This week you were provided with an introduction to Egyptian mythology through the Quirke reading (PDF under course documents on Blackboard)and Prof. Morris's lecture. As most of you are newcomers to the study of Ancient Egypt and haven't dealt extensively with their religious beliefs I would like to hear your thoughts about the Egyptian religious worldview.
Based on your reading of Quirke (which presumes prior knowledge and does jump around a lot I know), what do you think are the major themes of Egyptian religious belief? What patterns and overarching motifs can you tease out from the information provided? One way to approach this question may be to think about the geography of Egypt and how its character is manifested in the Egyptian view of the universe.
Specific examples from the lecture and reading are welcomed. 1-2 paragraphs in the comment section.
It seems that Egyptian mythology developed and expanded over time by exploring relationships existing within the geographical habitat. As Quirke put, the “most fundamental importance that is relations between things, rather than the things themselves,” are considered to be divine. The relationships can mostly be categorized into two separate types: complementing parallels and familial association.
ReplyDeleteThe complementary relationships are the easier to distinguish. While the king is symbolized by the soaring falcon, the queen (in the case the complement of the king) is represented by the vulture. The fertilizing water of the Nile River is considered to be nurturing and enriched with hope for birth, the Nun “primeval water” is considered to be “dark and directionless” even though it is from the Nun that life had risen. The goddess Bast takes form of a cat, which is considered to be by instinct ambivalent as it can transform from a peaceful, purring animal into one that does not fear to use its claws. The god Thoth, too, embodies the shift between rage and peace, who takes the form of either an ibis or a baboon, depending on his situational characterization.
An example of the familial association is seen in Atum’s children, who too, exemplify opposing forces – the son, Shu, is known as “dry air” and his daughter Tefnut is called the “corrosive moist air.” Shu and Tefnut have contradictory properties but are both considered to be the two life-giving principles. Shu embodies the preservation of life while Tefnut represents the rule of change and concept time that remain as constants of life. Another prevalent example concerning kings is the dramatic struggles among Osiris, Isis, and Seth. Osiris marries his sister, Isis (the healer), who ultimately brings him back to life and conceives a son with him. Their peaceful relationship is juxtaposed by the envy and evil of their mutual brother, Seth, who plans a conspiracy against Osiris. Ultimately, Horus, the son of Osiris and Isis, defeats Seth and becomes the paragon for good kingship.
"The world of our experience can seem far removed from the most abstract investigations of creative impulses, and the Ancient Egyptians did not hesitate to express the more concrete aspects of creation" (46). For me, this quote fully captures Egyptian religion and mythology. It is no doubt that the Egyptians have maintained a close relationship with their physical surroundings. The Nile River has been an extremely important part of Egyptian culture, not only for survival purposes, but for religious ones as well. For example, the "Nile Flood" provides silt for crops (survival), but it also signifies the emergence of the Sun God through the blooming of the Lotus Flower (religion).
ReplyDeleteEgypt's geography and the Egyptian's relationship with the land/animals are ultimately the basis for all mythology and religion. As mentioned on the very first page of "Power in Heaven," the Egyptians have an "overriding appreciating for the day lit sky." This appreciation allows for a very respectful relationship with Egypt's nature and Gods. The Egyptians have a God for pretty much every part of their land. There's Nun the God of dark, directionless waters, Ra the Sun God, Nut God of the sky, Geb God of the Earth, and so on...
Lastly, I noticed in the reading how each part of nature has a divine purpose beyond it's practical one. For example, for most cultures, the Sun's job is to provide light and warmth, however, for the Egyptians, the Sun embodies this idea of resurrection through the promise of rising each morning after the sunset each day.
- Alex Morency
Clearly, the Egyptian religion revolved around the idea of the sun and its implications in their lives. This is shown through the importance in their 'scripture' of Ra and his many reincarnations, in the reverence given to high-flying animals such as the falcon, to the fact that kings were buried as close to the sun as possible.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that they were so captivated by the sun also points to the interesting relationship between their religious ideas and the physical world they lived in. Many spiritual powers were given physical embodiments that the Egyptians could relate to. For example, the creation story as outlined by Quirke (Quirke,23) was inspired by the ceaseless cycle of sunrise and sunset. Other examples include the characterization of the "preservational" qualities of dry air and dry land into gods (Shu into Geb), and the "changing" qualities of moist air and the sky into gods (Tefnut into Nut) (28).
