Today's Topics: 

Today we began our look at the Egyptian culture, especially some of the similarities and differences from Mesopotamia.

We addressed the fact that the Egyptians lived in a more predictable environment, when compared with the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Hebrews.  The Epic of Gilgamesh, Atrahasis, and Etana show us a violent and competitive nature (drought, flood, monsters of the forest, etc.).  The Sumerians feared their nature because they could not control it or predict it.  The Egyptians, however, were fortunate to live on the Nile River, which has a precise flood cycle that the ancients could calculate accurately (to the day, and sometimes to the hour!).  This provided a sense of control and comfort that the neighboring cultures lacked.  Therefore, it should not be surprising that the Egyptians were the only culture at the time to believe in an afterlife that was based on rewards or punishments for actions committed in your earthly life.  The Hebrews believed that a dead soul went into the Sheol, the pit of eternal darkness.  Gilgamesh learns that there is "no permanence," even though he is 2/3 god.  The Egyptians, however, believed that a noble soul would be granted immortality with the gods, as are the stars in the sky.  This concept of the afterlife is the source for most future interpretations of this ideal.

You will also notice that the Egyptians were much more forward-looking and upward-looking than the Mesopotamians.  Recall how many times the focus in Mesopotamia was downward-looking.  The Apsu is the underground water, and characters were constantly looking at the ground to notice the water flooding around their ankles.  The dead bodies would be buried under the earth, yielding the concept of the Underworld.  Inanna descended into the Underworld, as did the kurgarra and galatur creatures.  Even Enki was seen traveling into the Apsu/Underworld in the beginning of "The Huluppu Tree."  Don't forget how Enki tempted his grand-daughter, tantalizing her as she peered into the well at the top of the mountain.  Finally, we recall Etana looking down on the earth after the eagle flew him up to the heavens.

The Egyptians were master astronomers, and the sky was their main focus.  Yes, they also had earth and water gods too, but the heavens were their ultimate goal.  Many Egyptian stories contain powerful sky gods, and references to the Zodiac and other constellations is more prominent in this culture as well.  Eventually, the Egyptian people believed that they too could ascend to the heavens to become a star in the sky, just like their favorite gods.  A video that we will see in two weeks will also show us how the pyramids were constructed to mirror the constellations in the night sky.

Let's first examine the character Ra (also spelled Re) more closely.  One of the first gods in the Egyptian myths was the sun god, who appeared in dozens of forms throughout the history of this region.  Living in the open desert, the Egyptians were constantly aware of the power of the sun as a life-giving force.  Over the millennia, however, more gods were created and overtook the authority of Ra.  Our story for next week (Osiris, Isis, and Horus) shows several of the more important deities that were developed later in Egyptian lore.  That is why Ra also goes by dozens of other names, often written in a hyphenated form, representing the combination of the qualities of Ra merged with another force.  Ultimately, Ra became known as a very old and distant god, who was important in creation, but has dwindled in strength over the ages.

In fact, Ra is often named for his different purposes as the god of the sun, especially the different appearances of the solar disk throughout the day.  For example, Ra is often called Khepri to represent the morning sun, he is called Ra to represent the powerful midday sun, and is called Atum (or Atem, or Atum-Ra) to symbolize the old god that fades away with the setting sun.  Khepri is shown in the form of a scarab beetle (or a dung beetle) that rolls the sun over the horizon much like the dung beetle rolls a ball of dung across the desert sand.  Some force must be pushing the sun above the horizon, working against gravity, so why not make the sun disk hoisted above the horizon by a beetle who does this for a living anyway?  Later, we will see the figures in the solar barque (the boat of the sun, also called the Boat of a Million Years) that travels around the earth day and night, propelled by the various forces and housing the great gods as they take souls into the afterlife.  In most of the stories, however, Ra will be shown as an elderly, fading deity who has lost power and respect (such as in the story Isis and the Name of Ra).

I also placed a basic family tree of Egyptian deities on the board today. These are the main characters in the Osiris story, so it served as a general introduction to their relationships to each other. I encourage you to fill out the "Play with Metaphors" page at the end of the Osiris story to assist you here.

One interesting feature of this family tree is that there are three fathers of Nut's children. Nut is the goddess of the night sky, and I have given you several pictures of her in the coursepacket. She is often viewed as either a cow or a woman who is arched over the sky. After the sun sets, she eats the disk that travels through her body (hence, the darkness), only to be birthed out of her womb in the morning. During the nigt as we gaze skyward, we are supposed to be looking at her belly filled with stars.

