#ancient Egyptian religion

[lionofchaeronea]

Ancient Egyptian bronze figurine of the god Bes. Artist unknown; ca. 711-657 BCE (25th Dynasty, Late Period). Now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Photo credit: LACMA.

[klewpq]

Attributes of Hathor 𓆸

1. Mirror (egyptian 𓋹𓏤𓈔, anḫ)

Usually made of bronze, silver, copper. Wood, ivory, stone, bronze and faience, silver were used for the handle.

Mirrors were filled with symbolic meanings. The shiny round surface corresponded to the solar disk. Mirrors were also often decorated with other solar symbols, such as falcons. Handles most often depicted papyrus and the goddess Hathor.

A mirror was not only an object for grooming, but also an object of protection, love magic, and divination.

Middle Kingdom, c. 1810–1700 B.C.

Mirror of Sat-Hathor Yunet

2. Sistrum (egyptian 𓏣, sššt or sḫm)

A temple rattle, intended mainly to appease the deity. A sekhem is the simpler, hoop-like sistrum, while sesheshet (an onomatopoeic word) is the naos-shaped one. Very often, the face of Hathor was depicted on the sistrums, showing that this was her ritual rattle.

Music played a huge role in temple rituals. Sistrums helped not only to appease the deity, but also to create music. It has a loud, piercing sound, reminding of itself in space.

Late Period, (664-332 BC)

A sekhem-style sistrum

Nefertari, wife of Ramesses II, holding a sekhem-type sistrum

3. Menat (egyptian 𓏠𓈖𓇋𓏏𓋧, mnj.t)

A set of beads with a counterpoise, also intended for pacification. But its sound was radically different from the sistrum. The sistrum has a very loud sound, while the menat has a quiet sound, reminiscent of the rustling of leaves.

Menat necklace. 18th Dynasty (c. 1390–1352 B.C.); Metropolitan Museum of Art

[akhret]

Offering for Nephthys

08/06/2024

Nephthys, great goddess, lady of life. Hold my hand as you walk with me through life and death. Blanket me with your motherly embrace as you’re there for my birth, death, and rebirth. Guide me through the dark, Mother of Anubis, and help me find the light.

[rudjedet]

another very important Egyptology poll everyone!

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[noosphe-re]

The solar disk Aten, of which Aten is a personification

[galgannet]

The first page of my comic "Seth's Courage". I'll be drawing it slowly because of work and will be posting it one page at a time. When it's finished, I'll post it in full on ArtStation. Первая страница моего комикса "Отвага Сета". Я буду рисовать его медленно из-за работы и выкладывать буду по одной странице. Когда он будет закончен, я выложу его полностью на артстейшн.

[convexicalcrow]

Oh? How normal are we about Pharaoh Cub?

Okay look. You gotta understand. I've been interested in ancient Egpyt since I was a kid. It's my longest-running special interest/hyperfixation, so much so that I've been practicing ancient Egyptian religion for over twenty years. It's something that's very, very precious to me, bc it's so personal to me, and bc I'm who I am, my knowledge of this stuff is arguably higher than the average person. This makes any kind of media about ancient Egypt actually not that interesting to me bc my brain will Not shut up about inaccuracies, so I tend to avoid them bc of that.

(I could go on about my issues with ancient Egyptian themed media, but I won't, that's a whole 'nuther essay frfr.)

(Also I hope you like infodumping, anon, bc that's what I'm about to do :D)

That said, I've actually written a whole lot of Egyptian myth rewrites, as well as ancient Egyptian stories exploring all kinds of various topics. I have some published on an old blog of mine, but some I never finished for various reasons. It's a whole thing. It's been a whole thing for me for a very, very long time.

So, you're me, someone with a more than average knowledge of and interest in ancient Egypt, and you've just become a Cub fan in s8 bc that was my first Hermitcraft season. I had heard about the pyramid, and Pharaoh Cub, and I was both SO INTERESTED but also actually quite hesitant to watch Cub's s7, bc I didn't want to be disappointed if he messed it up or did something wrong that caused my brain to Disagree. Again, very irrational bc my brain do be like that, but also based on previous experiences of seeing ppl just taking the aesthetics and doing whatever with it, and screw historical accuracy.

