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 [ edit ] The Harvard University Press originally published this book in 1996, written by Jan Assmann and translated by Andrew Jenkins. Each article in The Ancient Gods Speak is written by an expert on that particular aspect of ancient Egyptian mythology and religion. Covered topics range from gods and goddesses to concepts (“afterlife,” “akh,” “paradise,” etc.) to elements of religious practice – in short, virtually the whole scope of the field.

Hardcover Women of Myth: From Deer Woman and Mami Wata to Amaterasu and Athena, Your Guide to the Amazing and Diverse Women from World Mythology by Jenny Williamson and Genn McMenemy This list is primarily, but by no means exclusively, for beginners with little or no familiarity with ancient Egyptian mythology and religion. #1, #2, and #3 are introductory books on ancient Egyptian mythology and religion for adults, and #4 and #5 are introductions for kids. #7, #8, #9, and #10, however, go well beyond the basics and delve deeper into more specialized topics – ancient Egyptian theology, views on death and the afterlife, intellectual history, etc. As such, they’ll be a great delight for those at a more intermediate or advanced level, and/or those who want to jump right into those more specialized areas. No books on this list assume any prior knowledge of ancient Egypt, so even though some are more consciously designed to be introductions to the topic than others, you could theoretically start with any of them. 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 [ edit ] It’s the crowning achievement of ancient Egyptian spiritual literature. Considering the competition for that title – the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, the Instruction for Merikare, the Dispute between a Man and His Ba, and others – that’s saying quite a bit. 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]The fertile lands of the Nile Valley ( Upper Egypt) and Delta ( Lower Egypt) lie at the center of the world in Egyptian cosmology. Outside them are the infertile deserts, which are associated with the chaos that lies beyond the world. [58] Somewhere beyond them is the horizon, the akhet. There, two mountains, in the east and the west, mark the places where the sun enters and exits the Duat. [59]

Shaw, Garry J. (2014). The Egyptian Myths: A Guide to the Ancient Gods and Legends. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-25198-0.

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This book analyzes hundreds of gods and goddesses that helped to make Egypt the most theocratic society in ancient history, according to their evolution, worship, and final demise. The deities range from household names like Bes and Taweret to supreme beings like Amun and Re. 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 [ edit ] 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] The sun rises over the circular mound of creation as goddesses pour out the primeval waters around it Gujaareh, however, has a problem. The most famous, Gatherer Ehiru, uncovers a plot in which innocent people are killed in the name of the local goddess.

Hornung, Erik (1982) [German edition 1971]. Conceptions of God in Egypt: The One and the Many. Translated by John Baines. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-1223-4. Lurker, Manfred (1980) [German edition 1972]. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Egypt. Translated by Barbara Cummings. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27253-0.The ancient Egyptians were perhaps more preoccupied with mortality than any other human society, past or present, and have left behind an extraordinarily rich and mysterious body of texts and artifacts that give clues about their views on death and the afterlife. Virtually everything in ancient Egypt, from mummies to pyramids to theology, had to do with death and immortality in some way or another. Lesko, Leonard H. (1991). "Ancient Egyptian Cosmogonies and Cosmology". In Shafer, Byron E. (ed.). Religion in Ancient Egypt: Gods, Myths, and Personal Practice. Cornell University Press. pp.89–122. ISBN 0-8014-2550-6. The author does not stop there. He presents readers with an exhaustive list of the Egyptian Pantheon from the most famous to the least known. This Catalogue of Deities is essentially an encyclopedia containing sections about every god and goddess from ancient Egypt. Each entry details the deity’s mythology, iconography, and worship. There is no doubt that this mythology has it all, it has no shortage of fascinating stories and surprising related facts, such as beliefs about death and the soul. From the physiognomy of the gods, with bodies half human and half animal, to the mummies, the pyramids, their forms of expression, everything is truly worthy of study.