The three lovers of Nut are Ra (sun), Geb (earth), and Thoth (wisdom and writing), and she bears thr five divine children through these relationships. Next week's Osiris story will clarify how all this takes place, but for the sake of introducing these characters now, let's look at who they are.

First born was Osiris, the great teacher and cultivator of the law (Ma'at).  Osiris' name means "the black fertile land," so we see how this male force embodies the feminine ideals of fertility.  Combining the male and female forces makes Osiris a sort of "creator," and this represents itself during the two scenes where Osiris is brought back to life from the dead.  He represents the black soil -- the fertile and rich color that comes from the yearly floods. 

Next came Horus (the Elder), who is an early spiritual version of a later character by the same name, Horus, the great hero of the story.  Horus is called the "twice born" because he was born in heaven (as the Elder), then on earth (from the union of Osiris and Isis).  The name Osiris is also translated into other names later in history: Zeus and Dionysis (Greece) and Jesus (Christianity).  The name Horus is the root word of "hero" and "horizon," both of which apply to this character exactly, and Horus plays the role of the savior (the Jesus figure) to the letter. This will reveal a universal savior archetype that is polular in both mythology and religions around the world.

Set was born third.  Many versions of the story show him cutting his way out of Isis' womb.  Set was angry at Ra for cursing Nut and keeping the kids bottled up inside the sky goddess.  He was supposed to be born last, but couldn't wait any longer.  Once born, he devoted his life to fighting against Ra (and then Osiris, since Osiris embodied the traits of Ra more than the others).  Set is the dark force in this story (chaos, evil, etc.).  He forces his way out of Nut's womb before his time, and his name derives two common names that we still use today: Seth and Satan. I have been reluctant to call various characters "evil," but this character personifies it convincingly.

Fourth, Isis, the great fertility goddess of the green crops.  She will marry Osiris and become a great hero of this myth.  Nephthys, the "lady of the house," is born last.  She will be a great assistant to Isis.  She will also play a role in The Journey to the Duat.  Nephthys married Set, who did not treat her well.

Egyptian Creation

This story begins with Ra in his Atum form, indicating that he is also a god of rebirth and cyclical changes.  He creates the universal forces, called the Ogdoad, who use the archetype of the dry land rising out of the dark and chaotic waters -- a common motif.  Notice that Atum (Ra) used words to command new creation.  The Egyptians used the mouth, voice, or words to convey creative or authoritative power.  We will see references to these ideas throughout the unit, and these concepts transferred into Judaism as well.  In fact, notice the words that Atum uses in the third paragraph -- "I am he who came into being in the form of the god Khepri."  We will hear these words again in a future reading, and we will learn that it marks a transition from the Age of Taurus to the Age of Aries.  "Aries," the "Ram," also means "I Am," which means "Yahweh" (the Hebrew God from Genesis).  Both Yahweh and Atum declare that "they are," or that they exist.  Both use their voice to create, and both parallel each other.

Atum creates the world that is established by the concept of Ma'at, meaning divine justice.  Ma'at is symbolized as a white ostrich feather, and it is weighed against the heart of a person during the judgment into the afterlife.  A person whose heart is lighter than the feather rises above justice, but the heavy heart sinks below Ma'at, suggesting a burdened or corrupted soul.  Again, we see creation starting with chaos and working its way toward order and law.

The masturbation scene cannot be taken literally, as usual.  Atum will create other gods, but cannot do so without the female side of the duality.  Since no other female exists (except for Nun, the primordial, unfinished waters of creation), he must perform this act himself in a symbolic way.  Notice that Atum "embraced my shadow as a wife," which seems similar to Gilgamesh's view of Enkidu (as both a shadow and a wife).  By planting his creative seed into his own mouth, and then spitting up his children Shu and Tefnut, we see a symbolic representation of insemination and birth contained in one body.  I know that this scene is disgusting when viewed literally, but we've crossed these bridges before.  The result of this action is a creation of a divine Trinity, which is another universal concept (we also see it again in Hinduism, as well as in dozens of other places).  Atum says: "From being one god I became three gods ...."

Also we got introduced to the Udjat, the divine eye.  This is one of the most famous symbols in Egyptian mythology, and it represents the power of the various gods that it represents, including Ra and Horus.  Ra is able to "remove" this eye in his pursuit of his children, who have left him.  When Shu (the air) and Tefnut (moisture, specifically vaginal moisture) leave Atum, they perhaps are symbolizing a drought or similar climatological condition.  Another god, Thoth, the god of the divine words, used "persuasion" to get the kids home again.  The Egyptians, being a more stable and educated society, resorted more to persuading than commanding.  Notice that we see powerful commands in Genesis ("Thou shalt not eat of this fruit ....") and Gilgamesh ("You will not find that which you are looking for"), because the authority figures in these cultures needed to set the law down clearly and directly in order to reign in people's wayward behavior.  In Egypt, however, people seemed more inclined to draw their own conclusions about life and authority, or at least they discussed their differences more so than did the Mesopotamians.  Again, a more stable culture will generate a more stable society.  When Shu and Tefnut return, the world is whole again, and Atum generates a companion eye (the Moon) to match/balance the Udjat, often viewed as the sun.

