protector of the kingdom, life in general, and the sick. Even more complex are the roles of Set. Judging the mythology of Set from a modern perspective, especially the mythology surrounding Set's relationship with Osiris, it is easy to cast Set as the arch villain and source of evil. However this was not always so, as Set was earlier playing the role of destroyer of Apep, in the service of Ra on his barge, and thus serving to uphold Ma'at (Truth, Justice, and Harmony).
Divine Pharaoh
The pharaoh, or king of Egypt, was viewed as both human and divine, and thus acted as intermediary between Egypt's people and the gods. He was key to upholding Maat in society, by defending the country from enemies, appointing fair officials, managing the food supply, and appeasing the gods with temples and offerings. Thus, he is often depicted in temples presenting an emblem of Maat to the gods, representing his maintenance of the divine order. Such was his importance that the Egyptian word for "king" referred only to the pharaoh; any foreign ruler, no matter how powerful, was simply called "great chief."
The king was also associated with several specific deities. While alive, a pharaoh was identified with Horus, and given the title "Son of Ra." The goddesses Isis, Hathor, and Mut were all seen as the mother of the pharaoh. A deceased king was viewed as fully divine, and identified with Osiris (the father of Horus) and with Ra.
Pantheism
Some scholars, (such as Dr. Ramses Seleem) have detected elements of pantheism in scriptures such as the Book of the Dead, however this is disputed.
Atenism
There was a period in the 14th century BCE when the pharaoh Akhenaten promoted the worship of the sun-disk Aten over the other deities. Eventually he prohibited the worship of the other gods, converting the official religion of Egypt into true monotheism. However, Akhenaten's changes contrasted with the syncretic tradition of earlier Egyptian belief, and this exclusivity alienated ordinary Egyptians. Thus, under Akhenaten's successors Egypt reverted to its traditional religion.
Writings
In Egypt there was no single religious scripture. However, there were many religious texts for various purposes. These include devotional writings, funerary texts, and texts relating various myths.
Mythology
An ancient Egyptian origin myth holds that in the beginning, the universe was filled with the primeval waters of chaos, which was the god Nun. The god, Re-Atum appeared from the Water as the land of Egypt appears every year out of the flood waters of the Nile. Re-Atum spat and out of the spittle came out the deities Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture). The world was created when Shu and Tefnut gave birth to two children: Nut (Sky) and Geb (the Earth). Humans were created when Shu and Tefnut went wandering in the dark wastes and got lost. Re-Atum sent his eye to find them. On bringing together, his tears of joy turned into people.
Geb and Nut copulated, and upon Shu's learning of his children's fornication, he separated the two, effectively becoming the air between the sky and ground. He also decreed that the pregnant Nut should not give birth any day of the year. Nut pleaded with Thoth, who on her behalf gambled with the moon-god Yah and won five more days to be added onto the then 360-day year. Nut had one child on each of these days: Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, and Horus-the-Elder.
Osiris, by different accounts, was either the son of Re-Atum or Geb, and king of Egypt. His brother Seth represented chaos in the universe. He murdered Osiris by tricking him to fit inside of a box, which was the nailed shut and thrown into the Nile. After killing Osiris, Seth tore his body into pieces. Isis rescued most of the pieces for burial beneath the temple, but first she resurrected Osiris so she could copulate with him to create their child Horus . Seth made himself king, but was challenged by Osiris's son - Horus. Seth lost and was sent to the desert. Osiris was mummified by Isis and became god of the dead. Horus became the king and from him descended the pharaohs.
Another version, this one by Plutarch
states that Set made a chest that only Osiris could fit into. He then invited Osiris to a feast. Set made a bet that no one could fit into the chest. Osiris was the last one to step into the chest, but before he did, Set asked if he could hold Osiris's crown. Osiris agreed and stepped into the chest. As he lay down, Set slammed the lid shut and put the crown on his own head. He then set the chest afloat on the Nile. Isis did not know of her husband's death until the Wind told her. She then placed her son in a safe place and cast a spell so no one could find him. When she searched for her husband, a child told her a chest had washed up on the bank and a tree had grown up. The tree was so straight the king had used it for the central pillar of his new palace. Isis went and asked for her husband's body and it was given to her. The god of the underworld told her that Osiris would be a king, but only in the underworld.
