http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file
   For complete access to all the files of this collection
        see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php
  ==========================================================


The Official Alan Alford Website
 	Introduction 	

*EGYPTIAN*

Ancient Egyptian civilisation emerged in the Nile Valley at about the
same time as the Sumerian civilisation emerged in the plains of the
Tigris and Euphrates, /circa/ 3500 BC. As in Sumer, the Egyptian state
was virtually indistinguishable from the religion, and the people were
in thrall to the Gods. Against the relative stability of the Nile
backdrop, Egyptian religion endured for four thousand years in virtually
unchanged form.

The defining feature of the Egyptian state and religion was the
monarchy, which was said to have existed since the beginning of the
world. Each king was believed to be the living image of the Creator-God
in the sense that he embodied the spirit of the Great God. The king thus
bore the title Horus after the God who had soared up falcon-like at the
beginning of time ? the Great God whose ?eyes? were the Sun and the Moon.

All religious ritual in Egypt was aimed at re-enacting the creation, so
as to reaffirm the cosmic order (/maat/) which had been established by
the Great God. The king, as the living image of the Creator-God, was
ideally qualified to perform these magic rituals either directly or
through his delegates, the priests. By re-enacting the creation, the
Egyptians rejuvenated the great magic of creation, thus ensuring that
the Sun and Moon would always rise, that the celestial vault would
always turn, and that the Nile would always flood in its due season.
With the king at the helm, the sky would never fall, the Sun disc would
never be hidden, the Nile would never run dry, and the land would never
sink into the abyss. As one king replaced another, in an unbroken chain
of succession, the era of /maat/ would be continued for ever.

Whilst the key cities of Egypt were united politically, they were rivals
religiously in that they worshipped the Creator-God under different
names and forms and via different cult practices. In Heliopolis, the God
was called Atum, Shu, Geb, or Re; in Memphis, the God was called Ptah;
in Rostau, he was called Sokar; in Hermopolis, he was called Thoth; in
Abydos, he was called Osiris; in Koptos, he was called Min; in Thebes,
he was called Amun; in Hierakonpolis and Edfu, he was called Horus; and
in Elephantine, he was called Khnum. In addition, the Great Goddess was
worshipped at various cities under various names, such as Neit, Tefnut,
Nut, Sakhmet, Hathor, Isis, and Mut. This is to mention only the most
popular Gods and Goddesses.

Originally, each of these Gods would have been the Creator-God in his
own right. But in later times many became specialised: Shu as the god of
light, Geb as the earth-god, Re as the Sun-god, Sokar as god of the
underworld, Thoth as the god of writing and wisdom, Osiris as god of the
earth and the underworld, Min as the god of fertility, Horus as the
sky-god, and Khnum as the god of the source of the Nile. As for the
Goddesses, Tefnut became the Moon-goddess, Nut the sky-goddess, and
Sakhmet the Sun-goddess, whilst others became identified with Mother
Earth and the seat of kingship. Each of these specialisations represents
a key aspect of the creation of the Universe.

Each cult centre in Egypt had its own myth of creation. Whilst the
accounts are often brief and bear superficial differences, a template
can be determined which is fundamental to them all.

The Egyptian creation myth is geocentric. Its starting point is a
pre-existent proto-earth ? a living being of body and soul ? which has
?died? following an ill-defined, violent event. This living being is
personified by the Creator-God (or strictly speaking by the duality of
the Creator-God and the Creator-Goddess).

The soul of the Great God awakens from ?death?, frees itself from its
body ? the proto-earth ? and rises up into the nascent sky. At the same
time, the proto-earth gathers itself together, rises up from the watery
abyss, splits open, and ejects the primeval matter from which the
sky-ocean, the stars, the Sun, and the Moon will be born. This is the
myth of the separation of the heavens from the earth. Note that the
separation takes the form of a cataclysm.

After a period of chaos in the sky, the Universe is created and order
prevails. The Great God becomes manifest in the entire created Universe
? the sky-ocean, the stars, the Sun, and the Moon.

