Introduction to Ancient Egypt Aten Valley

Introduction to Ancient Egypt

Introduction to Ancient Egypt

Photo by AussieActive

Summary:

Ancient Egypt thrived as an independent nation for thousands of years, famous for great cultural advancements in the arts, science, technology, and religion. The name "Egypt" comes from the Greek Aegyptos, which was the Greek pronunciation of the ancient Egyptian name 'Hwt-Ka-Ptah' ("Mansion of the Spirit of Ptah"), originally the name of the city of Memphis.

To the ancient Egyptians, life on earth was only one aspect of an eternal journey. The soul was immortal and inhabited a body on the physical plane for a short time. At death, one would meet with judgment in the Hall of Truth and, if justified, would move on to an eternal paradise known as The Field of Reeds. Once one had reached paradise, one could live peacefully in the company of those one had loved while on earth, including one's pets, in the same neighborhood by the same stream, beneath the very same trees one thought had been lost at death. However, this eternal life was only available to those who had lived well and in accordance with the will of the gods in the most perfect place conducive to such a goal: the land of Egypt.

The belief in life after death was central to Egyptian culture, and the most enduring vision of the afterlife was A'aru. Egyptian religion was fully integrated into the lives of the ancient Egyptians, and the gods were not faraway entities but lived close at hand in their temples, in trees, rivers, streams, and the earth itself. The gods had created order out of chaos in the dark beginnings of the world and had made Egypt the most perfect and pleasant land for humans to live in. Life in ancient Egypt was considered the best one could experience on earth - as long as one lived in accordance with the will of the gods.

The underlying principle of Egyptian religion was known as heka (magic), personified in the god Heka. Heka had always existed and was present in the act of creation. He was the god of magic and medicine but was also the power which enabled the gods to perform their functions and allowed human beings to commune with their gods. He was all-pervasive and all-encompassing, imbuing the daily lives of the Egyptians with magic and meaning and sustaining the principle of ma'at upon which life depended.


In depth:

Egypt thrived for thousands of years (from c. 8000 BCE to c. 30 BCE) as an independent nation whose culture was famous for great cultural advances in every area of human knowledge, from the arts to science to technology and religion. The great monuments which ancient Egypt is still celebrated for reflect the depth and grandeur of Egyptian culture which influenced so many ancient civilizations, among them Greece and Rome.

The name 'Egypt' comes from the Greek Aegyptos which was the Greek pronunciation of the ancient Egyptian name 'Hwt-Ka-Ptah' ("Mansion of the Spirit of Ptah"), originally the name of the city of Memphis.

To the Egyptians, life on earth was only one aspect of an eternal journey. The soul was immortal and was only inhabiting a body on this physical plane for a short time. At death, one would meet with judgment in the Hall of Truth and, if justified, would move on to an eternal paradise known as The Field of Reeds which was a mirror image of one's life on earth. Once one had reached paradise one could live peacefully in the company of those one had loved while on earth, including one's pets, in the same neighborhood by the same stream, beneath the very same trees one thought had been lost at death. This eternal life, however, was only available to those who had lived well and in accordance with the will of the gods in the most perfect place conducive to such a goal: the land of Egypt.

To the Egyptians, life on earth was only one aspect of an eternal journey. The soul was immortal and was only inhabiting a body on this physical plane for a short time. At death, one would meet with judgment in the Hall of Truth and, if justified, would move on to an eternal paradise known as The Field of Reeds which was a mirror image of one's life on earth. Once one had reached paradise one could live peacefully in the company of those one had loved while on earth, including one's pets, in the same neighborhood by the same stream, beneath the very same trees one thought had been lost at death. This eternal life, however, was only available to those who had lived well and in accordance with the will of the gods in the most perfect place conducive to such a goal: the land of Egypt.

 Ancient Egyptian Culture

Photo by Jeremy Zero

 

 

 

Field of Reeds (Aaru)

A'Aru (The Field of Reeds) was the Egyptian afterlife, an idealized vision of one's life on earth (also known as Sekhet-A'Aru and translated as The Field of Rushes). Death was not the end of life but a transition to another part of one's eternal journey.

Everything thought to have been lost at death was returned and there was no pain and, obviously, no threat of death as one lived on in the presence of the gods, doing as one had done on earth, with everyone the soul had ever loved.

People already believed in the immortality of the soul and the survival of bodily death in the Predynastic Period in Egypt (c. 6000 - c. 3150 BCE) as evidenced by grave goods included in burials. This belief developed throughout the Early Dynastic Period in Egypt (c. 3150 - c. 2613 BCE) and was fully integrated into the culture by the time of the Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 BCE). Although some form of afterlife was envisioned from the earliest times, its details changed as the concept developed further.

A FIRM BELIEF IN LIFE AFTER DEATH WAS CENTRAL TO EGYPTIAN CULTURE, THE MOST ENDURING BEING THE VISION OF A'ARU.

Religion

Egyptian religion was a combination of beliefs and practices which, in the modern day, would include Egyptian mythology, science, medicine, psychiatry, magic, spiritualism, herbology, as well as the modern understanding of 'religion' as belief in a higher power and a life after death.

