Religion and mythology of the ancient Egyptians. Dying and resurrecting gods Egyptian god of dying and resurrecting nature

It should be noted that the Egyptian religion is characterized by the long existence of primitive ideas. Numerous deities, revered in different areas, personified the various forces of nature. The sky was represented by a woman or a cow, earth and air - by male deities, natural phenomena were perceived as relationships between various deities. One of the most revered animals in Egypt was the bull. Since ancient times, it has been perceived as the personification of the generative force and fertility. So, in Memphis, the bull Apis became the “soul” of the local god Ptah. Amon's animal was a ram. The cult of the dung beetle, which ancient writers call the scarab, became widespread in Egypt. In the process of comprehending the phenomena of nature, an image of a beetle appeared, pushing the solar disk in front of it. He is also depicted as flying and carrying the sun. The cult of the goddess Hathor grew out of the worship of the cow. The Egyptian gods were divided into local deities, revered in each nome, and common Egyptian gods, revered throughout the country. The most revered supreme deities were the sun god Ra, wandering in a heavenly boat across the day sky with the center in the city of Heliopolis, and the creator god Ptah, according to whose word the gods and the whole world were created, the center of his cult was the city of Memphis. When the nome center of Thebes turned into the capital of Egypt, its local god Amon, previously a little-known deity, becomes the patron of the reigning pharaoh and the king of the gods. Moreover, Amon now includes a number of functions of the god Ra. It was believed that the god Amon-Ra appears every morning in the east. While the day lasts, he slowly sails through the sky in his magnificent boat. A round solar disk dazzlingly sparkles on the god's head. the day is drawing to a close, because the boat of Amun-Ra descends from heaven. A popular deity of the ancient Egyptian pantheon was also Osiris, who personified the dying and resurrecting nature, the lord of the underworld, the patron of royal power. His sister and wife Isis was understood as a mother goddess, the patroness of conjugal love and motherhood. The son of Osiris and Isis Horus personified the sky and light, was considered the protector of the pharaoh. The god of wisdom, Thoth, who taught people to read and write, enjoyed special respect. The cult of the reigning pharaoh played a special role in ancient Egypt. According to the teachings of the priests, the pharaoh was considered the incarnation of a deity in human form, a god-man, that is, he had a dual nature - human and divine. His birth was the result of the sacred marriage of a god-father, such as Amon-Ra, and the earthly mother of the pharaoh. On earth, the pharaoh-god ruled as the incarnation of Horus, but after death, the pharaoh became only a god and was identified with Osiris as the ruler of the underworld. Like any deity, the pharaoh, both reigning and deceased, had his own cult: temples, a staff of priests, sacrifices. According to these ideas, each person is a synthesis of three basic substances: his physical body, his spiritual counterpart (the Egyptians designated him with the term “ka”) and his soul “ba”, which flies out of the body in the form of a bird and is carried away to heaven. Only coexistence of these three substances can bestow immortality, that is, an afterlife existence. And if so, then the problem of preserving the body, protecting it from physical destruction arises. Hence, the custom of mummification of the dead and burial of mummies in the tomb acquired the most important importance. Mummification consisted in the fact that the insides were removed from the corpse of the deceased, the corpse was impregnated with special compounds, then wrapped in special fabrics, swaddled to ensure long-term preservation of the body. Only in this case, next to the mummy can be "ka" and "ba" of a person. A huge role in the beliefs of the Egyptians was played by the name - "Ren", its destruction brought great harm to the afterlife. By the time of the New Kingdom, the idea of ​​the afterlife was finally formed. In one of the chapters of the famous "Book of the Dead", which contains the most complete information about the funeral cult, Amenhotep IV put forward a new god Aten, proclaimed himself the only son of a deity, began the construction of temples

5 Egyptian mythology Sources for studying the mythology of ancient Egypt are characterized by incompleteness and unsystematic presentation. The character and origin of many myths are reconstructed on the basis of later texts. The main monuments that reflected the mythological ideas of the Egyptians are a variety of religious texts: hymns and prayers to the gods, records of funeral rites on the walls of the tombs. The most significant of them are the "Pyramid Texts" - the oldest texts of the funeral royal rituals, carved on the walls of the interior of the pyramids of the pharaohs of the V and VI dynasties. "The Book of the Dead" - compiled from the period of the New Kingdom to the end of the history of Egypt. - IV millennium BC, long before the emergence of a class society. Each region (nome) develops its own pantheon and the cult of the gods embodied in heavenly bodies, stones, trees, birds, snakes, etc. Myths of the funeral cult Egyptian mythology played ideas about the afterlife as a direct continuation of the earthly, but only in the grave. Its necessary conditions are the preservation of the body of the deceased (hence the custom to mummify corpses), the provision of a dwelling for him (tomb), food (commemorative gifts and sacrifices brought by the living). Later, ideas arise that the dead (i.e., their ba, soul) go out into the sunlight during the day, fly up to heaven to the gods, wander through the underworld (duat). The essence of a person was conceived in the inseparable unity of his body, souls (it was believed that there were several of them: ka, ba; Russian word"soul", however, is not an exact match of the Egyptian concept), name, shadow. All sorts of monsters lie in wait for the soul wandering through the underworld, and you can escape from them with the help of special spells and prayers. Over the deceased, Osiris, together with other gods, administers the afterlife judgment (the 125th chapter of the Book of the Dead is specially dedicated to him). Before the face of Osiris, psychostasia occurs: the weighing of the heart of the deceased on the scales, balanced by the truth (the image of the goddess Maat or her symbols). The sinner was devoured by the terrible monster Amt (a lion with the head of a crocodile), the righteous came to life for a happy life in the fields of Iaru. Justified at the court of Osiris could only be a submissive and patient in earthly life, one that did not steal, did not encroach on temple property, did not rebel, did not speak evil against the king, etc., as well as “pure in heart” (“I am pure , pure, pure," the deceased claims at the trial). Agricultural myths The third major cycle of myths of ancient Egypt is associated with Osiris. The cult of Osiris is associated with the spread of agriculture in Egypt. He is the god of the productive forces of nature (in the "Book of the Dead" he is called grain, in the "Pyramid Texts" - the god of the vine), withering and resurrecting vegetation. The myths associated with Osiris are reflected in numerous rites. A bright trace in Egyptian mythology was left by the cult of animals, widespread in all periods of Egyptian history. Gods in the form of animals, with the heads of birds and beasts, scorpion gods, serpent gods act in Egyptian myths along with deities in human form. The more powerful the god was considered, the more cult animals were attributed to him, in the guise of which he could appear before people. The Egyptian myths reflect the peculiarities of the worldview of the inhabitants of the Nile Valley, their ideas about the origin of the world and its structure, which have developed over thousands of years and have their roots in primitive times. Here are attempts to find the origins of being in the biological act of the creation of the gods, the search for the original substance personified by divine couples - the embryo of later teachings about the primary elements of the world, and, finally, as one of the highest achievements of Egyptian theological thought - the desire to explain the origin of the world, people and all culture as a result of the creative power embodied in the word of God.

As the main character of myths (especially characteristic of the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean) U. and v. b. turns out to be at enmity with a dragon, a chthonic demon or a deity personifying the destructive forces of nature (for example, Osiris with Set, Balu with Mutu, Inanna with Ereshkigal), or with some voluntary or involuntary misconduct provokes the wrath of the mother goddess or her divine partner ( Dumuzi - Inanna, Adonis - Artemis, Dionysus - Hera). As a result of the conflict, the god - the hero of the myth dies (Osiris, Balu, Adonis, Attis, Dionysus), disappears (Telepinus, Demeter), suffers a temporary defeat, loses any vital organ (Horus, the son of Osiris, - the eye, the Hittite god of thunder eyes and heart). In search of God (or to help him), a sister, mother, wife, less often a son or other relative leaves. They find the god, return it to its home or revive it, while the god alone or more often with their assistance kills his demonic opponent (for example, Balu - Mutu and Yammu, the Hittite god of thunder with the help of Inara and Khupasiyas - the snake Illuyanku). The resurrected (or returned) god restores his former status, but sometimes at the same time becomes the god of the underworld (like Osiris, whose earthly substitute is Horus).

Myths about dying (more broadly: disappearing) and resurrecting (returning) gods are characterized, as a rule, by natural, agricultural semantics. Thus, the Egyptian Osiris was taught agriculture by his wife-sister Isis, and himself, as a cultural hero, taught people agriculture and cattle breeding; he is identified in myths with a grain of barley or wheat, and his death and resurrection with the ebb and flow of the Nile. In Sumerian mythology, Inanna personifies the fertility of the earth, and her husband Dumuzi, who renews the world in a constant series of seasons, is the productive forces of spring. The death of Balu, the god of the storm, rain and fertility associated with rain, leads to drought and withering, his resurrection - to flowering in nature. About crop failure, drought and famine caused by the death or departure of a god, and accordingly about the awakening of nature at his appearance, is reported in the myths of Adonis, Attis, Demeter and Persephone, etc.

