ancient egypt

syncretism and Egyptian deities

-Syncretistic: 'fuzzy logic' . Classification system seems foreign and illogical. Unlike Greek pantheon, structured differently, not a neat panorama of functions and specializations -Gods had 'many faces': they sought to accurately describe and perpetually clarify roles of deities by means of network of associations; not absolute/neat vision of each god, but facets that were not exclusive to one god.

Negative confessions

"i am pure, i did not...", book of the dead incantation a list of sins which the soul of the deceased can honestly say it has never committed when it stands in judgment in the afterlife

What is the purpose of combining gods?

1. Association of 2 or more deities (e.g Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, Hathor-Tefnut, Amun-Ra, Ra-Horakthty) to borrow a function: usually, in double names, one is the person of the god, the other a borrowed function. 2. They share something in common already: eg. Khepri-Ra-Atum (Khepri for sunrise, Ra for midday sun, Atum for sunset; various aspects of the sun). 3. A functional connection: Ra-Osiris /daily Ra penetrated the underworld and experience the fate of Osiris to reemerge in the morning. 4. Negotiated conflicts: e.g. Seth-Osiris, animosity between them)

Wadjet

Cobra Goddess associated with lower Egypt. often see the Cobra as a symbol of Lower Egypt.

gods as composite

Composite/polymorphic Parts of various animals (baboon-hawk, hippo-snake, hippo-crocodile-human) Can denote composite gods, e.g. with opposite attributes (fearsome and benign) Accordingly, can have many hands and heads

Ankh

Egyptian good luck symbol; symbol for eternal life. cross with oval top.

Esna theology -Hymns (Ptolemaic/Roman temple, but late 18th dyn block suggests NK cult; see also Hatshepsut art later on, where the god is depicted making her on the wheel) recited in temple of Esna on festival of creation of potter's wheel. -This is a separate creation tradition explaining the creation of humans and animals. But note woman is not created from man; neither is 'Man' inserted in the cosmogony, quite simply every child is separately molded by Khnum and inserted in the womb -Khnum as the great craftsman, the potter-god and patron of all crafts.

Esnaitic

Shu and Tefnut birth

Geb and Nut

Shu

God of Air

Tefnut

Goddess of moisture

Isis

Goddess of motherhood and fertility, wife of Osiris

Nut

Goddess of the sky, sometimes draped overhead because she's the sky

Example of a functional association with Egyptian gods

Gods for each of the phases of the son, Khepri as the rising sun, Ra as the midday sun, Atum as the setting sun. Seeing them together has some logic.

Anubis

Guardian of the Underworld and Keeper of the sacred scales of Ma'at; jackal god of embalming, protector of the dead. Ushers dead through

Earliest theology (Old Kingdom, at least Djoser time) but influential even in later times (after 4th Dynasty) Centered on Atum: 'became' by himself as the primordial waters withdrew -Focuses on creation, i.e. First Occasion and theogony after Atum's emergence -Ennead: Atum and his descendants (Horus was added to this as tenth) - this scheme shows sexed couples originating from the indivisible one.

Heliopolitan

The Heliopolitan Ennead (9) or (10)

Heliopolitan theogony: origins and families of the gods versus a story about the creation of the earth and universe. Atum is the creater god, and holds the was and the ankh, wears the double crown. Atum births Shu and Tefnut. Shu and Tefnut birth Geb and Nut. Geb and Nut birth Osiris and Isis, Seth and Nephthys. It is a sexed heirarchy, with children born in gendered pairs. Not a new order: old cosmos still out there. It's not like Greek myth where a new order pushes out the old order, not cast out like the Titans. elemental chaos of the old order is retained. This was not battle of Titans, undifferentiated cosmos not abolished by the new order, Atum did not disappear but persisted.

Which theology is the theology from Hermopolis, Middle Egypt: 'elementalist doctrine' Later than Heliopolitan (but possibly goes back to 5th Dynasty) -Influenced NK Theban scheme (see the name of Amun)

Hermopolitan

Focuses on pre-creation -Ogdoad: androgynous elements, asexed 'fathers/mothers' of Atum (in the sense of predecessors, not parents). No input on how these came about.

