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Statue of Memi and Sabu,
Old Kingdom, Dynasty 4, ca.
2575–2465 B.C. E.
Covering the ancient world through the age of technology,
this illustrated lecture series by Eugene Weber presents a tapestry of
political and social events woven with many strands — religion, industry,
agriculture, demography, government, economics, and art. A visual feast of over
2,700 images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art portrays key events that
shaped the development of Western thought, culture, and tradition. Below is a list of media presentations by
Dr. Weber, each one is approximately thirty-minutes (30) in length. These are being offered to the student as a
supplement to other sources presented in this section. The student needs to provide “log-on”
information to get access to the presentations; there is no cost to the
student. Review Units:
The Ancient Egyptians
Egyptian irrigation created one of the first great civilizations
|
Professor
Page’s
Questions: ·
What role does the Nile River play in the development of the Egyptian
Civilization? |
Life in ancient Egypt, “Gift
of the Nile,” was centered largely on agriculture. The majority
of the people were involved
in farming, and the growing season lasted eight-nine months. Wheat,
fruits and vegetables were the principal crops, although there was some pastoral
farming of cattle, sheep, or goats. Farmers in ancient Egypt worked to reach
a level of subsistence so that they could feed themselves and pay their taxes.
During the annual flooding of the Nile, which typically lasted from July through
November, farming was impossible. But when the waters receded, a thick layer
of fertile silt over the farmlands remained to insure rich soil for their
crops and thick grasses for their grazing animals.
The country of Egypt consisted of two narrow
strips of arable land lining either bank of the river Nile, from Aswan to the
northern Delta. Just beyond the farmlands lay enormous deserts. The Nile was
the lifeblood of Egypt. Its cycle of flooding -- growth, death, and rebirth to
new growth -- became the cycle of everyday life, and also of Egyptian religion
and understanding of an afterlife. The people of Egypt were dependent on the
river for more than their food. It insured a line of communication and
transportation among the provinces of the kingdom. The pharaohs took advantage
of the Nile as a means to transport their armies, thus maintaining a strong,
unified nation.
|
Professor Page’s Study Questions: ·
What role did the Priests
and Priestesses play in Egyptian culture? ·
What
historical/religious significance does the concept of “chaos” and Ma’at play
in the Ancient Egyptian civilization? ·
What were the
similarities/difference in mythology as an influence in the daily lives of people
within the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt? ·
What were the
similarities/differences in the role of women in the cultures of Ancient
Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt? |
By 3100 BC, Egypt had a centralized government
controlled by a line of hereditary rulers. These kings, called pharaohs,
kept a royal court of advisors and nobility, and oversaw the governors of
the provinces of the kingdom. They were also commanders of the Egyptian
army. Even the priests
and priestesses who officiated at the complex religious ceremonies
and attended on the gods served the pharaohs. The rule of the pharaohs is
considered dynastic; it can also be considered absolute in the truest sense
of the word. The pharaohs came to be considered as the representatives of
the gods on earth and even as gods themselves.
[1]
Most importantly, it was Pharaoh’s duty to
ensure truth and justice. According
to Egyptian
mythology, Ma’at
was the goddess of truth, justice, and order.
The most famous Egyptian pharaoh today is, without doubt,
Tutankhamun.
The boy king died in his late teens and remained at rest in Egypt's Valley
of the Kings for over 3,300 years. The discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb
by Howard Carter in 1922 is considered the most important archaeological find
of the century. After years of painstaking work in the Valley of the Kings,
Carter's patron, Lord Carnarvon, had warned him that that would be the last
season of work because nothing significant had been found. On November 22
of that year, Carter's persistence finally paid off. Tutankhamun became a
household name, and his magnificent treasures became the measuring stick for
all future archaeological discoveries. The mysteries surrounding his life
and death are gradually being solved. And his story continues to unfold as
new theories are proposed in an attempt to explain what really happened to
the boy behind the golden mask.