In ancient Egypt, the drama of the death and resurrection of Osiris was played out at the great agricultural festival, timed to coincide with the time of the greatest flood of the Nile. In Mesopotamia, back in the 3rd millennium BC. e. during the periods of the spring or autumn equinox, the sacred marriage of Dumuzi and Inanna was ritually reproduced, symbolizing the rebirth of fertility in nature. The theme of death and resurrection of the Ugaritic Balu also apparently underlay the corresponding ritual ceremony. Among the Hittites, the myth of the struggle between the thunder god and the dragon Illuyanka was part of the ritual texts of the purulli festival, which took place in the spring and was designed to avert the drought that threatened the earth after the end of the winter rains. The cults of agriculture at their core were the cult of Adonis, which spread from Syria throughout the Mediterranean, the Greek Dionysia, and the Eleusinian mysteries dedicated to Demeter and Persephone and dating back to the festival of the first harvest. Their indispensable component was the ritual lamentation of the participants about the dead (or disappeared) god and the ensuing impoverishment of the earth. Thus, these myths represent the main variety of natural, calendar myths (see Calendar). The cult figure of the Great Mother Goddess, personifying the creative forces of nature, retains its significance in them. However, with the development of an agrarian society and the strengthening of the male pantheon, she usually cedes some of her functions to the male agricultural deity (Osiris, Balu, Telepinus, Adonis, Dionysus, etc.) and appears in calendar myths mainly as his mother, sister, lover or wife.

The myth about W. and c. b., represented in the ancient agricultural civilizations of the Mediterranean, has correspondences both in archaic and later cultures (cf. the myths about the dying and resurrecting beast among the Paleo-Asians and many other peoples). In direct or indirect relation to the myths about U. and c. b. there are also a number of archaic rituals: the killing of the king-sorcerer as an act of agricultural magic; killing an animal identified with a serpent or water spirit as part of a rain-making procedure; sacrificing a girl to a water demon in order to ensure fertility, as well as numerous spring rites.

At the same time, the semantics of the myth about U. and v. b. (the seasonal cycle of the year is compared with the solar cycle of the day, the organic cycle of human life, the periodic clash of the forces of "order" and "chaos", the regular renewal of royal power, etc.), and its compositional structure, which goes back to the archaic mythological model (the departure of the hero from the everyday world - the struggle with otherworldly forces - victory over them - mastery of the object necessary to restore well-being - return), determined its closeness, and sometimes natural syncretism with a wide range of astral, cosmogonic, eschatological, initiatory myths. So, the idea of ​​​​U. and c. b. turns out to be organic for a group of myths associated with the daily movement of the sun and moon: the transition from light to darkness and from darkness to light is drawn in them as a result of the struggle of the solar god with the chthonic monster, the defeat of the god and his subsequent victory (compare the Egyptian myth of Ra and Apop ). The influence of the content and compositional models of myths about U. and v. is generally recognized. b. on a very wide range of myths about heroes (in particular, Hercules, Actaeon, Orpheus and Eurydice), fairy tales (cf., for example, the Egyptian "Tale of the Two Brothers"), religious legends and ideas (cf. the Gospel story about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ). But their connection with the plot schemes of the classical epic is also palpable. The epic conflict is caused, as a rule, either by an encroachment on the well-being of the hero of a supernatural enemy associated with chthonic forces, or by the wrath of an offended goddess against him. The hero (heroine) dies, is kidnapped or temporarily disappears (Akhat, Enkidu, Sita, Briseis, Helen, Odysseus, Pandavas, Rama). Husband, sister, relatives fight monsters and demons (Gilgamesh with Humbaba and the Bull of heaven, Achilles with Xanthus, Odysseus with monsters of the sea, Pandavas and Rama with Rakshasas), end up in the underworld (Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Rama), almost die ( Gilgamesh, Achilles, Odysseus, Rama, Pandavas). In the end, the heroes win, unite, and restore their lost prosperity.

Lit .: Meletinsky E. M., Myths ancient world in comparative coverage, in Sat: Typology and interrelationships of the literatures of the ancient world, M., 1971, pp. 68-133, Grintzer R. A., Epos of the ancient world, ibid., pp. 134-205, Ivanov V. V., Toporov V. N., Research in the field of Slavic antiquities, M., 1974, Meletinsky E. M., Poetics of myth, M., 1976.

P. A. Grintser [Myths of the peoples of the world. Encyclopedia: The Dying and Rising God, pp. 7ff. Myths of the peoples of the world, S. 7802 (cf. Myths of the peoples of the world. Encyclopedia, S. 549 Dictionary)]

The Egyptian state, one of the oldest in the world, arose in the 5th millennium BC. e. The formation and strengthening of a centralized slave state in Egypt dates back to 3600–2700. BC e. The economic conditions of Egypt contributed to the development and strengthening of the despotic form of government and the emergence of numerous bureaucracy. Egypt is characterized by a caste division of society. Priests, officials, tribal aristocracy, headed by the pharaoh, constituted the ruling elite and concentrated land, trade and state administration in their hands. They called themselves "great", "big", and all other free and dependent - "small" (nejes).

How in agriculture, and in industry', small-scale production, served by forced or free labor, prevailed. Forced labor was also widely used in the construction of tombs for pharaohs, temples, irrigation facilities, and quarries. Slave exploitation was pushed to the limit. Relations between social groups and classes in ancient Egypt were extremely diverse. The caste division of society did not coincide with the class division. The caste included people with different property status.

During the period of transition from the Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom, the process of differentiation of the rural community intensified. A significant group of free and dependent people got rich, turned into slave owners and separated from the community. In this regard, a struggle broke out between the old, tribal aristocracy, priests and new slave owners. In the field of ideology, this was reflected in the intensification of the struggle against religion, in the denial of the doctrine of the afterlife.

The doctrine of the afterlife occupied a significant place in the theological systems of ancient Egypt. This was partly facilitated by the natural geographical conditions of the country, unusually sharp contrasts of nature: on the one hand, a barren desert, on the other, a fabulously fertile valley. The dryness of the climate, due to which smoldering substances are preserved for a long time, as B. A. Turaev wrote, “contributed to a special direction of ideas about the afterlife, led to concern for the preservation of bodies and caused an exceptional development of interest and teaching about the other world among other religions.”

sacred bull Apis

Ancient Egyptian religion has undergone many changes. In the pre-dynastic period, it was reduced mainly to magic, totemic representations and the cult of ancestors. In a more developed slave-owning society, the remnants of totemism took the form of a cult of sacred animals (bull, ibis, hawk, cat, jackal, cow, crocodile, etc.) and acquired a new social content.

In ancient Egypt, sacred animals were inviolable. Killing them was considered greatest crime and was punishable by death. Herodotus reports that the death of a cat among the Egyptians was mourned more than the death of a son. Sacred animals lived in temples. According to the beliefs of the Egyptians, they were carriers of the soul of one or another god. Sacred animals had to have certain characteristics, for example, the bull Apis was supposed to be black with a white spot on his forehead.

The Egyptian religion, like any religion of a class society, was called upon to defend and theoretically substantiate social inequality between people and the domination of the exploiting classes. Its forms changed depending on the economic and political development of the country. With the centralization of political power, the kingdom of God is endowed with all the features of the earthly, a whole hierarchy of gods is created, headed by the king-god, with a huge staff of archangels-satraps, angels-officials. The gods, like the earthly rulers, wage wars among themselves, make peace, and, having grown old, retire, transferring power to the heir. It is no coincidence that the ancient Egyptian historian Manetho speaks of a "dynasty of the gods."

With the strengthening of the agricultural aristocracy in the Egyptian religion, more and more place is given to the doctrine of the afterlife, the judgment of God and the wandering of souls. The priests, in order to eliminate the inconsistency and inconsistency in the religious beliefs of the Egyptians, tried to systematize them and merge them into one religious doctrine. The most famous, according to B. A. Turaev, was the theological system created in the north of Egypt in the city of Iliopol. According to this system, the local god Atum was identified with the god of the sun - Ra, and the following hierarchy of gods was established: the supreme god Ra, the creator of the world, the first king of gods and people; his children are Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture; they gave the next couple - the sky god Nut and the earth goddess Geba, from whom other deities descended, including Osiris and Isis, Set and Nephthys. These nine gods made up the so-called great Ennead.

