This
preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.
This
preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.
This
preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.
This
preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.
This
preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.
Unformatted text preview: " await/.9 2’77? According to Herodotus, the Egyptians
were “religious to excess, beyond any
other nation in the world”. Egyptian
religion was not a belief system in the same sense way as Christianity or Islam, with a single deity and one fundamental
set of explanations for the origin and
functioning of the cosmos. Among the
most striking aspects of Egyptian religion
were its great number of gods and
goddesses — each of whom might have
several “aspects” — and its readiness to
accept the validity of different and even
contradictory cosmological accounts. A
The Egyptian Cosmos 114
The Heavenly Domain 116
The Solar Cycle 118
“Before Two Things” 120
The One and the Many 122
The Word of God 124
Amun the Unknowablc 126
The Heresy of Akhenaten 128 The Human Sphere 130 ABOVE: An Nth—dynasty image oft/1e gull
Osiris, the head aft/1e divinefumily that
played ttflmzl role in Egyptian lieli'efaml
mythology. From the tomb ofSetmedjem,
Western Thebes. New K ingrl/mz, 20th
Dynasty, m. l 14011C15. 0 CHAPTER 9 THE CELESTIAL
REALM THE EGYPTIAN COSMOS Looking at the sky without telescopes, the Egyptians saw only an undif—
ferentiatcd background of blue by day, or black by night « the same qual—
ities visible in the river Nile. Understandably, therefore, the Egyptians
concluded that the sky, like the Nile, was composed of water. The waters
of the sky were thought to surround the earth and extend infinitely out~
ward in all directions. The world existed as a single void inside this end—
less sea, with only the atmosphere to keep the heavenly ocean from falling
onto the earth ~ much like a balloon kept inflated by the air inside it, All life existed inside this cosmic bubble: the universal waters them~
selves were devoid of life. By day, the sun sailed across the surface of the
sky—ocean, animating those who lived on the earth below; after sunset,
while the stars sailed through the sky, it descended into a region called
“the Duat”. Because the Egyptians recognized that the sun was com~
posed, in some manner, of fire (the source of light and heat), they realized
that it had to remain within the cosmic void, but in a place not visible to
those on earth. The Duat was generally thought to lie under the earth, a
counterpart to the sky and atmosphere of the known world. In Egyptian
cosmology, therefore, the world consisted, as the ancient texts themselves
tell us, of “sky, earth and Duat”. This picture of the cosmos is reflected also in images from temples,
tombs, papyri and sarcophagi. However, perhaps the clearest and most
comprehensive illustration is found on the ceilings of two Ramesside
monuments: the Cenotaph of Sety I (ca. 1290‘1279BCE) at Abydos, and
the tomb of Ramesses IV (ca. 1156—1150BCE) in the Valley of the Kings,
Western Thebes. The ceilings are remarkable not so much for their
images (which occur elsewhere) as for the texts that accompany them:
these are the subject of analysis and commentary in two papyri of the sec-
ond century CE — some fifteen hundred years after their Ramesside origi“
nals. The scene depicts the surface of the sky (the goddess Nut, “watery
one”) held above the earth (the god Gcb, “land”) by the atmosphere (the
god Shu, “dry” or “empty”), While along Nut’s body the sun is depicted at various points in its daily cycle. The text above her describes both the
universe outside the cosmic void and the structure of the cosmos itself:
“The upper side of this sky exists in uniform darkness, the limits of
which are unknown, those having been set in the waters, in lifelessness.
There is no light no brightness there. And as for every place that is nei~
ther sky nor earth, that is the Duat in its entirety.” Texts elsewhere in the
scene describe the Dust as lying within the body of Nut, the sky. This
reflects the Egyptian concept of the sky “giving birth” to the sun each
morning. In Egyptian thought, these images were complementary, not contradictory. Fundamentally, the concept of the world as a cosmic void within a universal ocean remained consistent and essentially unchanged
throughout the three millennia of recorded ancient Egyptian history. The Egyptian image of the cosmos was usually depicted by using the
“mythological” counterparts of its elements — Nut stretched above the
recumbent body of Geb, with Shu in between (sec illustration, p.126).
However, the concept of the world also appears as a standard element bor—
dering most reliefs and paintings. Traditionally, the ceilings of Egyptian
tombs and temples would be decorated with yellow stars on a blue
ground; the floors were paved with basalt, evoking the fertile black soil of
Egypt; and columns supporting the ceiling were carved and painted in
imitation of lotus or papyrus stalks. THE EGYPTIAN COSMOS . 115 The modem Western zarliar deriocsfiom the
antimt Egyptian view aft/re night sky. The
best—preserved rlepirtian 0f the Egyptian
zudiat is on the ceiling aft/re smflll chapel
{naos) oftlu' temple 11f Hathar at Dead/2m
(left). Ptolemair Period, 323—3013CE. (See
aim 1);).120—21.) ROUND WORLDS
The rather “box—like” image of the
cosmic void conveyed by Egyptian
texts (see main text) is somewhat
misleading. Arched versions of
the “sky” hieroglyph in very early
reliefs indicate that the Egyptians
recognized the void as round.
