Egyptian mythology
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Egyptian mythology is the collection of
Inspired by the cycles of nature, the Egyptians saw
The details of these sacred events differ greatly from one text to another and often seem contradictory. Egyptian myths are primarily metaphorical, translating the essence and behavior of deities into terms that humans can understand. Each variant of a myth represents a different symbolic perspective, enriching the Egyptians' understanding of the gods and the world.
Mythology profoundly influenced Egyptian culture. It inspired or influenced many religious rituals and provided the ideological basis for kingship. Scenes and symbols from myth appeared in art in tombs, temples, and amulets. In literature, myths or elements of them were used in stories that range from humor to allegory, demonstrating that the Egyptians adapted mythology to serve a wide variety of purposes.
Origins
The development of Egyptian myth is difficult to trace.
Another possible source for mythology is ritual. Many rituals make reference to myths and are sometimes based directly on them.[5] But it is difficult to determine whether a culture's myths developed before rituals or vice versa.[6] Questions about this relationship between myth and ritual have spawned much discussion among Egyptologists and scholars of comparative religion in general. In ancient Egypt, the earliest evidence of religious practices predates written myths.[5] Rituals early in Egyptian history included only a few motifs from myth. For these reasons, some scholars have argued that, in Egypt, rituals emerged before myths.[6] But because the early evidence is so sparse, the question may never be resolved for certain.[5]
In private rituals, which are often called "magical", the myth and the ritual are particularly closely tied. Many of the myth-like stories that appear in the rituals' texts are not found in other sources. Even the widespread motif of the goddess Isis rescuing her poisoned son Horus appears only in this type of text. The Egyptologist David Frankfurter argues that these rituals adapt basic mythic traditions to fit the specific ritual, creating elaborate new stories (called historiolas) based on myth.[7] In contrast, J. F. Borghouts says of magical texts that there is "not a shred of evidence that a specific kind of 'unorthodox' mythology was coined... for this genre."[8]
Much of Egyptian mythology consists of
Some myths may have been inspired by historical events. The unification of Egypt under the pharaohs, at the end of the
After these early times, most changes to mythology developed and adapted preexisting concepts rather than creating new ones, although there were exceptions.
Definition and scope
Scholars have difficulty defining which ancient Egyptian beliefs are
Content and meaning
Like myths in many other cultures, Egyptian myths serve to justify human traditions and to address fundamental questions about the world,[21] such as the nature of disorder and the ultimate fate of the universe.[20] The Egyptians explained these profound issues through statements about the gods.[20]
Egyptian deities represent natural phenomena, from physical objects like the earth or the sun to abstract forces like knowledge and creativity. The actions and interactions of the gods, the Egyptians believed, govern the behavior of all of these forces and elements.[22] For the most part, the Egyptians did not describe these mysterious processes in explicit theological writings. Instead, the relationships and interactions of the gods illustrated such processes implicitly.[23]
Most of Egypt's gods, including many of the major ones, do not have significant roles in any mythic narratives,[24] although their nature and relationships with other deities are often established in lists or bare statements without narration.[25] For the gods who are deeply involved in narratives, mythic events are very important expressions of their roles in the cosmos. Therefore, if only narratives are myths, mythology is a major element in Egyptian religious understanding, but not as essential as it is in many other cultures.[26]
The true realm of the gods is mysterious and inaccessible to humans. Mythological stories use symbolism to make the events in this realm comprehensible.[28] Not every detail of a mythic account has symbolic significance. Some images and incidents, even in religious texts, are meant simply as visual or dramatic embellishments of broader, more meaningful myths.[29][30]
Few complete stories appear in Egyptian mythological sources. These sources often contain nothing more than allusions to the events to which they relate, and texts that contain actual narratives tell only portions of a larger story. Thus, for any given myth the Egyptians may have had only the general outlines of a story, from which fragments describing particular incidents were drawn.[24] Moreover, the gods are not well-defined characters, and the motivations for their sometimes inconsistent actions are rarely given.[31] Egyptian myths are not, therefore, fully developed tales. Their importance lay in their underlying meaning, not their characteristics as stories. Instead of coalescing into lengthy, fixed narratives, they remained highly flexible and non-dogmatic.[28]
So flexible were Egyptian myths that they could seemingly conflict with each other. Many descriptions of the creation of the world and the movements of the sun occur in Egyptian texts, some very different from each other.