Hermopolitan Ogdoad

Discussion of the golden falcon.

Horus, man making an offering, genuflecting position is typical to show subservience. Scale: bird is larger than the man, or nearly equivalent: not true to scale for a human and a bird, importance, supernatural. What is the relationship? Seeing eye to eye, relatively same size, touching/affinity between them. A real affective relation. Function: an ordinary thing people dedicate to a temple/votive object, versus royal?*

Worshipping and daily care of the gods

Humans are responsible for the daily care of gods. Daily: care of gods (dress, wash, anoint, feed, censed); note financial drain over time. this is expensive and drains the coffers. Gods are reliant on humans. Statues must be fed, and washed, and dressed, and incensed. Also had to worship them in festivals, also financially taxing: Festivals, calendrical, e.g. New Year, Osiris's festival at Abydos, Opet at Karnak-Luxor procession, Birth of Ra (Heliopolis, reunification of image with sun) (all in July-August, inundation season), Perfect festival of the Wadi in West Thebes/ Karnak (April, harvest) Festivals and curation needed to sustain gods and placate them/make them happy. Paradox: gods are above humans, but would perish without them.

Geb and Nut birth

Isis, Osiris, Seth, and Nephthys

how is cult a performance?

It features performers (officiates) -A restricted audience (officials, personnel) -A special place (heterotopia) and time (festivals, daily ritual etc) -Props like implements, offerings etc.

Heterotopia

A space that is special from the environment around it. Often monumental, meant to stick and be remembered, ceremonious attitudes and decorum inside (behavior sometimes shapes meaning). Examples: The Chapel at UVA: Gothic vocabulary, a point of orientation when describing how to get around. sticks in our minds as something different/other. The Rotunda: a space for important events, sets itself apart from everything around it with scale and dome: weddings, grads, protests, etc. In Egypt, a heterotopia will have architectural framework meant to draw attention, like ground walls, temenoi / boundary walls, giant facades, gateways/pylons, processional spaces, etc. A lot of tombs have a facade entrance: something special is in there.

Indwelling/eyes? *

ASK

Why are Osiris and Ra mixed as Osiris-Ra?

ASK**

Theban extended Ennead, in Upper Egypt, dominates New Kingdom and Egypt at height of its power

All about Amun. Inspired by both the Hermopolitan and Heliopolitan themes: blend (Amun+genealogies) But instead of Atum, we now have Amun and the Greater Ennead lead by Montu= the Heliopolitan deities, plus a number of southern deities like Hathor, Sobek (fertility- warlike deity associated with the Nile) and others. About plurality: you will notice that these constellations of deities no longer correspond to 9 deities, but to the Egyptians they were 'nine' because this number represented the perfect form of plurality: it was a metaphor more than actual count.

Why might religion be so fundamental in Egypt?

It is fundamental because it is a means to make sense of nature and the world around them and their place in it. It is a way to find balance between order and chaos and to reflect on that in their extreme environment. Way to make sense of life and death. Egypt is fragmented geographically: regional identities pinned to certain gods, structure who they are on location. Means of making sense of cyclical phenomena that impact survival: focus on death and rebirth -Extreme nature of environment sometimes unpredictably swinging from aridity/draught and fertility/sustenance accentuating this need. -Fragmentation of geopolitical territories spread out over thousands of miles along the Nile; means of articulating local identities and differentiation. -Later, means of bringing together religious diversity in a unified state.

Thoth

Judge in the Hall of Judgement, records the decision of Ma'at. scribe god.

Funerary text that describe the 75 aspects of the Ra and also connects his earthly manifestation (the pharaoh) to other deities/divine aspects

Litany of Ra

Red crown , Wadget goddess worshipped at Buto, papyrus; Wadjet: protectress of Horus/destroyer of enemies, sister of Nekhbet, consort of Hapy or Ptah

Lower Egypt (generally, Delta region)

Khnum

Men and women made on pottery wheel. Created equally at moment of creation, no higher sex. Esnaitic

Egyptian creation: primeval waters and earth, many coming from an indivisible one, creation of a sexed universe. sounds familiar. but what's different?

