The spoken word is an important, beneficial element in the Egyptian creational beliefs regarding the god Atum. Atum supposedly spoke the universe into existence, creating order, and maat, which the Egyptians deemed inherently good. The spoken word is also, it seems, an important element in Egyptian wisdom literature. In The Instruction of Amunnakhte, Ammunnakhte tells his apprentice Hor-Min, “Give your ears and hear what is said . . . You will discover my words to be a treasure house of life, And your body will flourish upon earth” (226). Here, although Amunnakhte is not creating the universe through his words, he is still, in a way, creating maat through his words. He is verbally instructing his apprentice to heed his words, which will presumably guide him, and bring order—maat—into his life. In this way, the Egyptians must have not only valued the divine word as a source of good, but also the mortal word. …show more content…
Amunnakhte’s mortal word of advice for Hor-Min is heavy with the ideal of maat and the protection of maat.
In emphasizing the importance of words and therefore of maat, Amunnakhte asks Hor-Min not to desecrate maat by lying. He says, “Do not converse falsely with a man, For it is the abomination of God. Do not separate your mind from your tongue” (232). Here, Ammunnakhte asserts the idea that lying is the destruction of maat. The divinity created maat, so if Ammunnakhte believes lying is the abomination of God, then lying is also the abomination of maat. If the anciety Egyptians believed this, then lying would be a source of evil because it harms the ultimate good (maat) and because, from a literal perspective, the word abomination suggests disgust, hatred, and more importantly, evil. Truth must have also been a source of good, and therefore a source of maat and order in Egyptian
society. Amunnakhte continues to instruct Hor-Min on maintaining maat specifically within society when he tells Hor-Min to engage in a kind of social maat in which he should not perturb the already misfortunate. Amunnakhte says, “Beward of stealing from a miserable man And of raging against the cripple. Do not stretch out your hand to strike an old man, Nor snip at the words of an elder” (226). In other words, Hor-Min should not work against maat by creating more chaos in lives of those who already struggle against the weight of a scale tipped against them. This must mean that if Hor-Min were to do such things, he would be helping Isfet and thus, evil. Not doing such things would help create maat, and thus good. Amunnakhte believes Hor-Min should maintain his maat externally by not acting out against others, but also, before doing so, he must maintain his maat emotionally. Amunnakhte mentions rage in regards to hurting the cripple. He also advices, “Sleep on it before speaking, For a storm come forth like a fire in hay is The hot-headed man in his appointed time” (227). Through these words, Amunnakhte warns Hor-Min not to let his emotions control him. He must control his own emotions, so as to balance them, act rationally, and thus have emotional balance and order. Hor-Min can therefore possess an emotional maat. The Egyptians likely believed that when people balance their emotions they maintain not only their own maat, but also society’s at large because in maintain self-maat, society does not suffer the chaotic result of an emotionally uncontrollable person. The balance of emotions overall must have then been a source of good in the eyes of the Egyptians.
Since people feared pharaohs, they respected them. For instance, the passage in Document 5 states that wokers built large pyramids to serve their pharaohs inside tombs. The text states, "Pharaohs were burried with their possessions." In addition, some people (Sumerians Akkadians) practiced polytheism, the worship of gods. Based on the document, "They believed that keeping the gods happy was the key to their own happiness and prosperity. On the other hand, if the gods were angry, they might bring suffering and disaster." In additon, previously stated, Egypt and Mesopotamia develoved into successful civilizations by effectively using the resources that surrounded them to solve problems and live happily. The text states, "Sumerians built huge temples called ziggurats. They believed these temples linked Earth with the heavens and linked people with the gods." This shows that they use dtheir resources to build ziggurats for their own goods so that the gods can give them happiness and prosperity instead of bringing them suffering and disaster. Therefore, Egyptians' religion and beliefs would help develop Egypt and Mesopotamia into successful
Creation stories have profound effects on humans. Those associated with ancient cultures/civilizations aim to ensure the successful survival or well-being of themselves and that particular culture/civilization of their association, but not all are beneficial, prosperous, or fortunate. Mesopotamia’s “The Gilgamesh Epic”, Egypt’s “Hymn to the Nile-Documents”, and Mesoamerica’s Mayan and Aztec creation stories/religion are influential to establishing significant relationships within society, whether that is between humans and nature or humans and their “god(s).”
