Animals in ancient Egyptian religion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salima Ikram
Keyword(s):  
Religious Belief ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Significant Feature ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Egyptian Religion ◽  
Egyptian History

In addition to providing food, companionship, and raw materials for clothing, furniture, tools, and ornaments, animals also played a key role in religious practices in ancient Egypt. Apart from serving as sacrifices, each god had one or more animal as a totem. Certain specially marked exemplars of these species were revered as manifestations of that god that enjoyed all the privileges of being a deity during their lifetime and which were mummified and buried with pomp upon their death. Other animals, which did not bear the distinguishing marks, were mummified and offered to the gods, transmitting the prayers of devotees directly to their divinities. These number in the millions and were a significant feature of Egyptian religious belief and self-identity in the later periods of Egyptian history.

The royal mummies of ancient Egypt:An odyssey of discoveries and a fascinating source of data

1970 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Bauduer
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Age At Death ◽  
Valuable Source ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Egyptian History ◽  
Source Of Information

Thanks to mummification, the physical remains of many rulers of ancient Egypt are still observable today and constitute a valuable source of information. By evaluating the age at death and sometimes elucidating the degree of kinship and circumstances of death, our knowledge of ancient Egyptian history becomes more precise. Different pathologic conditions have been found and the evolution of the mummification process can be seen through time.The most spectacular discovery was that of Tutankhamen’s mummy, the single totally undisturbed tomb, associated with a fabulous treasure.The mummy of Ramses II has been extensively studied, the only one that flew to Paris where an irradiation was delivered in order to eradicate a destructive fungal infection.The identification of Akhenaten’s mummy and the explanation for his peculiar appearance are still unsolved problems.Noticeably, many Royal mummies remain of uncertain identity or undiscovered hitherto.

The Oxford Handbook of Egyptology

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Current State ◽  
Egyptian Culture ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Current Characteristics ◽  
The Many ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
Egyptian History

The Oxford Handbook of Egyptology presents a series of articles by colleagues working across the many archaeological, philological and cultural subdisciplines within the study of ancient Egypt from prehistory through to the end of the Roman Period. The volume seeks to place Egyptology within its theoretical, methodological, and historical contexts, both indicating how the subject has evolved and discussing its distinctive contemporary problems, issues and potential. Transcending conventional boundaries between archaeological and ancient textual analysis, it stresses the need for Egyptology to seek multidisciplinary methods and broader collaborations if it is to remain contemporary and relevant. It therefore serves as a reference work not only for those working within the discipline, but also as a gateway into Egyptology for archaeologists, anthropologists, sociologists and linguists. The book is organized into ten parts, the first of which examines the many different historical and geographical perspectives that have influenced the development and current characteristics of the discipline. Part II addresses the various environmental aspects of the subject: landscapes, climate, flora, fauna and the mineral world. Part III considers a variety of practical aspects of the ways in which Egyptologists survey, characterize and manage landscapes. Part IV discusses materials and technology, from domestic architecture and artefacts through to religious and funerary items. Part V deals with Egypt’s relations with neighbouring regions and peoples, while Part VI explores the sources and interpretive frameworks that characterize different phases of ancient Egyptian history. Part VII is concerned with textual and iconographic approaches to Egyptian culture, and Part VIII comprises discussions of the key aspects of ancient Egyptian scripts and philology. Part IX presents summaries of the current state of the subject in relation to a variety of textual genres, from letters and autobiographies to socio-economic, magical and mathematical texts. The final section covers different aspects of museology and conservation.

scholarly journals Tree Rings and the Chronology of Ancient Egypt

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (04) ◽  
pp. S85-S92
Author(s):  
Pearce Paul Creasman
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Tree Rings ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Potential Solution ◽  
Tree Ring Chronology ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Egyptian History

A fundamental aspect of ancient Egyptian history remains unresolved: chronology. Egyptologists (and researchers in related fields that synchronize their studies with Egypt) currently rely on a variety of insufficiently precise methodologies (king lists, radiocarbon dating, etc.) from which to derive seemingly “absolute” dates. The need for genuine precision has been recognized for a century, as has the potential solution: dendrochronology. This manuscript presents a case for further progress toward the construction of a tree-ring chronology for ancient Egypt.

scholarly journals The Ancient Egyptian Testamentary Disposition

Fundamina ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 199-231
Author(s):  
Nico van Blerk
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Legal Perspective ◽  
Egyptian History

This contribution discusses the ancient Egyptian testamentary disposition document as an arrangement made prior to death. It discusses from a legal perspective different documents used for this purpose. The purpose of a testamentary disposition was to make decisions about one’s assets before death. An attempt is made to indicate that the testamentary disposition document was used from very early in ancient Egyptian history and different documents were used as a will by the testator/testatrix. The purpose of the testamentary disposition was, essentially, to alter the customary intestate succession law. The initial emphasis and connection with religion diminished as different documents were used to make provision prior to death of what was to become of one’s estate. Studying these different testamentary dispositions, we may learn more about testate succession law in ancient Egypt.

