CONCEPTS OF GOD IN ANCIENT EGYPT

The One and the Many.

 

Prof. Eric Hornung (Translated from German by John Baines)

Cornell University Press 1996 (1st 1982)

ISBN -13: 978-0-8014-8384-4  Paperback

 

“The Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt" is not intended as an introductory book aimed at the casual reader.  You must become familiar with a difficult vocabulary, and a complex series of arguments. That said; neither is the book dry or overly condescending or academic in tone. It is written in a clear style, fully annotated, with occasional flashes of humour.  

 

Hornung, Professor of Egyptology at University of Basel, builds upon earlier work of Frankfort, and he sets out to specifically refute monotheistic interpretations such as put forward in the Victorian age by Wallis Budge, and his mistakes continued in the work of Morenz, Drioton and others. It is explained why epithets such as ‘unique’ or ‘greatest’ applied to a deity in no way infer monotheism. In fact, this type of emphasis in fact was intended to show just the opposite from any monotheistic tendency, and such terms were to prevent gods from being indiscriminately equated with each other. P.185

 

The first ninety nine pages are largely concerned with linguistics and then he goes on to look at broader topics. Hornung undertakes a thorough analysis of the word for god, ntr.  He asks what role syncretism played in the development of the religion. We see how the representation of deity evolved over time from fetishism to the  representation of gods through animals and birds, and in the later stages to human forms. Important exceptions are examined. Henotheism and other types of classification are discussed.

 

We see the origin of the importance and emergence of  the  triad of mixed forms (staff, bird and human for example). The Great Sphinx, three aspects of the sun, is an example of such a tripartite form. Quite often three or four gods are joined together to create a new composite, such as Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, or Amon-Re-Harakhte-Atum. Egyptian concepts of deity at different points are compared with ideas in Roman and Hellenistic worlds.

 

The book is illustrated, and contains a Chronological Table, Abbreviations & Bibliography, plus a Glossary of Gods. An indispensable classic. 295 pages.

 

Stv, 12th May 2008