(Honestly, this is, like, my One (1) critism with the lore TrixyBlox built into the USW map. Can we Not have evil pharaohs plz just for once. ;_;)

I wanted to trust Cub, bc I'd seen the research that went into the canyon build. He's a smart dude. He cares about getting those kinda details right. And I did genuinely want to see how he approached the pyramid build and how he was going to use it as a base. But again, SO HESITANT. bc what if my blorbo messes it up and ruins the whole thing for me bc m brain is Stupid about this sort of thing. ;_;

But I'm so glad I trusted Cub when I did get around to watching s7, bc I fell in love with the pyramid. The fact that he cared about making it as life-size as possible, but also that he took an approach of taking what works, but also making it his own, and making it fit into the minecraft world. Like, using Standard Galactic for hieroglyphs! I loved that small little detail! It makes so much sense to use it that way.

Like, my very-not-srs gripes about the Pharaoh skin and its weird sleeves aside, his approach was very much how a lot of Egyptian pagans approach things today. Take what works, or what makes sense, and adapt it to where we currently are in the world and what we have access to. And I could tell from how he talked about it throughout the season that he really had done his research. And just- The Morning and The Evening Sun/Star epithet he gave himself like!!!!

Like, it's the little things, like the lapis roof, the stars - including Sirius!, the most important one bc its rising heralds the flood of the Nile and the new year - on the ceiling in the bedroom, the statue room and the way he built those five statues to represent aspects of himself (I cannot stress enough how much I adored those statues), allll the little tunnels and sekrit passageways, and the cartouche on the wall with his name in SGA and using SGA in the museum room, the treasure room with its traps, and the tomb of the Pharaoh himself. Like. It was such a perfect blend of Cub and Egyptian stuff. 10/10. I can find no faults. Although I do want to go back and finish the oasis room at some point. Make it a healing pool room with a shrine or two in it. Something like that.

Like, I had my doubts, but I trusted Cub and his process, and I was right to do so. It cemented Cub as my favourite Hermit at that point, bc he took my special interest and did it justice. And that's why I'm Very Normal about Pharaoh Cub.

But there are also other aspects too! Pyramids were designed to be tombs, and that's where the Pharaoh was left to rest at the end of s7. Which seems very appropriate, given where Hermitcraft went after that.

The reason I fixate so much on this is that there's this Egyptian underworld book called the Book of Caverns, that describes the King's journey through the underworld. It's not as well-known as the Book of the Dead, but the reason I keep coming back to it is because of Cub's canyon in s8. Where he built everything in little caverns in the canyon itself. And with the change of skin to young Cub, my brain just cannot let go of the idea of s8 being Pharaoh Cub's journey through the underworld, culminating with the final battle against the serpent we do not name so we do not give it power (a/p/o/p/h/i/s) that is here manifested in s8 as Moon Big. It's not a perfect metaphor, and I won't pretend it is. Especially bc while Cub escapes, the world is destroyed, and that's not necessarily accurate. But! He still escapes! He uses all his knowledge and resources that he's gained through his journey through the underworld to escape. To rise again in s9 as the new sun.

AND AND AND the fact that in s9 PHARAOH CUB DID ACTUALLY RETURN. Only now, we have the Pharaoh as a distinct entity. A divine akh/ancestor, a master magician, one who is clever and wiley like Thoth and who loves playing games and playing pranks. (Thoth is a trickster, and a very smart one.) And to have the distinction between Pharaoh Cub, who is a god, and mortal Cub, who is just Cub, like.

(Cub and his possession kink is also a whole 'nuther essay frfr)

That distinction makes sense in an Egyptian theological framework. Once the Pharaoh dies, they become divine akhu/ancestors. Very few were Actually Deified in a way we would recognise, but Cub is still not wrong when he calls the Pharaoh a god. The Pharaoh was a conduit between the people and the gods. He acted as the only high priest of the religion. He became King by hosting the Kingly Ka, the divine soul of Horus that legitimises their rule. This Ka/soul, has been with every king before it, and all the kings are attached/accessed through it. Kings live forever, after all. My own personal religious work has involved various Kings and Queens and working with them. (Not the most famous ones, tho, it's mostly the Sobek ones bc I worship Sobek first and foremost.)(Sobek being a crocodile god, a strong protector, and a god who was incorporated in Horus at one stage and gained Kingship attributes from that.)

And so it makes so much sense for the Pharaoh to be a separate entity now. The old man died, bc Cub is mortal, and ba/eternal soul of Cub was reborn into a new, younger body, with a whole new ka. Everyone has a ka, it is the soul that belongs to a particular lifetime and is the one that goes through judgement after death. The ba is eternal, and can have many kau/souls throughout its existence.