Egyptian
Gods, Goddesses
and Mythology:
Ancient
Egyptian society
treated men and women equally. Women participated in the political,
economic, and judicial world of ancient Egypt on the same terms as men. This
social system reflects Egyptian mythology, where Goddesses played an equal,
if not chief, role. The primeval mother figures in the earliest prehistoric
Egyptian myths are female. Female deities were kept separate from the males,
with their own temples and followers. Egyptian goddesses are also creator
deities, and the protectors of the pharaohs in the form of the cobra, vulture,
or lioness.
In ancient Egyptian
mythology, Egypt was created from the Watery
Waste of Nun, a chaos god from whose body all things were born.
The continuous mission of the daily temple services and strictly followed
religious codes was to keep ordered Egyptian society from returning to the
state of chaos in which it was born. Ma'at, the goddess in charge of law,
balance and order, was one of the principal deities.
The two "protectors of the realm" of Egypt
were originally Nekhbet,
vulture goddess of Northern Egypt, and Wadjet,
cobra goddess of Lower Egypt. The cobra and the vulture were chosen by the
Egyptians as the royal symbols because they were thought to be self-producing
and therefore creators, or divine.
Egyptian mythology is a complex collection of
often-competing stories, traditions, and practices. This is partly because the
culture is so ancient, and partly because each city had its own set of deities,
whose unique personalities are lost as their cults age. Just as each city vied
for supreme power before Egypt was a unified kingdom, the cities each tried to
establish their gods as the supreme gods. Even after unification, each time the
capital moved, the supreme god of the new city rose to be the supreme god of
the kingdom.[2]
There are many versions of the stories about
Egyptian gods and goddesses. Here's a myth which tells a story related to
creation and will introduce you to many gods. You may either read, or listen to
the story
About
Hieroglyphics:
The
Egyptians began to form a pictographic written language about 5000
years ago, which they continued to use for more than 3500 years, until about
400 C.E. Eventually, the pictures
they used to represent words came to represent sounds. These symbols, hieroglyphs,
or "sacred inscriptions" were adapted for use in everyday
life, in addition to their important religious/mystical identity.
After 400 C.E., the Egyptian language was
written in the Greek alphabet, with the addition of several extra letters
to represent Egyptian sounds that didn't exist in Greek. This form of Egyptian
is called Coptic,
and was in turn eventually replaced by Arabic, the language spoken in Egypt
today. The ancient Egyptian tongue died out -- only the hieroglyphics remain
to remind us that it ever existed.
For more than 1000 years, the hieroglyphics
were little more than mysterious symbols carved on ancient monuments. All
kinds of theories abounded: some thought that they recorded magic spells,
others secret religious ceremonies. Then, in 1799, Napolean's army uncovered
the key. The
Rosetta Stone was discovered when Lieutenant Bouchard's men were
remodeling the Fortress at Rosetta. The slab of basalt is inscribed with three
texts, each in a different script: one in Demotic,
one in hieroglyphics, and one in Coptic. Scholars hoped to use the Greek text
to translate the others. Twenty-three years later, the young Frenchman Jean-Francois
Champollion became the first Egyptologist
and person in thousands of years to read hieroglyphics.
[3]
How would you like to communicate
in hieroglyphics?
|
Professor Page’s Study Questions: ·
We shall discover the
concept of an afterlife is ubiquitous across all cultures of the world. What is unique about the pyramids and the
Egyptian concept of the afterlife? |
Who Built the Pyramids?
The question
of who built the pyramids, and how, has long been debated by Egyptologists
and historians. Standing at the base of the pyramids
at Giza it is hard to believe that any of these enormous monuments
could have been built in one pharaoh's lifetime. Herodotus, the Greek historian
who wrote in the 5th century B.C., 500 years before Christ, is the earliest
known chronicler and historian of the Egyptian
Pyramid Age. By his accounts, the labor force that built Khufu
totaled more than 100,000 people. But Herodotus visited the pyramids 2,700
years after they were built and his impressive figure was an educated guess,
based on hearsay. Modern Egyptologists believe the real number is closer to
20,000.
[4]
Of extraordinary interest, however, is the
perception of the Egyptians of the afterlife. This is a topic that, as we shall see, will
be of central importance in all cultures across time and place. The eternal question becomes how should we
live in the here and now to ensure life after death?
