Gods of Ancient Egypt E-Book

Barbara Watterson

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2003

Beschreibung

Illustrated in colour, this is an introduction for the general reader to Egyptian mythology and its mysteries. It includes a concise introduction to general aspects of Egyptian religion, followed by specific sections devoted to the most important of the gods. With sections on personal religion and temple ceremony, there are also accounts of mythological stories associated with the gods, and a map of the principle cult centres.

Leseprobe

GODS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

For Alice and Lily

GODS OF ANCIENT EGYPT

BARBARA WATTERSON

First published in 1984 by Batsford Academic and Educational a division of B.T. Batsford Ltd

First published by Sutton Publishing Limited in 1996

This edition first published in 2003

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 2QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2013

All rights reserved

© Barbara Watterson, 1984, 1996, 2003 2013

The right of Barbara Watterson to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7524 9502 6

Original typesetting by The History Press

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Preface

Note on Transliteration

Chronological Table

Egyptian Place-names

Map

Principal Cult-centres

Part One

Introduction

One The Land of Egypt and its Influence upon the Religion of the Ancient Egyptians

Two Forms of Religion in Ancient Egypt

Part Two

The Major Gods of Egypt

The Sun God

Atum

Shu

Tefnut

Geb

Nut

Re

Khepri

Osris

Isis

Horus

Seth

Nephthys

Hathor

Wadjet

Nekhbet

Amun

Mut

Khonsu

Aten

Ptah

Sokar

Sekhmet

Anubis

Neit

Thoth

Khnum

Min

Montu

Bastet

Part Three

Personal Piety and Popular Religion

Glossary

Notes

Bibliography and Further Reading

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I should like to thank my husband, Juan, for his constant support and encouragement in the production of this book.

PREFACE

The artefacts of the ancient Egyptian civilization, from the largest temples to the smallest amulets, have been much admired for their beauty and workmanship. Admiration soon leads to curiosity about the purpose or significance of certain themes and designs, many of which consist of ever-recurring religious symbols and images of gods in different guises. A knowledge of the more commonly represented deities allows the admirer to understand something of the purpose and motives which directed the skills of ancient Egyptian artisans.

In assembling this ‘gazetteer’ of the gods of ancient Egypt, I have aimed at introducing only the thirty or so more important members of a tribe numbered in hundreds, and in addition to more factual details of form, time and place have related the sometimes elaborate mythology pertaining to each. These mythologies are the ancient Egyptian version of the folklore and fairy stories which all societies produce. Throughout the book, references have been given to sources in which translations of the various myths and stories can be found; however, excerpts quoted in the book are from my own translations.

This book is not a study of ancient Egyptian religion as such, and the only purpose of the brief introductory chapters is to allow the reader to appreciate the theological context in which the gods were worshipped. No attempt has been made to make comparisons with the gods or beliefs of other cultures, although any description of a culture different from our own, especially one so far removed from us in time, inevitably incorporates implicit and sometimes very subjective comparisons with our own twenty-first century European tribal customs and beliefs.

The origins and chief places of worship of certain ancient Egyptian deities, and the beliefs associated with them, are set out in the following chapters, which are arranged more or less according to the importance of the gods discussed in them rather than in any historical or geographical order. The glossary found on pages 199–202 includes explanations of specialized words in the text; and an explanation of the way in which ancient Egyptian words (proper nouns, place-names, kings’ names, etc.) have been written is given on page XII.

A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION

From about 3100 BC, the Egyptian language was written in hieroglyphic script, a decorative and complex picture-writing that remained in use for over 3,000 years. In 30 BC, Egypt came under Roman rule. The Romans abolished the institution of monarchy in Egypt; and the dissolution of what had been the linchpin of Egyptian society, combined with the advent of Christianity, to which most of Egypt had been converted by the fourth century AD, meant that the use of hieroglyphs, and the alternative scripts, hieratic and demotic (see Glossary), fast deteriorated, to be replaced by Greek, and by Coptic, the last stage of the native language of Egypt, which employed the Greek alphabet as the basis of its written script.

The language of ancient Egypt, as expressed in hieroglyphs, hieratic and demotic, was lost for centuries until, in AD 1822, Jean-François Champollion became the first man of modern times to decipher hieroglyphs correctly. However, the pronunciation of ancient Egyptian is not known with a sufficient degree of certainty.