One commonly suggested reason for inconsistencies in myth is that religious ideas differed over time and in different regions.
Egyptologists in the early twentieth century thought that politically motivated changes like these were the principal reason for the contradictory imagery in Egyptian myth. However, in the 1940s, Henri Frankfort, realizing the symbolic nature of Egyptian mythology, argued that apparently contradictory ideas are part of the "multiplicity of approaches" that the Egyptians used to understand the divine realm. Frankfort's arguments are the basis for much of the more recent analysis of Egyptian beliefs.[41] Political changes affected Egyptian beliefs, but the ideas that emerged through those changes also have deeper meaning. Multiple versions of the same myth express different aspects of the same phenomenon; different gods that behave in a similar way reflect the close connections between natural forces. The varying symbols of Egyptian mythology express ideas too complex to be seen through a single lens.[28]
Sources
The sources that are available range from solemn hymns to entertaining stories. Without a single, canonical version of any myth, the Egyptians adapted the broad traditions of myth to fit the varied purposes of their writings.[42] Most Egyptians were illiterate and may therefore have had an elaborate oral tradition that transmitted myths through spoken storytelling. Susanne Bickel suggests that the existence of this tradition helps explain why many texts related to myth give little detail: the myths were already known to every Egyptian.[43] Very little evidence of this oral tradition has survived, and modern knowledge of Egyptian myths is drawn from written and pictorial sources. Only a small proportion of these sources has survived to the present, so much of the mythological information that was once written down has been lost.[25] This information is not equally abundant in all periods, so the beliefs that Egyptians held in some eras of their history are more poorly understood than the beliefs in better documented times.[44]
Religious sources
Many gods appear in artwork from the
During the
The Egyptians also performed rituals for personal goals such as protection from or healing of illness. These rituals are often called "magical" rather than religious, but they were believed to work on the same principles as temple ceremonies, evoking mythical events as the basis for the ritual.[48]
Information from religious sources is limited by a system of traditional restrictions on what they could describe and depict. The murder of the god Osiris, for instance, is never explicitly described in Egyptian writings.[25] The Egyptians believed that words and images could affect reality, so they avoided the risk of making such negative events real.[49] The conventions of Egyptian art were also poorly suited for portraying whole narratives, so most myth-related artwork consists of sparse individual scenes.[25]
Other sources
References to myth also appear in non-religious Egyptian literature, beginning in the Middle Kingdom. Many of these references are mere allusions to mythic motifs, but several stories are based entirely on mythic narratives. These more direct renderings of myth are particularly common in the Late and Greco-Roman periods when, according to scholars such as Heike Sternberg, Egyptian myths reached their most fully developed state.[50]
The attitudes toward myth in nonreligious Egyptian texts vary greatly. Some stories resemble the narratives from magical texts, while others are more clearly meant as entertainment and even contain humorous episodes.[50]
A final source of Egyptian myth is the writings of Greek and Roman writers like Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, who described Egyptian religion in the last centuries of its existence. Prominent among these writers is Plutarch, whose work De Iside et Osiride contains, among other things, the longest ancient account of the myth of Osiris.[51] These authors' knowledge of Egyptian religion was limited because they were excluded from many religious practices, and their statements about Egyptian beliefs are affected by their biases about Egypt's culture.[25]