Devotional Writings
Like many cultures, the Egyptians prayed to their gods for help, although there are few written prayers that predate the Nineteenth Dynasty. There are also many formal hymns praising particular deities or the pharaoh. These poems consist of short lines organized into couplets or triplets, and were probably recited, or possibly even sung, during religious ceremonies. They often included mention of many different aspects of the deity whom they addressed, and expounded on his or her nature and mythological function. Thus, they are important sources of information on Egyptian theology.
Funerary Texts
Among the most significant Egyptian writings are funerary texts designed to insure that deceased souls reached a pleasant afterlife. The earliest of these are the Pyramid Texts, the oldest religious writings in the world . They consisted of almost a thousand spells, or "utterances," which were inscribed on the walls of royal pyramids during the Old Kingdom. During the First Intermediate Period, nonroyal officials began having funerary spells, including portions of the Pyramid Texts, inscribed in their coffins and on tomb walls. This collection of writings is known as the Coffin Texts. The Coffin Texts in turn were major sources for a number of New Kingdom writings, including the Book of the Dead, which were copied on papyrus and sold to ordinary citizens, to be placed in their tombs.
The Coffin Texts included a new type of funerary text, which contained detailed descriptions of the Egyptian underworld and instructions on how to overcome its hazards. In the New Kingdom several texts of this type developed, including the Book of Gates, the Book of Caverns and the Amduat.
Religious Practices
Temples
Temples to the gods existed from the earliest periods of Egyptian history, and at the height of the civilization were present in almost every town. These included both mortuary temples to serve the spirits of deceased pharaohs and temples dedicated to patron gods. However, not all gods had temples dedicated to them, as there were many cosmic deities that did not receive widespread worship, and many household gods who were the focus of popular veneration rather than temple worship.
Temples were central to Egyptian society, and vast resources were devoted to their upkeep. Pharaohs often added to temples as part of their obligation to honor the gods, so that many temples grew to be huge– the Temple of Karnak, for instance, is the largest religious structure in the world.
Most temples generally followed a common plan. Temples built along the Nile were typically oriented on an east-west axis, although as this axis was usually aligned at 90 degrees from the flow of the river, local variations in the Nile's course meant that the orientation did not always conform to true directions. The major entrance to such temples was usually the nearby landing quay on the Nile, from which a processional way ran through the walls of the temple enclosure. Beyond this, there were usually one or more pylon gateways, followed by a courtyard enclosed by a colonnade. This courtyard was likely where commoners delivered offerings and met with the priests. Further in was the covered hypostyle hall, and beyond this was the sanctuary, surrounded by subsidiary rooms related to the daily business of temple ritual. The outdoor areas of the temple were decorated with obelisks and statues, and walls and columns were inscribed with reliefs.
The entire journey from the temple entrance to the sanctuary was seen as a journey from the human world to the divine realm; thus, the sanctuary was the most sacred part of the temple, and contained a shrine with the image of the temple's god. Access to the sanctuary was usually restricted to the pharaoh and the highest-ranking priests. Ritual offerings were typically performed in the morning and evening, either by the pharaoh or, more commonly, the priest acting as his surrogate. In them, the god's statue was washed, anointed, and elaborately dressed, before food offerings were placed before it or in an offering hall outside the sanctuary. Afterward, when the god had consumed the spiritual essence of the offerings, the items themselves were taken to be distributed among the priests.
Temple complexes also included many subsidiary buildings. Among these was the "House of Life," where the temple's sacred writings and mundane records were kept, and which also served as a center of learning on a multitude of subjects. Many temples probably included sanatoria where sick people came to seek healing by the gods. Larger temples also included kitchens and workshops to produce food and goods for offering to the gods or for the practical needs of the temple, along with storage buildings to keep these industries supplied. Outside the temple proper, there were also large farm lands, quarries, and mines that were owned by the temple and used to support its miniature economy.