Religion was fully integrated into the lives of the ancient Egyptians. The gods were not faraway entities but lived close at hand in their temples, in trees, rivers, streams, and the earth itself. The gods had created order out of chaos in the dark beginnings of the world and had made Egypt the most perfect and pleasant land for humans to live in. Life in ancient Egypt was considered the best one could experience on earth - as long as one lived in accordance with the will of the gods.

 

The Gods

The underlying principle of Egyptian religion was known as heka (magic) personified in the god Heka. Heka had always existed and was present in the act of creation. He was the god of magic and medicine but was also the power which enabled the gods to perform their functions and allowed human beings to commune with their gods. He was all-pervasive and all-encompassing, imbuing the daily lives of the Egyptians with magic and meaning and sustaining the principle of ma'at upon which life depended.

Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/egypt/

Ancient Egyptian Culture

Photo by Jeremy Zero

 

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Recommended Reading: Further Explorations of Ancient Egypt

Books on Ancient Egyptian History and Culture

  1. "The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt" by Ian Shaw
  2. "The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt" by Richard H. Wilkinson
  3. "Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt" by Barbara Mertz
  4. "Daily Life in Ancient Egypt" by Kasia Szpakowska

Books on Egyptian Mythology and Religion

  1. "Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt" by Geraldine Pinch
  2. "The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day" translated by Raymond Faulkner
  3. "Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt" by John H. Taylor
  4. "Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt" by Emily Teeter

Books on Egyptian Art, Architecture, and Science

  1. "The Art of Ancient Egypt: Revised Edition" by Gay Robins
  2. "The Secret of the Great Pyramid: How One Man's Obsession Led to the Solution of Ancient Egypt's Greatest Mystery" by Bob Brier and Jean-Pierre Houdin
  3. "Egyptian Architecture as Cultural Expression" by Earl Baldwin Smith 4. "The Science of the Pyramids" by Joseph Davidovits

Books on Personal Growth

  1. "The Wisdom of the Egyptians: The Story of the Egyptians, the Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, the Ptah-Hotep and the Ke'gemini, the Book of the Dead, the Wisdom of Hermes Trismegistus" by Brian Brown
  2. "The Kybalion: A Study of The Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece" by Three Initiates
  3. "Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead" translated by Normandi Ellis
  4. "The Ancient Egyptian Path to Enlightenment: The Teachings of Ptahhotep" by Muata Ashby

Books on Ancient Egyptian Philosophy

  1. "Egyptian Philosophy and the Ancient Wisdom Tradition: A Guide to the Secret Teachings" by Jeremy Naydler
  2. "The Egyptian Mysteries: New Light on Ancient Knowledge" by Lucie Lamy
  3. "The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs" translated by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy
  4. "The Teachings of Ptahhotep: The Oldest Book in the World" translated by Hilliard III Asa G.

Books on Ancient Egyptian Women and Gender

  1. "Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt" by Joyce Tyldesley
  2. "Egyptian Women of the Old Kingdom and of the Heracleopolitan Period" by Wolfram Grajetzki
  3. "The Role of Women in Work and Society in Ancient Egypt" by Laurel Bestock
  4. "Gender and Power in Ancient Egypt: Art, Archaeology, and History" edited by Barbara S. Lesko

Books on Ancient Egyptian Medicine and Healing

  1. "Medicine in Ancient Egypt: Its Evolution from the Predynastic Period to the Graeco-Roman Era" by Abdel Ghaffar Shedid and Abdel Maguid Mohamed Salem
  2. "The Healing Gods of Ancient Civilizations: Egyptian, Greek, and Roman" by Walter Addison Jayne
  3. "Ancient Egyptian Medicine" by John F. Nunn
  4. "Egyptian Healing: The Philosophy and Practice of Ancient Egyptian Medicine" by Hakim M. Bey

Books on Ancient Egyptian Language and Writing

  1. "Hieroglyphs: The Writing of Ancient Egypt" by Maria Carmela Betrò
  2. "Reading Egyptian Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Egyptian Painting and Sculpture" by Richard H. Wilkinson
  3. "The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World" by J. P. Mallory and Douglas Q. Adams
  4. "The Rosetta Stone and the Rebirth of Ancient Egypt" by John Ray

Books on Ancient Egyptian Science and Technology

  1. "Egyptian Science and Technology: Ancient Texts and Modern Science" edited by Mohamed El-Bahey and Nagwa El-Badry
  2. "A History of Ancient Egypt: From the First Farmers to the Great Pyramid" by John Romer
  3. "The Dawn of Astronomy: A Study of the Temple-Worship and Mythology of the Ancient Egyptians" by J. Norman Lockyer
  4. "Engineering the Pyramids" by Dick Parry

Books on Modern Applications of Ancient Egyptian Wisdom

  1. "The Egyptian Book of Living and Dying: The Enlightened Way of the Pharaohs" by Joann Fletcher
  2. "The Way of the Egyptian Mystics: Ancient Egyptian Mystical Traditions for Modern Seekers" by Muata Ashby
  3. "The Power of Ancient Symbols: How to Use Sacred Symbols to Connect with the Universe, Activate Your Inner Wisdom, and Manifest Your Desires" by Egyptologist Tamara L. Siuda
  4. "The Egyptian Tarot" by Clive Barrett