Cosmology
Maat
The Egyptian word written m3ˁt, often rendered maat or ma'at, refers to the fundamental order of the universe in Egyptian belief. Established at the creation of the world, maat distinguishes the world from the chaos that preceded and surrounds it. Maat encompasses both the proper behavior of humans and the normal functioning of the forces of nature, both of which make life and happiness possible. Because the actions of the gods govern natural forces and myths express those actions, Egyptian mythology represents the proper functioning of the world and the sustenance of life itself.[52]
To the Egyptians, the most important human maintainer of maat is the pharaoh. In myth the pharaoh is the son of a variety of deities. As such, he is their designated representative, obligated to maintain order in human society just as they do in nature, and to continue the rituals that sustain them and their activities.[53]
Shape of the world
In Egyptian belief, the disorder that predates the ordered world exists beyond the world as an infinite expanse of formless water, personified by the god
The nature of the sky and the location of the Duat are uncertain. Egyptian texts variously describe the nighttime sun as traveling beneath the earth and within the body of Nut. The Egyptologist
The fertile lands of the Nile Valley (
Foreign nations are associated with the hostile deserts in Egyptian ideology. Foreign people, likewise, are generally lumped in with the "nine bows", people who threaten pharaonic rule and the stability of maat, although peoples allied with or subject to Egypt may be viewed more positively.[60] For these reasons, events in Egyptian mythology rarely take place in foreign lands. While some stories pertain to the sky or the Duat, Egypt itself is usually the scene for the actions of the gods. Often, even the myths set in Egypt seem to take place on a plane of existence separate from that inhabited by living humans, although in other stories, humans and gods interact. In either case, the Egyptian gods are deeply tied to their home land.[58]
Time
The Egyptians' vision of time was influenced by their environment. Each day the sun rose and set, bringing light to the land and regulating human activity; each year the Nile flooded, renewing the fertility of the soil and allowing the highly productive agriculture that sustained Egyptian civilization. These periodic events inspired the Egyptians to see all of time as a series of recurring patterns regulated by maat, renewing the gods and the universe.[2] Although the Egyptians recognized that different historical eras differ in their particulars, mythic patterns dominate the Egyptian perception of history.[61]
Many Egyptian stories about the gods are characterized as having taken place in a primeval time when the gods were manifest on the earth and ruled over it. After this time, the Egyptians believed, authority on earth passed to human pharaohs.[62] This primeval era seems to predate the start of the sun's journey and the recurring patterns of the present world. At the other end of time is the end of the cycles and the dissolution of the world. Because these distant periods lend themselves to linear narrative better than the cycles of the present, John Baines sees them as the only periods in which true myths take place.[63] Yet, to some extent, the cyclical aspect of time was present in the mythic past as well. Egyptians saw even stories that were set in that time as being perpetually true. The myths were made real every time the events to which they were related occurred. These events were celebrated with rituals, which often evoked myths.[64] Ritual allowed time to periodically return to the mythic past and renew life in the universe.[65]
Major myths
Some of the most important categories of myths are described below. Because of the fragmentary nature of Egyptian myths, there is little indication in Egyptian sources of a chronological sequence of mythical events.[66] Nevertheless, the categories are arranged in a very loose chronological order.
