Egyptian Creation Myths Isis and Osiris

Key Terms Amun animals as mythical figures Anubis Artemis Astarte Atum Book of the Dead Cronus Demeter Dionysus Egyptian centers of learning and worship Ennead Geb Gnosticism Harpocrates Hathor Heliopolis Heracles Hermes Horus Isis liminality Mercury mystery religions Nephthys Nut Osiris Pamylia Plutarch Ptah rationalization Re Rhea ritual Seth Shu syncretism Tefnut/Tefenet Thoth Typhon Painted papyrus depicting Shu, the air god, raising his daughter Nut, the sky goddess, above her brother Geb, the earth god, thus creating the world).

World of Ancient Egypt

Timeline of Ancient Egypt c Predynastic Period c Early Dynastic: Dynasty 1 c Early Dynastic: Dynasty 2 c Early Dynastic: Dynasty 3 c Old Kingdom Dynasty 4 c Old Kingdom Dynasty 5 c Old Kingdom Dynasty 6 c Old Kingdom Dynasties 7 & 8 c First Intermediate Period: Dynasties 9-11 c Middle Kingdom Dynasties c Second Intermediate Period Dynasty c New Kingdom Dynasty 18 c New Kingdom Dynasty 19 c New Kingdom Dynasty 20 c Third Intermediate Period Dynasty 21 c Third Intermediate Period Dynasties c Late Period Dynasties and Persian Occupation Ptolemaic Period 30 BC AD Roman Period 330 AD Byzantine Period

Theriomorphism: Manifestation of some aspect of the god’s power E.g., Hathor as cow. Cow as symbol of fertility.

Official state religion King as priest: Pharaoh as Horus or son of Re and, after death, Osiris The pharaoh Chephren with HorusThe pharaoh Chephren with Horus. (The statue originally stood with twenty-two other royal figures as centerpiece of the statue cult in the king's valley temple, Giza. Fourth Dynasty circa 2550 BC. ) Mythology, Religion and Kingship in Egypt

Tutankhamun as OsirisTutankhamun as Osiris ( Dynasty XVIII tomb painting, from the north wall of the tomb of Tutankhamun, Valley of the Kings).

Afterlife Illustration from the Book of the DeadIllustration from the Book of the Dead (shows deceased being led to judgment by jackal- headed god Anubis, where his heart is weighed against a feather, symbol of truth, in the presence of Thoth, ibis- headed god of wisdom who wears the wide sash of a priest; he notes the results of the weighing. Then, the deceased is led to the supreme judge of the dead and ruler of the underworld, Osiris, who is shown enthroned with attendants. From Thebes. Painted papyrus from the Nineteenth Dynasty ca B.C. )

Religious/Cult Centers of Ancient Egypt MEMPHIS HELIOPOLIS HERMOPOLIS THEBES

MEMPHIS Menes (Narmer) unites Upper and Lower Egypt with capital at Memphis. c.3100 B.C. Narmer palette Metropolitan Museum of Art New York

Ptah, Creator god of Memphis Temple of Denderah. This engraving represents a pharaoh making offerings to the god Ptah and to the goddess Sekhmet, his wife.

Temple of Ptah and Sekhmet at Memphis

Shabaka Stone Shabaka ( B.C.), the first Ethiopian born pharaoh On the Shabaka Stone: Translation: He (Ptah) gave birth to the gods, He made the towns, He established the nomes, He placed the gods in their shrines, He settled their offerings, He established their shrines, He made their bodies according to their wishes. Thus the gods entered into their bodies, Of every wood, every stone, every clay, Every thing that grows upon him In which they came to be. Thus were gathered to him all the gods and their kas, Content, united with the Lord of the Two Lands.

Memphis Creation Myth c B.C. political goal: 1.) to celebrate Ptah, the local god of Memphis 2.) unification of Two Egypts Ptah in primaeval water comes to Heliopolis and calls it Memphis act of creation = Ptah desires himself eight other gods = Ogdoad

Heliopolis (Modern Cairo) Dominant city of the Old Kingdom Synthesis of Creation story of Atum and the story of Osiris The oldest surviving obelisk in the world, c.2000 B.C.

Heliopolitan Ennead From Heliopolis: Nun (watery chaos) Atum (sun) Shu (air) Tefnut (moisture) Geb (Earth) Nut (sky) Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephthys Seven of nine members of the Heliopolitan Ennead, as represented in the judgment scene on the Papyrus of Ani. From right to left: Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut and sitting next to each other, Isis and Nephthys. Other members of the Ennead include Osiris, Seth, Horus and Thot.

Shu and Nut Painted papyrus depicting Shu, the air god, raising his daughter Nut, the sky goddess, above her brother Geb, the earth god, thus creating the world.

Hermopolis Administrative center of Middle Kindgom The City of Thoth, the scribe of the gods Located in Middle Egypt Thoth

Hermopolis Ogdoad From Hermopolis: Deities representing the four characteristics of Chaos: Nun and Naunet (primordial water) Heh and Hehet (infinite space) Kek and Keket (darkness) Amun and Amunet (invisibility). Geese representing the Ogdoad of Hermopolis and Thoth.

Thebes Capital of Egypt after the First Intermediate Period (2040 B.C.) All gods are projections of Amun (“The Hidden One”)

Creation of the World according to Heliopolis Development of the Ennead Birth of Isis and Osiris Death and Resurrection of Osiris

The Ennead Cyclical Struggle: Osiris (Underworld) and Seth (Chaos) Prominence of Horus (King of Egypt)

Sources Pyramid Texts, as early as B.C.) Coffin Texts

Coffin Text Creation via masturbation Atum spit me [Shu] out

Pyramid Text Hymn to Osiris Coffin as Geb (Earth) Lid as Nut (Sky) Nut on a coffin lid

Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris The Birth of Isis and Osiris The Rivalry of Seth and Horus Wanderings of isis Isis Finds the Coffin of Osiris The Reawakening of Osiris Note SYNCRETISM Cronus = Nut Rhea = Geb Osiris = Dionysus Typhon = Seth Castration of Uranus = Loss of Osiris’ Penis Isis suckling the Horus-Child in the papyrus swamps.

The Resurrection of Osiris The Osiris Mysteries as portrayed in the Temple of Isis at Philae.(images After H. Rosellini, Monumenti dell'Egitto e della Nubia, Vol. III (Pisa, 1844), Pl. XXIII.) Ritual of Osiris Flooding of the Nile Rebirth of Egypt

Isis’ Quest for Osiris

Greco-Roman Isis Temple of Isis at Pompeii

Ritual of Isis Sistrum (rattle)

Key Terms Amun animals as mythical figures Anubis Artemis Astarte Atum Book of the Dead Cronus Demeter Dionysus Egyptian centers of learning and worship Ennead Geb Gnosticism Harpocrates Hathor Heliopolis Heracles Hermes Horus Isis liminality Mercury mystery religions Nephthys Nut Osiris Pamylia Plutarch Ptah rationalization Re Rhea ritual Seth Shu syncretism Tefnut/Tefenet Thoth Typhon ADD: Memphis Heliopolitan Ennead Hemopolis Ogdoad Menes/Narmer Apuleius’ Golden Ass Coffin Texts Pyramid Texts Joseph Campbell Hero Quest Claude Levi-Strauss Structuralism Mediating contradictions Lord Raglan Hero Pattern