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Cultural civilization in ancient egypt essays
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The reunification of upper and Lower Egypt catalysed the syncretism of prominent sun deities Amun and Re. Consequently, a powerful cult emerged that became the prevailing religious ideology, as well as an important political power base which secured dynastic legitimacy. The importance and impact of the Amun cult is diverse, as it developed social cohesion, shaped the ideology of kingship, facilitated economic and military prosperity, and formed a new power base; the Amun Priesthood.
The cult of Amun Re was an expression of Egyptian unity and thereby consolidated a religious and societal cohesion and a rise in nationalism. Eric Hornung argues that the syncretism of the Amun cult with that of Re constituted the evolution of an altogether new
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The success of the king’s rule became based on the approval or rejection of the god Amun-Re. Thus, Amun was used as a platform for political propaganda, with pharaohs such as Hatshepsut and Thutmose III using the God to legitimise their claims to the throne, as evidenced for Thutmose III on the Temple of Tiraqa: ‘I have achieved this according to that which was ordained for me by my father, Amun-Re’. Concepts of the divine oracles and the divine birth of the king became a theme for pharaohs of the 19th dynasty, and afforded them heightened legitimacy. Hatshepsut’s divine birth scenes on her mortuary temple in Deir el Bahri depicts her claim to be the daughter of Amun, manipulating the public to believe in her divine birth. Additionally, Thutmose IV’s ‘dream stela” erected between the paws of the sphinx, which claimed that he had been granted the kingship because he had freed the monument according to instruction from gods. Some historians have dismissed these building projects, which consolidated the importance and authority of the state cult of Amun-Re as mere political propaganda. However, it is more the point that they reflect a significant change in the Egyptian political landscape, as it became dependent on and connected to the sustained pre-eminence of the cult of Amun-Re and the religious unity that eventuated. Therefore, the amun …show more content…
The high priests of Amun attained a greater degree of significance in the 18th dynasty, exercising notable political, economic and religious influence, as affirmed by Bradley, who stated “the status of Amun was raised above all other gods and his priesthood acquired great religious, economic and political influence”. The position of “First Prophet of Amun” included the new title of “overseer of prophets of upper and lower Egypt”, thus giving the priest authority over all other religious cults, for example Hapuseneb, revealed by the inscriptions on his tomb. Menkheperraseneb also exemplified the power stemming form the Amun cult, performing both religious and secular roles in his position as ‘overseer of the houses of gold and silver’. Furthermore, the Queens after Ahmose-Nefertari also attained new significance in the state cult. “Gods Wife of Amun” was a position, which executed economic and political power within the Amun
Queen Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt during the 18th dynasty, was one of a small handful of female pharaohs. Despite her many achievements, her reign is most remembered for the fact that she was a woman. Her unique story has been a source for dispute among scholars, which has led to a number of conflicting views. The small amount of Hatshepsut’s life that has been documented does not allow us to see the more intimate details of her life. Historians have a broad range of opinions on her, but one thing is certain: her reign provided Egypt with a period of peace and prosperity after 100 years of foreign rule.