Creation
Among the most important myths were those describing the creation of the world. The Egyptians developed many accounts of the creation, which differ greatly in the events they describe. In particular, the deities credited with creating the world vary in each account. This difference partly reflects the desire of Egypt's cities and priesthoods to exalt their own patron gods by attributing creation to them. Yet the differing accounts were not regarded as contradictory; instead, the Egyptians saw the creation process as having many aspects and involving many divine forces.[67]
One common feature of the myths is the emergence of the world from the waters of chaos that surround it. This event represents the establishment of maat and the origin of life. One fragmentary tradition centers on the eight gods of the Ogdoad, who represent the characteristics of the primeval water itself. Their actions give rise to the sun (represented in creation myths by various gods, especially Ra), whose birth forms a space of light and dryness within the dark water.[68] The sun rises from the first mound of dry land, another common motif in the creation myths, which was likely inspired by the sight of mounds of earth emerging as the Nile flood receded. With the emergence of the sun god, the establisher of maat, the world has its first ruler.[69] Accounts from the first millennium BC focus on the actions of the creator god in subduing the forces of chaos that threaten the newly ordered world.[14]
Atum, a god closely connected with the sun and the primeval mound, is the focus of a creation myth dating back at least to the Old Kingdom. Atum, who incorporates all the elements of the world, exists within the waters as a potential being. At the time of creation he emerges to produce other gods, resulting in a set of nine deities, the Ennead, which includes Geb, Nut, and other key elements of the world. The Ennead can by extension stand for all the gods, so its creation represents the differentiation of Atum's unified potential being into the multiplicity of elements present within the world.[70]
Over time, the Egyptians developed more abstract perspectives on the creation process. By the time of the Coffin Texts, they described the formation of the world as the realization of a concept first developed within the mind of the creator god. The force of
The origin of humans is not a major feature of Egyptian creation stories. In some texts the first humans spring from tears that Ra-Atum or his feminine aspect, the Eye of Ra, sheds in a moment of weakness and distress, foreshadowing humans' flawed nature and sorrowful lives. Others say humans are molded from clay by the god Khnum. But overall, the focus of the creation myths is the establishment of cosmic order rather than the special place of humans within it.[72]
The reign of the sun god
In the period of the mythic past after the creation, Ra dwells on earth as king of the gods and of humans. This period is the closest thing to a
In an episode known in different versions from temple texts, some of the gods defy Ra's authority, and he destroys them with the help and advice of other gods like
As Ra grows older and weaker, humanity, too, turns against him. In an episode often called "The Destruction of Mankind", related in
In The Book of the Heavenly Cow, the results of the destruction of mankind seem to mark the end of the direct reign of the gods and of the linear time of myth. The beginning of Ra's journey is the beginning of the cyclical time of the present.[63] Yet in other sources, mythic time continues after this change. Egyptian accounts give sequences of divine rulers who take the place of the sun god as king on earth, each reigning for many thousands of years.[78] Although accounts differ as to which gods reigned and in what order, the succession from Ra-Atum to his descendants Shu and Geb—in which the kingship passes to the male in each generation of the Ennead—is common. Both of them face revolts that parallel those in the reign of the sun god, but the revolt that receives the most attention in Egyptian sources is the one in the reign of Geb's heir Osiris.[79]
Osiris myth
The collection of episodes surrounding
The next portion of the myth concerns Horus' birth and childhood. Isis gives birth to and raises her son in secluded places, hidden from the menace of Set. The episodes in this phase of the myth concern Isis' efforts to protect her son from Set or other hostile beings, or to heal him from sickness or injury. In these episodes Isis is the epitome of maternal devotion and a powerful practitioner of healing magic.[83]