And bc the Pharaoh has died and become an akh, he can be contacted and manifest in the world again through the mortal Cub. The fact that Cub never actually changed the Pharaoh skin to reflect his younger self? It still has the old man's face? Like. This helps the distinction work. They're two different souls. This is theologically sound. And honestly I never imagined the Pharaoh lore would get to that point. But here we are, in s9, and we have the Pharaoh and mortal Cub, and I am Just So Normal about this bc I thought I'd missed my chance at Pharaoh Cub bc I only started watching in s8. BUT NO. s9 came along and is like, would you like some more Pharaoh Cub? and it's eating my brain like. oh my gods.

And also like, the Vex Magic Grimoire I've been working on? Canonically (to me), it's being written by Pharaoh Cub. Once the ConVex and ConCorp shenanigans settled down, and Cub had space to really focus on his magic, that's when he starts working on the grimoire. bc almost all Pharaohs were also master magicians. They had to be! It was part of their work as high priest and conduit for the gods. So Cub has Pharaoh magic on top of Vex magic, and in working through his new powers, decides to start recording down all he knows about Vex magic. Scar does some as well, but it is intended to be mostly Cub.

(I have an ask I STILL have not got around to about the Pharaoh's magic, and I will save a longer discussion for that there. I will get to it, I promise, anon! It's just taken a while to get my thoughts in order. <3)

It's like, in Pharaoh Cub, I can combine my love of writing about Egyptian things with my current hyperfixation on Cub, and it's so much fun omg. Cub doesn't do deep lore the way someone like Sausage does (again, whole 'nuther essay lol), but there's enough there to make a really good story, and build up these aspects of his character and make a really coherent story out of it.

And with Pharaoh Cub, I can explore all kinds of things that maybe don't work with other characters. Like death! In a way that doesn't really happen in minecraft bc players just respawn. Permanent death is something I've really only encountered on Empires, not Hermitcraft. But with the Pharaoh dying and being laid to rest in his pyramid? Like. That's something to work with. There's lore there to explore. Old Man Cub coming to terms with dying and what happens afterwards. and bc like. idk if anyone has actually ever written Old Man Cub as an actual Old Man. But as someone who's approaching 40, and has their own chronic pain stuff to deal with, like? Maybe I see it differently. Maybe I want to approach Old Man Cub as an old man. And maybe the Old Man dying as Pharaoh, and being reborn into a younger body is one way to do that.

Sure, it may not be the most popular fics for ppl. Maybe ppl are more interested in my other works. But I don't care. It's all my special interests in one place and I'm having the time of my life. :D

Even if I STILL don't know what to do with the journey through the afterlife!s8 caverns idea. Maybe one day I will find the right spark to do that idea justice. <3

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of Ma’at

The philosophy of Ma’at originates from ancient Egyptian thought and represents the foundational principle of cosmic order, truth, justice, harmony, balance, and morality. Ma’at is both a goddess and a concept, symbolizing the natural law that governs the universe, society, and individual behavior. It played a central role in the ethics, politics, and religious life of ancient Egypt.

Key Principles of Ma’at

Cosmic Order and Harmony:

Ma’at embodies the natural order of the universe, ensuring that all elements of the world—both physical and metaphysical—exist in balanced harmony. This includes the movement of the stars, the cycles of nature, and human relationships.

Ma’at is the force that counters Isfet, or chaos. Maintaining Ma’at was essential to preserving the stability of the world and preventing the descent into disorder.

Truth and Justice:

Ma’at represents truth in both a literal and moral sense. To live in accordance with Ma’at is to live truthfully, embracing honesty, fairness, and justice.

In Egyptian society, kings (Pharaohs) were expected to rule according to Ma’at, ensuring justice in legal, social, and political matters. Judges and officials invoked Ma’at when making decisions, as justice was seen as a reflection of cosmic balance.

Moral and Ethical Conduct:

Living according to Ma’at involved a commitment to ethical behavior. This included virtues such as truthfulness, integrity, generosity, respect, humility, and compassion.

Individuals were expected to contribute to societal harmony by acting justly and in alignment with the community’s well-being. This included respect for family, honoring ancestors, and maintaining relationships based on mutual fairness and kindness.

Ritual and Religious Practice:

Ma’at was not just an abstract concept but also a goddess worshipped in temples and daily rituals. Pharaohs, as the earthly representatives of Ma’at, were tasked with performing rituals to ensure the continued balance between the gods, nature, and humanity.

Offerings and prayers to Ma’at were meant to maintain cosmic balance, ensuring favorable outcomes such as good harvests, protection from natural disasters, and societal peace.

