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    The Religion of Ancient Egypt
    The Religion of Ancient Egypt
    The Religion of Ancient Egypt
    Ebook78 pages1 hour

    The Religion of Ancient Egypt

    By Flinders Petrie

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    About this ebook

    This early work by the British archaeologist, Flinders Petrie, was originally published in 1906 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. 'The Religion of Ancient Egypt' is a scholarly work on the history of religion in an ancient civilisation. William Matthew Flinders Petrie was born on 3rd July 1853 in Kent, England, son of William Petrie and Ann née Flinders. He showed an early interest in the field of archaeology and by his teenage years was surveying local Roman monuments near his family home. Flinders Petrie continued to have many successes in Egypt and Palestine throughout his career, most notably, his discovery of the Mernepte stele, a stone tablet depicting scenes from ancient times. His excellent methodology and plethora of finds earned him a Knighthood for his services to archaeology in 1923.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRead Books Ltd.
    Release dateJan 18, 2016
    ISBN9781473379053
    The Religion of Ancient Egypt

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      Book preview

      The Religion of Ancient Egypt - Flinders Petrie

      1.png

      Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

      This book is copyright and may not be

      reproduced or copied in any way without

      the express permission of the publisher in writing

      British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      Religions Ancient & Modern

      EGYPTIAN GODS

      PETRIE COLLECTION

      THE RELIGION OF

      ANCIENT EGYPT

      By

      W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE

      Contents

      Flinders Petrie

      CHAPTER I. THE NATURE OF GODS

      CHAPTER II. THE NATURE OF MAN

      CHAPTER III. THE FUTURE LIFE

      CHAPTER IV. ANIMAL WORSHIP

      CHAPTER V. THE GROUPS OF GODS. ANIMAL-HEADED GODS

      CHAPTER VI. THE HUMAN GODS

      CHAPTER VII. THE COSMIC GODS

      CHAPTER VIII. THE ABSTRACT GODS

      CHAPTER IX. THE FOREIGN GODS

      CHAPTER X. THE COSMOGONY

      CHAPTER XI. THE RITUAL AND PRIESTHOOD

      CHAPTER XII. THE SACRED BOOKS

      CHAPTER XIII. PRIVATE WORSHIP

      CHAPTER XIV. EGYPTIAN ETHICS

      CHAPTER XV. THE INFLUENCE OF EGYPT

      Flinders Petrie

      William Matthew Flinders Petrie was born on 3rd July 1853 in Kent, England, son of William Petrie and Ann Flinders. The young Flinders Petrie was educated at home in a devout Christian household due to his father being a member of the Plymouth Brethren.

      He showed an early interest in the field of archaeology and by his teenage years was surveying local Roman monuments near his family home. This enthusiasm resulted in a visit to Egypt in 1880 to study the great Pyramid at Giza, where his analyses were the first to apply observation and logic to investigate how the pyramids were constructed. His meticulous accuracy in measurement still provides a considerable amount of the basic data still used today in the study of the pyramid plateau.

      His impressive scientific approach to the field earned him the position of professor at University College London. This recognition secured Filnders Petrie the funds he needed for excavation projects, and in 1884 he returned to Egypt to continue his work.

      He would often have over 150 workmen on his digs but would choose to be the foreman of the operation himself. He was popular with his workers, and by reducing the pressure on them to make quick finds, they were able to toil more carefully and unearth small but significant artefacts that would otherwise have been lost or damaged.

      Flinders Petrie continued to have many successes in Egypt and Palestine throughout his career, most notably, his discovery of the Mernepte stele, a stone tablet depicting scenes from ancient times. He also developed new excavation methods which revolutionised large scale digging operations. He went on to produce a wealth of publications on his subject, including A Season in Egypt, 1887 (1888), Koptos (1896), Methods & Aims in Archaeology (1904), and many more. His excellent methodology and plethora of finds earned him a Knighthood for his services to archaeology in 1923.

      In 1896, Flinders Petrie married Hilda Urlin, with whom he had two children, John and Ann. After his retirement, he and Hilda moved to Jerusalem where they lived at the British School of Archaeology. He remained there until his death in July 1942.

      THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT

      CHAPTER I.

      THE NATURE OF GODS

      Before dealing with the special varieties of the Egyptians’ belief in gods, it is best to try to avoid a misunderstanding of their whole conception of the supernatural. The term god has come to tacitly imply to our minds such a highly specialised group of attributes, that we can hardly throw our ideas back into the more remote conceptions to which we also attach the same name. It is unfortunate that every other word for supernatural intelligences has become debased, so that we cannot well speak of demons, devils, ghosts, or fairies without implying a noxious or a trifling meaning, quite unsuited to the ancient deities that were so beneficent and powerful. If then we use the word god for such conceptions, it must always be with the reservation that the word has now a very different meaning from what it had to ancient minds.

      To the Egyptian the gods might be mortal; even Ra, the sun-god, is said to have grown old and feeble, Osiris was slain, and Orion, the great hunter of the heavens, killed and ate the gods. The mortality of gods has been dwelt on by Dr. Frazer (Golden Bough), and the many instances of tombs of gods, and of the slaying of the deified man who was worshipped, all show that immortality was not a divine attribute. Nor was there any doubt that they might suffer while alive; one myth tells how Ra, as he walked on earth, was bitten by a magic serpent and suffered torments. The gods were also supposed to share in a life like that of man, not only in Egypt but in most ancient lands. Offerings of food and drink were constantly supplied to them, in Egypt laid upon the altars, in other lands burnt for a sweet savour. At Thebes the divine wife of the god, or high priestess, was the head of the harem of concubines of the god; and similarly in Babylonia the chamber of the god with the golden couch could only be visited by the priestess who slept there for oracular responses. The Egyptian gods could not be cognisant of what passed on earth without being informed, nor could they reveal their will at a distant place except by sending a messenger; they were

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