In the third phase of the story, Horus competes with Set for the kingship. Their struggle encompasses a great number of separate episodes and ranges in character from violent conflict to a legal judgment by the assembled gods.[84] In one important episode, Set tears out one or both of Horus' eyes, which are later restored by the healing efforts of Thoth or Hathor. For this reason, the Eye of Horus is a prominent symbol of life and well-being in Egyptian iconography. Because Horus is a sky god, with one eye equated with the sun and the other with the moon, the destruction and restoration of the single eye explains why the moon is less bright than the sun.[85]
Texts present two different resolutions for the divine contest: one in which Egypt is divided between the two claimants, and another in which Horus becomes sole ruler. In the latter version, the ascension of Horus, Osiris' rightful heir, symbolizes the reestablishment of maat after the unrighteous rule of Set. With order restored, Horus can perform the funerary rites for his father that are his duty as son and heir. Through this service Osiris is given new life in the Duat, whose ruler he becomes. The relationship between Osiris as king of the dead and Horus as king of the living stands for the relationship between every king and his deceased predecessors. Osiris, meanwhile, represents the regeneration of life. On earth he is credited with the annual growth of crops, and in the Duat he is involved in the rebirth of the sun and of deceased human souls.[86]
Although Horus to some extent represents any living pharaoh, he is not the end of the lineage of ruling gods. He is succeeded first by gods and then by spirits that represent dim memories of Egypt's Predynastic rulers, the
Birth of the royal child
Several disparate Egyptian texts address a similar theme: the birth of a divinely fathered child who is heir to the kingship. The earliest known appearance of such a story does not appear to be a myth but an entertaining folktale, found in the Middle Kingdom Westcar Papyrus, about the birth of the first three kings of Egypt's Fifth Dynasty. In that story, the three kings are the offspring of Ra and a human woman. The same theme appears in a firmly religious context in the New Kingdom, when the rulers Hatshepsut, Amenhotep III, and Ramesses II depicted in temple reliefs their own conception and birth, in which the god Amun is the father and the historical queen the mother. By stating that the king originated among the gods and was deliberately created by the most important god of the period, the story gives a mythical background to the king's coronation, which appears alongside the birth story. The divine connection legitimizes the king's rule and provides a rationale for his role as intercessor between gods and humans.[87]
Similar scenes appear in many post-New Kingdom temples, but this time the events they depict involve the gods alone. In this period, most temples were dedicated to a mythical family of deities, usually a father, mother, and son. In these versions of the story, the birth is that of the son in each triad.[88] Each of these child gods is the heir to the throne, who will restore stability to the country. This shift in focus from the human king to the gods who are associated with him reflects a decline in the status of the pharaoh in the late stages of Egyptian history.[87]
The journey of the sun
Ra's movements through the sky and the Duat are not fully narrated in Egyptian sources,[89] although funerary texts like the Amduat, Book of Gates, and Book of Caverns relate the nighttime half of the journey in sequences of vignettes.[90] This journey is key to Ra's nature and to the sustenance of all life.[30]
In traveling across the sky, Ra brings light to the earth, sustaining all things that live there. He reaches the peak of his strength at noon and then ages and weakens as he moves toward sunset. In the evening, Ra takes the form of Atum, the creator god, oldest of all things in the world. According to early Egyptian texts, at the end of the day he spits out all the other deities, whom he devoured at sunrise. Here they represent the stars, and the story explains why the stars are visible at night and seemingly absent during the day.[91]
At sunset Ra passes through the akhet, the horizon, in the west. At times the horizon is described as a gate or door that leads to the Duat. At others, the sky goddess Nut is said to swallow the sun god, so that his journey through the Duat is likened to a journey through her body.[93] In funerary texts, the Duat and the deities in it are portrayed in elaborate, detailed, and widely varying imagery. These images are symbolic of the awesome and enigmatic nature of the Duat, where both the gods and the dead are renewed by contact with the original powers of creation. Indeed, although Egyptian texts avoid saying it explicitly, Ra's entry into the Duat is seen as his death.[94]
