Egyptian Mythology
Most of the people would define a myth as a story. But this is not the correct meaning of a myth. The debate over the accurate meaning of myth has been going through since last 2000 years. The most generally accepted definition of a myth is that, myths are stories regarding the gods. They are sacred stories and they give an explanation about the way the world is. They are traditional stories that contain knowledge and information. (Pinch 1-5)
Mythological stories have been told by the Egyptians for thousands of years. They, however, properly started recording and writing these mythological stories from 2000 BC. In the ancient times the Egyptians had a number of gods. People belonging to different regions had different gods whom they worshiped. With the development of society, people of different regions started living together, and the stories regarding the culture, traditions, religion and way of living of people of different region started to blend together. The people from one region started to include the gods from another region in their myths. The structure of these myths somewhat overlapped but the Egyptians were completely satisfied with this structure. The myths from different regions contradict each other at times, for instance in one myth god Seth is represented as the protector and savior of the southern region, whereas, in another myth he is represented as the enemy of all other gods. (Hamilton 8-10)
In the ancient times some myths were written to teach people certain lessons, for example, in one myth goddess Isis disguised herself as a poor woman to check who would help her. A rich woman met Isis but Isis and refused to help her whereas, a poor fish woman helped Isis and took her to her home. As a result a scorpion bit the rich woman and she suffered great pain. This myth teaches the people the importance of humanity and generosity. With the passage of time the structure of myths kept on changing and the myths about few gods and goddesses became very popular. (Hamilton 8-10)
The ancient Egyptian mythology was not predominantly discriminated. But it contained certain kinds of discrimination. One of these was racial discrimination as most of the myths are written about the male deities and their power, therefore, it may lead towards a sense of discrimination against female gender. (Massey 51-53)
The mythology was kept hidden from a certain class of people and it was prohibited to share the sacred mythology with the lower class of people so this leads towards social discrimination. As the people belonging to the lower class were not included in the ancient Egyptian mythology, neither was the information contained in this mythology was shared with the people belonging to the lower class of the ancient Egyptian civilization. Kings in the ancient times were considered to be the link between humanity and gods and hence they were given supreme importance over others. (Massey 51-53)
History of the Egyptian Myths
According to a number of scholars, myths were not present in the early time of the Egyptian history and they were developed in the latter times. This fact is supported by the scarce number of the mythological stories. The basic reason behind the development of Egyptian mythology was to give an account for the rituals that existed in the ancient Egypt. In the beginning myths did not play an important role in explaining the rituals that were prevalent in Egypt. In the later stage of the development of the mythologies, Egyptian rituals were being honored as holy, first by the inclusion of deities, the people possessing supernatural powers, and then by the inclusion of events that took place in the world of the gods as these events were important for adding authenticity to the Egyptian rituals. (Dijk 1697-1700)
However, according to some scholars, the early stages of the development of the Egyptian mythology were hypothetical and were based on the events that did not exist in the reality. The scholars have commented that only the later stage of the development of the Egyptian mythology is well documented and it reflects the Egyptian rituals and culture in a detailed manner. (Dijk 1697-1700)
Creation of Myths
The Egyptians were always curious about knowing about the origin of the world and of the universe as well. This speculation gave way to the creation mythology, theology and even philosophy. The curiosity in this area led towards the creation of the major religious concepts of Heliopolis, Memphis, Hermopolis and Thebes. The theologies related to each of the discussed religious concepts...
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. This was to lead to the inevitable interaction and cross -- cultural pollination between the cultures. Kline states that; " No wonder that such a large number of Egyptian loan words, phrases and intellectual ideas should be preserved in the Old Testament, along with a large number of idiomatic expressions, and two Egyptian units of measure" (Kline). However, while cultural interaction and the adoption of various phrases and
..." The hymn also follows the general creation myth of Genesis, a staple in the Judeo mythology. Like the Genesis story, in the Hymn of Aton, the myth states that God is the one who gave speech, races, land and people. In essence, according to the hymn, the sun is the giver of all life, which makes sense as it is the sun's light that gives the means to sustaining
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