The same vision is reflected in later
metaphors such as the circle often
held by gods — whose extended
version, the cortouche surrounding
royal names ( Q ), indicates the
pharaoh’s kingship over the universe.
Depictions of a round world occur
late in Egyptian history. One of the
earliest and most complete is on
a sarcophagus of ca. SSOBCE, now
in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York The world is framed
by the body of the sky and a ’-
compounded hieroglyph (arms
with feet) spelling the name of Geb.
Between them, two concentric discs
depict the known world, with Egypt
(represented by the signs of its
nomes) inside, surrounded by the
peoples of other lands. A third circle,
'with two winged sun-discs, is meant
to be seen at 90° to the others and
depicts the sun’s journey above and
below the earth. The famous Dcndera
zodiac (above) clearly implies that
the sky covers a round earth. 116 . THE CELESTIAL REALM THE HEAVENLY DOMAIN . 117 REALMS 0F GODS AND BIRDS THE HE AVENLY DOMAIN i ' dynasties, ca. 2350—2170805), are a rich source for this ancient “geogra— Tl E ‘ h k h
IE gyptlans saw I e 5 Y” t e phy” of the sky. Among the phenomena they describe is the Milky Way, gods’ primary domain, although l
they could be associated with all ‘ which the Egyptians called “the beaten path of stars”. Like other parts of regions of the cosmos. The Pyramid the sky, it could be navigated by boat, and was apparently viewed as a
Texts tell of the time “when the sky In keeping with their view of the sky as the surface where the waters of “'35 SP]it from the earth and the EMS the universal ocean met the atmos here of the world th ' ~ - ~
e anc1ent E ~ u a)
we!" to the sky”, Birds were also p v gYP , The texts pay more attention, however, to the Field of Offerings and thought to come from the sky, trans envrsaged the motion 0f celestial bodies as a Journey by boat Dur— the “Field of Reeds”. (The latter term is the ancestor of the Classical
particularly its northern regions— mg the day, the sun Silled across the sky, and at night the stars d‘d the Elysian Fields, a term —now commemorated in the Champs Elysées, Paris
probably reflecting both the annual same. The text accompanying one scene of the solar journey describes it ’ migration of birds from the north as follows: “When this god [the sun] sails to the limits of the sky-basin, =9
and the rich fauna of the Nile Delta series of islands in the midst of celestial waters. — derived from a Greek rendering of the Egyptian word for “reeds”.)
Both these areas were associated with the northern rim of the sky, the in ancient times. The dual she [Nut, the $le causes him to enter again into night, into the middle 0f domain of the circumpolar stars (which the Egyptians called “imperish— association of gods and birds with the night, and as he sails inside the dark these stars are behind him. When able” because they never set). Like the Milky Way, they could be navi— the sky is often reflected in Egyptian the incarnation of this god enters inside the Duat, it stays open after he gated by boat, and the texts speak of a “winding waterway" through 21:3: 0f the 5““, Stars and P13nets sails inside it, so that these sailing stars may enter after him and come 1' them. As the North Celestial p013 lies approximately 30“ above the hori—
l 5‘ forth after him.” _ zon in Egypt, these “fields” were apparently thought to lie along the edge
Ancrent texts describe a number of celestial regions, especially in the of the celestial ocean, much like the marshes that lined the banks of the night Ska The EEYPtiahs were keenly aware 0f the nocturnal heavens, and “ ancient Nile. The sky above them seems to have been viewed as relatively recorded nearly every visible aspect of them. Apart from individual stars empty, except for the Milky Way, which the Pyramid Texts locate in “the
and planets (see box, opposite), several features attracted particular atten— height of the sky”. tion, and were interpreted as celestial counterparts of the kinds of envi—
ronments found along the ancient Nile, A scenzfi-am the Book of the Dead afAm'.
