Egyptology

Cairo, Egypt
June 03, 2013

101 - Gods and Goddesses

From what I understand, and I could be horribly wrong because it is very confusing, here is some basic information about the gods and goddess that we saw in Egypt:

Amun Ra - the Invisible Sun was represented with a tall crown that had two crests representing Upper and Lower Egypt.

Anubis - the Jackal was represented as a man with a Jackal head. He was the god of mummification, checking the scales of balance at the time of judgement.

Apophis - was represented as a snake, was the snake enemy of Ra which had to be defeated during the darkest part of the night

Hathor - the great mother was represented as a woman with a disk and horns on her head, she was the cow goddess of the sky, goddess of love, music, beauty and joy; greeter to the hereafter; wife of Horus

Horus - was represented as a man with a falcon head, was the guide of the hereafter, protector and guide in the hereafter, captain of the solar boat; son of Osiris and Isis; the crocodile, falcon, lion and man Horace and Bill at Edfu Temple.

Isis - he great mother was represented as a woman with a crown of the throne (three steps), she was the wife of Osiris, she was the guardian of the canonic jars; Isis takes seven forms: Primarily she was represented as a teacher of mankind (wisdom) and the weaver of magic. She was a vulture to find the body parts of Osiris (clean air, not mal air or malaria), a hippo as a mother giving birth in water, a cow to nurse the child or mankind, a lioness to protect the child or mankind, a cat, a serpant and a scorpion to look after the grandchildren.

Khepri - as represented as a scarab, was the god of dawn, creation and rebirth

Min - was represented as a man with an erection, was the god of fertility, associated with the vigor of the pharaoh

Mut - the great mother was represented as a woman with a head scarf and cobra, she was the wife of Amun Ra

Nut - was represented as a woman doing downward dog, but more U-shaped, she was the goddess of the sky who gave birth to the sun daily, she protected the gods and the souls of the dead in the solar boat

Osiris - was represented with a green body and a white robe, was the god of death and resurrection, god of the hereafter, god of beer and wine, he passed judgement on the souls of the dead Anubis at Hatshepsut Tomb.

Ra-Horakhty - was represented with a falcon head and a sun disk headdress surrounded by a cobra. He was the living manifestation of Ra

Sekhmet - was represented as a woman with a lions head, was the eye of Ra, was the alternate form of Hathor and wife of Ptah

Seth - was represented with an aardvark head, was the red god, was the god of evil, chaos and violence, he killed his brother Osiris and was killed by Horace, the son of Isis.

Sobek - was represented as a man with a crocodile head, was the god of Upper Egypt, he was considered the protector of the dead

Thoth - was represented with an ibis or baboon head, was the god of wisdom and also describe as the scribe of the gods

More about Osiris and Isis:

Osiris was a very kind, handsome and intelligent man Isis at Hatshepsut Tomb. He married his sister Isis who was a very beautiful woman. Seth (means dirt or wickedness) was their brother and Neftis their sister. Seth killed his brother and Isis brought him back to life. Seth killed him again and tore him into 14 pieces (14 phases of the moon or the man in the moon). Isis became a vulture and found only 13 pieces. Obelisks were erected to memorialize the missing piece. Osiris became the first resurrection and therefore the head judge in the afterlife. He is depicted with a green body (young man, aged 20) and white linen, he holds the crook and flail.

101 - Temples

Cairo, Egypt
June 03, 2013
Here are some commonalities of Egyptian temples and the ancient beliefs:

The temples were constructed on sacred sites. They were the homes of the gods where daily rituals were performed. The pharaohs were intermediaries between gods and humans, or high priests. All temples are laid out the same way and are located on the east side of the Nile (life).

The main gate represents three things: Egypt as the East and West Bank and the Nile in between, the horizon and the cosmos, and the garden of creation.

The wall around the temples were built in mud, ash and straw (representing creation), while the everlasting temples were built in stone.

After the second gate there was the hall of columns Temple Grounds at Philae. It represents the garden of creation and was depicted with the ground, the sky and the flowers and trees.

The obelisk is a Greek word for needle. The top of an obelisk looked like a pyramid and was topped with silver and gold. It has five representations: a needle to stitch earth and heaven together (to return from the hereafter), a light house (reflect sun and moon), a landmark, a sundial to tell time, and a sign of fertility (think about it...).

Two plants are represented on the pillars: the lotus (south or scent that feeds the soul) and the papyrus (north or writing because you forget, i.e. the mind) represent the garden of creation. As you moved through the temples you see the buds that represented birth, the flowers that represented life and the bundles that represented afterlife. Columns are stems, stalks and flowers of the plants.

Nobody lived in the temples. The temple was the seat of ruling, a school to teach man, a place of healing, a place for socializing, and a court for justice Garden at Karnak.

Temple leads you straight to the sanctuary like light, the floor raises lifting you from your earthly (stairway to heaven) and the ceiling gets lower for humble (bring heaven to you). It was done to focus you toward the sanctuary so you could achieve the divine.

The doors to the temple were made of cedar from Lebanon and gold. The were held in place with leather the was oiled with sesame oil.

The sanctuary was the holiest of holies. Only priests were allowed into the sanctuary.
Beside the sanctuary there was side rooms representing the villages of Egypt where they stores tools and equipment.

In many temples and tombs we saw the symbol of ankh that means life and illustrates two things: The divine chemical count is that 1+1=3, meaning man, woman and child. life and represents man woman and child, and Egypt - delta, Nile, east and west banks.

The crown of Lower Egypt looks like a bucket. The crown of Upper Egypt looks like a champagne bottle.

We learned that heiroglyphics are written in the direction it should be read.
Pictures & VideosGates at Edfu Garden at Karnak Sanctuary at Edfu Garden at Edfu

101 - Tombs

Cairo, Egypt
June 03, 2013

The tombs were designed with some common elements and had several stories repeated on the walls:

Tombs were the land of invisibility and awakening or return. That's why the tombs (their house of eternity) were all located on the West Bank. Egyptians loved their bodies and wanted to return to their own bodies in the hereafter, that is why they had mummification.

The first Egyptians put the bodies in the sand to preserve them, but jackals ate the dead bodies because they were hungry and they smelled the bodies. So, they had to embalm the bodies, Anubis or the Jackal was responsible for embalming. The Jackal was depicted as sitting and eating, working and embalming, as an escort to the hereafter and at the judgement day if you don't pass he was responsible for giving your heart to the guilty ones.

We were told that the clear manifestation of god was the sun, and the sun became the Ram by night. Sunrise was the appearance of the maker (life) and when it set it went to the beyond (hereafter) and they knew it would return the next day. The scarab is the manifestation of dawn. That is why all tombs are one the West Bank, the place of life beyond.

Theresa and Bill HumphreyJune 14, 2020