EGYPT LANDMARKS

9:08 PM | Posted by Massra

REPTILES
The turtle, Shetiu, was regarded  indication of the
harmful deities and was described  throughout Egyptian
history as the enemy of the god Ré. The crocodile was
sacred to the god SOBEK, worshiped in temples in the
FAIYUM and at KOM OMBO in Upper Egypt. The cobra,
WADJET, was considered an emblem of royalty and throne
power. The cobra was also the guardian of Lower Egypt,
with a special shrine at BUTO.
Snakes were symbols of new life and resurrection
because they shed their skins. One enormous snake, METHEN,
guarded the sacred boat of Ré each night, as the god journeyed
without end through the HEll. APOPHIS,
another charming snake, attacked Ré each night. Frogs
were symbols of reproductivity and resurrection and were members
of the OGDOAD at HELIOPOLIS. The scorpion was considered
a helper of the goddess Isis and was deified as
SELKET.

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6:50 PM | Posted by Massra

cosmogony This was the base of creation traditions of
Egypt, legends that supposed  political and religious significance
in each new age of the nation. The number and
variety of these myths provide insight into the development
of Egyptian spiritual values and clearly delineate
the development of certain divine cults.
To start  with, the ancient people of the Nile did not
interest themselves with doctrinal or theological purity
and  accuracy, but they did  stick to a logical advancement
in issues of religious importance  Spiritual consciousness
and acompatible unity, both in the person
and in the nation, were elements that kept Egyptians
protect  and  fix. Their religious  ambition were cultic
in nature, dependent upon ritual and celebration, upon
renewed  indication of ideals and values. Dogmas or
doctrines did not concern the usual individuals
specifically. In fact, the Egyptians were  unpleasant  
and reasonable development. It was enough for them to
see the god, to hear his or her concerns for the land, and
to mirror the cosmic harmony that their astronomical
abilities had  gathered for them in the sky.
There were basic systems of creation theology in all
times of Egypt’s development. They were found at
HELIOPOLIS, HERMOPOLIS MAGNA, MEMPHIS, and THEBES.
Other local temples provided their own cosmogonic
information, but the four major ones provided the framework
for spiritual evolution in Egypt.
The basic tenets of these cosmological systems were
twofold: (1) the universe was once a primordial ocean 
called NUN or Nu; (2) a primeval hill arose to bring life
out of confusion and darkness. The cosmogonic belief of the
city of Heliopolis are available in the PYRAMID TEXTS of
the Old Kingdom but are   reduce and appear to make reference
to what was common knowledge of the time. In this
creation story the god ATUM  appear from the watery
chaos called Nun. Atum made his first appearance on the
hill that became the great temple at Heliopolis. By 2300
B.C.E., the god Atum was  recogonized with RÉ, becoming
Ré-Atum, symbolized by the BENBEN or a SCARAB. Ré-
Atum began making the other divine beings of Egypt
through masturbation. SHU, his son, was then spit out of

his mouth, and Ré-Atum vomited out TEFNUT.

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10:30 PM | Posted by Massra

Coffin Texts These were inscriptions placed inside the
coffins of Egyptians, containing spells and incantations
intended to help the deceased on their journeys to the
hereafter. Developed in HERAKLEOPOLIS MAGNA in the
First Intermediate Period (2134–2040 B.C.E.), these texts

public banking institutions in all of the major cities, with
smaller agencies serving the rural areas as well. The central
bank was in ALEXANDRIA, but agencies in other areas
collected government revenues and handled loans to
farmers and businessmen. Thousands of Egyptians were
reportedly employed by these banks in order to keep
them functioning in diverse regions.

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5:20 PM | Posted by Massra

Bastet A goddess of ancient Egypt, whose THEOPHANY

was the cat, Bastet’s cult center was at BUBASTIS. She was

the protector of pregnant women and was a pleasure loving

goddess who served as the patroness of music and

dance. Bastet was also believed to protect men from diseases

and demons. The goddess was considered the personification

of the warming rays of the sun on the Nile.

She was normally depicted as a woman with a cat’s head,

holding a SISTRUM and the symbol of life, the ANKH.

The goddess remained popular throughout Egypt

even to Roman times. Her festivals at Bubastis were

among the most well-attended celebrations in Egypt. People

set out in festooned barges, and music accompanied

all who made the pilgrimage to her shrine. The festival

was a time of pranks as well as another designated period,

of intoxication. A gigantic parade culminated the celebration,

and on that day few Egyptians were sober. Shrines

of the gods were erected in Rome, Ostia, Nemi, and Pompeii

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12:38 PM | Posted by Massra

ISIS. Greek name of the major female deity of Egypt, Egyptian Ast.

Daughter of Geb and Nut and consort of her brother, Osiris, mythological

ruler of Egypt. Following the murder of her husband by their

brother Seth, she assiduously collected the remains of Osiris and, according

to one version, was impregnated by him after death, if not before.

She fought tirelessly for the rights of her son, Horus, to succeed

to Egypt in opposition to Seth. This contest is reflected in the bawdy

tale The Contendings of Horus and Seth. The worship of Isis became

particularly strong during the Graeco-Roman Period, when Osiris

was displaced as her husband by the composite god Sarapis. Her cult

spread throughout the Roman Empire, being particularly attractive to

women. It was suppressed at the advent of Christianity.