During the New Kingdom of Egypt (from 1552 through 1069 B.C.), there came a sweeping change in the religious structure of the ancient Egyptian civilization. "The Hymn to the Aten" was created by Amenhotep IV, who ruled from 1369 to 1353 B.C., and began a move toward a monotheist culture instead of the polytheist religion which Egypt had experienced for the many hundreds of years prior to the introduction of this new idea. There was much that was different from the old views in "The Hymn to the Aten", and it offered a new outlook on the Egyptian ways of life by providing a complete break with the traditions which Egypt held to with great respect. Yet at the same time, there were many commonalties between these new ideas and the old views of the Egyptian world. Although through the duration of his reign, Amenhotep IV introduced a great many changes to the Egyptian religion along with "The Hymn", none of these reforms outlived their creator, mostly due to the massive forces placed on his successor, Tutankhamen, to renounce these new reforms. However, the significance of Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaten as he later changed his name to, is found in "The Hymn". "The Hymn" itself can be looked at as a contradiction of ideas; it must be looked at in relation to both the Old Kingdom's belief of steadfast and static values, as well as in regards to the changes of the Middle Kingdom, which saw unprecedented expansionistic and individualistic oriented reforms. In this paper I plan to discuss the evolvement of Egyptian Religious Beliefs throughout the Old,
The cult of Amun Re was an expression of Egyptian unity and thereby consolidated a religious and societal cohesion and a rise in nationalism. Eric Hornung argues that the syncretism of the Amun cult with that of Re constituted the evolution of an altogether new
... their powerful brother. Even Joseph benefited from the lies his brothers told about him, saying that he was dead when in actuality he had been sold into slavery. Had his brothers not lied, Jacob would have searched for him and he never would have become Pharaoh’s partner. So, it seems here that lying conquered truth-telling in efficiency and outcome.
In New Kingdom Egypt, in the 14th Century BCE, one man would attempt to force a change, a revolution, on a people that had remained unchanged and unchanging for 2000 years. This man, the Pharaoh Amenhotep IV, promoted monotheism primarily because of religious intentions and not for political or personal gain. He selected one God, Aten, and it was this deity that was the center of attention during Amenhotep’s reign. Amenhotep IV, who would later take the name Akhenaten, would lead a controversial reign which would result in failure. He would eventually be deemed the “heretic king” (Assmann 149), but what was it that earned him this title? Was Amenhotep IV truly a “heretic king?”
Johnston summarizes A. H. Sayce and A. S. Yahuda’s work into three distinct claims. Johnston’s initial claim was that trained Egyptologists identified equivalent meanings between Genesis 1 and Egyptian creation myths reference to the beginning (Johnston, 183). He concluded that both writings refer to this reference as the absolute beginning of any activity in the entire cosmos (Johnston,
Akhenaten went completely against the former views of New Kingdom Egypt – that Amun-Re is the god of gods. Instead he put in place the Aten which is the ‘sun disc’ above Ra’s head and forced this religion upon his people. A fact which is acknowledged by an American university professor of history, Damen (2013) who states that by the third year of Akhenaten’s reign a major shift in Egyptian religion began. Firstly, Akhenaten changed his name from Amunhotep IV to honour his own god Aten by ridding his name of the god Amun-Re. Akhenaten also removed the word ‘gods’ from inscriptions replacing it with ‘god’ and destroyed some of Amun’s temples and monuments, thus declaring war against the dominant religious authority of his day {Damen (2013)}). An educated opinion by oft-cited English historian and Egyptologist, Weigall (1910) insinuates that Akhenaten ‘objected heroics and loved naturalness’ tel...