Under the god Ra, the vizier was the wise Thoth, the god of the moon, measures, numbers, letters, "the lord of the word of God", the patron of "writing and literature ... scientists, writers", scribes. So, the scribe in the story about two brothers at the end remarks: "Whoever objects to this book, let that one be his enemy." The Egyptian priests tried to inspire the people that culture, writing, and literature were a gift from the gods, "the word of God." Thoth was credited with the invention of writing, the authorship of all the numerous sacred books. The Greeks called the sacred books of the Egyptians the Hermes Books, that is, the books of the Egyptian god Hermes-Thoth. Clement of Alexandria (2nd century AD) mentions forty-two "Books of Hermes" (the number 42 was considered sacred in Egypt). Of these, thirty-six, according to him, contained the whole philosophy of the Egyptians. These books, in addition to a detailed description of cult rites, hymns in honor of the gods, contained medical, astronomical, and geographical information. However, they sank, dissolved in theological systems. Knowledge of the sacred books was obligatory for the priests and was distributed according to the priestly levels.

Triad: Horus, Osiris, Isis

Religious-idealistic worldview was dominant in ancient Egypt. It was created and developed by representatives of the slave-owning aristocracy. Marx emphasized: "The dominant ideas of any time have always been only the ideas of the ruling class." In ancient Egypt, the influence of religion on the economic, political and spiritual life of society was especially strong. Religion preached the inviolability of the slave system, the eternity of social inequality between people, instilled in the masses faith in the supernatural and slavish obedience to fate. Herodotus called the ancient Egyptians the most pious people, because religion played a special role in their lives, regulating every step from birth to death.

The funeral cult served in the hands of the priests as a serious spiritual weapon to strengthen the slave system. The god of water and vegetation, Osiris, already in ancient times was considered the god of dying and resurrecting nature. The cult of Osiris seems to date back to primitive times. The ancient Egyptian believed that human life is similar to the life of Osiris:

As Osiris truly lives, so do you live,

Just as he does not truly die, so you do not die.

Just as he is not truly destroyed, so are you not destroyed.

It was no coincidence that the cult of the dying and resurrecting god Osiris was ubiquitous and personified agricultural labor. Osiris was considered the "god of grain". As one ancient Egyptian text says, it “gives the universal light, grain and food. It introduces satiety and manifests itself in the form of water.”

According to the myth of Osiris, the latter was the son of the sky god Nut and the earth goddess Hebe. The younger brother of Osiris, the god of evil Seth, decided to destroy his older brother. To this end, he made a box and by cunning forced Osiris to lie down in it. Then Seth slammed the lid and threw the box into the Nile. Faithful wife of Osiris goddess Isis after long search found her husband's body. After the death of Osiris, Isis gave birth to a son, Horus. In Egypt, the statuette of Isis breastfeeding a baby was widespread. The image of Isis and the baby Horus subsequently formed the basis for the creation of the image of the Mother of God with Christ in her arms. When Horus grew up, he confronted Set and defeated him. Horus, as the heir of Osiris, takes the throne in the kingdom of the living, and the resurrected and restored Osiris reigns in the world of the dead. The myth of Osiris subsequently entered many religions, including Christianity and Islam.

God Thoth

God Seth

The cult of the dying and resurrecting god in Egypt was closely connected with the funeral cult. The Egyptians believed not only in the resurrection of the soul, but also in the resurrection of the body, the flesh. The "Books of the Dead" (religious-magical collections) says: "You live again, and your soul is not separated from your body." The content of the "Books of the Dead" is incredibly colorful and varied. Basically, these are collections of spells, conspiracies, supposedly necessary for security in the kingdom of the dead. Some chapters are specifically devoted to the behavior of the deceased. In the 125th chapter, for example, a description of the afterlife judgment is given, at which the deceased denies 42 sins committed by him. It is characteristic that at the judgment seat it is not the soul, but the heart of the deceased that is weighed on the scales, since among the Egyptians the heart served as a symbol of the soul. In the 30th chapter of the Book of the Dead, the deceased conjures his heart not to testify against him at the posthumous trial.

In Egypt, astral cults were also very common. In connection with the development of agriculture and irrigation, as well as astronomy, the cult of the sun god Ra, who headed the Egyptian pantheon of gods, is gradually being promoted and becomes a national cult. The Egyptians considered the sun to be a formidable destructive force, the beginning of heat and light.

Goddess Isis with her son Horus.

God Osiris

Although religious beliefs played a large role in the life of the Egyptians, they could not completely destroy free thought. Social inequality, class contradictions, social and industrial practices of the masses inevitably gave rise to doubts about the social and ideological principles preached by the priests. The position of the workers was extremely difficult. Separate ancient Egyptian literary monuments have survived, describing the life of peasants, artisans and slaves, doomed to hard, hopeless work. In one of the documents, the old scribe recommends that his son choose the profession of a scribe. The blacksmith, he says, has fingers as rough as crocodile leather, and smells worse than fish caviar. Nor is the profession of artisans better, who have no more rest than the tillers of the land, and who work even at night.

It is no coincidence that in those days physical labor was considered a punishment for sins. The cruel exploitation of the poor and slaves by the ruling classes led to the aggravation of social contradictions. The situation of people engaged in hard work was absolutely unbearable. Their labor was paid with bread, which was given out on the first day of each month. But there was only enough bread for half a month, the remaining fifteen days the workers were starving. As a result, hunger strikes and riots arose. In the ancient Egyptian literary monuments, some of the demands of the workers have been preserved. In one of the documents, these demands are formulated as follows: “We are starving, and there are still eighteen days until next month. We have come, driven by hunger, driven by thirst, we have nothing to wear, we have no oil, no fish, no vegetables. Send to the pharaoh, our sovereign, send to the king, our lord, so that we will be given a livelihood.

But not always the speeches of the masses were of a peaceful nature at the end. In the Middle Kingdom, there are major riots and uprisings of free and slaves against the slave-owning aristocracy, the pharaoh and the priesthood. The rebels destroyed and plundered the "cities of the dead" (i.e., cemeteries where wealthy people were buried). The robbery of the tombs of the pharaohs, priests and slave-owning nobility testifies to the disbelief of the masses in the afterlife and in the resurrection of the dead.

The struggle between the haves and the have-nots was not only in the field of economics and politics, but also in the field of ideology. From this point of view, the “Instruction” of Tsar Akhtoy to his son is of considerable interest, in which Akhtoy seeks to theoretically and morally justify the slave system, to prove the eternity and inviolability of social inequality and exploitation. The author of the "Instruction" warns that the most dangerous enemy of the state are the poor. Therefore, they should not be allowed even into the army. He recommends that only wealthy slave owners be appointed to major government and military posts. Akhtoy advises to deal with fugitives and rebels decisively and mercilessly: "Exterminate him, kill him, erase his name, destroy his loved ones, destroy the memory of him and the people who love him."

Tsar Akhtoy is an ardent defender of the private property of the slave owner. He considers any attempt on her immoral: “He who envies what others have is a fool, because life on earth passes, it is not long, but he who leaves a good memory of himself is a lucky man ... Is there a person who lives forever? ..” . Akhtoy defends the divine origin of royal power, the superiority of the king over other people from birth: "The king, who has nobles, is not ignorant - he is reasonable from birth, and God Pepper raised him up with millions of people."

The "Instruction" of Tsar Akhtoy outlines the basic norms of slave-owning morality. It is interesting that even then the slave-owning classes resorted to the notorious idea of ​​heredity in order to prove their superiority by birth. The "Instruction" says that the king is reasonable and rules over millions at the behest of God. The fact that the author of the "Instruction" has to prove the right to power of the tsar and the slave owners testifies to the existence of the opposite opinion at that time.

It should be remembered that materialistic and atheistic literature, which reflected the worldview of the working people, was destroyed by the ideologists of the slave-owning class. We can judge it mainly in the transmission of representatives of the ruling classes, who deliberately distorted the views of their opponents. But even what has been preserved shows that the masses of the people did not always believe in the divine origin of the ruling classes and did not always put up with their power. As many sources testify, representatives of the ruling classes of ancient Egypt described with horror the unrest of the "mob" and predicted new revolutionary upheavals and upheavals. Pessimism and fear emanates from the words of the priest Onkhu: “I am thinking about what is happening, about the state of affairs on earth. A change is taking place. One year is harder than the next. The country is in disarray. The truth is thrown out, the untruth is in the Council chamber. The plans of the gods have been trampled, weeping is everywhere, nomes and cities are in mourning.”

Many "teachings" written by high-ranking nobles and priests have come down to us. "Teachings" are a kind of sociological treatises of a political, ethical and philosophical nature. The reason for their emergence was, apparently, a sharp intensification of the struggle between peasants, slaves and slave owners, between working people and the aristocracy. In the "teachings" they found a vivid reflection of the uprising of slaves and the poor. Their authors defend the idea of ​​the naturalness and eternity of economic and social inequality between people and consider the struggle of the masses against the exploiting classes as a struggle against the existing religious worldview, against divine and royal laws.