During the New Kingdom of Egypt (from 1552 through 1069 B.C.), there came a sweeping change in the religious structure of the ancient Egyptian civilization. "The Hymn to the Aten" was created by Amenhotep IV, who ruled from 1369 to 1353 B.C., and began a move toward a monotheist culture instead of the polytheist religion which Egypt had experienced for the many hundreds of years prior to the introduction of this new idea. There was much that was different from the old views in "The Hymn to the Aten", and it offered a new outlook on the Egyptian ways of life by providing a complete break with the traditions which Egypt held to with great respect. Yet at the same time, there were many commonalties between these new ideas and the old views of the Egyptian world. Although through the duration of his reign, Amenhotep IV introduced a great many changes to the Egyptian religion along with "The Hymn", none of these reforms outlived their creator, mostly due to the massive forces placed on his successor, Tutankhamen, to renounce these new reforms. However, the significance of Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaten as he later changed his name to, is found in "The Hymn". "The Hymn" itself can be looked at as a contradiction of ideas; it must be looked at in relation to both the Old Kingdom's belief of steadfast and static values, as well as in regards to the changes of the Middle Kingdom, which saw unprecedented expansionistic and individualistic oriented reforms. In this paper I plan to discuss the evolvement of Egyptian Religious Beliefs throughout the Old,
“His majesty, herself”: ruler of consequence and inconsequence. She was one of the most controversial rulers of ancient Egyptian history. The discovery in 2007 of her remains and tomb created more questions than answers. From her glorious reign of Egyptian prosperity and consequence, to her mysterious death and attempts to erode her from history and make her legacy inconsequential, Hatshepsut rose above and now is considered to be “the most important find in the Valley of the Kings since the discovery of King Tutankhamen”. Hatshepsut was born the daughter of Pharaoh Thutmose I and Ahmose.
Amenhotep IV was born in c. 1365 BCE during the 18th dynasty in Egypt to Pharaoh Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye (Aldred 11). He was given his name in honor of the Gods Amun and Re whom Amenhotep III sought to be the earthly representative of (Bratton 17). Amun-Re was the creator God, and Re was the God of the sun (Assmann 485-6). Combined, these two deities were the most powerful God and are therefore normally referred to by their conjoined name of Amun-Re (Redford 97). Although Re was the sole Sun God, there were others under him who were individually responsible for a specific detail of the sun-God. Aten was an aspect of R...
“The pharaoh of ancient Egypt is normally described as the typical example of a divine ruler” (J. Ray, Hatshepsut, Vol 44, Issue 5, 1994) The ancient Egyptian world has seen hundreds of pharaohs; some excelled and some didn’t. Many of the pharaohs were men, only few females succeeded in gaining such great power, yet some did... specifically Hatshepsut. Few pharaohs of the 18Th Dynasty have aroused as much controversy as Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was the sixth pharaoh of the New Kingdom and set up co-regency with her nephew and stepson, Thutmose III. (J. Lawless, Hatshepsut, a Personal Study, 2010) Hatshepsut created many junctions in history through politics, building programmes and military. This makes her so recognised in modern day studies, though almost all evidence of her existence has been partially or completely destroyed. Due to this many theories have been created about the standard of her reign.
Many funerary motifs are virtually unchanged through Egypt’s history including the rectangular, flat-lidded shape of this sarcophagus with a horizontal inscription near the lid which dates back to the Sixth Dynasty (Robins. 24). Many of the decorations on the sarcophagus have a similarly long history. One such image are the wadjet eyes carved into one of its sides. Seen on false doors and sarcophagi alike, this image was vital to Egyptian funerary practice because it allowed the ka to move between the locations of its body and the offerings left in the tomb (Lecture). The images of the gods seen on the sarcophagus are linked to the afterlife as well. The jackal-headed Anubis can be found on two sides of the sarcophagus, while one end features Isis, crowned by a throne, the other shows Nephthys, who is distinguished by a house and basket over her own head (Lecture). These gods were seen repeatedly in depictions of the afterlife, signifying their importance in achieving a happy eternity. Originally meant for Hatshepsut, these images were what she thought to be a necessary part in her achievement of a happy afterlife. In moving her father’s mummy to this sarcophagus, she reinforces her role as Thutmose I’s heir because she ensures that he received the best afterlife possible, the type that she had
