Ask me about Egyptian burials or mythology

[Noma Galway]

No, seriously. Ask. I will probably have the answer; it was an obsession of mine. While we're on the subject, Norse and Greek mythology is fine with me too on this.

 

[Jabrosky]

I have a project whose protagonist (Queen Nefrusobek) comes from an Egyptian-style culture, but so far her story hasn't invoked any kind of tombs or burials yet. It's always good to see someone else with a similar interest in ancient Egypt though.

 

[Noma Galway]

Oh definitely. Egypt is really fascinating.

 

[TrustMeImRudy]

I love mythology, and Egypt is up there for my favorites. I got no questions, just chiming in to say I'll give my help as well.

Actually, on a second thought I do have a question. Mythology always has a thousand different canons due to different writers from different backgrounds hearing different stories, so Im wondering whats your selected canon? Knowing mythology, it usuallys turns that you know all the versions more or less but select a specific version or versions to meld into what makes most sense, so what about you guys? Ogdoad or Ennead, etc. ?

 

[Noma Galway]

As far as I have been able to tell, Egyptian mythology has stayed relatively stable. I don't have a selected canon, I go by what I have learned over the years from various sources and when I don't know, I go to a myriad of books from all sorts of sources. With Greek, though, I do tend to trust Bullfinch's mythology.

 

[Ginger Bee]

You know, that's an interesting idea, listing areas of expertise for questioning. Could be a useful forum topic. It could function both as an interactive reference resource and an inspiration sparker.

 

[Noma Galway]

The one about swords and the one about archery are both really good...I really love going through those, and I figured I would contribute...if anyone needed mummification procedures or anything

 

[Mythopoet]

As far as I have been able to tell, Egyptian mythology has stayed relatively stable.

Considering that Egyptian history covers about 5,000 years, you're right, it's relatively stable. But there is still a wide range of varying beliefs due to things that developed over time or because people from different cities had different beliefs centering around different gods. There's a great deal of difference between Egyptian views on death and the afterlife during the Old Kingdom versus during the New Kingdom, for instance. The interesting thing is that the differing beliefs are often not necessarily contradictory. Egyptians tended to develop their understanding of concepts based on new thinking without throwing out the old in favor of the new. This is why you have gods being combined a lot in the mythology.

For instance, the priests of one city who worshiped Amun and the priests of another city who worshiped Ra would get together and say, "You know, Amun and Ra are really similar. In fact, most of their attributes and powers are the same. Perhaps they are actually the same god that we have known by two different names. Let us henceforth worship him as Amun-Ra." Now obviously that's a gross simplification. Egyptian theology was quite complex and fascinating.

As you might be able to tell, Egyptian religion and philosophy are a passion of mine as well. The nature of my fantasy world is heavily based on Egyptian beliefs and one of the nations is basically a fantasy version of Egypt.

If you are interested in Egyptian views on religion and the afterlife I highly recommend a couple of books by German Egyptologist Jan Assmann: Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt and The Search for God in Ancient Egypt. I also rely heavily on The Literature of Ancient Egypt edited by William Kelly Simpson which is a wonderful volume of translations of Egyptian writings. I always like going to the original sources as much as possible when it comes to mythology and religion of ancient cultures.

 

[Noma Galway]

You are right, they are not typically contradictory, which is why I said it was relatively stable. I suppose I, too, was oversimplifying. I know the changes that occurred over the extensively long history of Egyptian religion, and if I'm ever unclear, I know where to go

 

[Mythopoet]

I didn't meant to suggest you don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a person who could talk about ancient Egyptian beliefs for hours easily. It's one of my obsessions.

 

[Noma Galway]

I know that's not what you meant. We might just share an obsession...except I don't write Egyptian settings typically. Maybe for a couple short stories, but that's it.

 

[TrustMeImRudy]

I meant actual myths about events that conflict, like their billion creation myths, different gods in similar roles and etc, plus which gods are the most important differed from city to city, while some other mythologies, like Greek and Norse, most cities in the same time period agreed that Zeus or Odin ruled, regardless how differently they viewed Zeus or Odin as acting [not counting Tyr ruling before Odin]

 

[Noma Galway]

Well, I mean, it depends heavily on the myth in question.