Not focused on men: not anthropocentric Not 1 god: polytheism, 1500 gods Emergence from primeval waters or mound which rose from them Creation of many deities from the indivisible One Creation of sexed universe from an androgynous source Not anthropocentric: world not created for Man.

The Hermopolitan Ogdoad

Nun-Naunet, Kek-Kauket, Heh-Hauhet, Amun-Amaunet About the elements before even Atum. Unsexed, androgenous. Influenced Luxor in Thebes, priests want to clarify Heliopolitan thought and weave in Atum. Idea that Atum emerges through the black earth mound from the elemental, watery chaos. In later version of this theology, there is an attempt to connect this doctrine with Atum: thought to have emerged from these elements (especially the watery element) as a primordial mound (Tatenen) and/or as a blue water lily (personified by Nefertem, a child god).

Memphite (Memphis, Lower Egypt): 'intellectualist doctrine' -Info coming from the Shabaka stone: late, but not a creation of 25th Dynasty (700 BC, i.e. very late): modified then, but probably copy of 19th Dynasty inscription -It represents later attempt to clarify Heliopolitan thought (but also rationalize Ptah's significance in the wider scheme of things, inserting him -a Memphite god- into national theology). -Centered on Ptah, 'great craftsman', indivisible monad -Creator of Atum and all the rest -Creation through 'reason and speech'

Ptah

What are the most common sins in Ancient Egypt?

Rape, defiling the dead or god's image, blasphemy, fraud, theft, murder, adultery, lying Causing grief/injury, aggression, eavesdropping, babbling, getting a servant in trouble

To sum up what we've learned so far

Religion is inseparable from politics in Egypt It is inseparable from group (local & state) identity Not just one but many religious schemes Egyptian pantheon is 'messy' on purpose

What is the purpose of taking care of the gods?

Responsibility towards gods: need sustenance so they in turn sustain the world; 'babying'/curatorship of gods, feeding, dressing, anointing, etc; paradox between lack of anthropocentricity and reliance on humans (also ability of humans to create images and enliven) -Placation: keeping gods happy

Aigyptos

The Greeks called the land of the Nile this after one of the chief Egyptian temples in Northern Egypt, Temple of Ptah (Hut Ka Ptah); sounded the same to them. Egyptians do not refer to themselves as Egyptians.

Hall of Judgement/Duat

The final step of entering the afterlife in which the heart was weighed against Ma'at. If the heart is heavier than Ma'at's, the person will be eaten by the demon Ammut. Maat is goddess of truth, justice, and balance. Maintains the scales. Soul must be lighter than a feather. The concept of sin relates to the judgment of the soul in the Hall of Judgment/Tuat or Duat (the underworld). If the heart was heavier (due to sin) than the feather of Maat on the scale, then monstrous Ammut would eat the heart and a possibility of afterlife was lost.

Lower Egypt is: N or S?

The geography of Egypt, which is centered on the Nile and stretched out over a thousand miles along its course within Egypt, creates an inherent division between the North and the South. It was not easy to maintain control over such a vast stretch of land. North, closer to the Mediterranean sea. It has lower elevation. Upper Egypt is below it, farther south: higher elevation. Life in Egypt is life along a vertical landscape, with the Nile as the axis. From the earliest time, there seem to have been different foci of political activity in the territory, which eventually coalesced in a few main centers in the 'Lower' and 'Upper' Land (e.g. Memphis in the north, Thebes and Nekhen/Hierakonpolis in the south). Yet this polar division is almost certainly a rhetorical simplification of the actual political map of Egypt, which was far more complex.

Ptah

The reason: created the cosmos with his speech and reason. Manifesting through reason. Similar to Genesis. Memphite

Why are gods meant to be complex?

The unknowingness of secrets of divinity humbles humanity

Gods as complex and hidden

They are mysterious while simultaneously being complex?

How does Atum create children?

Through masturbation or sneezing. produces asexually although a male depiction

True or False: The Egyptian Pantheon is not a neat pantheon. It is fuzzy, and nonbinary, and confusing.

True Links thus created were reversible and transitory; ambivalence is purposeful: deities are seen are inherent mysterious and hidden. So obfuscation, rather than clarification, is the point.