Priests
The pharaoh was Egypt's intermediary with the gods, so in theory, all priests merely acted on his behalf. In fact, during the Old and Middle Kingdoms, there was no separate class of priests; instead, many government officials served in this capacity for several months out of the year before returning to their secular duties. Only in the New Kingdom did professional priesthood become widespread, although most lower-ranking priests were still part-time. However, as the wealth of the temples grew, the influence of the priesthoods increased, until it rivaled that of the pharaoh. In the political fragmentation of the Third Intermediate Period, the high priests of Amun even became the effective rulers of Upper Egypt.
Priests were usually male. During the Old Kingdom, many women from wealthy families held important priestly roles, mainly in temples to female deities. However, during the Middle Kingdom women became less prominent in public life, and afterward most of the women involved in temple activities seem to have been in less-important roles, such as singer or musician in religious ceremonies.
Priests were divided into several different classes. One of the most important divisions was between the "god's servants," who were permitted in the temple sanctuary, and the "purifiers," who were not. Purifiers' duties often entailed non-ritual tasks, and government officials often nominally held this role. There were also several specialized roles in the priesthood, such as that of the lector priest, who recited the formulas to which rituals were performed. At the top of the hierarchy in each temple was the high priest, or "first servant of the god." High priests were often appointed by the pharaoh, although the office was frequently passed from father to son and tended to become hereditary. All priests were paid with allotments of land out of the temple's possessions, and with portions of the daily food offerings. There were also many more people in the employ of the temple, including farmers and artisans to supply its needs, and musicians and chanters who assisted in temple rituals. All were paid with portions of the temple's income.
While actively serving the temple, priests adhered to strict standards of ritual purity. They were required to shave their heads and bodies, wash several times a day, and wear only clean linen clothing. In the service of some specific gods, there were also particular behaviors, such as eating certain foods, from which priests had to refrain. They were not required to be celibate, but sexual intercourse rendered them unclean until they underwent further purification.
Magic
Sometimes rituals designed to induce sorcery or witchcraft were performed. This was called heka, and was overseen by a god that was also called "Heka".
Death, burial and afterlife
Egypt had a highly developed view of the afterlife with elaborate rituals for preparing the body and soul for an eternal life after death. Beliefs about the soul and afterlife focused heavily on preservation of the body. The Egyptians believed the ka aspect of the soul needed to be reunited with the ba, to support the akh, the part of each being which ascends to the heavens to take its place among the stars. This meant that embalming and mummification were practised, in order to preserve the individual's identity in the afterlife.
Bodies of the dead were coated inside and out with resin to preserve them, then wrapped with linen bandages, embedded with religious amulets and talismans. In the case of royalty, the mummy was usually placed inside a series of nested coffins, the outermost of which was a stone sarcophagus. The intestines, lungs, liver, and stomach were preserved separately and stored in canopic jars protected by the four sons of Horus. The heart was left in place because it was thought to be the home of the soul. The standard length of the mummification process was seventy days.
Embalmment was reserved for a selected few in the Old Kingdom, but it became available to wider sections of society in later periods. Animals were also mummified, sometimes thought to have been pets of Egyptian families, but more frequently or more likely, they were the representations of deities. The ibis, crocodile, cat, Nile perch, falcon, and baboon can be found in perfect mummified forms. During the Ptolemaic Period, animals were especially bred for the purpose.
After a person dies their soul is led into a hall of judgment in Duat by Anubis (god of mummification) and the deceased's heart, which was the record of the morality of the owner, is weighed against a single feather representing Ma'at (the concept of truth and order). If the outcome is favorable, the deceased is taken to Osiris, god of the afterlife, in Aaru, but the demon Ammit (Eater of Hearts) part crocodile, part lion, and part hippopotamus destroys those hearts whom the verdict is against, leaving the owner to remain in Duat. A heart that weighed less than the feather was considered a pure heart, not weighed down by the guilt or sins of one's actions in life, resulting in a favorable verdict; a heart heavy with guilt and sin from one's life weighed more than the feather, and so the heart would be eaten by Ammit. An individual without a heart in the afterlife in essence, did not exist as Egyptians believed the heart to be the center of reason and emotion as opposed to the brain which was removed and discarded during mummification. Many times a person would be buried with a "surrogate" heart to replace their own for the weighing of the heart ceremony.