Linear Statecraft along the Nile: Landscapes and the Political Phenomenology of Ancient Egypt

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 101-126
Author(s):  
Monica L. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Spatial Configuration ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
Island States ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Multiple Regions

Abstract States in archaeological and historical parlance generally are large and dynamic entities with continually fluctuating borders and boundaries across large land masses. States also are characterized by multiple nodes of settlement and multiple regions of resource availability within those large land masses, including agricultural fields, animal pastures, raw materials, and labor power. The northeastern African continent however provides a rather different spatial configuration for states’ prerequisites of agricultural intensification and social integration: the ancient Egyptian state—and all subsequent political entities called “Egypt”—have been framed by the valley of the Nile as a long and narrow corridor of human viability. Using “flow” as a phenomenological concept in which experiences are heightened by restraint conditions, this article examines the characteristics of political and social cohesion given geographic limitations on communication, migration and territorial expansion. The constraints of a viable landmass surrounded by uninhabitable desert parallel the conditions experienced by island states, enabling the productive application of island and archipelagic models to the analysis of the ancient Egyptian state.

scholarly journals The Ancient Egyptian Testamentary Disposition

Fundamina ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-231
Author(s):  
Nico van Blerk
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Legal Perspective ◽  
Egyptian History

This contribution discusses the ancient Egyptian testamentary disposition document as an arrangement made prior to death. It discusses from a legal perspective different documents used for this purpose. The purpose of a testamentary disposition was to make decisions about one’s assets before death. An attempt is made to indicate that the testamentary disposition document was used from very early in ancient Egyptian history and different documents were used as a will by the testator/testatrix. The purpose of the testamentary disposition was, essentially, to alter the customary intestate succession law. The initial emphasis and connection with religion diminished as different documents were used to make provision prior to death of what was to become of one’s estate. Studying these different testamentary dispositions, we may learn more about testate succession law in ancient Egypt.

Hesyre: The First Recorded Physician and Dental Surgeon in History

2013 ◽  
Vol 89 ◽  
pp. 181-202
Author(s):  
Roger Forshaw
Keyword(s):  
Medical Practice ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Medical Procedures ◽  
High Court ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Practice Of Medicine ◽  
Modern Medical Practice ◽  
Egyptian History

Hesyre was a high court official in ancient Egypt and lived about 2650 bc during the reign of King Djoser. He managed to combine religious as well as secular posts, and has the distinction of being the first recorded physician and firstknown dentist in history. Healthcare developed at an early period in ancient Egyptian history as is supported by the evidence from the skeletal and mummified remains, from the artistic record, as well as from inscriptional and textual sources. These textual sources, the medical papyri, provide details of medical procedures undertaken, drugs employed and treatments provided - some of which have influenced modern medical practice. What we know about Hesyre comes from his impressive tomb at Saqqara, the walls of which are brightly decorated with items of daily life. Additionally, the tomb contained six fine wooden panels listing Hesyres titles, among them those relating to his practice of medicine and dentistry.

The Egypt of The Mummy

The Mummy ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 55-72
Author(s):  
Doris V. Sutherland
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Egyptian Religion ◽  
Western Civilisation

This chapter assesses how The Mummy (1932) approaches ancient Egypt and the ways in which it reflects contemporary attitudes towards the place and era. Although set almost entirely in the Cairo of 1932, The Mummy shows little concern with twentieth-century Egypt; indeed, many of the principal characters are not even Egyptian. In The Mummy, the Egypt of the 1930s is treated merely as a midway point between Western civilisation and the era of the Pharaohs: a land of museums, excavations, archaeologists, and the occasional revived mummy. The chapter then studies how the spectre of Tutankhamun permeates the film. The Mummy appears to have lifted basic details of Tutankhamun's life and worked them into an almost entirely fictitious story. With its themes of death, resurrection, and the afterlife, The Mummy also frequently touches upon ancient Egyptian religion. Finally, there is the phenomenon that originally prompted Universal Pictures to head to Egypt for inspiration: the cursed tomb.

scholarly journals Ancient Egyptian Religion in The Mystery of the Three: Egypt and Babylon by D. S. Merezhkovsky

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 488-499
Author(s):  
N. Kuzina
Keyword(s):  
Word List ◽  
Russian Literature ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Semantic Fields ◽  
Egyptian Religion ◽  
Large Project ◽  
Religious Systems ◽  
Egyptian History

Created as a part of a large project ‘Images of Egyptian history and culture in the Russian literature of 19–20th centurie’s, this paper presents structural semiotic analysis of D. S. Merezhkovsky’s fundamental book ‘The mystery of the three: Egypt and Babylon’ (Prague, 1925). It is shown how in the time of collapse of religiosity in Russia the novelist attempts to collate several of the most powerful religious systems of antiquity. On base of a word list by frequency, the book is analyzed in terms of its lexicon, semantic fields, main subjects, images and motifs. Sub-division of the novel and major compositional features of the text are also discussed.

scholarly journals Tree Rings and the Chronology of Ancient Egypt

Radiocarbon ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. S85-S92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pearce Paul Creasman
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Tree Rings ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Potential Solution ◽  
Tree Ring Chronology ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Egyptian History

A fundamental aspect of ancient Egyptian history remains unresolved: chronology. Egyptologists (and researchers in related fields that synchronize their studies with Egypt) currently rely on a variety of insufficiently precise methodologies (king lists, radiocarbon dating, etc.) from which to derive seemingly “absolute” dates. The need for genuine precision has been recognized for a century, as has the potential solution: dendrochronology. This manuscript presents a case for further progress toward the construction of a tree-ring chronology for ancient Egypt.

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