In order for an English-speaker, for example, to be able to read hieroglyphic script, the pictographs used in it have to be turned into an approximation of the English alphabet, that is, transliterated. Unfortunately, the Egyptians only used consonants in their written script; their language must have had vowels in it, but the position of these vowels in Egyptian-language words is not made clear in hieroglyphic script. It should perhaps be mentioned here that the official language of Egypt today is Arabic, and has been since the Arab Conquest of AD 640; and that Arabic is not the same language as ancient Egyptian, although the script of both has one thing in common: in neither language are the vowels written.

Thus, there are schools of transliteration for both languages with different traditions for inserting vowels: some write Idfu where we write Edfu (Arabic place-name); some write Ra where we write Re (name of ancient Egyptian Sun God), and so on. As a general rule of thumb, English-speaking readers of Gods of Ancient Egypt will find it convenient for pronunciation purposes to put an ‘e’ into ancient Egyptian words wherever it would otherwise be difficult to pronounce a string of consonants. Where this simple expedient of inserting an ‘e’ between consonants does not work, for example in sýn (see Glossary), the word has been rendered into an approximation of English, sýn being written shen.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

It is customary to arrange ancient Egyptian history into dynasties, or groups, of kings, following the system first used by the third-century BC scholar-priest, Manetho, in his history of Egypt, written in Greek and entitled the Aegyptiaca. To the end of Manetho’s original list have been added two dynasties to cover the years after his death. The thirty-two dynasties thus arrived at are divided into periods known as ‘Old Kingdom’, ‘Middle Kingdom’ and ‘New Kingdom’, interspersed with so-called ‘Intermediate Periods’. The term ‘Kingdom’ is not a geographical description but is historical and refers to the times in ancient Egyptian history when the country was a unified state ruled by one king. The Intermediate Periods were times when there was no strong central government.

Since we are not certain of how ancient Egyptian was pronounced, many scholars prefer to use the Greek forms of royal names taken from Manetho. In the following table, both Greek and Egyptian forms are given where appropriate; in the book, the Egyptian form is used, so that it can be seen clearly which kings are named after gods.

prehistory: i.e. Predynastic Egypt c. 5500–c. 3150 bc

Lower Egypt:

5500–4000 BC: Fayum and Merimde cultures

Upper Egypt:

5500–4000 BC: Badarian culture

Upper Egypt:

4000–3500 BC: Naqada I culture

Upper Egypt:

3500–3150 BC: Naqada II culture

protodynastic period: c. 3200–c. 3050 bc

Naqada III culture

history: i.e. Dynastic Egypt

SELECTED KINGS

DEVELOPMENTS IN

NAMED IN BOOK

RELIGION AND HISTORY

Archaic Period: c. 3100–c. 2686 bc

Dynasty Ic. 3100–2890

Scorpion (predynastic?)

Menes/Narmer

Hor-aha

Union of Upper and Lower Egypt

Capital city: Memphis

Dynasty IIc. 2890–2686

Sekhemib/Peribsen

Khasekemwy

Sendji

Kings buried in mastabas at Sakkara

Beginning of writing

Major gods: Horus and Seth

Old Kingdom: c. 2886–c. 2181 bc

Dynasty III

Djoser

Development of step pyramids

c. 2686–2613

Major god: Atum

Dynasty IVc. 2613–2494

Khufu (Cheops)

Khafre (Chephren)

Menkaure (Mycerinus)

Peak of Old Kingdom achievements in art and architecture

Kings buried in first true pyramids at Giza

Royal power at peak

Major gods: Atum and Re

Dynasty Vc. 2494–2345

Unas

Decline of royal power

Increase in power of Heliopolitan priesthood

Dynasty VIc. 2345–2181

Pepi I

Pepi II

Spread of Osiris cult

Kings buried in small pyramids at Sakkara and Abusir

Pyramid Texts

First Intermediate Period: c. 2181–c. 2040 bc

Dynasties VII, VIIIc. 2181–2160

Early Coffin Texts

Dynasties IX, Xc. 2160–2040

Middle Kingdom: 2106–1633(?) bc

Dynasty XI 2106–1963

Mentuhotep II (2033–1982)

State reunited

Mentuhotep IV (1970–1963)

Capital city: Thebes

Dynasty XII 1963–1786

Amenemhat I (Amenemmes) (1963–1934)

Senwosret III (Sesostris) (1862–1843)

Capital city: Lisht

Kings buried in pyramids at Lisht, Lahun, Dahshur

Major god: Amun

Dynasty XIII 1786–1633(?)

