Post by Shade on Sept 25, 2009 23:17:48 GMT -6
Minor Essay on Egyptian Mythology
Egyptian Mythology was deeply intertwined with Egyptian Religion. Egyptian's beliefs were the main influence of the Egyptian culture. While this religion was a unified theological system, it never existed as a "religion" to the Egyptians. Their faith was rooted in a collection of myths, innumerable deities and nature worship.
Like other cultures, the Egyptians also had their own "creation myth". Their belief was that only the ocean existed in the very beginning. The sun, Ra, was then brought into creation having been hatched out of an egg (in some versions Ra was borne of a flower) and brought forth four offspring, the gods Shu and Geb and the goddesses Tefnut and Nut. Shu and Tefnut became the air. They settled on Geb, who became the land and elevated Nut, who then became the sky. Ra ruled over these four gods. Geb an Nut begot two sons, Set and Osiris, and two daughters, Isis and Nephthys. Osiris, in conjunction with his sister/wife Isis, succeeded Ra as king of the earth. Set, who was Osiris' brother, killed Osiris out of hatred and Isis them embalmed her brother/husbands body with the help of Anubis, who became the god of embalming. The charms that Isis used in Osiris' embalming process enabled him to resurrect and then become king of the netherworld (land of the dead). Osiris and Isis had one son, Horus, who later defeated Set and became king of the earth. From the Egyptian's creation myth came an ennead, a group of nine divinities, and a triad consisting of a divine father, mother, and son. Every temple in Egypt had it's own ennead and triad. It was held that the greatest of all enneads was that of Ra and his children and grandchildren. This group was worshiped at Heliopolis, which was the center of sun worship. The origin of several deities is obscure; some were taken from other religions and some were animal gods of ancient Africa. Eventually they were all fused into a religious structure. In addition to the gods already named, some important and relevant ones were Amon, Thoth, Ptah, Khnemu and Hapi. Some of the important goddesses were Hathor, Mut, Neit, and Sekhet. The importance of these gods increased with the political ascendancy of the localities where they were worshiped. For example, during the Memphite dynasty, Ptah became one of the greatest gods in Egypt. In turn, when the Theban dynasty ruled Egypt, the ennead of Thebes was revered as the greatest. As the Egyptian religion became more evolved, deities were sometimes confused with actual living human beings who were glorified after death. Thusly, Imhotep, who was originally a chief minister during the Zoser dynasty, was later regarded as a demigod. During the fifth dynasty, pharaohs started to claim divine ancestry and henceforth were worshiped as sons of Ra.
In Egyptian Mythology the Egyptian gods were also anthropomorphized in that they were represented as having human torsos or bodies which then had human or animal heads. More often than not, the animal representing a god would also express characteristics of said god. For example, Ra was depicted with the head of a hawk which was sacred for it's swift flight across the sky. Another example is that of Anubis (god of embalming), he was represented with the head of a jackal because these animals scavenged and ravaged desert graves. Because some gods were represented with animal heads, the animal in turn were venerated. The animals themselves did not become objects of worship until the twenty-sixth dynasty. Throughout all of this the god that was worshiped and revered most consistently was Ra, the sun god. Around the time of the Middle Kingdom the worship of Ra was considered a state religion, but he was gradually fused with the god Amon from the Theban dynasty, he then became the supreme god Amon-Ra. During the eighteenth dynasty the pharaoh Amenhotep III renamed the sun god Aton. The word Aton was an ancient word for describing physical solar force. Amenhotep's son, Amenhotep IV incited a revolution in Egyptian religion by proclaiming that Aton was the only god and the true god. He then changed his name to Akhenaton which meant "Aton is satisfied". This was of dire significance because he was the first monotheist in Egyptian religion and was so iconoclastic that he had the plural word gods erased from monuments and also persecuted the priests of Amon. However, Akhenaton's sun religion failed to survive. It did have great influence on the art, thinking, and culture. After Akhenaton's death, Egypt returned to the ancient, labyrinthine religion of polytheism.
One of the most important and well known parts of Egyptian Mythology were the burial practices. The afterlife was of significant important to Egyptians and their elaborate rituals are known world wide. The Egyptians believed that in death, out of several important psychical elements, the most important of these was the ka. The ka was a duplicate of the living human body and accompanied it throughout life and, after death, departed from the body to take it's place in the kingdom of the dead. This is where the elaborate burial rituals come into play because the ka could not exist without the preservation of the human corpse. Therefore every effort was made to preserve the corpse after death through embalming and mummifying. This method was supposedly a tradition begun by Isis when she had to embalm her brother/husband after he was killed by Set. In addition to this process, sometimes wooden or stone replicas of the body were put into the tomb in the event that the mummy would be destroyed. It was a belief that the more replicas placed in a tomb would yield a greater chance for the dead human to resurrect. As a final protection against the mummy being destroyed, massive and elaborate tombs were erected to protect the corpse, it's replicas, and it's equipment. After leaving the tomb, the Ka was said to face many challenges and dangers so each tomb was furnished with a copy of the Book of the Dead. The Book of the Dead was a guide to the world of the dead and consisted of things like charms to overcome difficulties and dangers. Once the Ka reached the kingdom of the dead safely, it was set to be judged by Osiris who was the king of the dead and forty two demon assistants; therefore the Book of the Dead also included a code of conduct to follow when being judged. If the ka was judged as a sinner it was condemned to hunger and thirst or to be torn to pieces by executioners. If the ka was judged favorably, it then went to the heavenly realm of Yaru, which was a glorified version of life on earth. All the necessities for this existence after death, from furniture to reading material, were placed in the tomb. Small statues, called ushabtis, were also placed in the tomb so that the deceased would have the chance of not having to preform tasks set by Osiris as payment for the afterlife and his benevolent protection; they served as substitutes.