Robert Butler suggests a theory that Akhenaten revolutionised Egypt by creating a new dichotomy of good and evil, defined either by one’s dedication or opposition to the Aten. This may suggest that the Egyptian people took a dislike toward the Pharaoh’s new beliefs in reaction to his claim that, essentially, due to their reluctance to take to his new theology, they were evil. In fact, Pesch comments that the average Egyptian’s devotion to their own gods did not waver at Amarna, as evidence showing worship of both household gods and even more major gods such as Seth and Amun were found in examples of objects such as figurines and amulets in homes at Amarna in this period. This was the Egyptian citizens’ quiet protest of their pharaoh’s new laws. They clearly could not directly oppose Akhenaten, but their continued beliefs and practices at home exemplify their dedication to their religion above all else, despite his claims that anyone to do so would essentially be considered evil.
In the glorious Eighteenth Dynasty, when Egypt became for the first time a world power, a young Pharaoh ascended the throne about 1375 B.C., who first called himself Amenhotep (IV) like his father, but later on changed his name to Akhenaten (1370-1358 B.C.). This king undertook to force upon his subjects a new religion, one contrary to their ancient traditions and to all their familiar habits. It was a strict monotheism, the first attempt of its kind in the history of the world, as far as we know; and religious intolerance, which was foreign to antiquity before this and for long after, was inevitably born with the belief in one god. But Amenhotep’s reign lasted only for seventeen years; very soon after his death in 1358 B.C. the new religion was swept away and the memory of the heretic king proscribed. From the ruins of his new capital, which he had built and dedicated to his god, and from the inscription in the rock tombs belonging to it, we derive the little knowledge we possess of him.1
For instance, the creation of world from a dark water abyss to a living world by Atum, an Egyptian deity exemplifies homogenous impression of creator god. According to Egyptian mythology, the spirit of creator was bounded by the primeval water as there was emptiness all over. The origin began with the emergence of Atum from primeval chaos in the form of a serpent. However, he was alone so he gave birth to the first divine couple. Then, the divine couple Shu and Tefenet gave birth to other gods and goddesses and the world was formed out of chaos (Willis 39). Considering the complexities of nature, humankind have considered that all of the resources including water, wind, land, and other things are created by none other than the creator. This indicates that some ideas are universal and inherited by all humans independent of their tradition. Moreover, Jung claimed that a part of human mind contained a collective unconsciousness shared by all human species. The phenomena of creation by Atum manifest the persona of creator god and it thereby establishes similarities that can be recognized by all humans regardless of their culture, ethnicity, or geographical
Egypt is one of the oldest and most complex civilizations of the world. Their religion and beliefs are fascinating and have been a mystery for centuries. Even today, there are some things that we still do not understand. In this research, I will investigate the basic concepts of Egyptian mythology and its gods.
The questions about the existence of life and the creation of the world are always mind-boggling and fascinating, however, the real answer to these questions may never surface. All there is to rely on are the myths, stories and legends passed on from generation to generation by ancestors and the clues they have left. This essay will try to uncover the ancient Mesopotamian and Hebrew views on existence and creation by looking at sources like the Genesis and other ancient Mesopotamian texts and poems. Mesopotamians and Hebrews had contrasting views on how they explained the events in their lives, and through analysis of ancient sources, those differences will be outlined. In such populated and booming areas, human conflict was inevitable and some of the law codes that were placed in effect to establish order within the society will be examined. Throughout it all, god and religion played a central role in these ancient civilizations.
Although there are few religions that still consider the ways of the ancient Egyptian culture important, they are still out there. They are influenced every day by the history, which permeates their rituals, scriptures, and more. Furthermore, Egypt’s political influence may be outdated and not the clearest system, but it led the way for further development and refinement for future use. Without the influence of Egypt, we would not be the civilization that we are
While the Hebrews and Egyptians creation theories bear resemblances and differences, the study and comparison of both the Egyptian myths and the biblical account allow us to comprehend the religious views of ancient civilizations in a better light. One may come to the conclusion that the Hebrews were influenced by the cultures of Egyptians by creating similarities in their own beliefs, or by drawing a line of defense of what is in their terms true, by separating from the mass ideals of the Egyptians and establishing distinct