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Book Of The Faiyum
The ''Book of the Faiyum'' is an ancient Egyptian "local monograph" celebrating the Faiyum region of Egypt and its patron deity, the crocodile god Sobek. It has also been classified generically as a "cult topographical priestly manual." The text is known from multiple sources dating to Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt (332 BCE – 359 CE). It primarily functioned as a mythologized map of the Faiyum. Known copies The ''Book of the Faiyum'' exists in a variety of forms. The book enjoyed a vast amount of popularity in Roman Egypt and many fragments of the text have been found. These include both hieroglyphic and hieratic (a cursive ancient Egyptian script) versions of the text. Of the hieroglyphic versions, there are both illustrated and un-illustrated forms. Some of the hieratic copies contain demotic notations, but no purely demotic form of the text has been found. Most primary sources for the text are un-illustrated hieratic copies on papyri. However, as aforementioned, other sources are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Egyptian Religion
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with many deities believed to be present in, and in control of the world. Rituals such as prayer and offerings were provided to the gods to gain their favor. Formal religious practice centered on the pharaohs, the rulers of Egypt, believed to possess divine powers by virtue of their positions. They acted as intermediaries between their people and the gods, and were obligated to sustain the gods through rituals and offerings so that they could maintain Ma'at, the order of the cosmos, and repel Isfet, which was chaos. The state dedicated enormous resources to religious rituals and to the construction of temples. Individuals could interact with the gods for their own purposes, appealing for help through prayer or compelling the gods to act through magic. These practices were distinct from, but closel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the List of rivers by length, longest river in the world, though this has been contested by research suggesting that the Amazon River is slightly longer.Amazon Longer Than Nile River, Scientists Say Of the world's major rivers, the Nile is one of the smallest, as measured by annual flow in cubic metres of water. About long, its drainage basin covers eleven countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Erit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shu (Egyptian Deity)
Shu (Egyptian ''šw'', "emptiness" or "he who rises up", cop, Ϣⲟⲩ) was one of the primordial Egyptian gods, spouse and brother to the goddess Tefnut, and one of the nine deities of the Ennead of the Heliopolis cosmogony. He was the god of peace, lions, air, and wind. Family In Heliopolitan theology, Atum created the first couple of the Ennead, Shu and Tefnut by masturbating or by spitting. Shu was the father of Nut and Geb and grandfather of Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. His great-grandsons are Horus and Anubis. Myths As the air, Shu was considered to be a cooling, and thus calming, influence, and pacifier. Due to the association with dry air, calm, and thus Ma'at (truth, justice, order, and balance), Shu was depicted as the dry air/atmosphere between the earth and sky, separating the two realms after the event of the First Occasion. Shu was also portrayed in art as wearing an ostrich feather. Shu was seen with between one and four feathers. The ostrich feather was s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nut (goddess)
Nut ( egy, Nwt, cop, Ⲛⲉ), also known by various other transcriptions, is the goddess of the sky, stars, cosmos, mothers, astronomy, and the universe in the ancient Egyptian religion. She was seen as a star-covered nude woman arching over the Earth, or as a cow. She was depicted wearing the water-pot sign (nw) that identifies her. Names The pronunciation of ancient Egyptian is uncertain because vowels were long omitted from its writing, although her name often includes the unpronounced determinative hieroglyph for "sky". Her name ', itself also meaning "Sky", is usually transcribed as "Nut" but also sometimes appears in older sources as Nunut, Nent, and Nuit.Budge, ''An Egyptian hieroglyphic dictionary'' (1920)p. 350 She also appears in the hieroglyphic record by a number of epithets, not all of which are understood. Goddess of the sky Nut is a daughter of Shu and Tefnut. Her brother and husband is Geb. She had four childrenOsiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthysto whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)
Heliopolis (I͗wnw, Iunu or 𓉺𓏌𓊖; egy, I͗wnw, 'the Pillars'; cop, ⲱⲛ; gr, Ἡλιούπολις, Hēlioúpοlis, City of the Sun) was a major city of ancient Egypt. It was the capital of the 13th or Heliopolite Nome of Lower Egypt and a major religious centre. It is now located in Ayn Shams, a northeastern suburb of Cairo. Heliopolis was one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, occupied since the Predynastic Period.. It greatly expanded under the Old and Middle Kingdoms but is today mostly destroyed, its temples and other buildings having been scavenged for the construction of medieval Cairo. Most information about the ancient city comes from surviving records. The major surviving remnant of Heliopolis is the obelisk of the Temple of Ra-Atum erected by Senusret I of Dynasty XII. It still stands in its original position, now within Al-Masalla in Al-Matariyyah, Cairo. The high red granite obelisk weighs 120 tons (240,000 lbs) and is believed to be the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hermopolis