White crown, Nekhbet goddess worshipped in Hierakonpolis/Nekhen, Lily or sedge plant; Nekhbet: nurturer of Horus, eye of Ra, sister of Wadjet, consort of Hapy (Nile)

Upper Egypt

Nekhbet

Vulture goddess. associated with Upper Egypt. She is also associated with the scarab.

Egyptian Temple in the Met: is this a heterotopia?

Yes: Axial design of temple, pylon gateway, leading you towards main chunk of sanctuary. processional process/gate, also elevated on a pedestal (not that way in antiquity but in the museum). Something defines the space that tells you it's art in the context of a museum/making it an exhibit. Heterotopia both in original context and new context. Temple was built by Augustus for Isis, temple sent to Americas for helping to save it from flooding. Temple of Dendera/Dendur, MET (NYC). This is actually a Roman temple commissioned by Augustus (Caesar) to honor Osiris and Isis. It would have been flooded by Lake Nasser, was removed and gifted to the US in the 1960s in thanks for helping relocate monuments that would have been lost to flooding as a result of dam construction.

Is forgiveness of sins possible?

Yes; judged by Maat.

Cartouche

an oval or oblong enclosing a group of Egyptian hieroglyphs, typically representing the name and title of a monarch.

Gods can be:

anthropomorphic (human traits and insignias to identify gods), zoomorphic (animals, like Hathor as a cow), bimorphic (both), polymorphic/composite (for example:Horus-Seth, combined and neutralized negative potential, balance between enemies, opposites attract), Some are only shown as people (Hapy)

Red crown

associated with Lower Egypt, often Wadjet will wear the red crown. Cone shaped with a finial.

White crown (hedjet)

associated with Upper Egypt, sometimes Nekhbet wears it.

Vital energy of gods and humans, aspect of the 'soul'; represented as a bird with human head

ba (plural bau)

Negotiation and piety

begging and negotiation as another way to interact with and access the gods. Sometimes gods themselves negotiate: Thutmose is begged by the Sphinx for release from the sands. But people also petition the divine: "commend me to night and those dwelling in it, so as to find me among your adorers O Ra": an example of petition of the divine from on a stelae (Intef II Stela): the stela depicts a person holding two jars, nu-jars (rotund jar associated with offerings of wine), filled with aromatic offerings to give to the gods. Gods and people have a transaction relationship to one another sometimes: gods are open to a transactional relationship as long as they get what they want. gods require worship and caretaking from the people (as well as temples). Note in the earlier case it is the god who bargains (sphinx). Form of piety include offerings and monumental building (by pharaohs)

The Levant

centered between Anatolia/Hittites and Egypt. The Levant is the area with Syria and Lebanon Palestine, Israel. Mesopotamia is influencing them in the nearby Fertile Crescent. destruction and abandonment around 1100 BCE, all must've suffered similar fate.

Kek-Kauket

darkness

Wearing the red and white crowns shows

dominion over all of Egypt.

Funerary practices are embedded in broader aspects of religion. For instance, the meaning of practices such as mummification cannot be divorced from the roles, properties and relationships of deities such as a Osiris, Anubis, Isis, Nephthys and Seth.

funerary practices in egypt

Geb

god of earth

Atef Crown

hedjet with Ostrich feathers, crown of Osiris.

Amun-Amaunet

hiddenness/air

Heh-Hauhet

infinity

The Egyptians: the division of fertile land, Kemet (the Black Land), and the landscape of destruction and infertility, the Desheret or Red Land (the desert). A parallel, but not entirely homologous, division was that between the east and the west: the east representing life, the west death (and the afterlife).

kemet vs desheret

If you think of Egypt horizontally:

most is kind of dry and dead outside of the Nilotic zone. Floods come in August from the South, stuff ferments and when the waters recede, they leave behind black earth, very fertile: kemet.

remetj/rekhyt

people, self centered title applied to themselves.