Cults
There was no set unified Egyptian religion. Every city had its own local religious cult within the greater framework of "Egyptian religion", thereby sharing various similarities.
Regional cults (cities are listed north to south):
These regional cults were established by the end of the Old Kingdom. During the New Kingdom, the cosmogonies of the Ennead and the Ogdoad were merged (syncretized) into an overarching state religion of the Egyptian Empire, resulting in various identifications of formerly distinct deities. An example of such syncretism during is the unification of Ra and Amun as Amun-Ra, or Ptah, Seker, and Osiris becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris.
Syncretism should be distinguished from mere groupings, also referred to as "families" such as Amun, Mut, and Khonsu, where no "merging" takes place. Over time, deities took part in multiple syncretic relationships; for instance, the combination of Ra and Horus into Ra-Herakty. The Legend of Osiris and Isis originating in this reform has a long history of reception outside Egypt. In Ptolemaic times, it influenced Hellenistic religion (Osiris-Dionysus), and later Renaissance occultism and Hermeticism.
Ancient Egyptian religion notably included an imperial cult, with the Pharaoh considered a living deity, identified with Horus. In the Old Kingdom, the pharaoh was deified during his lifetime. From the Fifth Dynasty, deification took place only after the pharaoh's death. It was only New Kingdom pharaohs like Amenhotep III who attempted to regain divine status during their lifetimes. After death, the pharaoh was identified with Osiris (who was identified with Horus in the New Kingdom state religion).
History
Old Kingdom
The Old Kingdom period is most commonly regarded as spanning the period of time when Egypt was ruled by the Third Dynasty through to the Sixth Dynasty, from 2686 BC to 2134 BCE. It was the beginning of the highest level of cultural development achieved by the ancient Egyptians, whose cultural roots extend six thousand years earlier, into prehistory.
Old Kingdom deities:
The Pyramid Texts (roughly 25th to 23nd century BCE) contain spells, or "utterances" primarily concerned with protecting the pharaoh's remains, reanimating his body after death, and helping him ascend to the heavens. As such, they qualify as the oldest known religious texts worldwide, slightly predating the Sumerian hyms of Enheduanna. The "Coffin Texts" are funerary spells related to the Pyramid texts dating to the First Intermediate Period.
Middle Kingdom
The cult of Amun grew during the Middle Kingdom. Senusret III (1878 BC – 1839 BCE) built a fine religious temple at Abydos; while it is now destroyed, surviving reliefs show the high quality of the decorations. He was deified at the end of the Middle Kingdom and worshipped by the pharaohs of the New Kingdom.
New Kingdom
By the New Kingdom, the Ogdoad and the Ennead were merged into a single syncretized cosmology. In the Ennead, Osiris is the husband of Isis, and sibling of Seth, all of whom are the great-grandchildren of the creator god Atum, and Horus is not present within the system. In the Ogdoad, Osiris is not present within the system, and Horus is son of Atum, the creator god. When the Ennead and Ogdoad merged, Ra and Amun were identified as one, becoming Amun-Ra, and Horus was initially considered the fifth sibling of Osiris, Isis, Nephthys and Set. However, Horus' mother, Hathor, gradually became identified as a form of Isis, leading Horus to be Isis' son, and therefore the son of Osiris.
Atenism
A short interval of monotheism (Atenism) occurred under the reign of Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) (1350s to 1330s BCE), focused on the Egyptian sun deity Aten. The Aten is typically shown as a sun disk with rays coming out of all sides. Akhenaten built a new capital at Amarna with temples for the Aten. This was a symbolic act as Akhenaten wanted a place of worship for the Aten that was not tainted by the visage of other deities. The religious change survived only until the death of Akhenaten, and the old religion was quickly restored during the reign of Tutankhamun, however an effort was made to erase Akhenaten's name from history for his heretical actions.