Second Intermediate Period: 1786–1550 bc

Dynasties XIV–XVI

Hyksos Occupation

New Kingdom: 1550–1069 bc

Dynasty XVIII 1550–1295

Ahmose (Amosis) (1550–1525)

Thutmose II (Tuthmosis) (1492–1479)

Thutmose III (1479–1425)

Hatshepsut (1479–1457)

Thuthmose IV (1393–1383)

Amenhotep III (Amenophis) (1383–1345)

Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) (1353–1337)

Smenkare (1338–1336)

Tutankhamun (1336–1327)

Ay (1327–1323)

Horemheb (1323–1295)

Expulsion of Hyksos

State reunited

Capital city: Thebes

Kings of Dynasties XVIII–XX buried in rock-cut tombs at Thebes. Egypt becomes Imperial power and richest state in world

Amun at height of power

Amarna Period

Restoration of Amun

Dynasty XIX 1295–1186

Ramesses I (1295–1294)

Sety I (Sethos) (1294–1279)

Ramesses II (1279–1213)

Renewed interest in Empire

Dynasty XX 1186–1069 in

Ramesses III (1184–1153)

Invasion of Sea Peoples

From Ramesses III, decline

Ramesses IV (1153–1147)

Ramesses V (1147–1143)

Ramesses XI (1099–1069)

Egyptian power

Third Intermediate Period: 1069–525 bc

Dynasty XXI (at Tanis: 1069–945) (at Thebes: 1080–945)

Psusennes II (959–945)

Capital city: Tanis

Kings buried in sunken tombs at Tanis

High Priests of Amun rule Upper Egypt from Thebes

Dynasty XXII 945–715

Sheshonq I (945–924)

Capital cities: Tanis and Bubastis

Kings buried at Tanis

Dynasty XXIII 818–715

Capital city: Leontopolis

Dynasty XXIV 728–715

Tefnakhte (727–720)

Capital city: Sais

Dynasty XXV 716–664

Shabaka (716–702)

Egypt under Kushite (Sudanese) rule

Capitals at Memphis, Thebes and Napata (Sudan)

Kings buried at Kurru (Sudan)

Dynasty XXVI 664–525

Psammeticus I (664–610)

Saite Period: Renaissance in Egyptian culture

Capital city: Sais

Kings buried in Temple of

Neit at Sais

The Late Period: 525–332 bc

Dynasty XXVII 525–404

Egypt under Persian rule

Capital city: Susa or Babylon

Dynasty XXVIII 404–399

Native kings

Capital city: Sais

Dynasty XXIX 399–380

Native kings

Capital city: Memphis

Dynasty XXX 380–343

Last native kings

Nectanebo I (380–362)

Nectanebo II (360–343)

Capital city: Sebennytos

Dynasty XXXI 343–332 332

Egypt once more under Persian rule

Alexander the Great conquers Egypt

Capital city: Susa or Babylon

macedonian period: 332–304 bc

Alexander (332–323)

Dynasty XXXII 304–30 BC

Ptolemy V Epiphanes (205–180)

The Ptolemaic era: Egypt ruled by the descendants of Ptolemy

Cleopatra VII

Lagides, one of (51–30) Alexander’s

generals

Caesarion (44–30)

Capital city: Alexandria

roman era: 30 bc–ad 395

Egypt under Roman rule

Roman Emperors: Augustus (30 BC-AD 14) Tiberius (14–37) Claudius (41–54) Vespasian (69–79) Domitian (81–96) Caracalla (198–217) Decius (249–251) Diocletian (284–305)

Capital city: Alexandria

byzantine and coptic era: ad 395–641

Byzantine Emperors

Capital city: Alexandria

State religion of Egypt: Christianity (Orthodox), believing Christ has both divine and human nature

Native (Coptic) church Monophysite, believing Christ has one, divine, nature

islamic era: ad 641 to present

Arab Conquest AD 640

Capital city: Cairo

State religion of Egypt: Islam

Khalifs (641–1258)

Mamelukes (1258–1517)

Ottomans (1517–1882)

Mohammed Ali (c. 1769–1849)

British Occupation (1882–1914)

British Protectorate (1914–1922)

Independent Kingdom (1922–1953)

Republic: 1953 to present

EGYPTIAN PLACE-NAMES

On the map on p. xxii the place-names are those most commonly used today. It has become the custom for scholars to refer to many places by their Graeco-Roman names, following the practice of the early Egyptologists whose interest in Egypt was stimulated by the classical writers; however, this practice is not followed consistently. In the text of this book, the ancient Egyptian name has been used, except for particularly well-known places which have become familiar under their Greek or Arabic names: for example, Edfu, for which it would be perverse to use anything other than the name derived from Arabic.

In the following table, place-names are listed, roughly in geographical order from north to south, under 1) the modern Arabic name; 2) the name by which the place was known during the period of Graeco-Roman rule; 3) the ancient Egyptian name. Names used on the map are marked with an asterisk.

