The traditional Egyptian Gods, a family

model

664-30 BCE, bronze or

copper alloy, 42.2.3,

Metropolitan Museum, NY

Referentin Paula Veiga,

Direktor Prof. Dr. Friedhelm Hoffmann

“…Egypt was effectively dominated by a Greek-speaking culture for a millenium, without complete obliteration of other

cultural elements.”

Manning, J. G., The Last Pharaohs: Egypt Under the Ptolemies, 305-30, Princeton University Press

mAat versus isft order versus chaos

Maat lapis-lazuli and gold, TIP, 800-700 BCE, Cairo Egyptian

Museum

from the Book of the Dead of Hunefer, Thebes, 19th Dynasty,

circa 1275 BCE, British Museum EA 9901

The cosmogonies or creation myths

• Hermopolis

• Heliopolis

• Memphis

• Thebes

Hermopolis

Dendera Temple of Hathor

Heliopolis Atum is the self-made-god, who ejaculates

from the top of a dirt mount and creates

his offspring; from right to left: Atum,

Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut and sitting next to

each other, Isis and Nephthys.

Karnak Hypostile hall

Papyrus of Ani, BM EA 10470, 19 dyn, c. 1275 BCE

Osiris, tomb of Maya and Merit, Saqqara Seth, Petrie Museum

Abydos, the cult of Osiris, the Osirieon; Umm el-Qaab, the burial

place of Osiris?

Kryptographisch beschriftete ad-hoc-

Stele des Minmose. © DAI

Khoiak Festival - kA Hr kA

Sources for the Khoiak festival sequences:

• temple of Ramesses III, Medinet Habu, about 1150 BCE

• a granite trough for the seeded earth, inscribed under a Dynasty 22 king, Koptos, c. 850 BCE

• Papyrus Jumilhac, c. 100 BCE

• inscriptions in a roof chapel on the temple of Hathor, Dendera, early Roman Period, 100

• funerary papyrus Louvre N 3176 columns V-VI, rites for Osiris at Karnak temple, on days 18 to 26, with the 'procession of Osiris' on day 26.

University College London

Kleiner Osiris Sarg, SMAK, unpublished,

Rijksmuseum, Leiden

Horus, Seth, and a lettuce…

Lactuca sativa seeds, Kew

Gardens, London. UK

Seth relief, Neues Museum, Berlin, ÄM 21782 Horus, Edfu temple

Isis, mother of Horus, the goddess of magic

M. C. Carlos Museum, early Ptolemaic, 2000.4

Louvre, Late Period, E4358

Horus’ cippus, Brooklyn Museum, NY

The famous Metternich

Stela, at the

Metropolitan Museum,

NY

The Memphite cosmogony - Ptah

Berlin, Late period c.950 BCE, ÄM 2423

Shabaka Stone (Memphis, 25th dyn, 700 BCE) excerpt:

(…)The Gods who came into being in Ptah:

Ptah-on-the-great-throne //////.

Ptah-Nun, the father who [made] Atum.

Ptah-Naunet, the mother who bore Atum.

Ptah-the-Great is heart and tongue of the Nine [Gods].

[Ptah] ///////// who bore the gods.

[Ptah] ///////// who bore the gods.

[Ptah] /////////.

[Ptah] ///////// Nefertem at the nose of Re every day. (…)

From Lichtheim:, M., Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol.1, pp.51-55

BM EA 498

The Theban cosmogony or trinity – Amun, Mut and Khonsu

Amun, Mut and Khonsu, Brooklyn Museum, NY, and the triad, Luxor Museum

Syncretistic gods from the NK to Ptolemaic times

Amun-Re-Min

Alabaster chapel, Senuseret, I Karnak Nefertari’s tomb, 1298-1235 BCE, Re-Horakhty and Amentit, goddess of the West

Re-Horus (Re-Horakhty)

Priests swnw – the doctor- priest

Saw the patients,

manufactured the medicines,

performed magical acts in

conformity.

Learned in the Per-Ankh,

the Houses of Life. (lower,

right)

Washed and shaved the

whole body before any ritual.

Wab/lector priests dealt with

funerals; wab meaning

‘pure’, thus the washing and

shaving procedures...

Khery-hebet priest, a lector .

Cleveland Art Museum, USA

Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim

Myths and ‘house gods’

Metropolitan Museum, NY

Taweret mould and amulets, Met, NY

Bes amulets, mould and other amulets, Met, NY

Min of Koptos (Quft or Qift), ancient Egyptian Gebtu

Moens, M. F., The Procession of the God Min to the ḫtjw-Garden, Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur , Bd. 12, 1985, Helmut Buske Verlag

GmbH, pp. 61-73

Ramesseum, Thebes-West

The pharaoh as god, a

bipolar personality?

(…)The double-crown clings to his head, Re's atef-crown to his brow. His face is adorned with southcrown and northcrown, He wears the headband and the helmet; The tall-plumed ibes-crown is on his head, The headcloth embraces his shoulders. Gathered are the crowns of Atum, Handed over to his image, As ordained by the maker of gods, [Amun], the most ancient, who crowned him.

(…)

M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol.II, pp.40

From Seti I tomb, Berlin, ÄM 2058