Hermopolis ( grc, Ἑρμούπολις ''Hermoúpolis'' "the City of Hermes", also ''Hermopolis Magna'', ''Hermoû pólis megálẽ'', egy, ḫmnw , Egyptological pronunciation: "Khemenu"; cop, Ϣⲙⲟⲩⲛ ''Shmun''; ar, الأشمونين) was a major city in antiquity, located near the boundary between Lower and Upper Egypt. A provincial capital since the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Hermopolis developed into a major city of Roman Egypt, and an early Christian center from the third century. It was abandoned after the Muslim conquest but was restored as both a Latin Catholic (meanwhile suppressed) and a Coptic Orthodox titular see. Its remains are located near the modern town of el Ashmunein (from the Coptic name) in Mallawi, Minya Governorate, Egypt. Name ''Khemenu'' ('), the Egyptian language name of the city, means "Eight-Town", after the Ogdoad, a group of eight "primordial" deities whose cult was situated there. The name survived as Coptic ''Shmun'', from which the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ogdoad (Egyptian)
In Egyptian mythology, the Ogdoad ( grc, ὀγδοάς "the Eightfold"; egy, ḫmnyw, a plural nisba of "eight") were eight primordial deities worshiped in Hermopolis. References to the Ogdoad date to the Old Kingdom of Egypt, and even at the time of composition of the Pyramid Texts toward the end of the Old Kingdom, they appear to have been antiquated and mostly forgotten by everyone except their theologians. They are frequently mentioned in the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom. The oldest known pictorial representations of the group do not pre-date the time of Seti I ( New Kingdom, thirteenth century BC), when the group appears to be rediscovered by the theologians of Hermopolis for the purposes of creating a more elaborate creation-account. Texts of the Late Period describe them as having the heads of frogs (male) and serpents (female), and they are often depicted in this way in reliefs of the last dynasty, the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Names The eight deities were arrange ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egyptian Creation Myths
Ancient Egyptian creation myths are the ancient Egyptian accounts of the Creation myth, creation of the world. The Pyramid Texts, tomb wall decorations, and writings, dating back to the Old Kingdom of Egypt, Old Kingdom (c. 2700–2200 BCE) have provided the majority of information regarding ancient Egyptian creation myths. These myths also form the earliest religious compilations in the world. The ancient Egyptians had many creator gods and associated legends. Thus, the world or more specifically Egypt was created in diverse ways according to different parts of ancient Egypt. Some versions of the myth indicate spitting, others masturbation, as the act of creation. The earliest god, Ra and/or Atum (both being creator deity, creator/solar deity, sun gods), emerged from a chaotic state of the world and gave rise to Shu (Egyptian god), Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), from whose union came Geb (earth) and Nut (Egyptian religion), Nut (sky), who in turn created Osiris, Isis, Set (deity) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Moeris
Lake Moeris ( grc, Μοῖρις, genitive Μοίριδος) is an ancient lake in the northwest of the Faiyum Oasis, southwest of Cairo, Egypt. In prehistory, it was a freshwater lake, with an area estimated to vary between and . It persists today as a smaller saltwater lake called Birket Qarun. The lake's surface is below sea-level, and covers about . The lake and surrounding area is a protected area and has been designated as a Ramsar site since 2012. It is a source for tilapia and other fish from the local area. The prehistoric mammal ''Moeritherium'' was found in this area. History When the Mediterranean Sea was a hot dry hollow near the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the late Miocene, Faiyum was a dry hollow, and the Nile flowed past it at the bottom of a canyon (2,400 m deep or more where Cairo is now). After the Mediterranean reflooded at the end of the Miocene, the Nile canyon became an arm of the sea reaching inland farther than Aswan. Over geolog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Duat
The Duat ( egy, dwꜣt, Egyptological pronunciation "do-aht", cop, ⲧⲏ, also appearing as ''Tuat'', ''Tuaut'' or ''Akert'', ''Amenthes'', ''Amenti'', or ''Neter-khertet'') is the realm of the dead in ancient Egyptian mythology. It has been represented in hieroglyphs as a star-in-circle: 𓇽. The god Osiris was believed to be the lord of the underworld. He was the first mummy as depicted in the Osiris myth and he personified rebirth and life after death. The underworld was also the residence of various other gods along with Osiris. The geography of the ''Duat'' is similar in outline to the world the Egyptians knew: There are realistic features like rivers, islands, fields, lakes, mounds and caverns, but there were also fantastic lakes of fire, walls of iron, and trees of turquoise. In the ''Book of Two Ways'' (a Coffin Text) there is even a map-like image of the ''Duat''. Resident souls, gods, and demons The ''Duat'' was also a residence for various gods, including Osiri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Egyptian Funerary Texts
The literature that makes up the ancient Egyptian funerary texts is a collection of religious documents that were used in ancient Egypt, usually to help the spirit of the concerned person to be preserved in the afterlife. They evolved over time, beginning with the Pyramid Texts in the Old Kingdom through the Coffin Texts of the Middle Kingdom and into several books, most famously the Book of the Dead, in the New Kingdom and later times. Old Kingdom The funerary texts of the Old Kingdom were initially reserved for the king only. Towards the end of the period, the texts appeared in the tombs of royal wives. Middle Kingdom These are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. Nearly half of the spells in the Coffin Texts derive from those in the Pyramid Texts. New Kingdom *Book of the Dead *Amduat *Spell of the Twelve Caves * The Book of Gates *Book of the Netherworld *Book of Caverns * Book of the Earth *Litany ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