The Middle Kingdom is especially rich in "teachings" - the period of the largest popular uprisings. By this time, Soviet historians include, in particular, the “Speech of Ipuver”, which describes one of these uprisings. The uprising of the masses, as Ipuver testifies, led to the seizure of state power: "The poor drove the king away." Being the ideologist of the ruling classes, Ipuver deliberately downplays the scale of the uprising, saying that "a few people who do not know the law have deprived the country of royal power." The social upheaval was followed by the destruction of the political apparatus of the slave-owning aristocracy. Most of the gentlemen and officials were killed, and the survivors were dispersed throughout the country; the scrolls of the laws of the judicial chamber are thrown right into the street, and the rebels break the seals on them. “The Great Judicial Chamber has become the place of exit and entry into it. Poor people go out and enter great palaces (the courtroom of judges. - A. A.)».

The masses of the people who rebelled against the exploiters spared neither the "divine" king, nor the secrets of the gods, nor the wealth of the temples. They revealed the secrets of religious witchcraft and magical "secrets" that constituted the monopoly of the priestly caste. With horror, Ipuver recalls the days when “the poor reached the existence of nine gods… The secret of the kings of Upper and Lower Egypt was exposed… Those that lay embalmed… were thrown to the heights… Magic formulas became publicly available. Shem spells (the appearance or disappearance of an evil spirit. - A. A.) and spells "sehen" (possession of an evil spirit. - A. A.) have become dangerous, because they are now remembered by all people. Archives were opened, tax lists were seized ”(documents confirming the slave state of a person. - A. A.). During the coup, not only the property of nobles and temples was damaged, but the royal pyramids were also robbed. “Deeds that never seemed to be accomplished ... What the pyramid hid is now empty” (i.e., the tombs of the kings. - A. A.).

From the numerous "teachings" of this period, it is clear that the rebels had their own leaders and ideological leaders. The author of one of the "teachings" advises not only to deal ruthlessly with the rebels, but also to take decisive measures against those who incite the people to revolt. "The talker is a danger to the city." “Twist the crowd and remove the flame that comes from it. Do not support a person who is hostile, for he is poor ... He is the enemy. The "Teachings" testify to the fact that the driving force behind the uprisings was the working people. From the victory of the uprising "the rich man is in despair, the poor man is full of joy." As a result of the coups, a redistribution of wealth took place, new wealthy strata of society appeared with their own special economic and political interests, with their own ideology.

The rebels challenged a religion that justified and legitimized oppression and exploitation. The authors of the "teachings" are forced to admit "disbelief in the gods" among the rebels. “Hotheads say: “If I knew where God is, I would sacrifice to him.” Civil wars, coups, the change of dynasties of kings, a major breakdown in social relations convincingly proved the falsity of statements about the eternity and inviolability of the existing system, about the divinity and immortality of kings. Before the eyes of the workers, tombs fell into disrepair and collapsed, God's punishment did not comprehend those who robbed the tombs of kings, nobles and priests.

There are few literary monuments that reflected the aspirations and moods of the disadvantaged working masses, but even these fragmentary data testify to the beginnings of a materialistic and atheistic worldview in ancient Egypt. A vivid document of atheistic thought is the famous "Song of the Harpist", referring to the period of the Middle Kingdom. Its author denies the basis of the foundations of the Egyptian religion - the doctrine of the afterlife. The "Song of the Harper" says that none of the dead returned to tell about the afterlife. Immortality is an invention of the priests. Both gods and humans are mortal.

Bodies die and are destroyed

Others come to replace them, from the time of their ancestors, -

such is the cycle of motion. There is nothing eternal under the sun, even earthly gods die: “The gods who were before rest in their pyramids; also mummies and spirits are buried in their tombs.” Therefore, the author of the song advises not to think about the afterlife, but to enjoy the joys of earthly existence:

Multiply your pleasures even more,

Don't let your heart be upset

Follow his desires and indulge in pleasures

Do your business on earth

According to the dictates of your heart

And don't be upset

Until the day of mourning (for you) comes.

The one whose heart does not beat (Osiris) does not listen to complaints,

And mourning does not bring anyone back from the grave.

So, celebrate a joyful day.

Do not be upset,

For no one takes his goods with him,

None of those who went there came back.

In terms of its atheistic orientation, the Conversation of the Disillusioned with His Spirit is of great interest, in which the progressive social thought of ancient Egypt was vividly reflected. The author of the "Conversations" raises numerous questions of a philosophical and ethical nature, denies the existence of the other world, the possibility of immortality. The social sharpness of this work is manifested in the description of inequality and injustice in ancient Egyptian society, in the general conclusion: "There is no truth on earth." No literary work of ancient Egypt so strongly expresses anger and protest against the slave system. Many researchers note the pessimistic nature of the Conversations. But pessimism is different from pessimism. The pessimism of the author of "Conversations", revealing the hopeless situation of the poor, for whom death is deliverance from earthly suffering, is a challenge to religion with its teachings about the afterlife and immortality.

"Conversation" is a dialogue between a poor man and his spirit. The poor man, who has reached the limit of poverty, has decided to commit suicide and convinces his spirit to voluntarily go to the realm of the dead, hoping that he will be treated mercifully in the court of the gods. The Spirit dissuades him, proves that the poor man has nothing to count on immortality, because faith in an afterlife existence is vain. There is no afterlife. Death equalizes everyone: both those who were buried in expensive tombs, and those who died on the seashore without relatives and friends. The Spirit advises the poor man not to believe the stupid tales of the nobles of this world about the blissful afterlife. “Listen to me, it is good for a man to obey, have fun. Forget your worries."

The poor man, in the end, manages to convince his spirit to follow him into the realm of the dead, because it is impossible to live in an evil and soulless world where people hate the poor man. “Hearts are evil,” says the poor man, “everyone robs his neighbor. A person with an affectionate gaze is wretched, good is neglected everywhere. The person you rely on is heartless. There is no justice. The earth is a haven for villains. I am depressed by misfortune, I have no true friend. The villain strikes the earth, and there is no end to it. In the "Conversation" one can clearly feel the spiritual discord, the argument of a person with himself.

Egyptologists give conflicting characteristics of this document. B. A. Turaev believes that the “Conversation” reflects the personal tragedy of a person: “Here is the torment of the thinking soul over the greatest problems of life ... Here we have ... a sufferer, brought to despair by everyday hardships.” I. M. Lurie, arguing with B. A. Turaev, gives a different assessment of the Conversations, considering it an expression of protest against the violation of the usual order of life. M. E. Mathieu joins the opinion of Lurie. He writes: “People, suddenly deprived of their usual high position and the comfortable environment of a prosperous life, not only expressed their dissatisfaction with angry statements, but sometimes literary works brought these protests to the preference of death over life in unacceptable conditions.” It can be assumed that the author of the Conversation, driven to despair by the conditions of social life, reflected the mood of broad sections of the destitute and oppressed masses.

Undoubtedly, the "Song of the Harper" and "The Conversation of the Disappointed with His Spirit" are extremely important documents for characterizing the development of social thought in ancient Egypt. In these works, imbued with atheism and free-thinking, a skeptical attitude towards the dominant ideology, towards religion, was clearly manifested. Apparently, not only in ancient Greece and Rome, but also in ancient Egypt, skepticism was a convenient form of cover for atheism.

It is quite natural that the slave-owning aristocracy and the priests waged a resolute struggle against the social ideas expressed in the "Song of the Harper", "Conversation", etc. and the immortality of the soul, advises his son to build tombs: "Create for God - may he create the same for you - with sacrifices that fill the altars, and inscriptions - this is the preservation of your name, for God knows who creates for him."

Freethinking, disbelief in the afterlife, atheism especially flourish in connection with the religious reform of Pharaoh Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV), who sought to strengthen his power by weakening hereditary, including priestly, nobility. Akhenaten's reform was ultimately political in nature. In contrast to the polytheism that prevailed in Egypt, Akhenaten put forward a new, monotheistic religious doctrine, proclaiming the only god Aton - the god of the solar disk.

In the myth-making of peoples, the solar cult played a huge role. The miraculous properties of fire evoked a sense of horror and reverence in primitive people. Many fantastic performances were associated with the sun and sunbeams. “Why is the skin of a living person warm, why do blood, heart, entrails taken out of a living animal emit steam? The ancients had one answer to these questions: warmth is of divine origin, it is an innate property of people and animals.