Tefnut appears symbolically as a serpent climbing a stake (tree), which resembles the paramedic symbol pictured in your coursepackets.  The female slithers upward on the more sturdy masculine force, generating a unified duality that means "life" and "healing."  Any time you can unify the dualities, you will represent the concept of making something whole again.  Since we live in the world of dualities, we often prioritize or understand only one of the two halves.  Most myths tell of the time when heaven and earth were united, but various explanations tell us that they were ultimately separated by the gods.  Notice that the heavens and earth will be separated in The Destruction of Mankind, similarly to the scene in the Mesopotamian Epic of Creation, when Marduk slices Tiamat's body into two parts, one becoming the earth while the other half forms the dome of the sky.  These halves will be united once the soul reaches the afterlife, bringing together both sides in a unified concept, which always represents godliness.

The "Alternate Versions of Creation" really is intended to show you how many different versions of creation existed within this one culture.  One popular concept is that of the phoenix (called the bnbn bird, or ben-ben bird, in Egyptian).  Notice that this concept clearly shows rebirth (a flame from the ashes).  The symbol for Atlanta is the phoenix, due to the fact that the city rose from Sherman's ashes and became reborn into a greater version, ultimately becoming an Olympic city.  Also, different versions of the creation story seem to show adherence to dualities and by generating both a "brother" and a "sister" side of each creative concept.  These, of course, were common archetypes that we have seen from the previous unit.
 
 

The Destruction of Mankind

The Destruction of Mankind is a story that resembles many from our Mesopotamian unit.  Unlike the first unit's stories where the gods become angry at the noise from the humans, this story shows the gods retaliating against the blasphemy of the people.  Remember that Ra was considered to be old and feeble by the time people are created, so perhaps the new generation of humans never had a chance to get to know this ancient sun god, therefore never fully appreciating him.

Ra gathers together his lesser gods and decides to send out his evil eye in the form of Hathor-Sekhmet.  This character is really a fusion of two other goddesses -- Hathor (a goddess of sexual pleasure) and Sekhmet (goddess of healing).  Both are depicted as lionesses. We will see Hathor alone in the Osiris story.  This force really is Atum's way of collecting all of his earlier, stronger powers, such as like when Ra was the midday sun, blazing brightly in the noon sky.  Condensed into the eye, it travels across the land punishing the people who had previously blasphemed Ra.  The people flee to the mountains for cooler weather.

Ironically, Hathor loves her new power, and she becomes bloodthirsty, like a vampire, terrorizing the people below.  Ra is powerless to stop her, since his force is still embodied in Hathor.  Therefore, he has to resort to trickery.  He instructs his servants to collect mandrake roots, which emit a red color when boiled, and was considered to be an aphrodisiac.  They brew some beer made from the mandrake, and they mix it with blood, and spread it across the land, collecting in vast pools.  When Hathor travels across the land and sees the "blood," she slurps it all up, becomes drunk, and passes out.  Problem solved.

Notice that this is similar to the trick played by Inanna against Enki when she collected the Hole me.  Also, Ea uses cunning tactics as well when he breaks the pledge with the other gods and warns Atrahasis/Utnapishtim by speaking to the reed hut wall during the man's dream.  Tricks such as these might seem "immoral" to many, but they are essential to solve dilemmas of situations where the options are limited or nonexistent.  In essence, Nature always finds a way, and often through the feminine forces of slippery, wavering trickery.  The serpent in the Garden of Eden uses the exact same approach.  Eventually, Atum created the rituals and festivals of the Egyptian holy days by ordaining the day that Hathor was settled down.

But the story doesn't end here.  Atum admits that he himself has become bloodthirsty, and the power trip seems to revitalize him.  He decides to retire to the furthest heavens by ascending higher in the sky riding atop the cow goddess Nut.  The people protest and beg for him to stay, but Ra ascends anyway.