Certain themes appear repeatedly in depictions of the journey. Ra overcomes numerous obstacles in his course, representative of the effort necessary to maintain maat. The greatest challenge is the opposition of Apep, a serpent god who represents the destructive aspect of disorder, and who threatens to destroy the sun god and plunge creation into chaos.[95] In many of the texts, Ra overcomes these obstacles with the assistance of other deities who travel with him; they stand for various powers that are necessary to uphold Ra's authority.[96] In his passage Ra also brings light to the Duat, enlivening the blessed dead who dwell there. In contrast, his enemies—people who have undermined maat—are tormented and thrown into dark pits or lakes of fire.[97]
The key event in the journey is the meeting of Ra and Osiris. In the New Kingdom, this event developed into a complex symbol of the Egyptian conception of life and time. Osiris, relegated to the Duat, is like a mummified body within its tomb. Ra, endlessly moving, is like the ba, or soul, of a deceased human, which may travel during the day but must return to its body each night. When Ra and Osiris meet, they merge into a single being. Their pairing reflects the Egyptian vision of time as a continuous repeating pattern, with one member (Osiris) being always static and the other (Ra) living in a constant cycle. Once he has united with Osiris' regenerative power, Ra continues on his journey with renewed vitality.[65] This renewal makes possible Ra's emergence at dawn, which is seen as the rebirth of the sun—expressed by a metaphor in which Nut gives birth to Ra after she has swallowed him—and the repetition of the first sunrise at the moment of creation. At this moment, the rising sun god swallows the stars once more, absorbing their power.[91] In this revitalized state, Ra is depicted as a child or as the scarab beetle god Khepri, both of which represent rebirth in Egyptian iconography.[98]
End of the universe
Egyptian texts typically treat the dissolution of the world as a possibility to be avoided, and for that reason they do not often describe it in detail. However, many texts allude to the idea that the world, after countless cycles of renewal, is destined to end. This end is described in a passage in the Coffin Texts and a more explicit one in the Book of the Dead, in which Atum says that he will one day dissolve the ordered world and return to his primeval, inert state within the waters of chaos. All things other than the creator will cease to exist, except Osiris, who will survive along with him.[99] Details about this eschatological prospect are left unclear, including the fate of the dead who are associated with Osiris.[100] Yet with the creator god and the god of renewal together in the waters that gave rise to the orderly world, there is the potential for a new creation to arise in the same manner as the old.[101]
Influence in Egyptian culture
In religion
Because the Egyptians rarely described theological ideas explicitly, the implicit ideas of mythology formed much of the basis for Egyptian religion. The purpose of Egyptian religion was the maintenance of maat, and the concepts that myths express were believed to be essential to maat. The rituals of Egyptian religion were meant to make the mythic events, and the concepts they represented, real once more, thereby renewing maat.[64] The rituals were believed to achieve this effect through the force of heka, the same connection between the physical and divine realms that enabled the original creation.[103]
For this reason, Egyptian rituals often included actions that symbolized mythical events.[64] Temple rites included the destruction of models representing malign gods like Set or Apophis, private magical spells called upon Isis to heal the sick as she did for Horus,[104] and funerary rites such as the Opening of the mouth ceremony[105] and ritual offerings to the dead evoked the myth of Osiris' resurrection.[106] Yet rituals rarely, if ever, involved dramatic reenactments of myths. There are borderline cases, like a ceremony alluding to the Osiris myth in which two women took on the roles of Isis and Nephthys, but scholars disagree about whether these performances formed sequences of events.[107] Much of Egyptian ritual was focused on more basic activities like giving offerings to the gods, with mythic themes serving as ideological background rather than as the focus of a rite.[108] Nevertheless, myth and ritual strongly influenced each other. Myths could inspire rituals, like the ceremony with Isis and Nephthys; and rituals that did not originally have a mythic meaning could be reinterpreted as having one, as in the case of offering ceremonies, in which food and other items given to the gods or the dead were equated with the Eye of Horus.[109]