Solar gods existed in the religious systems of ancient Egypt even before Akhenaten. We have already said that the cult of the sun god Ra was widespread in Egypt and competed with the cult of the national god Amun. However, Akhenaten's religious reform was not a return to the old cult of the ancient Egyptian god Ra. The god of the solar disc Aton had nothing to do with the god Ra. Akhenaten's god was a living being, unlike the sun. But the deification of the sun was also associated with warmth: "The heat that dwells in the sun (Aton) ...". The symbol of the god Aton was the solar disk. The highest symbol of the new god was in sharp contradiction with the religious tradition of the Egyptians.

This partly explains why the Egyptian priests declared Akhenaten an atheist and a blasphemer. Of course, Akhenaten's struggle against the cult of the god Amun was purely political in nature and was a struggle against the all-powerful caste of the priests of the temple of Amun. But it would be a mistake not to take into account the theological element in this struggle. In a kind of religious reformation, all the numerous cults of the gods of ancient Egypt suffered to one degree or another, giving way to the cult of a single god.

Chief Theban god Amon

Characteristically, in the time of Akhenaten, the plural of the word "god" was avoided.

There are different views on the question of what caused the cult of the single supreme god Aten and whether this was a transition to monotheism. So, in the "World History" it is said that "the widespread opinion about the new faith of Amenhotep IV, as monotheism, does not correspond to reality." Undoubtedly, Akhenaten's reforms were not connected with theogonic and theological disputes. Already in the time of Akhenaten, polytheism ceased to satisfy the new political conditions. Apparently, theological systems had to correspond to political ones. This can partly explain the emergence of the idea of ​​monotheism, which was supposed to correspond to the political dominance of Egypt as a world power. The ancient Egyptian gods were incomprehensible and alien to many peoples inhabiting the Egyptian empire; the idea of ​​a single world-wide imperial god in the form of a solar disk was much more accessible to them.

The religious reform of Akhenaten had a huge impact on all aspects of public life in Egypt, led to a sharp break with the old traditions, foundations and conventions.

In honor of the new god Aton, hymns were created attributed to the pharaoh Akhenaten. They are interesting not only as literary monuments, but also as a kind of religious philosophical concept, as the worldview of that era. Here is one of them:

Your sunrise is beautiful on the horizon

O living Aton, originator of life!

You produce a human fetus in a woman

You create a seed in a man

You give life to a son in the body of a mother,

How varied are all your works!

They are hidden from us

O thou one god, besides whom there is no other.

You created the earth according to your will.

The idea of ​​monotheism, the supreme ruler, the creator of everything that exists is the content of all these hymns. Everything that is created by Aton in nature and society is harmonious and expedient. Aten is "the father and mother of all that he created." The new state god Akhenaten sharply differs from the old Egyptian gods in that he is not a warlike conqueror of other peoples, but a virtuous father of all tribes. Hymns in honor of the Aten, apparently, were a kind of dogma of the new faith. B. A. Turaev notes that these hymns have a universal character: there is nothing specifically Egyptian in them. Foreigners are not barbarians, but the same children of a common god, distinguished only by language and skin color by the will of this god.

The new faith completely lacks the doctrine of the afterlife, the traditional realm of the dead of Osiris and the cult of Osiris itself. In the cult of Aten there is not even a mention of the afterlife judgment, of terrible torment and death of souls in the other world. Of course, this cannot be associated only with the name of Akhenaten, because even before him there were people who did not believe in the traditional teaching. But the religious reform of Akhenaten, of course, contributed to a change in people's ideas about the afterlife and the immortality of the soul. It was in connection with the destruction of the cult of the old gods, the revision of many seemingly unshakable religious traditions, canons and rules that free-thinking developed and doubts arose about the existence of an afterlife.

It must be assumed that the priesthood waged a fierce struggle against atheistic and free-thinking currents, hence the abundance of prophetic literature, which paints in black colors those future horrors that await people in the near future if they do not follow the path outlined by God. This prophetic literature was subsequently borrowed by the Jewish priests and formed the basis of many biblical legends and tales. Egyptian prophetic literature sought to prove the truth of the cult of Osiris, the existence of the afterlife and eternal rest. So, in one of the texts, the deceased Ani, in a conversation with the god Atum (before the reform of Akhenaten, who was considered the supreme god in the pantheon of Egyptian gods), expresses doubts about the existence of the afterlife, but the god Atum refutes his doubts:

Ani : O Atum, what does it (mean) that I am going to the desert? After all, there is no water, no air, it is deep, deep, it is dark, dark, it is eternal, eternal!

Atum : You will live in it with a peaceful heart!

Ani : But there are no joys of love in it!

Atum : I gave enlightenment instead of water, air and the joys of love, pacification of the heart - instead of bread and beer!

The idea of ​​monotheism was not accidental for Egypt. It existed before Akhenaten and appeared in various forms after him. During the period of the New Kingdom, philosophical and religious currents depart from traditional ideas. They focus on politics, ethics, social problems. The ideas of monotheism are closely intertwined with the ideas of atheism.

Very interesting is the "Instruction", referring to the XIII century. BC e. If the hymns in honor of the Aten simply do not mention the kingdom of the dead, then the author of this document directly opposes religious superstitions, rituals and canons, the existence of an afterlife, the construction of necropolises, pyramids, and tombs. He considers truly immortal the creators of books, scientific works. The author of the "Instruction" resolutely protests against resignation to fate: "Beware that you do not say: every person (created) in his own image; the ignorant and the wise are equal; fate and upbringing are written in the writings of God himself, and each person goes through his life like an hour. In its ideological content, this "Instruction" echoes not only the "Harper's Song", but also the ideas of the religious reformation, with hymns in honor of the Aten. However, unlike the "Song of the Harper" and other similar works, which are characterized by elements of hedonism and skepticism, it is dominated by optimism.

Akhenaten worshiping the sun

One of the important documents for characterizing the views of the ancient Egyptians is the "Dispute of Horus with Seth", in which the Egyptian gods, like the Greek ones, are shown with all human weaknesses. In this work, not only elements of free thought, but also a skeptical attitude towards the gods were clearly manifested. Objecting to the god Osiris, who considers himself the creator flora, the god Ra says: "If you were not there and if you were not born, barley and firing would still be."

Another Egyptian monument, “The Conversation of Khakheperseib with His Heart”, is closer in content to “The Conversation of the Disappointed with His Spirit”. “Thinking about what is happening, about the state of affairs on earth,” the author comes to the conclusion that there is no justice on earth. Sorrow and need reign everywhere. Fair "criticism causes enmity, hearts do not accept the truth." You can’t rely on anyone, you can only talk with your heart.

An interesting atheistic document is a song dedicated to the priest Nefergotep (died around 1340 BC), which largely coincides in content with the "Song of the Harper". It also denies the funeral cult, the existence of the afterlife, and praises the joys of earthly life:

Celebrate a joyful day, O priest!

Throw away all worries and think of joy and think of joy

Until the day comes when they take

You to a country that loves silence!

Celebrate a joyful day, O Nefergotep,

Wise, with clean hands!

I heard everything that happened to the ancestors, -

Their bodies fell apart

Their place is no more

They certainly never were.

As we have already noted, the progressive thought of the ancient Egyptian society has come down to us in the transmission of its enemies, often in a distorted form, but even from this fragmentary information it is clear that the ancient Egyptian atheists opposed religion, religious dogmas and traditions. It was in the struggle against religious-idealistic views that a naive materialistic and atheistic worldview took shape. In the era of ancient Egypt, scientific knowledge received significant development. The Roman scientist Macrobius called Egypt the mother of sciences, and the Egyptians - the founders of all philosophy, the first people who dared to explore and measure the heavens, and the only ones who penetrated into all divine secrets. The complication of social relations, the development of the economy in one way or another required the development of science. Marx in Capital emphasizes that "the need to calculate the periods of flooding of the Nile created Egyptian astronomy, and at the same time the dominance of the caste of priests as leaders of agriculture."

The development of irrigated agriculture and the construction of irrigation facilities led to the accumulation of astronomical knowledge. In Egypt, the first calendar was created, dividing the year into 12 months, 30 days each, which, together with five additional days, amounted to 365 days. Dio Cassius says that the distribution of days according to the seven planets was invented by the Egyptians and much later communicated by them to the rest of the people; The ancient Greeks knew nothing about this.

Shu separates heaven from earth

The Egyptians achieved significant success in the field of medicine. They were familiar with anatomy, surgery; Ancient Egyptian doctors created a veterinary clinic. Although science was closely connected with religion in ancient Egypt, doctors looked for the causes of illness without resorting to magic and spirits. In this regard, the papyrus of Eliot Smith, published in 1930, is interesting. It not only gives an accurate description of the parts of the body, but for the first time indicates that damage to the brain inevitably causes a painful state of the whole organism. Egyptian medicine believed that the center of the body is the heart, and the center of consciousness is the brain.