The king not only bridged the Two Lands of Lower and Upper Egypt, he also brought together different aspects of the Egyptian landscape as it was perpetually transformed from the state of infertility into that of fertility over the course of the year. By extension, anything good was equated with kemet/fertility whereas anything that threatened this was equated with the desheret metaphorically. Thus, the enemies of the Egyptian state were frequently identified as agents of evil and chaos -a clear us vs them mentality. So the complexities of the Egyptian environment and landscape took metaphysical and political proportions.

pharaoh as unifier

Sedge plant and lily

plants associated with Upper Egypt.

desheret

red sand, destruction in opposition with kemet. infertile lands as infertility and disorder/chaos/death, enemies are associated with desheret. East vs west. the king is the bringer of order in the chaos.

Why do you think there was such diversity of theological ideas?

regionalism and fragmentation at the time, divine is intrinsically messy by nature

Religion is the foundation for political ideology, mortuary practices and for social display using material culture. For instance, in the Narmer palette depicted above Narmer demonstrates his power through his association with the falcon deity Horus.

religion in egypt

religious and social structures in Egypt

religion is all encompassing and saturates the social structures, religion is mixed with societal ideology. Religion is the backbone of Egyptian culture. Rulers establih legitimacy with religion. Narmer Palette: smiting enemy on head with a mace, bird above head of enemy is the Falcon of Horus, object was found in Temple of Horus. subjugation through the assistance of Horus. gods help establish religious and political agendas.

Likewise, while there is no doubt that Egyptian visual culture -especially what we consider to be examples of fine arts and crafts today- had social dimensions (ostentation, the display of power and privilege) their iconography, which is almost entirely religious, is the primary source of their meaning (e.g. the artifact shown above is a prestige good made of costly materials and employing fine skill; but it also represents Khepri, the scarab-like solar deity, which gives it its primary meaning) .

scarab beetle

Isfet

sin

Because both Nekhbet and Wadjet are daughters/eyes of Ra and are sisters of protective function to king, they can be blended/syncretized

something to know

putting disparate things together, especially with regard to combinations of different deities

syncretism

Heliopolis

the Egyptian city that was the center of sun worship. Pyramid texts about the Old Kingdom tell us this.

Ma'at

the Egyptian concept of truth, justice, and cosmic order, represented by a goddess, often portrayed with a feather upon her head. Sin is a violation of Ma'at/justice: forgiveness is possible.Admonitions and instructional texts that tell you how to be a better person.

Osiris

the Egyptian god of the underworld and husband and brother of Isis.

Kemet

the black earth, what they called the land of the fertile Nile The Egyptians didn't have specific word for their territory besides kemet 'black earth' and rekhyt 'the people'. Aigyptos is a later term devised by the Greeks, present there since the 7th c. BCE at least.

Indwelling

the notion that one god was the ba (spirit) of another, or the eye of another. e.g. Eye of Ra

Fields of Peace

the place where a person spends their afterlife; a person becomes immortal there; will "drink, plow, reap, fight, conquer, and reign forever" depiction of Egyptian paradise. Music, animal agriculture/harvest/abundance, etc. Bountiful, ordered, humble, not a place where you stop working, work as success A version of heaven was the Fields of Peace (accessed upon successful Maat trial) The fields of peace is the closest to the idea of heaven and similar to Elysian fields in Greek religion. These fields represented a happy, productive, abundant, fulfilling daily life after death, so it is usually depicted as a scene with agricultural elements (draft animals, fields, irrigation works of the river Nile). Work work work!

Tatenen

the primeval mound of creation, Atum is sometimes shown as Nefertem (the primordial lotus goddess that emerges from the mound) No problem mushing similar gods together.

Wadjet in this image of Lower Egypt is holding a____

was scepter. This is a scepter that looks like a staff with an angled section at the top, often topped with animals. sign of rulership and power.

Nun-Naunet

water

Book of Gates

An ancient funerary text that hints of a heaven v hell: have to identify gods at each gate or you will burn in a lake of fire. Hell (according to the Book of Gates, a New Kingdom funerary text that describes the passage of the soul into the hours of night) 'Evil is the doom which hath been decreed for you before my father. It is you who have committed sins, and who have wrought iniquity in the Great Hall; your corruptible The Apostates and Blasphemers of Ra, who are doomed to destruction, with their arms bound bodies shall be cut in pieces, and your souls shall have no existence, and ye shall never again see Ra with his attributes (as) he journeys in the hidden land. '

Gods as anthropomorphic

Anthropomorphic Single or twin form (e.g. Maat, justice goddess, often shown as a twin god) Cosmic and geographic (but Atum can be bimorphic, e.g. ram-headed) Kings Others: e.g. Min

jackal headed god

Anubis often Osiris and Anubis are present in iconographies of death. Attributes/shrines often enmeshed in ideas of what happens after death. Funerals inherently depict them.