Although Egypt seems to have been isolated from other cultures, it is interesting to see the parallels between Ancient Greek mythology and Egyptian mythology, in terms of how all the rest of the gods branch off from the "all-powerful" creator god. Zeus was the god of the sky, and one of the most powerful - just like Ra.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the text for me was the dualism seen time and time again in Egyptian religion. For each god or phenomenon, there is an opposite. Dry Air has Moist Air, Order has Disorder, Perception has Pronouncement, etc. More specifically, these gods even have internal dualism - shown by the image of the lion or cat, who holds the power to passionately destroy, or be coaxed into peace. Quirke describes this as the "protective power of a dangerous force." (31). The recurrence of dualism could have come about from the radical differences in geography in Egypt - the split of Upper and Lower Egypt and the inherence importance of North/South travel.
All in all, I think the Egyptians explained the forces behind everyday occurrences through the rich mythology concerning the relationships of all the gods affiliated with a certain aspect of life. By doing this, they brought the heavens down to earth, and connected with them in the physical plane, reinforcing their beliefs daily.
This reading makes it quite evident that Egyptian geography had a strong influence over the culture’s religion. Two overarching motifs I found to prove this are dualism and cycles, prevalent in both Egypt’s geography and religious history. Just as dualism is apparent in geography (Red vs Black Land, Upper vs Lower Egypt, North vs South, Flood vs. Dry, etc), there are many religious examples. A majority of the gods have a contradictory counterpart; Horus, embodying order, is incomplete without Seth, disorder, likewise with Shu (dryness) and Tefnut (moisture), Ra (the sun) and Thoth (the moon), and the death of Osiris being complimented by Iris bringing him back to life. On the subject of life and death, cycles are also apparent in Egyptian geography (the Nile’s flow and flooding patterns) and life views in general. The reading quickly touches base on mummification as Egpytians’ way of completing the cycle of life. It also notes their belief in life as a constant cycle between dark and light (which goes back to dualism or Ra and Thoth). The sun god is a great final example of the cyclical nature of Egyptian religion, as it cycles through many shapes and forms throughout time including Khepri (the morning sun), Hesyra (one praised by the sun), the legend of the king of the sun, and the all-encompassing aforementioned Ra, who, for the Egyptians, represented the promise of a new day and new life. To conclude, both dualism and cycles can be derived from Egyptian geography and play an integral role in Egyptian religious history as well. --Caroline Miller
ReplyDeleteBased on my reading of Quirke, the most prevalent theme in Egyptian religious belief is the sense of completion and balance. This theme becomes apparent when Quirke begins to list some of the Egyptian deities: “Shu and Tefnut (dry and moist), Geb and Nut (earth and sky) and so forth” (Quirke, 46). Each deity appears to have a counterpart. This balance may act as assurance for Egyptians that order has a chance of being maintained and no factor of the universe is disadvantaged, in a theological sense. In addition, not only are the deities themselves representative of wholeness and balance, but they are also able to create wholeness and balance for citizens of Egypt. For example, upon the sun-god Ra’s departure from Earth, and subsequent ordering of Nut to make herself the sky, Ra created an eternal pattern of “perpetual motion” for Egyptians: “The universe thus consisted for the Egyptians of an eternal process, a cycle of light and darkness…” (Quirke, 34). Another example is the “Osiris cycle” which came as a result of Horus and Seth: Firstly, life reborn in the ground is guaranteed by the murder and revivification of Osiris. Secondly, the protection of infant Horus offered survival in the face of natural attack from venomous neighbors of the Nile, such as scorpions and serpents. Thirdly, the struggle of Horus for victory over Seth offered the model of kingship (Quirke, 67). The balance of Horus and Seth is further illustrated by their first settlement of splitting the domain of the Earth. It has been suggested that the split may be representative of Upper and Lower Egypt or of the desert and the valley (Quirke, 65). Either way, it is clear that even in a geographical sense, the motif of balance is dominant in Egyptian theology.
ReplyDeleteAll of these different cycles offer Egyptians a sense of security and consistency. As long as the cycles of environment and life, set forth by the deities, remain, they can take comfort in knowing that their universe is working as intended.
