Egyptian Mythology The Gift of the Nile How

Egyptian Mythology “The Gift of the Nile”

How Did Myths “Rule” in Ancient Egypt?

Goddess Maat: Truth, Justice, Order

Egyptian Priests

“The deities of Egypt were present in the lives of pharaohs and citizens alike, creating a more completely theocratic society than any other of the ancient world” Kenneth C. Davis

To Understand Egypt One Must Understand its Myths!!

Hail to thee O Nile! Who manifests thyself over this land comes to give life to Egypt! Mysterious is thy issuing forth from the darkness, on this day whereon it is celebrated! Watering the orchards created by Re, to cause all the cattle to live, you give the earth to drink, inexhaustible one…

Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain, you bring forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to the temples. If you cease your toil and work, then all that exists is in anguish. If the gods suffer in the heavens, then the faces of men waste away. --Hymn to the Nile (c. 2100 BCE)

The River and the Desert Perfect Duality of Life and Death

“The rhythm of the Nile was the rhythm of Egyptian life. ” Daniel Boorsin “The Discoverers”

The River Became the Centerpiece of Egypt’s Religious Ideas

Egyptian Scribe

Few ancient civilizations documented their beliefs in as rich a detail and in so many locations as the Egyptians

The Pyramid Texts

Book of the Dead

“Weighing of the Heart”

Osiris “god of Resurrection and the Underworld”

Judgment Day

Ammut “Eater of the Dead”

Egyptians Believed from the Earliest Times that gods had a Profound Impact on the Shaping of their World and Civilization

Egyptian Religion was the First to Conceive of Life After Death

Egyptian Creation Myth

The waters contained all of the potential for life, awaiting only the emergence of a creator

Shu and Tefnut “First Divine Couple”

Duat: “Egyptian Underworld”

The Sun’s Daily Birth and Death Symbolized the Eternal Cycle of Life and Death

In that Fundamental Idea of Death and Resurrection Lay the Basic Foundation of Egyptian Society and Worship

Isis

Isis and Horus

Mary and Jesus 3 rd Century Coptic

Seth

Isis and Horus A Question of Incest?

Amenhotep IV (1352 -1336 BCE)

Nefertiti

Tutankhamun “King Tut”

Moses Michelangelo

Moses Delivering the Ten Commandments

“This is where myth and history collide —and it is one of the fundamental reasons to understand mythology. Where is one faith or religion—or mythology—born? Whose divinely revealed truth is the one and only truth? ” Kenneth C. Davis

Does Egyptian Myth Matter?

Alexander the Great 356 -323 BCE

Cleopatra

Did it’s History and Beliefs Matter? Did the Great Civilization Make a Difference?

“The spread of the religion was aided by the fact that many aspects of Christianity were readily understandable to the Egyptian in terms of their own ancient myths and beliefs. . ” Richard H. Wilkinson

Egyptian “Tau” Cross: Ankh