Conditional approachability of the gods

Approachability: the gods are approachable, but only given certain conditions. A special temple, priesthood, cult, offerings etc. ods and humans did not readily mix; require a special setting that is distinct from ordinary life. Whether a state temple or private shrine, this setting is usually set apart from ordinary activities through elevation, a special entrance, processional design, the creation of thresholds and other boundaries like perimeter walls (temenos or peribolos). These 'other' spaces are 'heterotopias'. The gods are accessible but only in controlled contexts like temples, shrines, or dedicated spaces. Deities are approachable and accessible to a degree. Temples are houses of the gods and spaces for their business. These are the places that documents are kept and some products are made as well. Monastery-like in this regard: workshops/making/storing.

Bees

Bees are a symbol associated with the Lower Egypt area. Symbol of agriculture: people bred bees for honey.

gods as bimorphic

Bimorphic Either head or body is human or animal-like. But head is primary, body secondary

Gods as zoomorphic

Bull, ram, falcon, scarab ->male eg. Amun, Horus, Khepri Cow, lioness/cat, hippo, vulture, cobra ->female eg. Hathor, Sekhmet, Bastet, Nekhbet, Wadjet, Taweret

Dreams

One way to interact with the divine. Sphinx with Dream Stele as an example: stele dates to much later than construction of the Sphinx. The stele is from Thutmose IV but it is from thousands of years before. Stele explains dream he had. The Sphinx came in a dream and begged him to release it from the sand. He said he was the god Horumakhet-Khepri-Ra-Atum (Horemakhet=Horus of the Horizon) and gave Thutmose the kingship: proving his own divine right to Rule, tying himself to Horus, the representation of the living king. Many names: complexity and hiddenness, syncretism (Ra as solar god, Khepri as scarab/rising sun, Atum as creator although not directly a sun god in the same way). Sands of the dessert cover him: sands as a symbol of chaos, the king as the restorer of order. He saves the cosmos of destruction. In reality the Sphinx was right on the banks of the Nile, so likely not actually in the "desert". "at the moment the sun was at its zenith" he had this dream: a very good setting for a solar king to be blessed/illuminated. Dreams are one way for people to access the gods. Thutmose IV was a king of the 18th Dynasty (1400-1391 BCE), vs the date of the Sphinx is ca. 2575 BCE (1175 years later!)

King of the Underworld

Osiris

Horus is added on; who is he thought to be the child of?

Osiris and Isis. Added as their kid, incredibly important later on because he becomes the manifestation of the living pharaoh. He connects the pharaohs to the most important gods. Horus -an afterthought (connection with kingship since the pharaoh is the living Horus; see rulership and state lecture)

What's missing from Egyptian ideologies above?

People! And animals etc... How did the world get formed? Great Maker Ideologies from Memphis and Esna. People and other world aspects explained.

Papyrus

Plant associated with Lower Egypt. The delta has a lot of papyrus.

Scarab Beetle Activity

Shows skill and craft specialization. Characteristics of a standing human, anthropomorphism. Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, gold imported from the South (Sudan and Nubia), turquoise also a trade material, red stone from Egypt: trade relationships. Thinking about economy/trade. Iconographic wings outward: exaggerated Nekhbet wings, vulture deity. Sun and water Scarab beetle in Egypt represents rebirth found in tomb of king to assist king and send a statement about his power. pendant, sits on chest of someone, body as carrier of prestige, immediate connection to the body.

Atum Ra births

Shu and Tefnut

Where do we learn about different theological systems in Egypt from?

Some of the sources for our knowledge of these different (regional) theological systems come from the so-called Pyramid texts, the coffin texts and other epigraphic remains, like the Shabaka stone (see slide 10).