Don't Know Much About Mythology - Kenneth C. Davis [28]
Springing up on a thin strip of fertile land along the Nile River, hedged in by unforgiving deserts, the great Egyptian culture of priests, pyramids, and papyrus was a remarkable one that dawned more than five thousand years ago and lasted until Rome emerged and Jesus was born. Over the course of more than three thousand years, Egypt’s people built a world of epic grandeur that was unparalleled in ancient times for its longevity, prosperity, and magnificent architectural and artistic achievements, all of which profoundly influenced its neighbors—including the celebrated Greeks.
But, as Egypt’s vast collection of art and antiquities attest, the pulsing heartbeat of this great civilization was its mythology and religion. From the dawn of Egypt’s history, it was a world in which the power of the gods was felt daily, at almost every level of society. In the temples of the sun god at Karnak, where priests tended to the gods and their flocks of sacred animals. In the lives of everyday Egyptians who mummified their family members and pets in the hope of helping them attain eternal life. In great cities like Memphis, where supplicants came each day to the corrals in which sacred bulls were used to divine the future. This was the true ancient Egypt, an extraordinary land of monuments, magic, and—most of all—myths.
How did myths “rule” in ancient Egypt?
We toss around the concepts of “god” and “country” quite easily, without giving much thought to how they got started. Both ideas have been fairly significant throughout human history. For centuries, people have believed that to serve god or country—or both—was a noble calling. But few of us may realize that Egypt—land of the pharaohs, sphinxes, and mummies—essentially invented both concepts.
Going back to a time before history, when Egypt was established as the first true nation along the banks of the Nile, it was a complete theocracy—a place where religion and government were inseparably linked in the minds of rulers, priests, and people. Not only were Egypt’s royalty the leaders of the nation, they were actually thought to be gods. The pharaohs’ status as gods incarnate was what motivated tens of thousands of workers to lift and arrange millions of blocks of stone that weighed more than two and a half tons apiece. These laborers were not beaten under the lash of oppressive overseers. They worked willingly in the belief that the king must have a proper resting place from which he could ascend to the heavens, joining the other gods in his eternal life. Making sure that the pyramids and other tombs were properly constructed and well provisioned with the “grave goods” required for a comfortable life in the afterworld was no small concern. Only then could the resurrected king help ensure that the Egyptian world and its timeless order would continue, uninterrupted by drought, flood, or foreign invaders.
The nearly obsessive interest in ritual and order in ancient Egypt was not limited to the affairs of the king. From birth to death, and covering nearly everything in between, rank-and-file Egyptians lived under a highly structured set of customs and beliefs that were designed to keep them and their blessed land in the good graces of the vast pantheon of gods they worshipped. Proper care for these gods—and their earthly manifestation, the pharaoh—ensured the cosmic order, a concept that the Egyptians called maat and that was personified in the goddess named Maat, beloved daughter of the sun god Re. It was maat that made the sun rise each day and brought the annual flooding of the Nile River, which guaranteed Egypt’s plentiful food supply and continued existence. The universal harmony of maat—a holy and ethical concept that meant truth, justice, and righteousness, as well as order—was achieved through a religious system in which the gods protected Egypt and held the forces of chaos, destruction,