-Dominique Dacchille
One prominent idea in Quirke’s work is the importance of metaphors in Ancient Egypt. The use of metaphors in representing the gods suggests that the Egyptian worldview, particularly when it took a religious lens, provided a more holistic way of interpreting daily life. Instead of linking specific gods to specific ideals and roles, religion was fluid, with the roles of the gods and their representations fluctuating over time. For example, in some sources Seth is considered a necessary destructive force that facilitates rebirth - a counter-balance of disorder to the order that Horus represents - whilst later on he becomes synonymous with an absolute evil.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Ancient Greek mythology, where complex familial sagas and specific gods were detailed chronologically, Quirke explains that the families suggested by Egyptian mythology were “not attempts to produce literal family genealogies for the divine world, but rather metaphors” (p.25) , representations and shorthand for ideas which might otherwise be inexplicable. Thus, a main theme within the development of Ancient Egyptian religion appears to be the creation of a code of symbols - whether those were real world animals that they encountered (the falcon, the jackal), sensations familiar to their geography (moist and dry), or another everyday concern - which would attempt to convey their more complex ideas about creation and the afterlife. Quirke suggests that, unlike the Greeks, the Egyptians were “more open in their expression of the unknowable, accepting different detailed versions [of myths] as the human renderings of divine and so inexpressible relations” (p.58). Throughout the reading, it appears that this attempt to bridge the gap between the familiar and this “unknowable” quantity was a major concern of the Ancient Egyptian religion.
- Catherine Brown
It is presumably easier for modern Americans to have an easier time wrapping their heads around the Greek gods and goddesses, rather than those of the Egyptians. “Ancient Egypt answered the same universal questions [that we do, and that the Greeks did] with a more tightly drawn worldview ” (Quirke, 23). This seems faulty to us; even the Ancient Greeks dissented about creation, the gods, and the beginning of time before time. This is evident among the fragments preserved from the writings and orations of the pre-Socratic philosophers. The Greeks did have a considerably wider worldview than did the Egyptians, simply due to the geography. The former people, living on islands, distanced by the Mediterranean, had the entire Sea to traverse, whereas the Egyptians had only to zip up and down the Nile River. Despite the differences between Upper and Lower Egypt, as described in class, it follows that a nation so tightly knit (as compared to the Greeks) would be more likely to have a single, unifying literature of the creation of everything. It would seem, as well, that there is a considerable link between the Greeks and the Egyptians—after all, they did have contact with one another. It is also arguable that each culture influenced the other’s creation myth; Quirke describes the Egyptian solution ‘something out of nothing’ (25) problem as such: “the primeval sun-god [was located] within the world before matter. That world appears… as an infinite expanse of dark and directionless waters…” (25). The world before matter seems tumultuous, chaotic even. Similarly, the Greeks believed that before creation and time, Chaos ruled. Like Nun, the Egyptian pre-creation world, Chaos contains many other deities and is also be personified in literature and cult worship. The fact that the two cultures have similar pre-creation myths indicates that there must have been some contact between them, and consequently writing by one about the other. Perhaps looking at such accounts, especially by the Greeks about the Egyptians, will give modern historians a deeper look into the religion of the Egyptians, as it may be so closely compared with early Western civilization. -- Melanie Zelikovsky
ReplyDeleteBetween reading Quirke and seeing similar points in lecture, one thing is definitely evident: there is a relationship between geographic region and Egyptian religious beliefs. It all starts with the annual flood, “in the beginning, there was Nun”. This time when everything is covered by waters, a primordial soup that holds life. In this, you can see right away the relationship that Egyptians had with their surroundings. The main geographical feature, the Nile, and its annual flood are the beginning of their mythic history. In this “soup of life” came gods, and those gods created life. The ancient Egyptians and their close connection to their physical environments had many other gods that relate to their appreciation of the land; Ra the sun god, Shu god of air, Tefnut god of moisture, Geb the god of earth, and Nut god of the sky, just to name a few.
ReplyDeleteOne overarching motif that I pulled from the reading was that of dualism. In Egyptian theology, dualism appears in simple forms such as Upper and Lower Egypt or in complex forms such as a god being the antithesis of the other, for example Horus and Seth. There seems to be mythic stories that hold opposites in many cases that explain oppositions. The Redland vs. the Blackland, good vs. evil, and even Egyptians vs. foreigners.
The major theme of Egyptian religious belief center on Ptah's impulse to create (from his heart) and subsequent verbalization (from his tongue). "Without the creator Atum "all matter" would never become distinguished from Nun the waters of primeval nothingness, and the world would never become differentiated as Shu and Tefnut (dry and moist), Geb and Nut (earth and sky) and so forth" (Quirke 46). Prior to creation stood only "dark and directionless waters" (25) with no determined beginning.
ReplyDeleteAfter Ptah's creation of 'all matter' Atum however, began the popular motif of opposed yet mutually dependent forces. Shu and Tefnut, the representations of dry and moist air, were necessary to produce the earth and sky. Later in the bloodline, Osiris and Seth represent all that is materially good and evil, respectively. This yin-yang relationship trickles down to daily life in Ancient Egypt, where distinctions are drawn between Upper and Lower Egypt, the dry lands and the flooded, etc. Still, it mustn't be forgotten that all began with one creator who sustains all. The most significant example of this is Ptah, whose physical representation is in the form of the Sun (hence, Sun-God).
