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Egyptian Mythology
Egyptian Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
The collection of ancient Egyptian art at the Metropolitan Museum ranks among the finest outside Cairo. It consists of approximately 36,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from the Paleolithic to the Roman period (ca. 300,000 B.C.–4th century A.D.). More than half of the collection comefrom the Museum's thirty-five years of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing public interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.Overall, the collections reflect the aesthetic values, history, religious beliefs, and daily life of the ancient Egyptians over the entire course of their great civilization.
One of the most popular destinations in the Egyptian galleries is the Temple of Dendur. Built about 15 B.C. by the Roman emperor Augustus, who had succeeded Cleopatra VII, the last of the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt, the temple was dedicated to the great goddess Isis and to two sons of a local Nubian ruler who had aided the Romans in their wars with the queen of Meroe to the south. Located in Lower Nubia, about fifty miles south of modern Aswan, the temple was dismantled to save it from the rising waters of Lake Nasser after the building of the Aswan High Dam. It was presented to the United States as a gift from the Egyptian government in recognition of the American contribution to the international campaign to save the ancient Nubian monuments. (http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/introduction.asp?dep=10)
The Sound of Ancient Egypt
The music above is related to type of music that was present in Ancient Egypt. There were many musical instruments represented in the pharanoic Egypt such as percussion, wind and stringed instruments. Some of the general ideas of the sound of Egypt are:- Music was based on a scale of 5 tones without halftones
- Ritual temple music was largely a matter of the rattling of the sistrum, accompanied by voice, sometimes with harp or percussion.
- Both male and female voices were used in Egyptian music.
Religion
TheEgyptian faith was based on an unorganized collection of ancient myths, nature worship, and innumerable deities. The Egyptians had as many as 2000 gods and goddesses. Often gods and goddesses were represented as part human and part animal. Because their religion stressed an afterlife, Egyptians devoted muchtime and wealth to preparing for survival in the next world. The Egyptians had many tales about how the world began. Temples were considered dwelling places for the gods. Each city had a temple built for the god of that city. The purpose of the temple was to be a cosmic center by which men had communication with the gods. As the priests became more powerful, tombs became a part of great temples. The priests’ duty was to care for the gods and attend to their needs. The priests had many duties such as funeral rites, teaching school, supervising the artists and works, and advising people on problems.Gods
Egypt had many gods. Just like how everyone doesn’t believe in the same way, or the same god. Egypt too was the same. Individual kings worshipped their own gods, as did the workers, priests, merchants and peasants. The gods lived, died, hunted, went into battle, gave birth, ate, drank, and had human emotions. The gods reigns overlapped, and, in some instances, merged. Their was no organized hierarchy structure of their reign. The dominance of the gods depended on the beliefs of the reigning king. Their area of dominance depended on where the king wanted his capital. The Egyptian gods were represented with human torsos and human or animal heads. For example, Ra, had the head of a hawk due to its swift flight across the sky. Each god had five names, and each was associated with an element, such as air, with celestial bodies, or were a descriptive statement about the god, such as strong, virile or majestic.Below are some of the main gods:
Re- “Creator of Gods”, the sun god and the lord of the universe,
Shu- God of air
Tefnut- Goddess of moisture and rain
Nut- God of the sky
Amun- flourished in the New Kingdom
Ptah- Memphis main diety
Osiris- god of the underworlds
Re- “Creator of Gods”, the sun god and the lord of the universe,
Shu- God of air
Tefnut- Goddess of moisture and rain
Nut- God of the sky
Amun- flourished in the New Kingdom
Ptah- Memphis main diety
Osiris- god of the underworlds
Myths
Just like in all cultures, myths were an attempt for people to explain the worlds they lived in. Ancient Egypt had many myths on the mysteries of life along the Nile.The story of Re (the creation of all things)
In the beginning, before there was any land of Egypt, all was darkness, and there was nothing but a great waste of water called Nun. The power of Nun was such that there arose out of the darkness a great shining egg, and this was Re.
Now Re was all-powerful, and he could take many forms. His power and the secret of it lay in his hidden name; but if he spoke other names, that which he named came into being.
"I am Khepera at the dawn, and Re at noon, and Atum in the evening," he said. And the sun rose and passed across the sky and set for the first time.Then he named Shu, and the first winds blew; he named Tefnut the spitter, and the first rain fell. Next he named Geb, and the earth came into being; he named the goddess Nut, and she was the sky arched over the earth with her feet on one horizon and her hands on the other; he named Hapi, and the great River Nile flowed through Egypt and made it fruitful.
After this Re named all things that are upon the earth, and they grew. Last of all he named mankind, and there were men and women in the land of Egypt.
More myths were: Isis and Osiris, the Seven Year Famine, the Pricess of Bekhten, the Prince and the Sphinx etc.
Short clip on myth of Isis and Osiris
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcxgzMwcqN8
Symbols
Symbols were used a lot for communication in art and religion. Some of the popular symbols are the Scarab, Eye of Horus, and colors
Scarabto the ancient Egyptiansthe young scarab beetles emerged spontaneously from the burrow where theywere born. Therefore they were worshipped as "Khepera", which means "he was came forth." This creative aspect ofthe scarab was associated with the creator god Atum. The ray-like antenna on the beetle's head and its practice of dung-rolling caused the beetle to also carry solarsymbolism During and following the New Kingdom, scarab amulets were often placed over the heart of the mummified deceased. These scarabs were meant to be weighed against the feather of truth during the final judgement. The amulets were often inscribed with a spell from the Book of the Dead to, "do not stand as a witness against me." which entreated the heart
Eye of Horus or the udjat, this eye is a symbol of the god Horus as both the son of Osiris and Isis and as the sun-god. Egyptian myths state that Horus lost his left eye in his war with Seth to avenge the death of his father. Seth tore the eye into pieces. The left eye, being the moon was discovered by Toth (the god of wisdom and magic) lying in pieces, but he was able to reassemble them into the full moon. Each piece of the udjat (shown below) can be seen as representing a fraction of the descending geometric series 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc., put together they make 63/64 or approximately 1. Having been reassembled, Thoth gave the Eye to Horus. Horus, in turn, gave the eye to his murdered father Osiris, thereby bringing him back to life.The reverence shown to parents is one of the virtues symbolized by the udjat, and the amulet could be used as a substitute for any of the offerings an eldest son was supposed to provide daily at his father's tomb. It was believed to ward of sickness and capable of bringing the dead to life (as it did with Osiris).
Colors In ancient Egypt, color was an integral part of the substance and being of everything in life. The color of something was a clue to the substance or heart of the matter. When it was said that one could not know the color of the gods, it meant that they themselves were unknowable, and could never be completely understood.
Green- color of vegetation and new life
Red- color of life and of victory
White- omnipotence and purity
Black- death and natural symbol of the underworlds, and resurrection
Yellow- imperishable, eternal and indestructible
Blue- sky and water, meaning of life and rebirth, and also a symbol of the Nile
Red- color of life and of victory
White- omnipotence and purity
Black- death and natural symbol of the underworlds, and resurrection
Yellow- imperishable, eternal and indestructible
Blue- sky and water, meaning of life and rebirth, and also a symbol of the Nile
More symbols can be seen on this website:
http://www.egyptianmyths.net/section-symbols.htm
For More information on Ancient Egyptian Mythology visit these websites:
- http://www.egyptianmyths.net/index.html
- http://www.touregypt.net/gods1.htm
- http://emayzine.com/lectures/egyptian.htm
- http://www2.sptimes.com/Egypt/EgyptCredit.4.3.html
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