The ideas of ancient Egyptian thinkers were naive materialistic, hylozoistic in nature. They proceeded from the fact that all objects and phenomena of nature have a material beginning. They considered water to be the source and basis of all things: "Cool water, which is in this country, which produced living things and from which all things come." Air, as a material principle, not only fills space, but also "abides in all things." The ancient Egyptian philosophers imagined the earth as a box or box.

However, materialistic thought in ancient Egypt, due to the peculiarities of the slave-owning society, could not develop freely. Religious ideology dominated the ideological and cultural life of Egypt. Theologians already in the middle of the III millennium BC. e. argued that "everything that exists first came into being in the mind of God" Ptah. Divine origin, in their opinion, is also the thought and speech of man. The Memphis god Ptah was considered by the ancient Egyptians as the patron of architecture, crafts, and art. Subsequently, the god Ptah began to be called higher intelligence. Everything that is in nature, and nature itself, exist in the mind of Ptah. Living and dead, man and gods originated from the mind or heart of Ptah. A hymn in honor of the god Ptah shows how people in those days explained the origin of the world:

Pta great - the mind and speech of the gods ...

Ptah, from whom the power of mind and speech came,

That which is born from every mind

And from every mouth

All gods, all people, all animals, all reptiles,

Who live thinking and doing

Everything that he (Ptah) orders.

He (reason) gives rise to every fruitful action.

He is the speech that repeats the thoughts of the mind;

He (the mind) gave form to all the gods...

At a time when every divine word

Arose to being from the thought of the mind

And the dictates of speech.

The strong influence of the religious and mystical worldview on all layers of ancient Egyptian society is explained, among other things, by the fact that numerous religious literature was clothed in an artistic form. Among religious hymns, hymns to the sun god Aten are of the greatest historical, scientific and artistic interest.

Thus, the Eastern despotisms held on not only with the help of terror, political and economic oppression, but also with the help of a whole system of religious beliefs, which were based on the deification of royal power and the cult of dead kings. In the Pyramid Text, the pharaoh is depicted as a deity: "You stand, O Pepi, like a god in the form of Osiris on his throne." In the ancient Eastern despotisms, and especially in Egypt, the deification of the king was of a political nature and was calculated to strengthen the royal power and the entire state apparatus. The priests assured that the king was a deity, that his power and rights were given by God. Therefore, rebellions against the king were regarded as sacrilege and were punishable by death.

Egypt is characterized by the classical forms of the cult of the deification of the king. The pharaoh was called "the great god", "the son of the Sun from his flesh." Already in the era of the Old Kingdom, grandiose royal tombs were built - pyramids, which, by their size, were supposed to inspire awe and faith in the divinity of earthly despots.

The isolation of Egyptian society left its mark on the entire course of the cultural development of Egypt. The separation of mental labor from physical, the emergence of a separate priestly caste created the conditions for the dominance of religious ideology. The theological systems of Egypt during the Hellenistic era had a significant impact on the development of idealistic philosophical thought. Of course, the wide trade and political relations of Egypt with neighboring peoples played a certain role in the development of the Egyptian religion, but to an even greater extent, Egyptian religious beliefs and religious rites influenced the religion of neighboring peoples, especially Jews, Greeks and Romans. Undoubtedly, Egyptian religious monotheism played a large role in the formation of biblical monotheism, and in the era of the decline of Hellenism, the cult of Isis and Osiris contributed to the formation of Christianity. Herodotus says: "The Egyptians were the first to establish meetings, processions and pilgrimages in honor of the gods," and "the Greeks learned all this from them."

59. EGYPT Do not disdain the Egyptian, because you were a stranger in the land of Egypt. . Such is the pharaoh, such is the king

From the book MMIX - Year of the Ox the author Romanov Roman

Egypt - Osiris

From the book On the Threshold of Philosophy. Spiritual quest of ancient man author Frankfort Henry

Flight to Egypt I “Behold, the Angel of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph and says: Arise, take the Child and His Mother, and flee to Egypt.” Christianity began with a flight to Egypt, and if Christianity is not over, Christ will be born again in the hearts of men, He runs again

From the book RED RUNE author Flowers Stephen E.

11. New Egypt It is not so easy to approach the analysis of the two central images of Woland and Yeshua, and all the rest should be evaluated only in a clarified context. Well, perhaps to cling to the tail of the Behemoth cat, which is clearly out of line? Why a cat? Why cat? "Cats can't! FROM

From the book Secret Knowledge. Secrets of the Western Esoteric Tradition author Wallace-Murphy Tim

From the book History of World Culture author Gorelov Anatoly Alekseevich

Chapter 6 Ancient Egypt: River Civilizations Phoenix's reward is rebirth from the ashes. A. Toynbee In the presentation of the material of individual cultures, their history is first presented, then the main branches. In history, we are interested in the moments that influenced the development of culture,

From the author's book

Egypt The Egyptian state, one of the oldest in the world, arose in the 5th millennium BC. e. The formation and strengthening of a centralized slave state in Egypt dates back to 3600–2700. BC e. The economic conditions of Egypt contributed to the development and

2.1 Healing with magic

Of course, in some way, the development of medicine as a science was hampered by the presence of certain magical actions in it. And, if in some cases, these actions did not cause harm, but did not help either, because they were given in conjunction with real medical actions, then, sometimes, they could be harmful, mainly due to the loss of time for them. Here is what M. A. Korostovtsev writes about this: “In the medical texts that have come down to us, a combination of mutually exclusive principles is found: magical methods of treating patients and actually medical ones, developed over the centuries by experience. The Egyptians knew the value of knowledge - medical texts testify to this, but, at the same time, they could not rid their medicine of the heavy and unnecessary burden of magical views. According to these views, the disease is caused by malicious spirits of the dead or creatures like demons. Penetrating into the body of man and animal, they cause suffering, and only the power of magic is able to expel them from the suffering flesh. The disease could also be caused by the "evil eye" of the ill-wisher. It was these views that prompted the Egyptians to cultivate and deepen the use of magic in practical medicine in every possible way.

It would be an exaggeration to say that the magical element dominates medicine proper in the medical texts that have come down to us. Many diagnoses and prescriptions in them are not accompanied by magical additions, but often medicine and magic are connected - not internally, organically, but externally, mechanically. Diseases are recommended to be treated with a certain medicine, but it is better with a medicine and a magic spell. At the same time, the spell does not necessarily have to correspond to the idea of ​​\u200b\u200ba disease or the properties of a medicine. Pronounced over the medicine, it increases its effectiveness and, thereby, to a greater extent contributes to the treatment, the expulsion from the body of the patient of the invisible and malicious being that caused the disease. It was believed that if doctors could treat ailments, they could also cause them. So, for example, in the magical demotic papyrus of London and Leiden (XX recto 13 / II), in a text dating back to the beginning of the 3rd century. n. e., it is said: "Take a shrew, drown it and let a man drink this water - he will go blind in both eyes." Or: "A tincture of wine and shrew bile will cause death to those who drink it." one

2.2 Mythology and healing

The ancient Egyptian religion existed for almost three and a half thousand years. The main deity of the ancient Egyptians was the god of the sun - Ra, who was depicted as a falcon or a man with a falcon's head in a double royal crown (ruler of southern and northern Egypt). His name was included in the title of the pharaohs ("son of Ra"), who were recognized as the children of the sun god.

Among the main deities of Ancient Egypt, who were related to healing, was the god Dzhehuti (Greek: Thoth). He was revered as the inventor of hieroglyphic writing and medicine, the patron of knowledge, scribes and sages. The ibis bird and the baboon monkey were considered sacred - symbols of wisdom in ancient Egypt, therefore Thoth was depicted in the form of a baboon or a man with the head of an ibis. According to legend, Thoth divided mankind into languages, invented mathematics and astronomy, the calendar and religious rites, music and folk remedies; he was also credited with compiling the most ancient Egyptian medical texts.

The lord of the underworld Usiri (Greek Osiris) was revered as the god of dying and resurrecting nature. Osiris is a descendant of the god Ra, a symbol of the life-giving sun and the blessed Nile. In ancient texts, he is described as the earliest of the kings of Egypt, who rightly ruled the country, but was killed and dismembered by the treacherous and envious god Seth (the god of the desert). The loving wife and sister of Osiris, the goddess Yesit (Greek Isis), found and collected parts of his body, passing them to the god Inpu (Greek Anubis) with a request to keep Osiris forever. Anubis embalmed Osiris and prepared his mummy. After that, Osiris became the lord of the afterlife and the king of the afterlife court. He was depicted as a swaddled mummy in a white crown with signs of royal power in his hands. The mummy was painted green - a symbol of resurrecting nature. According to legend, the mummy of Osiris was the first in the history of Egypt, and Anubis was revered as the inventor and the first master of mummification. Before Osiris, he was the main god of the realm of the dead. Anubis was depicted as a black dog or jackal, as well as in the form of a man with a jackal's head. During the afterlife judgment, he had to weigh the heart and show the way to the souls of the dead.