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12:23 AM | Posted by Massra

Beit el-Wali Rock-cut temple on the west bank of the Nile in Lower Nubia, which was dedicated to Amun-Ra and founded in the reign OfRAMESES II (1279-1213 BC). The reliefs were copied by the German Egyptologist Giinrher Roeder in 1907, although casts were made by Robert Hay in the 1820s. The site was not comprehensively studied until the work of a joint expedition of the University of Chicago and the Swiss Institute in Cairo during the 19605. Soon afterwards, the temples at Beit el-Wali and nearby KALABSHA were moved to New Kalabsha, 45 km to the north, in order to save them from the rising waters of Lake tasser (see AS\VAN HIGH DAM). The reliefs include depictions of the siege of a Syrian city, the capture or a Nubian village and the bringing of Nubian tribute into the presence of the king, painted plaster casts of which are displayed in the collection of the British Museum

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12:12 AM | Posted by Massra

ATUM

Creator-god and solar deity of HELIOPOLlS, where he was gradually syncretized with the sun-god RA, to form lhe god Ra-Atum. According to the Heliopolitan theology, Atum caine into being before heaven and earth were separated, rising up from NUN, the waters of chaos, to form the PRIMEVAL MOUND. His name means 'the all', signifying his CREATION and summation of all that exists.

Atum's creation of the universe was conceptualized in terms ofa family of nine gods known as the Heliopolitan ENNEAD. Thus the two offspring of Atum, SHU (air) and TEFNUT (moisture), became the parents of GEB (earth) and NUT (sky), and the grandparents of OSIRIS, 1515, SETH and NEPI-ITHYS. Atum was said to have produced Shu and Tefnut by copulating with his hand or, according to other sources, spitting them into being. There has been some debate as to whether Arum's act of procreation constituted masturbation or copulation, in that his hand seems to have represented the female principle. Both Atum and his hand were therefore portrayed as a divine couple on coffins of the First Intermediate Period. Similarly, the title 'god's hand' was adopted by Theban priestesses supposedly married to the god AMUN.

Arum was regarded as a protective deilY, particularly associated with the rituals of kingship. It was Atum who lifted the dead king from his pyramid to the heavens in order to transform him into a star-god, and in later times he protected the deceased during the journey through the underworld.

He is usually depicted as an anthropomorphic deity often wearing the double crown. The animals particularly sacred to him were the lion, the bull, the ICHNEUMON and the lizard. while he was also believed to be manifested in the SCARAB, which emerged from its ball of dung just as ATUM appeared from the primeval mound. Sometimes he was portrayed in the essentially primordial form of a snake.

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11:54 PM | Posted by Massra

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9:15 PM | Posted by Massra

HATHOR. Egyptian goddess of sexual love and music. She was originally

the mother of the sky god Horus and so mother of the king who

was identified with Horus. She was later regarded as the daughter of

Re and wife of Horus. She is depicted as a cow or human figure with

the ears of a cow or wearing a crown with the horns of a cow. Her

principal place of worship was Dendera, but she also had connections

with such desert and foreign areas as Serabit el-Khadim,

where she was worshipped as the lady of turquoise. She is also associated

as a protective deity with the necropolis area of Thebes

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9:01 PM | Posted by Massra

GEB. Egyptian god of the earth. Son of Shu and Tefnut, husband of the

sky goddess Nut, and father of Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. According

to legend, Geb and Nut were separated in the act of sexual

union, and he can be depicted lying flat as the earth with the overvaulting

Nut as the sky

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8:52 PM | Posted by Massra

SARAPIS. Egyptian god prominent during the Graeco-Roman Period.

The name seems to have been derived from Osiris Apis, the deceased

form of the Apis bull worshipped at Memphis. The deity was

adopted by Ptolemy I and depicted with Greek features as a bearded

man similar to the Greek god Zeus but with attributes derived from

other Greek gods, like Dionysius and Aesculapius. Sarapis was promoted

to the head of the Egyptian pantheon and considered the husband

of Isis. He was regarded as a god of fertility and healing

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8:44 PM | Posted by Massra

SAKHMET. Egyptian goddess. Daughter of the sun god Re and wife

of the god Ptah of Memphis. She is usually depicted as a lionessheaded

human figure. She was regarded as fierce and bloodthirsty

and a destroyer of the king’s enemies, but she also had a healing

aspect. In Thebes she was identified with the goddess Mut, and

her statues were erected in the temple of Mut in the city

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5:40 PM | Posted by Massra

BOOK OF THE DEAD. The name given to a type of papyrus often

buried with the dead from the New Kingdom onward. The papyrus

contained a number of magical spells that would enable the deceased

to successfully reach the next world. The most important spell concerned

the ritual of the weighing of the heart against the feather of

maat to determine the deceased’s worthiness to enter the afterlife,

and the spell was supposed to fix the balance in the deceased’s favor.

Some books of the dead were decorated with elaborate vignettes and

scenes depicting funerals and rituals. Some were obviously produced

as special commissions, but there were stock examples available for

purchase in which the name of the deceased could be filled in blank

spaces or in some cases not filled in at all. See also RELIGION

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