In the final act of creation, the Creator-God turns back to embrace his
body, the newly-risen earth, and infuses it with his /ka/, the vital
spirit of life.

In short, the Egyptian creation myth describes the ?death? of an old
Universe and its rebirth as a new Universe, this entire process being
personified by the ?death? and rebirth of the Creator-God.

The creation myth thus provides the archetype for the death and rebirth
cults that were so important in ancient Egypt ? the death and rebirth of
the Sun (daily, at the winter solstice, and at eclipses); the death and
rebirth of the Moon (monthly, and at eclipses); the death and rebirth of
the stars (daily, and at longer intervals, for example the reappearance
of Sirius after seventy days spent below the horizon); the death and
rebirth of the Nile and agriculture; and the death and rebirth of the
king. All of these natural, recurring events were a perpetual reminder
of the one death and rebirth that really mattered ? the original one
without which none of the other deaths and rebirths could happen ? the
death and rebirth of the Universe, personified by the death and rebirth
of the Creator-God.

The true God of ancient Egypt was therefore not the Sun-god ? whose
death and rebirth were merely symbolic ? but the Creator-God, who had
manifested himself in the Sun (and the other celestial bodies) at the
beginning of time.

*Conclusion*

Ancient Egyptian religion was not a Sun cult, as Egyptologists believe,
but a ?cult of creation?. The Great God and Great Goddess personified
the proto-earth, the cataclysm of creation, and the formative Universe.

The Egyptian creation myth differs markedly from the Sumerian, despite
sharing a common geocentric framework. Whilst the Sumerian myth focuses
on a primary ?fall of the sky? in which the Great God and Goddess
descend cataclysmically into the proto-earth as a prelude to the act of
creation, the Egyptian myth begins with the proto-earth in crisis and
focuses on the ensuing geocentric ?big bang?. In doing so, it wraps the
origin of the Divine Powers in a cloak of mystery, but explains a great
deal about the separation of the heavens from the earth (an act which
remains opaque in Sumerian mythology).

*Reading List*

A.F. Alford, ?Pyramid of Secrets?, Eridu Books, 2003.

AF. Alford, ?The Midnight Sun?, Eridu Books, 2004.

J.P. Allen, ?Genesis in Egypt: the Philosophy of Ancient Egyptian
Creation Accounts?, New Haven, CT, 1988.

R. David, ?Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt?, Penguin Books, 2002.

R.O. Faulkner, ?The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead?, British Museum
Publications, 1985 edition.

R.O. Faulkner, ?The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts?, Oxford University
Press 1969, reprinted by Aris and Phillips.

R.O. Faulkner, ?The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts?, Volumes I-III, Aris
and Phillips, 1973, 1977, 1978.

H. Frankfort, ?Kingship and the Gods?, University of Chicago Press, 1978
edition.

H. Frankfort, ?Ancient Egyptian Religion: An Interpretation?, Dover
edition 2000 (first published by Columbia University Press, New York, 1948).

G. Hart, ?Egyptian Myths?, British Museum Press, 1990.

E. Hornung, ?Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt?, Cornell University
Press, Ithaca, New York, 1982.

E. Hornung, ?The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife?, Cornell
University Press, 1999.

D. Meeks and C. Favard-Meeks, ?Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods?, John
Murray, London, 1997.

J.B. Pritchard ed., ?ANET? (?Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the
Old Testament?), Princeton University Press, 3rd edition, 1969.

E.A.E. Reymond, ?The Mythical Origin of the Egyptian Temple?, Manchester
University Press, 1969.

R. T. Rundle Clark, ?Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt?, Thames and
Hudson, 1993 edition (first published 1959).

E.A. Wallis Budge, ?Legends of the Egyptian Gods?, Dover edition, 1994.

E.A. Wallis Budge, ?The Egyptian Heaven and Hell?, Dover Pubs., 1996
combined edition (first published by Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co
Ltd, London, 1905, as 3 volumes in the series ?Books on Egypt and
Chaldaea?).