The goddess Isis - the devoted wife of Osiris and a selfless mother - personified motherhood and fertilized nature. Hiding in the swamps of the Nile Delta, she gave birth to Osiris, the son of Horus, who, becoming an adult, defeated the murderer of his father. Isis was revered as the guardian of royal power, the patroness of children and the inventor of magical healing. Medicines bearing the name of Isis were known even in ancient Rome and are mentioned in the books of Galen (2nd century BC). She was depicted in a crown with a solar disk between cow horns, with her son Horus in her arms. (Later, in ancient Rome, this image had a noticeable influence on the formation of the iconography of the Mother of God).

The son of Isis and Osiris is the god Horus (Greek. Horos- high-flying, or located in the sky; lat. Horus) - has become one of the most significant images of Egyptian mythology. The god of the sky, whose eyes were the Sun and the Moon, he was depicted either in the form of a falcon, or a man with a falcon's head, or a winged solar disk with two uraeus (uraeus - the royal emblem, included three symbols of power (falcon, bee and cobra), placed on headdress of the pharaoh) on both sides. Having returned to himself the rightful throne of his father, he was revered as the guardian of the supreme power of the pharaohs. From his mother, Chorus learned the art of healing. His eye (the eye of Horus) was revered by the Egyptians as a sacred eye - ujat (Egypt. ujat), a symbol of protection and protection, the triumph of life over death. The eye of Horus was depicted on amulets, often next to another symbol of protection from all enemies - the cobra goddess Wajit (Egypt. Uajit- Green), which personified the power of the pharaoh and was depicted in a threatening fighting pose with swollen cheeks.

The cult of animals occupied a significant place in the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. Each nome (city-state) had its own sacred animal or bird: a bull, a cat, a crocodile, a ram, a lion, a falcon, an ibis, a kite, etc. The deceased cult animal was embalmed and buried with all honors. Killing a sacred animal was punishable by death.

In addition to the main deities, in ancient Egyptian mythology there were also gods of healing. The mighty patroness of healers Sokhmet (Egypt. sohmet or Sahmet- powerful) - the formidable goddess of war, plague and solar heat, the wife of Ptah, the supreme god of Memphis; depicted as a lioness or a lion-headed woman holding a sign of life in her hand (Egypt. ankh).

The goddess of fertility Tauert was revered as the patroness of childbirth and motherhood (she was depicted as a pregnant female hippopotamus). During childbirth, small figurines of Tawert were always placed next to the woman in labor and newborns, whether it be the heir of the great pharaoh or a simple Egyptian.

Thus, ancient Egyptian healing was associated with religious beliefs and cults.

2.3 Pathological anatomy

A striking feature of the Egyptian religion was the funeral cult, which arose in the predynastic period. It is the key to all ancient Egyptian culture. The inhabitants of Ancient Egypt believed in the afterlife and considered it an endless continuation of the earthly one. According to them, the immortality of a person in the afterlife is granted through the unity (co-existence) of the three substances of a person: his physical body, his soul (“ba”) and his spiritual counterpart (“ka”). The soul "ba" was understood as the physical life energy of a person; it was believed that she exists with the body of the deceased, but for a while she can leave the tomb and rise into the sky to the gods (she was depicted as a bird with a human head).

Another substance "ka" - "double" - a visible image of a person, created together with a person in his image and likeness, accompanies him all his life and exists after his death in people's memory. The preservation of the "ka" of the deceased by creating accurate images of a person was seen as one of the main ways to maintain his existence in the afterlife. "Ka" lives in the tomb, the other world, and even settles in the statues of the deceased. Both afterlife substances ("ba" and "ka") are associated with the body of the deceased and live in the place of his burial. From this arose the desire to preserve the body from destruction. To do this, the people of Egypt since the pre-dynastic period kept the dead in the "red earth" of the deserts adjacent to the Nile Valley. The air and soil of Egypt have excellent preservative properties: the sun and salt-saturated hot sand dried the bodies of the dead, protecting them from further destruction. Thus, wrapped in mats, they were perfectly preserved (without a coffin and mummification). The development of civilization led to the construction of special premises for the burial of noble dead (mastabas, later pyramids). There was no sun, and special artificial methods were required to preserve the body. So mummification arose, or embalming of the dead(from Greek . Balsamon- balm). It is clear that not many had the opportunity to embalm the corpse of a deceased relative.

Mummification in ancient Egypt was carried out by special people, whom the Greeks called tarikhevtsy. The method of embalming was kept secret and was not described in the papyri - over time it was lost forever; however, the bodies of the dead, processed thousands of years ago, have survived to this day. The best description of the mummification process was left by the ancient Greeks - Herodotus (c. 484 - 425 BC) and Diodorus (c. 90 - 21 BC).

According to Herodotus, there were three methods of embalming. The most perfect and most expensive of them are as follows: “First, they extract the brain through the nostrils with an iron hook ... then they make an incision in the groin with a sharp Ethiopian stone and clear the abdominal cavity from the insides. After cleaning the abdominal cavity and rinsing it with palm wine, the masters then clean it again with crushed incense. Finally, the womb is filled with pure, ground myrrh, cassia, and other spices (except frankincense) and sewn up again. After that, the body is placed in soda lye for 70 days ... After this 70-day period, after washing the body, wrap it in sheets of linen linen cut into ribbons and smear it with gum (it is used instead of glue). After that, the relatives take the body back, make a wooden sarcophagus in the form of a human figure and place the deceased there. Putting in a coffin, the body is kept in the family tomb, where they put the coffin upright against the wall.

The corpse treated in this way was preserved for thousands of years. The entrails (liver, lungs, stomach and intestines) were stored in four special alabaster vessels with lids decorated with images of a human or animal head - canopy(from Greek. kanobos is the name of a city in ancient Egypt. The heart was left in the chest cavity; according to the Egyptians, it controlled the entire bodily and spiritual life of a person and was necessary in the kingdom of Osiris.

Studies carried out in the 20th century made some adjustments and additions to the classic description of Herodotus. So, scientists found that in most cases, “the corpse was first buried for several weeks in dry natural soda found in Egypt (it is formed when natural soda lakes dry up). At the same time, in conditions of heat, the corpse was almost completely dehydrated. Then (or previously) the entrails and the brain were removed from the corpse, the skull (sometimes) was filled with resin, and the abdominal cavity was filled with branches of fragrant plants. In some cases, the insides were not removed. Next, the corpse was wrapped in gauze-type cloth. Sometimes several hundred meters long, with the use of incense. The face of the deceased was made up using lead sheen, pyrolusite, copper oxide, colored clays, and probably some vegetable paints. Antimony (sulphurous) was not used for this purpose in antiquity. A mask of gold leaf was placed on the face of the royal mummies. Finally, the corpse was placed in a sarcophagus."

Today, only one pharaoh rests in his sarcophagus in the Valley of the Kings - the young Tutankhamun (reigned c. 1361 - 1352 BC). x-ray studies of his skull showed that the death of Tutankhamen occurred as a result of a strong blow to the base of the skull, followed by a fracture and the formation of an extensive hematoma; in all likelihood he remained alive for several weeks and died without regaining consciousness at the age of 19. His devoted wife and sister (paternal) Anxenamon (Anchsenamon) briefly outlived her husband - power in Egypt was seized by Ay - the vizier of Tutankhamun.

It is interesting to note that sacred animals were also embalmed in ancient Egypt: snakes, birds, cats, crocodiles, bulls. According to the religious ideas of the ancient Egyptians, each deceased appeared before the afterlife court (the idea was finally formed in the era of the New Kingdom). The afterlife court was headed by the god Osiris. The god of knowledge, Thoth, acted as the accuser. God Anubis weighed the heart of the deceased. If it was lighter than an ostrich feather (a symbol of law and justice), the deceased had access to the world of the gods.

The funeral cult of Ancient Egypt had no equal in any religion of the peoples of antiquity. However, the Egyptian people have always remained cheerful and strong. According to the Russian Egyptologist B. A. Turaev, every Egyptian throughout his life thought about death and, collecting everything necessary for the afterlife, “mainly prepared himself not to die, despite death.”

Geb entered into a secret relationship with his sister, the sky goddess Nut, but this relationship was discovered by the jealous Ra, who cursed Nut and announced that she could not be relieved of her burden in any of the months of the year. However, the god of wisdom, Thoth, who was also in love with the goddess, as a reward for her favor to him, began to play checkers with the Moon and each time won 1/70 of her light. These parts, put together, made up five days, which he added to the 360 ​​days of the previous year.