What Is
Mummification?
Originally the Egyptians did not mummify their dead at
all. In early Egyptian times, the dead were simply buried in reed caskets
in the sand. The searing hot sand caused the remains to dry quickly preventing
decomposition. But when they began constructing tombs, and wood caskets for
the dead, the sand could not get to the bodies. The bodies then started decomposing,
so the Egyptians developed an elaborate
mummification process.(Audio)
The first step in the mummification process was the embalming of the body.
The dead body was embalmed with several preserving fluids. Then the major
organs were removed, with the exception of the heart.
The organs were placed in for Canopic
jars. One held the intestines, another the stomach, another the
lungs, and the last one held the liver. Surprisingly, the Egyptians did not
keep the brain at all. The heart was the most important organ of all, and
was said to house the person's
Ba or soul it was left in.
After
the organs were removed, the body was stuffed with cotton and linen, and sewed
back up. Next the eyes were removed, and replaced with either cotton, or fake
eyeballs. After the body was finished, it was wrapped with strips of linen that
had been soaked in embalming fluid. Finally it was covered with linen cloth,
and bound carefully.
The Mummified body was then placed in its sarcophagus
or coffin, along with several amulets
to ward off bad spirits, and grave robbers. In death the Egyptian still needed
his body, so it was vitally important that the body was well preserved, so
the Egyptian didn't have any problem in the afterlife.
[5]
|
Professor Page’s
Study Questions: ·
What does the ”Epic of
Gilgamesh” and “The Book of the Dead”
has in common about the human perception of immortality. |
Religion
guided every aspect of Egyptian life. Egyptian religion was based on
polytheism, or the worship of many deities. The Egyptians had as many as 2000
gods and goddesses each representing characteristics of a specific earthly
force, combined with a heavenly power. Often gods and goddesses were
represented as part human and part animal.
They considered
animals such as the bull, the cat, and the crocodile to be holy. Their two
chief gods were Amon-Ra and Osiris. Amon-Ra was believed to be the sun god and
the lord of the universe. Osiris was the god of the underworld and was the god
that made a peaceful afterlife possible. The Egyptian "Book of the Dead"
contains the major ideas and beliefs in the ancient Egyptian religion. Because
their religion stressed an afterlife, Egyptians devoted much time and energy
into preparing for their journey to the "next world."
Entering the Afterlife
From The Papyrus
of Hunefer (c.1370 B.C.)
Hunefer's mummy stands
before the entrance of his tomb, in the protective embrace of Anubis.
The two women are probably family members, they are patting dirt on their
heads, and this was a sign of mourning. Behind them are three priests. The
priest wearing the leopard skin (a sign of priesthood) burns incense and presents
offerings of food and drink, while the other two are about to perform the
important ceremony of "opening
of the mouth". This ceremony was thought to restore the mummy's
ability to see, breathe, eat and drink.
The Hall of
Ma’at:
. . . . .The Hall of Maat is where the judgment of the dead was performed. This was done by weighing one's heart (conscience) against the feather of Maat (truth and justice). Here we see Anubis leading Hunefer to the scales of Maat. Anubis weights Hunefer's heart against the feather to see if he is worthy of joining the gods in the Fields of Peace. Ammut is also present, as a demon waiting to devour Hunefer's heart should he prove unworthy. Thoth stands to the right of the scales recording the results. Having passed this test Hunefer is now lead by Horus to meet the King of the dead, Osiris. The throne of Osiris rests on a pool of water from which a lotus flower is growing, upon the lotus stand the four sons of Horus. Behind the throne of Osiris stand Isis and her sister Nephthys.
The Fields
of Peace
From the Papyrus
of Ani. (c. 1400 B.C.)
. . . . Ani pays his respects to the gods who
dwell in Sekhet-Hetepet (Fields of Peace) and asks the gods to help him to
enter into Sekhet-Hetepet so that he may "become a khu,
drink, plow, reap, fight, make love, never be in a state of servitude and
always be in a position of authority therein".
Additional
Links:
British
museum of Egyptian Art
Ancient
Egyptian Art: Emory University
Ramsesses
I: The Search for the Lost Pharaoh