At lefI, the dflc’flfl‘d enjoys the pleasure: of the “Field afRez-ds” (tee main text); at . ,
"ML he gm” the m” god. New Kingdom, The earliest substantial source of Egyptian cosmological texts, the 18lhor19thD3/ndtlywa,13001301.". Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom (dating from the Fifth to Sixth i THE STARS AND PLANETS I ike most agricultural societies, the they saw in their patterns images different Egyptians observed and tracked the from those familiar to us. Among, the most stars as harbingers of the change in seasons. important was Ursa Major, perceived as the In this respect, the most important celestial leg and haunch of a bull; and Orion, identi— body was the brightest star, Sirius, which
the Egyptians called “the sharp one” (spdt fied as the god Osiris and seen as a man held— tit-ah :
\i
’h’llll‘nltilllllllhttzel’h’llh’hlililllh ing a staff. Based on their observations of or Sopdet, vocalized by the Greeks as stars and stellar motion, the Egyptians till? ztttllllll‘l i ) mill , a l
“girdle ‘ r2“?
~ hithtdl‘ééahi Sothis): its annual reappearance in the divided the night and day into twelve hours morning sky, after an absence of some sév— each. This division produced our 24-hour l day, although in ancient Egypt, the hours var~
ied in length, like the durations of the day and enty days, coincided with the beginning of
the yearly inundation of the Nile, the chief determinant of life in ancient Egypt.
The Egyptians identified five of the night, over the year. Toward the end of
pharaonic history, Egypt also produced the nine planets; Jupiter, Saturn and Mars first zodiac (see illustration, p.119). 1 (all associated with various aspects of the _
From the inside oft/1i: mflln [1d, the slay goddess Nut, surrounded byfigm'es repmeming the sign: (If
the zodiac and the hourt aflhe day, laaleed dawn
on the deceased, a woman willed Shier, Ram/m
Period, 2nd century CE. god Horus), Mercury and Venus (called
both “the travelling star” and “the morning
star”), They also recognized many of the
‘4 same constellations that we do, although I18 . THE CELESTIAL REALM Re—Hera/ehte ("Re Horus afthe
Him'zmz"), rm expect oft/1e run god
animiliztcd with the sky gall Harm (m
box, opposite), is murrhipped by baboon:
a! sunrise. Franz the Bark oft/re Dead of
Hum/2r. New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty
(m, 1292—1190130?) ASPECTS OF A SINGLE GOD
Egyptian thought recognized the validity of many different
explanations of natural phenomena,
even where we might perceive these
as contradictory. As a result there is
an often bewildering profusion of
names and images associated with
Egyptian deities (see box, opposite).
These were understood not as
competing theologies but as
alternative explanations of reality,
each concentrating on separate
aspects of a single force or element
of nature. For example, the god
Horus could be seen, at one and the
same time, as the sun (Horus as Re,
king of the universe; see illustration,
above, and box), as the current
pharaoh (Horus as king of the living,
the “Son of Re"), and as a form of
the previous pharaoh (Horus, the
son of Isis and Osiris). Each of
these were understood as an aspect,
a manifestation, of the single
phenomenon of kingship, embodied in the god Horus. This approach is reflected not only
in the multiplicity of Egyptian gods
and goddesses, but also in the
readiness with which the Egyptians
adopted the gods of other cultures
(see p.52). THE SOLAR CYCLE For the ancient Egyptians, the day began at sunrise, when Nut, the sky,
“gave birth” to the sun in the east. The sun, envisioned as a male deity,
sailed the celestial waters in his “day-boat”, before descending in the west
into the Duat, the region beneath the earth, and the womb of his mother
Nut (see pp.118——l9). At night, he sailed from west to east through the
Duat in his “night—boat”, to be reborn again in the morning. While the sun’s daytime journey could be observed as a serene pro-
gression through the sky, his trip through the Duat could only be imag—
ined. The Egyptians saw this — like the night itself — as a time of
uncertainty and danger. Concepts of the nightly voyage appear in the very
earliest religious texts, but they are best seen in a series of “netherworld
books” composed at the beginning of the New Kingdom. The most
detailed of these is the composition known as the Amduat (“He who is in
the Duat”), depicting the sun‘s progression through the night. The dangers associated with the Dust were personified in the form of
a gigantic serpent, called Apep (Apophis in the Greek rendering), who
inhabited the entire length of the netherworld and sought to impede the
sun’s journey at the gates marking the entrance to each of the night’s
twelve hours. As the sun passed within each region, his light awoke the
inhabitants of the Duat, who were thought to include both demons and
the souls of the damned. A typical passage in the Amduat describes the
sun “calling out to their souls and a sound is heard in this cavern like
the sound of people wailing, as their souls call out to the sun”. In the middle of the night, at the deepest part of the Duat, the sun
came upon the mummified body of the god Osiris, the power of life and
rebirth. At this point in the journey, the two gods became one: “the sun
at rest in Osiris, Osiris at rest in the sun”. Through this union, the sun
received the power of new life, and Osiris was reborn in the sun. Given
new life “in the arms of his father Osiris”, the sun could then proceed
through the remainder of the night toward rebirth at dawu. When the sun left the Dust, he did not sail immediately above the vis—
ible horizon, but into a space lying between the Duat and the sky. The
Egyptians called this region the Akhet, which means “the place of becom‘
ing effective”. In practical terms, this was an explanation for the fact that
the sky starts to grow light some time before the sun actually appears.