Birth of Osiris

1. On the first of these days, Nut gave birth to Osiris, and at the moment of his coming into the world, a voice announced that "the ruler of all the earth was born."
2. Horus was born on the second day.
3. On the third day, Seth came into the world. (He did not appear, as expected, in due time, but came out of his mother's side through the wound that he inflicted on her).
4. On the fourth day, Isis was born in the swamps of the Delta, and on the last, Nephthys. (As for their fathers, the first two were conceived by Ra, Isis by Thoth, and Set and Nephthys by Geb).
5. Later Set married Nephthys and Osiris married Isis.

The children of Nut, descended from the gods, at first had to live on earth among people as mere mortals, although they occupied far from the last position here.

Mythology and religion of ancient Egypt

Osiris became the first king of Egypt, as well as the first educator and teacher of mankind. He was a wise ruler - following his instructions, the people came out of poverty and barbarism. Osiris taught the Egyptians agriculture, horticulture and winemaking, the art of medicine and the construction of cities, and gave them the basic code of laws. He also taught them reverence for the gods, which they did not previously have, and cult service.

When Egypt, thanks to Osiris, became a prosperous and prosperous country, brother Seth planned to deprive Osiris of power and, with the help of cunning, killed him. He aggravated this atrocity with a new one - he cut the body of the unfortunate man and scattered his pieces throughout the country.

However, the wife of Osiris, his sister Isis, managed to track them down. Ra, taking pity on her, sent the jackal-headed god Anubis to earth. He gathered the members of Osiris, embalmed the body and swaddled it. After that, Isis, in the form of a falcon, sank on the corpse of her husband and, miraculously conceived from him, gave birth to a son, Horus.

The treacherous Seth searched for a long time for his nephew to kill, but never found him. Isis nursed and raised her son, hiding from the whole world in the swamps of the Delta. When Horus grew up and matured, he summoned the offender to the court of the gods and demanded that the inheritance of Osiris be returned to him.

After a long litigation that lasted 80 years, the gods recognized the claim of Horus as just and satisfied it. Horus became the new king of Egypt and managed to resurrect his father by letting him swallow his magical eye. However, Osiris did not want to return to earth - he remained in the Underworld as the king of the dead, leaving Horus to reign over the living.

History of the Religion of Ancient Egypt

Such, in general terms, is the myth of Osiris. From it developed religion of ancient egypt. Its content is known to us from the book of the Greek historian Plutarch, from several Egyptian papyri, and from countless images.

The ancient Egyptians could also directly see the passions of Osiris during the sacred mysteries. One can understand why his fate worried them so much. After all, Osiris embodied in their eyes the idea of ​​​​a being who was both a god and a man, who experienced suffering and death during his life on earth and therefore was able to sympathize with them in their illnesses and death.

If at first they saw in Osiris the god of dying and resurrecting nature, then later the features of the god who bestowed immortality came to the fore in him.

The Egyptians believed that they, who recognized the teachings of Osiris, would share with him his victory over death, reviving again for the afterlife. With each generation, the significance of the deified Osiris became more and more. And religion of ancient egypt strengthened among the people.

Already in the XXV century. BC he was revered in all corners of Egypt, and a thousand years later Osiris became something of a national god - he was credited with the attributes of the great cosmic gods of older generations, and he was now considered not only a god and judge of the dead, but also the creator of the world and all that exists. Being, according to the myths, the son of Ra, he was now in many respects greater and took his place next to his father in heaven.

In later times, Osiris began to be considered the source and beginning of gods, people and things. In some of his incarnations, Osiris was identified with the Nile, Ra and other gods. But above all, around the figure of Osiris, all the ideas of the Egyptians about the afterlife, the other world, crystallized.

We have a fairly accurate understanding of them thanks to a collection of mortuary texts, conventionally called the "Book of the Dead" (From ancient times, these texts were written on the walls of pyramids or tombs, but in its finished form the collection was formed only in the 7th-6th centuries BC. BC. when the canon of 165 sayings was compiled).

The Egyptians believed in multiple souls per person.

According to the beliefs of the Egyptians, a person, in addition to the physical body (it was called a hut - this word denoted everything that is inherent in decomposition) also had several souls. The hut was placed in a tomb after mummification and protected from death with the help of amulets, magical ceremonies, prayers and formulas.

The ka was connected with the body in a special way - the spiritual twin of a person, his life force. Ka was born and grew up with a person, had his shortcomings and virtues. He could also exist independently of the physical body, move freely on earth or ascend to heaven and converse with the gods there. The Egyptians believed that he could eat, drink, enjoy the aromas of incense.

Finally, there was also the ba, or higher consciousness in man, the receptacle of his pure ideas. Ba had the ability to become corporeal or incorporeal, but it was believed that it was an ethereal substance.

Ba could leave the tomb and ascend to heaven, where, according to the beliefs of the Egyptians, she enjoyed eternal existence in all its splendor. In a way, it was a receptacle for life. When the ba returned to the body, the person came to life.

The Egyptians believed that after the death of a person, his body remained in the underworld with Osiris:

• Ba - in the sky, where it flew off, trying to reunite with the primary source of life - the Sun-Pa.
• And the spirit of the ka lived in the tomb.

The main purpose of the funeral ritual was the magical resurrection of the huts of the deceased. For this it was necessary:

1. Keep the body in such a state that the ba and ka can connect with it.
2. Ensure the existence of the ka in the tomb.
3. Find the soul of the ba, return it to the body and revive the latter.

All this was achieved by mummification of the corpse, the construction of a tomb, sacrifices and special funeral rituals.

In ancient times, the posthumous fate of a person was determined mainly by the state of the tomb and the funeral cult. Therefore, the construction of the tomb was the main concern of those Egyptians who had the means to build an eternal home.

Tombs of the Pharaohs and the Book of the Dead

The pharaohs began to build tombs from the first days of their reign, and many nobles in ancient Egyptian documents pointed to the construction of the tomb as the most important event in their biography. obliged to this religion of ancient egypt.

In this regard, we must remember that the tomb for the Egyptians was not a sarcophagus, not a crypt in our sense of the word, but a house. Artists and sculptors depicted the deceased on its walls in the best years of his life, in the prime of life. He was surrounded by portraits of his wife, children, servants, colorful pictures of feasts, dances, sacrifices. There they painted villas and granaries, reeds and birds, herds of cows and sheep. All this, according to the deep conviction of the Egyptians, at certain moments came to life, and the deceased, getting into his usual environment, could enjoy eternal happiness in his tomb-house.

Later, the idea of ​​posthumous retribution arose. The fate of the deceased was made dependent on what sentence Osiris and other gods who participated in the court would pass on him.

The road to this court was a particular problem. The path of the deceased ran through many areas of the underworld and through many halls, the doors of which were guarded by hostile creatures. He also needed to cross the underground rivers in a boat, receive help from the gods and rulers of different regions.

The Book of the Dead provided him with texts and formulas that had to be repeated aloud to achieve the goal. But these formulas turned out to be powerless before the eyes of omniscient judges. Here, only a righteously lived life served as protection for the deceased.

The 125th chapter of the Book of the Dead contains a long list of sins for which punishment followed. The deceased, accordingly, had to assure the judges that he did not commit them.

He said: “I did no evil... I did not lie to anyone... I did not trap the birds of the gods... I did not divert the flow of water... I did not steal... I did not reduce the victims... I did not rebel ... I did not speak evil against the king ... I did not despise the gods ... ".

Judgment of Osiris

His words, however, were not taken for granted. In one of the Egyptian drawings, we can see the image of the afterlife. Osiris sits on a throne, wearing a crown, with a king's staff and whip. At the top are 42 gods from various regions of Egypt, who form a judgment seat. In the center of the courtroom there are scales on which the gods Horus and Anubis weigh the heart of the deceased.

On one side of the scales is a heart, on the other - a statuette of the goddess of truth. If the heart really did not weigh the same, the dead man was devoured by the terrible monster Amamat. But if the scales were balanced, the deceased was recognized as justified and his soul could ascend to heaven and share heavenly pleasures with the gods. Moreover, she not only stayed with Ra in his boat, but also merged with him.

In chapter 42 of the Book of the Dead, the deceased says: “There are no members of my body that are not members of a god. God Thoth joined my body, and I am Ra day by day.

It should be emphasized that as the ideas about the power of Osiris expanded, his cult became more and more democratic. If in ancient times Osiris was predominantly a royal god (and each pharaoh, dying, became like Osiris, and his heir - Horus), then in the future every Egyptian, turning to his dead father with a prayer, called him Osiris, and himself Horus.

In later funeral texts, any deceased was declared identical with Osiris. This identification had a mystical meaning - in terms of the involvement of all people in the nature of the deity. Thus, the osirical teaching came to a very important idea of ​​the universal equality of people before the impartial judge of the dead.