Kingship was a key element of Egyptian religion, through the king's role as link between humanity and the gods. Myths explain the background for this connection between royalty and divinity. The myths about the Ennead establish the king as heir to the lineage of rulers reaching back to the creator; the myth of divine birth states that the king is the son and heir of a god; and the myths about Osiris and Horus emphasize that rightful succession to the throne is essential to the maintenance of maat. Thus, mythology provided the rationale for the very nature of Egyptian government.[110]
In art
Illustrations of gods and mythical events appear extensively alongside religious writing in tombs, temples, and funerary texts.[42] Mythological scenes in Egyptian artwork are rarely placed in sequence as a narrative, but individual scenes, particularly depicting the resurrection of Osiris, do sometimes appear in religious artwork.[111]
Allusions to myth were very widespread in Egyptian art and architecture. In temple design, the central path of the temple axis was likened to the sun god's path across the sky, and the sanctuary at the end of the path represented the place of creation from which he rose. Temple decoration was filled with solar emblems that underscored this relationship. Similarly, the corridors of tombs were linked with the god's journey through the Duat, and the burial chamber with the tomb of Osiris.[112] The pyramid, the best-known of all Egyptian architectural forms, may have been inspired by mythic symbolism, for it represented the mound of creation and the original sunrise, appropriate for a monument intended to assure the owner's rebirth after death.[113] Symbols in Egyptian tradition were frequently reinterpreted, so that the meanings of mythical symbols could change and multiply over time like the myths themselves.[114]
More ordinary works of art were also designed to evoke mythic themes, like the
In literature
Themes and motifs from mythology appear frequently in Egyptian literature, even outside of religious writings. An early
A fragment of a text about the actions of Horus and Set dates to the Middle Kingdom, suggesting that stories about the gods arose in that era. Several texts of this type are known from the New Kingdom, and many more were written in the Late and Greco-Roman periods. Although these texts are more clearly derived from myth than those mentioned above, they still adapt the myths for non-religious purposes. "The Contendings of Horus and Seth", from the New Kingdom, tells the story of the conflict between the two gods, often with a humorous and seemingly irreverent tone. The Roman-era "Myth of the Eye of the Sun" incorporates fables into a framing story taken from myth. The goals of written fiction could also affect the narratives in magical texts, as with the New Kingdom story "Isis, the Rich Woman's Son, and the Fisherman's Wife", which conveys a moral message unconnected to its magical purpose. The variety of ways that these stories treat mythology demonstrates the wide range of purposes that myth could serve in Egyptian culture.[118]
See also
References
Notes
Citations
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- ^ a b David 2002, pp. 1–2.
- ^ O'Connor 2003, pp. 155, 178–179.
- ^ Tobin 1989, pp. 10–11.
- ^ a b c Morenz 1973, pp. 81–84.
- ^ a b Baines 1991, p. 83.
- ^ Frankfurter 1995, pp. 472–474.
- ^ Pinch 2002, p. 17.
- ^ Assmann 2001, pp. 113, 115, 119–122.
- ^ Griffiths 2001, pp. 188–190.
- ^ Anthes 1961, pp. 33–36.
- ^ Pinch 2002, pp. 6–7.
- ^ a b Meltzer 2001, pp. 119–122.
- ^ a b Bickel 2004, p. 580.
- ^ Assmann 2001, p. 116.
- ^ Meeks & Favard-Meeks 1996, pp. 49–51.
- ^ Baines 1996, p. 361.
- ^ Baines 1991, pp. 81–85, 104.
- ^ a b Tobin 2001, pp. 464–468.
- ^ a b c Bickel 2004, p. 578.
- ^ Pinch 2002, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Assmann 2001, pp. 80–81.
- ^ Assmann 2001, pp. 107–112.
- ^ a b Tobin 1989, pp. 38–39.
- ^ a b c d e f Baines 1991, pp. 100–104.
- ^ Baines 1991, pp. 104–105.
- ^ Anthes 1961, pp. 18–20.
- ^ a b c Tobin 1989, pp. 18, 23–26.
- ^ Assmann 2001, p. 117.
- ^ a b Tobin 1989, pp. 48–49.
- ^ Assmann 2001, p. 112.
- ^ Hornung 1992, pp. 41–45, 96.
- ^ Vischak 2001, pp. 82–85.
- ^ Anthes 1961, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Allen 1988, pp. 62–63.
- ^ Traunecker 2001, pp. 101–103.
- ^ David 2002, pp. 28, 84–85.
- ^ Anthes 1961, pp. 62–63.
- ^ Allen 1988, pp. 45–46.
- ^ Tobin 1989, pp. 16–17.
- ^ Traunecker 2001, pp. 10–11.
- ^ a b c Traunecker 2001, pp. 1–5.
- ^ Bickel 2004, p. 379.
- ^ Baines 1991, pp. 84, 90.
- ^ Pinch 2002, pp. 6–11.
- ^ Morenz 1973, pp. 218–219.
- ^ Pinch 2002, pp. 37–38.
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- ^ Pinch 2002, p. 6.
- ^ a b Baines 1996, pp. 365–376.
- ^ Pinch 2002, pp. 35, 39–42.
- ^ Tobin 1989, pp. 79–82, 197–199.
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- ^ Allen 2003, pp. 25–29.
- ^ Lesko 1991, pp. 117–120.
- ^ Conman 2003, pp. 33–37.
