Knowledge is Power:Connecting with

the gods in Ancient Egypt

Excursus: A note on the Greek (Because we cant forget the Greeks)

Key Questions

1. The Egyptians: Who were they?2. The Evidence: Is it all just sand and dust?3. Knowledge is Power: who had the knowledge?4. It’s all about taking part: How did ritual allow the

Egyptians to connect with the gods?

The Book of the Dead is NOT made of gold

Mummies do not come to life

The Pyramids were NOT built by slaves

The Egyptians: Who

were they?

The Evidence: Is it all

just sand and dust?The architectural evidence

A population that lived to die? Houses for the living,

including that of the pharaoh were made of mudbrick and sandstone.

Monuments to the gods and death – in the case of the pharaoh and his entourage - were made of stone. (limestone, sandstone, red and black granite)

The literary evidence

A lopsided view 3% of the population

could read and write. How much of an

overview are we getting?

How much could the average Egyptian really understand?

Inherent lack of literary evidence would suggest;

A society based on oral communication. A society controlled by the educated minority. An absolute monarchy.

A society that considers ‘Knowledge to be power’? Knowledge through ritual application – Actions speak

louder than words?

N.B. (and possibly most importantly) A LIMITED VIEW

So what can we take from the evidence?

The Story so far…

A society geared towards provision in the afterlife

How does the evidence suggest a society geared towards the afterlife?

A society where knowledge was power

How does the evidence suggest that knowledge was indeed power?

The power of words?Problem – Access

Knowledge – So who

had it? Pyramid Texts Started by Unas in the 5th

Dynasty (Old Kingdom) 2375BC

A collection of 759 spells Much like a menu

pharaohs would choose the spells that they wanted.

No one pyramid contained all spells.

No pictures

Spells included: Rising from their dead

state to the sky. Obtaining food in the

afterlife. Calling for the ferryman. Crossing to the sky on

the Barc of the Gods.

Utterance 373 – To rise again

To say the words:Oho! Oho! Rise up, O Teti!Take your head, collect your bones,Gather your limbs, shake the earth from your flesh!Take your bread that rots not, your beer that sours not,Stand at the gates that bar the common people!The gatekeeper comes out to you, he grasps your hand,Takes you into heaven, to your father Geb.He rejoices at your coming, gives you his hands,Kisses you, caresses you,Sets you before the spirits, the imperishable stars...The hidden ones worship you,The great ones surround you,The watchers wait on you,Barley is threshed for you,Emmer is reaped for you,Your monthly feasts are made with it,Your half-month feasts are made with it,As ordered done for you by Geb, your father,Rise up, O Teti, you shall not die!

If you fail to ferry Unas,He will leap and sit on the wing of Thoth,Then he will ferry Unas to that side!

Utterance 384

Utterance 401

To be said 4 times;Rise, rise upTo earth and starry sky, ascend a Re, ascended as Atum.Isis blesses you, Nepthtes calls you.The ladder is set, the sky is your destiny. Unas is yours, you are theirs. Ascend as ruler of the red land, as ruler of the black land, as Seth, as Horus. Go!

Evidence only comes from the pharaohs in this

dynasty. No coffins survive/ exist to suggest any others had

access to the texts. Repetition of texts suggest a central canon, but none

exists beyond the pyramids themselves. Interestingly the Great Pyramid at Giza does not

have any texts, suggesting their introduction towards the end of the Old Kingdom (2375 – 2345BC).

Power to the King

Fall of the Old Kingdom (2160BC) First Intermediate Period (2160-2055BC) Middle Kingdom (2055-1650BC) New fear lead to widespread need for

salvation Rise of an ‘aristocracy’?

A thirst for knowledge

Some 1140 texts Some taken directly from the pyramid texts

but most reflect a new vibe and self importance.

Reflect the everyday worries in death and how to overcome it.

Coffin Texts

A new Location?

A need for knowledge Unlike the pharaoh in the

Pyramid texts, the owners of the coffin texts had two new locations The palace of Osiris The Fields of Hetep

The Book of Two Ways Comes from the last 5th of

the Coffin Texts

Hail in peace! I repeat to you the good deeds which my

own heart did for me from within the serpent-coil, in order to silence strife

I made the four winds, that every man might breathe in his time

I made the great inundation, that the humble might benefit by it like the great

I made every man like his fellow; and I did not command that they do wrong. It is their hearts which disobey what I have said

I have created the gods from my sweat, and the people from the tears of my eye.

Coffin text 1130 is a speech by the sun god 

Re

“The life-essence is transmitted by a

force outside itself. The process was a “ritual” one…happenings described in the text were believed to occur by virtue of their inclusion. What was written or recited through sympathetic magic became real.”

Davis, 1977, 167. Also see Ritner, 2002, 209 regarding magic in the

afterlife.

Catering for all . . .

Seeing is believing

Case Study Seth Vs Horus For Egyptians seeing

was really believing. And size DOES

matter

“It is self-evident that any text recorded

on a coffin was meant to serve the deceased in his death. However, I find it extremely implausible that the Egyptians would have entrusted their well-being in the hereafter to magic spells without testing them in life first”

Ferden, 1960, 245

Its all about taking part

Like the pyramid texts the spell were chosen by the owner.This set is not present on all coffins but are recurrent enough to carry the thesis.

Spell Set 312-314

Spell 312I Horus (Living son) Osiris (deceased father)   II Horus (revived father) Osiris (dead father god)  Spell 313 Horus (living son) Thoth (deceased father) Osiris   Spell 314 Horus (son now legitimized heir) Osiris (revived father)

A Geneology

The Book of Going Fourth by Day Much like the Pyramid and Coffin Texts, the

Book of the Dead borrows heavily from the Coffin Texts.

Major development Now recorded on papyri as well as coffins.

A final DevelopmentThe Book of the Dead

Tracking developments Clear dissemination of ideology radiating

down from the Pharaoh.

Conclusions

Pyramid Texts Coffin Texts Book of the Dead

Media Pyramids Coffins and aristocratic tombs

Papyri, coffins and aristocratic tombs

Transmission Priests Priests and Family

Priests and Family

Subject Matter Protection of the King and provision in death

Protection of the deceased, provision in death,Didactic text, legitimizing son

Protection of the deceased, provision in death,Didactic text.

While the transmission remains constant, content and

media become more accessible. This caters for all. While not all could read, possession of such texts

allowed access to the afterlife. The inclusion ritual heightened the experience and

highlights the close links between the living and the dead. Placing the benefit not only in the hands of the deceased but also the living.