Mythology of the Egyptians by Don Nardo

Author:Don Nardo [Nardo, Don]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780766061699
Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2015-03-11T04:00:00+00:00

5

THE NEAR DESTRUCTION OF HUMANITY

INTRODUCTION

The ancient Egyptians believed that as long as humans maintained the proper relationship with the gods, these deities would look on them favorably, and life on earth would continue and prosper. Maintaining a proper relationship with the gods involved a number of factors. Most importantly, priests in temples throughout Egypt were expected to perform certain daily rituals and to offer up sacrifices (of plants, animals, and food and drink) to the gods; and people, from the loftiest monarchs to the lowliest peasants, were expected never to offend the gods in any way. So long as the human race met these conditions, it could expect to keep the gods on its side.

If, on the other hand, the gods perceived that humanity was not fulfilling its duty to the relationship, divine punishment was certain to follow. The so-called “Myth of Cataclysm” (catastrophe or disaster) was widely viewed as a warning to humans of what destructive powers the gods were capable of if provoked or angered. The myth comes from a collection of magical spells called the Book of the Divine Cow. Sections of this work were discovered in the tombs of the pharaohs Tutankhamun, who is known today simply as “King Tut” (reigned 1333–1323 B.C.), and Sety I (reigned 1294–1279 B.C.), as well as in other royal tombs.1

Today, King Tut is perhaps the most famous of ancient Egypt’s rulers, with the possible exception of Cleopatra. This is because of the tremendous amount of publicity that was generated when archaeologists discovered his tomb in 1922. What made the find so special was that the tomb was almost intact, with only a minimal amount of damage and thievery inflicted by grave robbers, who over the years ransacked and ruined most other Egyptian royal burial sites. Among Tut’s treasures were his magnificent throne, made of gold and decorated with gems, and his golden sarcophagus, or coffin, which held his remains.

The Myth of Cataclysm is set in the dim past, when the sun god Ra was still Egypt’s ruler. Besides Ra, the myth includes his daughter Hathor, who was often referred to as the Eye of Ra. Usually seen as the sun’s disk, the Eye of Ra could also be a separate entity that Ra sent out to perform a task, and it sometimes took the form of his daughter, Hathor. Other characters in the myth include: Nu, the primeval ocean and one of the Ogdoad of Hermopolis; Nut, mother of Osiris and Isis; Thoth, god of wisdom and writing; and a human—the high priest of Heliopolis.

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