After climbing so high, Nut becomes concerned that she is too far up, so Ra asks the younger gods to support Nut with their bodies to allow her to be far enough away that the people would be forced to admire these deities from a greater distance.  Several diagrams illustrate the model of the Egyptian sky, with the stars of the heavens affixed to Nut's belly.  Notice on this diagram that there are two solar disks.  This shows that the sun journeys through two entry points in Nut's body -- her mouth and her sex organ.  Different versions explain the journey of the sun differently, some stating that the sun enters through the mouth and exits in a birthing posture out the lower end.  Other translations show the sun entering Nut's private areas, to mirror insemination, and exits out her mouth, as if to suggest a projection of her voice.

This story ends when Ra bestows greater purpose and authority to the gods Geb and Thoth, two gods that we will see later in the Osiris story.
 

Isis and the Name of Ra

In the story Isis and the Name of Ra, we see the goddess Isis playing a similar role as does Inanna when she gets the holy me from Enki.  Isis wants power, specifically the magic spells that allow her to regenerate life from death.  Unfortunately, Ra is the keeper of this power, and will not give it up.  Ra keeps this secret from the other gods, perhaps because he is the original authority, but also because relinquishing this power will make him less important.  But, if Isis is going to become the powerful mother goddess that she needs to be in the Osiris story, then she has to resort to trickery to get it from Ra.

She collects some drool that dribbled out of the elderly Ra's mouth, mixed it with soil, and created a serpent with a fatal sting.  She places this serpent in the road where Ra crosses daily.  Sure enough, Ra is bitten by the snake, and falls into convulsions of pain and suffering. Much like Enki after eating the poison plants, Ra falls ill quickly and appears headed for death.

Isis tells Ra that she can heal him, but she will need to know the secret words, "the secret name of Ra," in order for her to help him.  When asked what was the matter, Ra was speechless, indicating that he is losing strength and power.  Remember that words and thoughts are powerful, so the lack of articulation indicates a fall from prominence.  Ra tries to tell Isis a variety of names, but she knows that none of them contain the secret magic necessary to cause healing and rebirth.  Isis tells Ra, "A man lives when called by his name."  This is representative of Adam assuming dominion of the animals by naming them in Genesis.  Without the name, the identity of life is not there, nor is the dominion over it.  Ra continues to tell his other names to Isis, but she knows that none of these are the ones that she is looking for.

Notice that he finally convinces himself to reveal his secret spells, but we never learn what this name is.  If we knew, then we could become gods as well!  Isis now has new powers, much like Inanna, and she will use them wisely for healing purposes.  We will see her save her son Horus from death on two occasions by using the magic incantations.  Isis has arrived and is ready to establish her greatness, similarly to Inanna's growth and development in the Mesopotamian culture.
 

Egyptian Hymns

These hymns illustrate the symbolic powers of these gods (forces of nature).  The first hymn is the most controversial, since it was forced upon the Egyptians by an overzealous pharaoh, the father of King Tut, Amenhotep IV.  Since Egypt has along tradition of persuasion rather than dictatorial dogma, the Egyptians rebelled against this new interpretation of God that was forced upon them from the king, whom they killed, along with his family.  This "Hymn to Aten" worships the disk of the sun, and it was supposed to unify all of the Egyptian gods, and the worship of them, into one convenient political package.  Each pharaoh would associate himself with a local god, and the combination of these gods was supposed to offer the pharaoh the most powerful heavenly association, trumping the powers of the other pharaohs.  The ancient Hebrews would borrow from this concept and do a similar thing -- collect all the powers of the nature gods together, call this combination something else (Yahweh), and then use it for political purposes.  Proof of this can be found in the last few lines of this hymn, where the pharaoh asserts that he is the only one who can speak with God.  You can see why the people rebelled!

Early in Egyptian history, various gods were worshipped in the different cities up and down the Nile.  Originally, the Egyptians believed that the first pharaohs were gods that had come down to earth to rule the people and to educate them about divine things.  Osiris was supposed to be the first of these great gods to do this.  We will see in the Osiris story next week that Osiris not only unified Upper and Lower Egypt (symbolized by the red crown and white crown, respectively), but he also brought the arts of music, writing, and civilization to the Egyptian people.  Ultimately, however, the citizens of Egypt began to wonder what really separated the kings from everyone else.  They both are made of flesh, they both get sick, they both die, etc.  Eventually, the average Egyptian believed that, if he/she lived a good life, then eternal happiness awaited them in the Duat, the area of the night sky (underworld) filled with light, love, and peace.  We will discuss this further in The Journey to the Duat.

Announcements:

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Due Next Time:

 

Osiris, Isis, and Horus, chaps. 1-15 (295-319)

Quiz 7 (DUE on Wed. 22 March)

Horus and the Eye of Horus (293-294)

Play with Metaphors (341)

 

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