Modern name name

Classical name

Ancient

EL-ISKANDARIYA

Alexandria*

Raqote

ABUQIR

Kanopus*

RASHID

Rosetta*

DAMANHÛR*

Hermopolis Parva

Demit-en-Hor

SA EL-HAGAR

Sais*

Sau

TELL EL-FARA’UN

Buto*

Pe and Dep

BEHBEIT EL-HAGAR*

Iseum

Hebyt

ABUSIR

Busiris*

Djedu

SAMANNUD

Sebennytos*

Tjebnutjer

SAN EL-HAGAR

Tanis*

Dja’net

TELL ED-DAB’A

Avaris*

wt w‘rt

QANTIR

Pi-Ramessu*

FAQUS

Phakussa*

TELL ABU SEFAH*

Sile

Tjel

WADI EL-NATRUN*

TELL ATRIB

Athribis*

Kem-wer

TELL BASTA

Bubastis*

Bast

WADI TUMILAT*

SAFT EL-HINNA*

Per-Soped

ISMAILIA*

SERÂBIT EL-KHÂDIM

TELL EL-YAHUDIYA*

Leontopolis

Nay-ta-hut

AUSIM

Letopolis*

Khem

CAIRO (EL-QAHIRA)*

MIT RAHINA

Memphis*

Ineb-hedj

GIZA*

Rasetau

ABUSIR*

SAKKARA*

DAHSHUR*

FAYUM OASIS*

Moeris

She-resy

(later Mer-wer)

MEDINET EL-FAYUM*

Krocodilopolis

LISHT*

Itje-tawy

ATFIH

Aphroditopolis*

IHNASYA EL-MEDINA

Herakleopolis*

Henen-nesut

BENI SUEF*

EL-BAHNASA

Oxyrhynchus*

Per-medjed

EL-QEIS

Cynopolis*

EL-MINYA*

ZAWYET EL-AMWAT*

Hebenu

BENI HASAN*

EL-AMARNA*

Akhetaten

EL-ESHMUNEIN*

Hermopolis Magna

Khemenu

EL-QUSIYA

Cusae*

Qis

ASSIUT*

Lykopolis

Zawty

SHUTB

Hypselis*

Sha-sehetep

QAW EL-KEBIR*

Antaeopolis

Djew-Qa (later Tjebu)

AKHMIM*

Panopolis

Khent-Min

MESHEIKH

This*

Tjeny

Abydos*

Aabdju

DENDERAH*

Tentyris

Iunet

HIW*

Diopolis Parva

Hoot-sekhem

TUKH

Ombos*

Nebet

QIFT

Koptos*

Gebtu

WADI HAMMAMAT*

NAQADA*

LUXOR*

Diospolis Magna (Thebes)

Waset

NAG EL-MEDAMUD*

Madu

ARMANT*

Hermonthis

Iuny

TOD*

Tuphium

Djerty

GEBELEIN*

Aphroditopolis

Per-Hathor

ESNA*

Latopolis

Ta-sny

EL-KAB*

Eleithiapolis

Nekheb

KOM EL-AHMAR

Hierakonpolis*

Nekhen

EDFU*

Apollinopolis Magna

Wetjeset-Hor

WADI MIA*

WADI ABBAD*

KOM OMBO*

Ombos

Nebet

ASWAN*

Syene

Elephantine*

Abu

Philae*

Pi-lak

For information on archaeological excavations at many of these sites see the Bibliography on page 231 of the Atlas of Ancient Egypt (Baines and Malek).

PRINCIPAL CULT-CENTRES

The list below gives the principal cult-centres of the major deities discussed in this book, using the names by which they are most likely to be referred to in other books. Modern Arabic place-names are in capital letters, Graeco-Roman names in lower case.

Abydos:

Osiris

AMARNA:

Aten

ARMANT:

Montu

Bubastis:

Bastet

Busiris:

Osiris

Buto:

Wadjet (Edjo)

Cynopolis:

Anubis

DENDERAH:

Hathor

EDFU:

Horus

Elephantine:

Khnum

EL-KAB:

Nekhbet

ESNA:

Khnum

Heliopolis:

Atum, Re, Geb, Nut, Khepri

Hermopolis:

Thoth

Hierakonpolis:

Horus the Elder

Koptos:

Min

Leontopolis:

Shu, Tefnut

Memphis:

Ptah

Ombos:

Seth

Philae:

Isis

Sais:

Neit

Sebennytos:

Onuris

Tanis:

Seth

Thebes:

Amun, Mut, Khonsu