3. INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGION

Kinds of evidence:

Archaeological evidence

Context:

Funerary (tombs, burials)

Temple (sites of worship, cult)

Settlement (where people lived)

Representational Evidence

Painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.

-Human figures as composites of views
-Canon of proportions
-Size relates to status
-art as diagram: limited use of perspective

Textual evidence: written words. connected text, compositions

Egyptian writing: hieroglyphs and cursive forms

-Picture-writing
-Signs represent sounds and/or ideas
-Vowels not written
-Interaction of text and image

Egyptian language

Scripts:

Hieroglyphic
Hieratic
Demotic
Coptic

Egyptian language

"Afroasiatic Family"

Semitic: Akkadian, Hebrew, Arabic, etc.
African: Bedja, Berber, Bantu, etc.

Rosetta Stone:
-Egyptian hieroglyphs
-Demotic Egyptian (cursive)
-Greek

Greek and Roman sources:
-Plutarch (religion)
-Manetho (history divided into dynasties)
-Herodotus (history and religion)

Religion:

Class thoughts on religion:

What is religion?

From 2013 class:

-Worship of something sacred
-Beliefs
-Practices
-Origin stories
-Faith in a higher power
-Afterlife
-Ways to explain things
-Organized structure of belief
-Association of higher power to something that you can relate to
-Routine and comfort

From 2012 class:

-Belief system
-Way of explaining the world
-Way of life
-Organized rituals
-Higher power
-Prayers and worship of higher power
-Afterlife
-Social hierarchy
-Traditions
-Restrictions
-Form of stratification

Religion:

Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.
(adapted):

Recognition on the part of a person of some higher unseen power as having control of his/her destiny, and as being entitled to obedience, reverence and worship; the general mental and moral attitude resulting from this belief, with reference to its effect on the individual or community; personal or general acceptance of this feeling as a standard of spiritual and practical life.

"Religion"

No ancient Egyptian word for it

Characteristics of religion in ancient Egypt

-Divine beings/gods, deities, etc.
-Worship
-Offering
-Prayer/praise
-Ritual
-Temple
-Cult (Official)
-Personal Cult
-Domestic Shrine
-Tomb
-Tomb Chapel

Religion

Maintenance of "order" (ma'at)

vs.

"disorder" (isfet)

(more than "good" vs. "evil")

Seth as god of disorder

"God", "gods"

Netjer (ntr)

Coptic: Noute

Hieroglyph for "netjer"

Netjer: god, a god, the god

Netjerew: gods, some gods, the gods

Polytheism: multiple gods

vs.

Monotheism: single god

Rosetta stone

Egyptian
Hieroglyphs

Demotic
(also Egyptian)

Greek

Rosetta stone

Egyptian: netjerew
"gods"

Greek: Theoi
"gods"

Gods' names

Spelling

No vowels in writing

Example: S-k-r
Help from Greek gives us Sokar

But Greek sometimes seems different

Osiris (W-s-ir)
Horus (H-r)
Nephthys (N-b-t-h-w-t)

Ammon (I-m-n) = Amon, Amun, Amen, etc.

God's names

Isis, Re, etc.

Secret names