The Religion of Ancient Egypt is a classic religious studies text by the great pioneering English egyptologist, W. M. Flinders Petrie. Before dealing with the special varieties of the Egyptians' belief in gods, it is best to try to avoid a misunderstanding of their whole conception of the supernatural. The term god has come to tacitly imply to our minds such a highly specialised group of attributes, that we can hardly throw our ideas back into the more remote conceptions to which we also attach the same name.
As early as 4000 B.C., ancient Egyptians wove magic and religion into whole cloth, wrapping themselves in ritual and symbolism that ranged from simple charms and protective hieroglyphs, to the towering monuments to immortality that are the pyramids of the Nile Valley. The rich religion and mythology of ancient Egypt is vividly documented here, with descriptions of the panoply of deities and their complex hierarchy, along with comprehensive explanations of the sacred oils, crystals and plants used in the many rituals that were an integral part of everyday life. Natural healing, magic, power animals, chants, prayers, and the Pyramids are covered in detail, backed by the author's unparalleled access to rare manuscripts and original images taken from Britain's National Witchcraft Museum.
Exploring Religion in Ancient Egypt offers a stimulating overview of the study of ancient Egyptian religion by examining research drawn from beyond the customary boundaries of Egyptology and shedding new light on entrenched assumptions. Discusses the evolution of religion in ancient Egypt – a belief system that endured for 3,000 years Dispels several modern preconceptions about ancient Egyptian religious practices Reveals how people in ancient Egypt struggled to secure well-being in the present life and the afterlife
Religion in the ancient world, and ancient Egyptian religion in particular, is often perceived as static, hierarchically organised, and centred on priests, tombs, and temples. Engagement with archaeological and textual evidence dispels these beguiling if superficial narratives, however. Individuals and groups continuously shaped their environments, and were shaped by them in turn. This volume explores the ways in which this adaptation, negotiation, and reconstruction of religious understandings took place. The material results of these processes are termed 'cultural geography'. The volume examines this 'cultural geography' through the study of three vectors of religious agency: religious practices, the transmission of texts and images, and the study of religious landscapes.Bringing together papers by experts in a variety of Egyptological disciplines and other fields of study, this volume presents the results of an interdisciplinary workshop held at the University of Leiden, 7-9 November 2018, kindly funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) Vidi Talent Scheme. The 16 papers presented here discuss the archaeology of religion and religious practices, landscape archaeology and 'cultural geography', and the transmission and adaptation of texts and images, across not only the history of Egypt from the Early Dynastic to the Christian periods, but also in ancient Sudanese archaeology, the Arabian peninsula, early and medieval south-eastern Asia, and contemporary China.
This exploration of cultural resilience examines the complex fate of classical Egyptian religion during the centuries from the period when Christianity first made its appearance in Egypt to when it became the region's dominant religion (roughly 100 to 600 C.E. Taking into account the full range of witnesses to continuing native piety--from papyri and saints' lives to archaeology and terracotta figurines--and drawing on anthropological studies of folk religion, David Frankfurter argues that the religion of Pharonic Egypt did not die out as early as has been supposed but was instead relegated from political centers to village and home, where it continued a vigorous existence for centuries. In analyzing the fate of the Egyptian oracle and of the priesthoods, the function of magical texts, and the dynamics of domestic cults, Frankfurter describes how an ancient culture maintained itself while also being transformed through influences such as Hellenism, Roman government, and Christian dominance. Recognizing the special characteristics of Egypt, which differentiated it from the other Mediterranean cultures that were undergoing simultaneous social and political changes, he departs from the traditional "decline of paganism/triumph of Christianity" model most often used to describe the Roman period. By revealing late Egyptian religion in its Egyptian historical context, he moves us away from scenarios of Christian triumph and shows us how long and how energetically pagan worship survived.
The Egyptian Book of Gates is the second large Pharaonic Book of the Afterlife after The Egyptian Amduat. The revised English translation is based on the German edition, edited by Erik Hornung. The hieroglyphs and transcriptions are given on the basis of a collation of the extant texts found in different tombs. The main illustrations of the text come from the sarcophagus of Seti I. The 100 scenes of the Book of Gates are furthermore represented with one or more colored illustrations, originating from different sources. With an Introduction by Theodor Abt. Contains Bibliography and Index.