- ^ a b Meeks & Favard-Meeks 1996, pp. 82–88, 91.
- ^ Lurker 1980, pp. 64–65, 82.
- ^ O'Connor 2003, pp. 155–156, 169–171.
- ^ Hornung 1992, pp. 151–154.
- ^ a b Pinch 2002, p. 85.
- ^ a b Baines 1996, pp. 364–365.
- ^ a b c Tobin 1989, pp. 27–31.
- ^ a b Assmann 2001, pp. 77–80.
- ^ Pinch 2002, p. 57.
- ^ David 2002, pp. 81, 89.
- ^ Dunand & Zivie-Coche 2004, pp. 45–50.
- ^ Meeks & Favard-Meeks 1996, pp. 19–21.
- ^ Allen 1988, pp. 8–11.
- ^ Allen 1988, pp. 36–42, 60.
- ^ Pinch 2002, pp. 66–68.
- ^ Pinch 2002, p. 69.
- ^ Meeks & Favard-Meeks 1996, pp. 22–25.
- ^ Pinch 2002, p. 143.
- ^ Pinch 2002, pp. 71–74.
- ^ Assmann 2001, pp. 113–116.
- ^ Uphill 2003, pp. 17–26.
- ^ Pinch 2002, pp. 76–78.
- ^ Assmann 2001, p. 124.
- ^ Hart 1990, pp. 30–33.
- ^ Pinch 2002, pp. 79–80.
- ^ Assmann 2001, pp. 131–134.
- ^ Hart 1990, pp. 36–38.
- ^ Kaper 2001, pp. 480–482.
- ^ Assmann 2001, pp. 129, 141–145.
- ^ a b Assmann 2001, pp. 116–119.
- ^ Feucht 2001, p. 193.
- ^ Baines 1996, p. 364.
- ^ Hornung 1992, p. 96.
- ^ a b Pinch 2002, pp. 91–92.
- ^ Pinch 2002, pp. 183–184.
- ^ Hornung 1992, pp. 96–97, 113.
- ^ Tobin 1989, pp. 49, 136–138.
- ^ Hart 1990, pp. 52–54.
- ^ Quirke 2001, pp. 45–46.
- ^ Hornung 1992, pp. 95, 99–101.
- ^ Hart 1990, pp. 57, 61.
- ^ Hornung 1982, pp. 162–165.
- ^ Dunand & Zivie-Coche 2004, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Meeks & Favard-Meeks 1996, pp. 18–19.
- ^ te Velde 2001, pp. 269–270.
- ^ Ritner 1993, pp. 246–249.
- ^ Ritner 1993, p. 150.
- ^ Roth 2001, pp. 605–608.
- ^ Assmann 2001, pp. 49–51.
- ^ O'Rourke 2001, pp. 407–409.
- ^ Baines 1991, p. 101.
- ^ Morenz 1973, p. 84.
- ^ Tobin 1989, pp. 90–95.
- ^ Baines 1991, p. 103.
- ^ Wilkinson 1993, pp. 27–29, 69–70.
- ^ Quirke 2001, p. 115.
- ^ Wilkinson 1993, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Andrews 2001, pp. 75–82.
- ^ Lurker 1980, pp. 74, 104–105.
- ^ Baines 1996, pp. 367–369, 373–374.
- ^ Baines 1996, pp. 366, 371–373, 377.
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Further reading
- Armour, Robert A (2001) [1986]. Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt. The American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 977-424-669-1.
- Ions, Veronica (1982) [1968]. Egyptian Mythology. Peter Bedrick Books. ISBN 0-911745-07-6.
- James, T. G. H (1971). Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0-448-00866-1.
- Shaw, Garry J. (2014). The Egyptian Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-25198-0.
- Sternberg, Heike (1985). Mythische Motive and Mythenbildung in den agyptischen Tempeln und Papyri der Griechisch-Romischen Zeit (in German). Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-02497-6.
- Tyldesley, Joyce (2010). Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt. Allen Lanes. ISBN 978-1-84614-369-4.