Based on Quirke and today's lecture, it may be accurate to say that Egyptian theology was very much consistent. As mentioned in the end of the reading, this is partly due to the extensive expanse of storytelling over time. However, throughout the article, Quirke intimates that the consistency in the lineage of the Egyptian gods also comes from the sheer rationale of the Egyptian people. Everything natural was represented by a god and had a story behind it that branched off from a story before it. Though similar to the Judeo-Christian orientation in the sense that there is a constant struggle between good and evil, the Egyptians involved themselves more with what they knew--that is, the everyday and how the gods presented themselves in the everyday (e.g., a river god). In Quirke's words, "the ancient Egyptians did not hesitate to express the more concrete aspects of creation" (46). They did not focus as much on the moral, subjective or hidden representations of their gods as was explicit in the Judeo-Christian religion. As Quirke states, "[Egyptian] texts do not expound on the symbolism beyond its 'dignity'" (48). Rather, the Egyptian gods merely reflected the coexistence and balance of opposites, and the more obvious of opposites at that. ("Political ambivalence found a match in theological rivalry between hidden omnipresent Amun and visible omnipotent Ra" (39).) The gods also represented abstract ideas that were neither necessarily positive or negative. For instance, "The goddess Bast...[was] a creature more clearly ambivalent" (31). Likewise, most of the gods took on various forms ("[the gods were] different formulations of the same central truth" (69)), so one cannot definitively say that one god was one thing and another god was another. (Seth is one of the exceptions.) The Egyptians' belief in the universe as "an eternal process" in the sun and moon's "perpetual motion" (35) is another example of the focus on balance in Egyptian theology; the day balances out the night, and vice versa. Another way to look at this idea of a balancing act is to extend the Egyptians' idea of their gods as representations of tangible objects and occurrences to representations of the relations between those objects and occurrences. Without the existence of a relationship between two or more entities, the idea of balance would cease to exist. It is as such that the kinship between deities were more metaphorical than they were literal (25).
ReplyDeleteOne major theme of Egyptian religious belief is to explain how things came to be the way they are. For example, bad things happen to good people and death exists on the Earth despite there being good Gods because of the evil that Seth brought into the world when he murdered his brother Osiris. The reason why it is not always sunny despite having a sun god is because Ra decided to leave Earth and travel across the sky via a boat, ordering Nut, the sky goddess to distance herself from the earth. Hence, the notion of night and day came to exist. Another thing that Egyptian religion focuses on is a balance between two things, similar to the yin and yang concept. The god Shu, who represents dry air is balanced with his sister and lover, the goddess Tefnut, who represents moisture. Likewise, the male and female versions of deities such as Amun and Amunet (deities of invisibility), Hehu and Hehut (deities of infinite water), etc. (Quirke, 25) There is a need for this kind of a balance because one thing cannot exist without the other. Without something else to balance it, the thing itself is meaningless. If Seth was not the bad seed within the gods, then Osiris would not have been seen as the original good king. They must coexist for it to exist in altogether.
ReplyDeleteThe geographic features of Egypt also plays a big role in its religion. Located in the middle of a barren wasteland, what Egypt has a lot of is sun and unfertile land, and because of that, the sun-god is the most important god in Egyptian religion. The lack of fertile land and water makes the Nile a huge factor that helps sustain life in Egypt, and this can be directly seen in Egyptian religion with the god Hapy, who is worshipped with offerings every year because the “water of the flood are recognized as more critical to life than fabulous treasures” (Quirke, 50). Without the annual flooding, there wouldn’t be any silt that makes the land fertile enough for growing crops, and without that, there would be no food for survival. Thus, when it comes to religion, everything essentially revolves around Egypt’s geography.
I think the idea of resurrection (coming from the sun rising and setting every day) and more generally the idea of cycles play a key role in Egyptian religious beliefs. Like it says in the text, the myth of Osiris, Isis and Seth is a classic example of how Egyptians believed that death is not the end; in fact, it is the beginning of another life.
ReplyDeleteEgyptians also represented deities with animals, but did not deify others (like plants) in their environment (except for the Nile flood) which I found very interesting.
I also think that Egyptians emphasized different aspects of their religion in different regions. Some only praised the creator and erased all other deities, while others continued to worship more "humanlike" gods and goddesses of craftsmanship and metal craft.