Here the sun received a form capable of life before his actual birth: “Then
he is on course toward the world, to be apparent and born. Then he pro—
duces himself above. Then he parts the thighs of his mother Nut. Then
he goes away to the sky.” In the Egyptian view, this daily solar cycle was
not merely a natural phenomenon, but a daily affirmation of the triumph
of life over death. MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SUN he sun was in many respects the preeminent Egyptian god. His
prominence is shown in the plethora
of gods with solar associations — each representing one or more aspects of THE SOLAR CYCLE . Atum: the sun as the culmination
of creation. Depicted as a man, Atum
is often associated with the sun at
sunset, in the combined Re—Atum. Horus: “the far one” the sun as
, the sun itself (see sidebar, opposite): ruler of creation; depicted as a man, Re: the sun per se; depicted as a man, falcon or falconuheaded man. He often a falcon, a ram, or a man with the head of appears under the names Harakhte or Re—
Harakhte (“Horus of the Horizon
[Alzhet]”) and Hor—Em—Akhct
the New Kingdom and later, it or Harmachls (“Horus in the was often preceded by the defi— From the ”Mb ”fTWM/eh’zmu" (“1‘ 133243223“) Alehet”). As with Re, the sun
in the Valley afthe Kings, Western Thebes. one or the other of these animals, Re means simply “sun”, and in I A pmoml nfgold andremivpreciuus xumex representing Khepri, the rising rim, with the 51m disc. nite article (pa~Re, “the sun”). As
the physical manifestation of the
sun god, the sun was also called the Eye of Re, and in this
form was depicted as a goddess. Khepri: the sun at dawn. The name means “the evolv—
ing one”, and was written with the hieroglyph of a scarab
beetle (kheprer, a ). Khepri is often shown as a scarab
(sometimes holding the sun disc) or scarab—headed man. could be called the Eye of Horus. Aten: the visible disc of the
sun, depicted as such. It was not so much a god as the med~
ium through which the sun’s light comes into the world. It
was the focus of the reforms of Akhenaten (see pp.132—3), Amun-Re: the sun as the manifestation of Amun, the
first and greatest of all the gods. This aspect is usually depicted as a man crowned with two tall plumes. ’mli 119 120 . THE CELESTIAL REALM THE PRIMEVAL HILL he first texts that deal with Egyptian ideas about the temples contained, in their sanctuaries, a mound of earth or
Tuniverse and its creation appear nearly a thousand sand evoking it. The tombs of Egypt’s first dynasties were
years after the beginnings of recorded Egyptian history. For marked by a similar mound, promising a new creation and
earlier concepts, we are dependent on pictorial and archi— rebirth to those buried below it. The image of the primeval
tectural images, and on what the later texts tell us these may mound combines with powerful solar symbolism in the
have meant. One of the earliest notions seems to have been pyramids that housed royal burials from the Old Kingdom
that of the primeval hill, the first “place” to emerge from onward and also in the obelisks that graced Egypt’s temples
the infinite waters, over which the sun first rose. It is tempt— (see pp.l70—71).
ing to see in this image a reflection of the environment
experienced by Egypt’s first settlers: watching the highest mound was viewed as a divine force — in this case, a god
points of fertile land emerge as the annual Nile flood called Ta—tenen, whose name means “Rising Land”. It was
receded, these early farmers could easily have pictured the also associated with the god Nefertum, who was depicted as
world gradually appearing in the same way at the creation. Whatever its origins, the image of the primeval hill to appear after the primeval waters had receded. It was from remained potent throughout Egyptian history. Some “BEFORE TWO THINGS” Egyptian speculation about the state of the universe before creation cen-
tred on the nature of the universal ocean that was thought to surround the
created world. Like all natural phenomena, these cosmic waters were
viewed as a god, which the Egyptians called Nu (“watery one”, a mascu—
line form of the word “Nut”; see p.11849) or Nun (“inert one”). Prior
to creation, the universe consisted only of Nu’s waters: Egyptian texts
describe this as the time when the creator “was alone with Nu before
the sky evolved, before the earth evolved, before people evolved, before
the gods were born, before death evolved”. As the creation itself was
viewed, in part, as the development of multiplicity out of an original one-
ness (see pp.126-7), the eternity preceding it was known as the time
“before two things evolved in this world”. This pre‘creation universe was the subject of speculation quite early in
Egyptia...
View
Full Document
- Spring '09
- MONROE, C
-
Click to edit the document details