3. September 14 INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIGION: WHAT IS A GOD?
Religion:
Class thoughts on religion:
-a way of believing
-a way to explain natural phenomena
-comfort
-community
-a way to explain origins/creation
-imposing order
-a way to pass time
-to understand death and the hereafter
-gives meaning to life itself
-helps to deal with fear
-transmission of morals
-a set of rituals that symbolically reinforce belief
-enforces class hierarchy
-used to legitimize rulers
-gives hope
-describes emotions
-a way of thinking about life in general
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
So… 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
| Official | Funerary | Personal | |
| Goals | Maintain order | Afterlife | Personal |
| Focus | Temple | Tomb/chapel | Home shrine |
| Actions | Offerings, prayers, rituals | Offerings, prayers, rituals | Offerings, prayers, rituals |
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”
Basic categories of gods:
Natural forces (sun, Nile, etc.)
Abstract concepts (like “order”)
Local, national, kingship
Funerary
Household, personal
Foreign
Fusion of gods:
Amun + Re = Amun-Re
“Fission” of gods into forms or aspects:
Horus
Specialized: Harpocrates (“Horus-the-child”)
Mutual coexistence of godsand traditions