Ma’at and the Afterlife:

In the afterlife, Ma’at played a key role in the judgment of souls. The Weighing of the Heart ceremony, described in the Book of the Dead, involved weighing a deceased person's heart against the feather of Ma’at. If the heart was lighter than the feather, the soul was deemed virtuous and granted access to the afterlife.

The symbolism of the feather represents purity, truth, and justice. If the heart was heavier, symbolizing a life of sin or imbalance, the soul would be devoured by Ammit, a creature representing annihilation.

Ma’at and Leadership:

Pharaohs were seen as upholders of Ma’at, both politically and religiously. Their rule was considered legitimate only as long as they maintained Ma’at, and their primary duty was to ensure justice, harmony, and the protection of their people from chaos (Isfet).

The king's role in upholding Ma’at was intertwined with religious duties, as they performed daily rituals to reaffirm the relationship between the gods and society.

Social and Environmental Responsibility:

Ma’at also extended to one’s responsibilities toward society and the environment. People were expected to contribute to the common good, maintain peaceful relationships, and live sustainably within the natural world.

Protecting the environment, fostering communal welfare, and adhering to one’s duties were seen as necessary to uphold Ma’at. Individuals who deviated from this path contributed to the breakdown of order.

Opposition to Isfet (Chaos):

Isfet, the opposite of Ma’at, represents disorder, injustice, falsehood, and destruction. Ancient Egyptians believed that the constant struggle between Ma’at and Isfet was inherent in the functioning of the cosmos.

Upholding Ma’at was a daily battle against Isfet. Actions like dishonesty, oppression, and violence were manifestations of Isfet and had to be resisted to preserve balance in society and the natural world.

The philosophy of Ma’at emphasizes the importance of balance, justice, truth, and harmony in all aspects of life—individual, social, and cosmic. It serves as a framework for ethical living, responsible leadership, and societal well-being, promoting a worldview in which all elements of existence are interconnected and must be in balance to sustain order and prevent chaos.

[er-cryptid]

Horus and Pharaohs

Patreon

[lionofchaeronea]

Ancient Egyptian faience emblem from a sistrum (rattle), depicting the goddess Hathor. Made by an unknown artist during the Late Period (Dynasties 26-29 = 664-332 BCE). Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[klewpq]

Statuette of Sekhmet, Bronze

Late Period, Dynasty 26–30 (664–332 B.C.)

On display at Houston Museum of Natural Science

[akhret]

Flowers for Anuket

09/20/2024

Dua, Anuket, Lady of the Gazelle, Mistress of the Gods, Divine Mother Goddess.

[tallysgreatestfan]

I think I once made a small amateur comic about Anubis and Maat friendly mocking Thoth about that

nothing has fucked me up more than knowing the australian white ibis has a near-identical sister species called the african sacred ibis. the african sacred ibis is associated with thoth, ancient god of wisdom and reason. the australian white ibis is most commonly referred to as a “bin chicken”.

[galgannet]

Oh beautiful Mert, You walk arm in arm with your husband, Great sovereign of the Nile! Lord Hapi! Your dances conquered his heart! The bloom of the divine Lilly is Like your love. Glory! Glory! Let the images of your names Be kept in the souls of mortals In the eternity of the world.

О прекрасная Мерт, Под руку ты идешь с мужем своим, Великим владыкою Нила! Лордом Хапи! Танцы твои покорили, сердце его! Лилий божественный цвет Подобен вашей любви. Славьтесь же! Славьтесь! Пусть образы ваших имен Души смертных хранят, В вечности мира.

[numinous-theo]

Graur, O. (2024, 08 April). The Milky Way Illuminated Ancient Egypt’s Goddess of the Sky. Scientific American.

''So is the Milky Way a manifestation of Nut as earlier studies claimed? I don’t think so. But I do think the two were linked, with the Milky Way highlighting Nut’s arms during the winter and her backbone during the summer, thus making it possible for the ancient Egyptians to see her embodiment as the sky.''

''Nut also played an important role in the transition of the dead to the afterlife. The Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts contain several spells that call on Nut to protect the deceased. She is also enticed to act as a ladder or reach out her arms to the dead to lead them up to the sky where they would take their place among the imperishable stars. The latter are thought to be certain stars that, in the Egyptian sky, never seem to set, thus connecting them to everlasting life. If the ancient Egyptians really did see the Milky Way as illuminating Nut’s arms during the winter, then the spells calling on Nut to give the deceased her arm and lead them up to the sky would mirror other cultures’ conceptions of the Milky Way as a conduit between this life and the next.''