Egyptian Myth - A Very Short Introduction.pdf

In the late 4th millennium bc, the valley and delta of the River Nile
were formed into the twin kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. Over
the next 3,000 years Egypt was ruled by 32 dynasties of kings (see the
timeline at the end of this book). One title for an Egyptian king was
Pharaoh (meaning ‘Great House’), and so this great span of time is often
known as the Pharaonic Period.
For much of the 3rd and 2nd millennia bc, Egypt was the wealthiest
and most powerful nation in the Ancient Near East. The Egyptians were
pioneers of monumental stone architecture. They produced magnificent
sculpture and painted reliefs, and invented the hieroglyphic script, one
of the world’s earliest and most beautiful forms of writing. Even after
Egypt lost its political independence in the late 1st millennium bc, its
culture and religion survived to influence those of Greece and Rome.
Mythology was an integral part of Egyptian culture for much of its
timespan. Characters and events from myth permeate Egyptian art,
architecture, and literature. Myths underpinned many of the rituals
performed by kings and priests. Educated Egyptians believed that a
knowledge of myth was an essential weapon in the fight to survive the
dangers of life and the afterlife.
There is disagreement among Egyptologists about when mythical
narratives first developed in Egypt. This dispute is partly due to the
difficulty of deciding what should be counted as a myth. Today, the term
myth is often used in a negative way to refer to something that is
exaggerated or untrue. In ancient cultures, myth did not have this
negative connotation; myths could be regarded as stories that contained
poetic rather than literal truths. Some scholars separate myths from
other types of traditional tale by classifying them as stories featuring
deities. This simple definition might work quite well for Egypt, but not
for all cultures.
Myths are generally set in a remote time or place where humans and
deities can interact. They are stories imbued with meaning and power.
Myths could be used to explain or justify the way the world is. Even in
modern times we acknowledge that a myth can take on a life of its own
and become more influential than the original facts on which it was
based. For the Egyptians, myths had the power to transcend individual
experience and act as a bridge between the human and divine worlds.
Egyptian mythology never solidified into one standard version. It
continued to change and develop over 3,000 years. The chief deities of
regional temples generated their own myths. The basic events, which
might be described as ‘core myths’ (see Box 1 in Chapter 1), were
constantly retold and given many different actors and settings.
This book is arranged thematically, with each theme illustrated by a
particular Ancient Egyptian artefact. These artefacts have been chosen
to emphasize the diversity of the source material that Egyptologists
work from. Hopefully, the objects will serve as access points to a culture
that can seem very alien to the modern Western mindset. I shall not
pretend that everything about Egyptian myth can be made simple. The
complexity of this subject is what makes it endlessly fascinating to study.