Egyptian Mythology was deeply intertwined with Egyptian Religion. Egyptian's beliefs were the main influence of the Egyptian culture. While this religion was a unified theological system, it never existed as a "religion" to the Egyptians. Their faith was rooted in a collection of myths, innumerable deities and nature worship.
Like other cultures, the Egyptians also had their own "creation myth". Their belief was that only the ocean existed in the very beginning. The sun, Ra, was then brought into creation having been hatched out of an egg (in some versions Ra was borne of a flower) and brought forth four offspring, the gods Shu and Geb and the goddesses Tefnut and Nut. Shu and Tefnut became the air. They settled on Geb, who became the land and elevated Nut, who then became the sky. Ra ruled over these four gods. Geb an Nut begot two sons, Set and Osiris, and two daughters, Isis and Nephthys. Osiris, in conjunction with his sister/wife Isis, succeeded Ra as king of the earth. Set, who was Osiris' brother, killed Osiris out of hatred and Isis them embalmed her brother/husbands body with the help of Anubis, who became the god of embalming. The charms that Isis used in Osiris' embalming process enabled him to resurrect and then become king of the netherworld (land of the dead). Osiris and Isis had one son, Horus, who later defeated Set and became king of the earth. From the Egyptian's creation myth came an ennead, a group of nine divinities, and a triad consisting of a divine father, mother, and son. Every temple in Egypt had it's own ennead and triad. It was held that the greatest of all enneads was that of Ra and his children and grandchildren. This group was worshiped at Heliopolis, which was the center of sun worship. The origin of several deities is obscure; some were taken from other religions and some were animal gods of ancient Africa. Eventually they were all fused into a religious structure. In addition to the gods already named, some important and relevant ones were Amon, Thoth, Ptah, Khnemu and Hapi. Some of the important goddesses were Hathor, Mut, Neit, and Sekhet. The importance of these gods increased with the political ascendancy of the localities where they were worshiped. For example, during the Memphite dynasty, Ptah became one of the greatest gods in Egypt. In turn, when the Theban dynasty ruled Egypt, the ennead of Thebes was revered as the greatest. As the Egyptian religion became more evolved, deities were sometimes confused with actual living human beings who were glorified after death. Thusly, Imhotep, who was originally a chief minister during the Zoser dynasty, was later regarded as a demigod. During the fifth dynasty, pharaohs started to claim divine ancestry and henceforth were worshiped as sons of Ra.
In Egyptian Mythology the Egyptian gods were also anthropomorphized in that they were represented as having human torsos or bodies which then had human or animal heads. More often than not, the animal representing a god would also express characteristics of said god. For example, Ra was depicted with the head of a hawk which was sacred for it's swift flight across the sky. Another example is that of Anubis (god of embalming), he was represented with the head of a jackal because these animals scavenged and ravaged desert graves. Because some gods were represented with animal heads, the animal in turn were venerated. The animals themselves did not become objects of worship until the twenty-sixth dynasty. Throughout all of this the god that was worshiped and revered most consistently was Ra, the sun god. Around the time of the Middle Kingdom the worship of Ra was considered a state religion, but he was gradually fused with the god Amon from the Theban dynasty, he then became the supreme god Amon-Ra. During the eighteenth dynasty the pharaoh Amenhotep III renamed the sun god Aton. The word Aton was an ancient word for describing physical solar force. Amenhotep's son, Amenhotep IV incited a revolution in Egyptian religion by proclaiming that Aton was the only god and the true god. He then changed his name to Akhenaton which meant "Aton is satisfied". This was of dire significance because he was the first monotheist in Egyptian religion and was so iconoclastic that he had the plural word gods erased from monuments and also persecuted the priests of Amon. However, Akhenaton's sun religion failed to survive. It did have great influence on the art, thinking, and culture. After Akhenaton's death, Egypt returned to the ancient, labyrinthine religion of polytheism.
One of the most important and well known parts of Egyptian Mythology were the burial practices. The afterlife was of significant important to Egyptians and their elaborate rituals are known world wide. The Egyptians believed that in death, out of several important psychical elements, the most important of these was the ka. The ka was a duplicate of the living human body and accompanied it throughout life and, after death, departed from the body to take it's place in the kingdom of the dead. This is where the elaborate burial rituals come into play because the ka could not exist without the preservation of the human corpse. Therefore every effort was made to preserve the corpse after death through embalming and mummifying. This method was supposedly a tradition begun by Isis when she had to embalm her brother/husband after he was killed by Set. In addition to this process, sometimes wooden or stone replicas of the body were put into the tomb in the event that the mummy would be destroyed. It was a belief that the more replicas placed in a tomb would yield a greater chance for the dead human to resurrect. As a final protection against the mummy being destroyed, massive and elaborate tombs were erected to protect the corpse, it's replicas, and it's equipment. After leaving the tomb, the Ka was said to face many challenges and dangers so each tomb was furnished with a copy of the Book of the Dead. The Book of the Dead was a guide to the world of the dead and consisted of things like charms to overcome difficulties and dangers. Once the Ka reached the kingdom of the dead safely, it was set to be judged by Osiris who was the king of the dead and forty two demon assistants; therefore the Book of the Dead also included a code of conduct to follow when being judged. If the ka was judged as a sinner it was condemned to hunger and thirst or to be torn to pieces by executioners. If the ka was judged favorably, it then went to the heavenly realm of Yaru, which was a glorified version of life on earth. All the necessities for this existence after death, from furniture to reading material, were placed in the tomb. Small statues, called ushabtis, were also placed in the tomb so that the deceased would have the chance of not having to preform tasks set by Osiris as payment for the afterlife and his benevolent protection; they served as substitutes.