Late period
After the fall of the Amarna dynasty, the New Kingdom pantheon survived as the dominant religion, until the Achaemenid conquests. The Egyptian Book of the Dead was standardized (the "Saite Recension") during this time. Herodotus presents us a bleak portrait of Cambyses' rule, describing the king as mad, ungodly, and cruel. Herodotus may have drawn on an indigenous tradition that reflected the Egyptians' resentment, especially of the clergy, of Cambyses' decree curtailing royal grants made to Egyptian temples under Amasis. In order to regain the support of the powerful priestly class, Darius I (522–486 BC) revoked Cambyses' decree. Shortly before 486 BCE, a revolt broke out in Egypt, subdued by Xerxes I only in 484 BCE. The province was subjected to harsh punishment for the revolt, and especially its satrap Achaemenes administered the country without regard for the opinion of his subjects.
Decline
When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt, he went on pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun at the Siwa Oasis. The oracle declared him to be the son of Amun-Re. Egyptian religion continued to thrive during the Ptolemaic period; some cults were syncretized with Greek mystery traditions, exerting influence on Hellenistic magic. Under Roman rule (from 30 BCE), the situation remained largely unchanged. The Romans like the Ptolemies respected and protected Egyptian religion and customs, although the imperial cult of the Roman state and of the Emperor was gradually introduced. Egyptian religion entered a period of decline following the Egyptians' adoption of Christianity in the first centuries of the common era. Remnants of native traditions lingered in traditionalist pockets such as temple hierarchies, free from persecution but gradually ousted by Early Christianity. The last vestiges of Egyptian religious traditions may have persisted into the 5th century, as reflected in the Hieroglyphica.
Revival
With the neopagan emergence in the 20th century, a form of reconstructed ancient Egyptian religion called Kemetism was formed.
See also
Further reading
- Schulz, R. and M. Seidel, "Egypt: The World of the Pharaohs". Könemann, Cologne 1998. ISBN 3-89508-913-3
- Budge, E. A. Wallis, "Egyptian Religion: Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life (Library of the Mystic Arts)". Citadel Press. August 1, 1991. ISBN 0-8065-1229-6
- Clarysse, Willy; Schoors, Antoon; Willems, Harco; Quaegebeur, Jan, , Peeters Publishers, 1998. ISBN 9042906693
- Harris, Geraldine, John Sibbick, and David O'Connor, "Gods and Pharaohs from Egyptian Mythology". Bedrick, 1992. ISBN 0-87226-907-8
- Hart, George, "Egyptian Myths (Legendary Past Series)". University of Texas Press (1st edition), 1997. ISBN 0-292-72076-9
- Osman, Ahmed, Moses and Akhenaten. The Secret History of Egypt at the Time of the Exodus, (December 2002, Inner Traditions International, Limited) ISBN 1-59143-004-6
- Bilolo, Mubabinge, Les cosmo-théologies philosophiques d'Héliopolis et d'Hermopolis. Essai de thématisation et de systématisation, (Academy of African Thought, Sect. I, vol. 2), Kinshasa-Munich 1987; new ed., Munich-Paris, 2004.
- Bilolo, Mubabinge, "Les cosmo-théologies philosophiques de l’Égypte Antique. Problématique, prémisses herméneutiques et problèmes majeurs, (Academy of African Thought, Sect. I, vol. 1)", Kinshasa-Munich 1986; new ed., Munich-Paris, 2003.
- Bilolo, Mubabinge, "Métaphysique Pharaonique IIIème millénaire av. J.-C. (Academy of African Thought & C.A. Diop-Center for Egyptological Studies-INADEP, Sect. I, vol. 4)", Kinshasa-Munich 1995 ; new ed., Munich-Paris, 2003.
- Bilolo, Mubabinge, "Le Créateur et la Création dans la pensée memphite et amarnienne. Approche synoptique du Document Philosophique de Memphis et du Grand Hymne Théologique d'Echnaton, (Academy of African Thought, Sect. I, vol. 2)", Kinshasa-Munich 1988; new ed., Munich-Paris, 2004.
- Pinch, Geraldine, "Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of ancient Egypt". Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-517024-5
External links
- Hare, J.B., "". (sacred-texts.com)
- "Ancient Egyptian architecture: ". University College London.
- O'Brien, Alexandra A., "".
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