In the New kingdom of Egypt growth, wealth, prosperity and internal peace are highly regarded as a necessity in which a successful pharaoh must possess, in order to maintain the stability of Egypt, achieve succession and overall leave behind a constructive legacy. Kingship was traditionally a sole male activity due to the throne being heavily male dominated, Hatshepsut was arguably Egypt’s most distinguished and powerful female pharaoh to effectively rise to and maintain her position of power for approximately two decades. The extent and importance of Hatshepsut’s reign and legacy has continuously undergone a series of dogmatic inconsistencies and has been subject to a wide range of dictatorial judgement by historians. However, her legacy can
At the time of Thutmose II’s death, the son would have only been a child, therefore allowing Hatshepsut to assert herself as regent. The adoption of the role would have become sufficient and liable due to her bloodline and acknowledging the Eighteenth dynasty starting point. During her time of regent, she had the titles of Great King’s Wife and sister of the succeeding pharaoh. Within the carved reliefs known as the Divine Birth at Deir el-Bahri it is seen to have become Hatshepsut propaganda which states that she eligible to claim throne rather than her step-son. The idea states that the god Amun, who is disguised as Thutmose I, impregnates her mother. Made his form like the majesty of her husband… she rejoiced at the sign of his beauty, his love passed into her limbs (J. Breasted). Thus makes sure that people who saw the relief would believe that Hatshepsut is the child of the god and therefore able to become pharaoh, not just becoming regent while Thutmose III is too young. The series of reliefs continue where the council of gods say that Hatshepsut shall “exercise the excellent kingship in this whole land”. Conjointly seen to be in Deir el-Bahri is the Coronation Relief which is where Hatshepsut has asserted herself to be a fair and entitled ruler, due to her father, Thutmose I deciding she will be successor and that she should be crowned as pharaoh. She is my successor… she
Hatshepsut invented a story saying the god Amun, talked to her about ruling the land. Lucy de Masson from ancient.ed writes, “Hatshepsut claimed that Amun had named her as ruler of Egypt: “Amun, the Lord of Thebes; he caused that I should reign over the Black and Red Land”. Not only does Hatshepsut make up stories, she also built temples where common people could worship her. The Deir el-Bahari is one of the most significant buildings built by the Egyptians. It was built to honor Hatshepsut, as a Pharaoh and God. Hatshepsut built numerous temples, livescience.com states, “As a ruler, Hatshepsut inaugurated building projects that far outstripped those of her predecessors,” Hatshepsut also built many other buildings in locations such as, Qasr Ibrim, Semna, Faras and Buhen. By having numerous amounts of temples, it shows the ability of the Pharaoh. Hatshepsut has surpass many of the male Pharaohs and all of these projects proves
Was she the archetypal wicked stepmother, an unnatural and scheming woman ?of the most virile character who would deliberately abuse a position of trust to steal the throne from a defenceless child? (Gardiner, 1961:184)? Or was she ?an experienced and well-meaning woman who ruled amicably alongside her stepson, steering her country through twenty peaceful, prosperous years who deserves to be commemorated among the great monarchs of Egypt? (Budge, 1902:I)? According to biographer and historian Joyce Tyldesley, Queen or as she would prefer to be remembered, King Hatchepsut became the female embodiment of a male role, whose reign was a carefully balanced period of internal peace, foreign exploration and monument building (Tyldesley, 1996:1). This study will show that it was Hatshepsut the Pharaoh?s devotion to the god Amen and her protection of the maat of 18th Dynasty Egypt that allowed her to forge her successful New Kingdom regime.
Divine Kingship played a major role in ancient Egypt and formed the basis of the religious and political structure within the civilisation. Pharaoh Akhenaten (formerly Amenhotep IV) affected the religious system considerably, possibly being the first individual to bring in the belief of monotheism. Akhenaten’s monotheistic policies did not greatly change the values and beliefs of polytheistic ancient Egyptians. However, the legacy created had a significant impact on the religious beliefs of future generations.
The sites touched by Thutmose I and II were expanded in Upper Egypt. Hatshepsut built for Horus of Buhen, which was a temple of a temple common in the mid 18th dynasty. Hatshepsut lined the temple with drawings of her and Thutmose III. Although later, when Thutmose III rose to power, he replaced those drawings with those of just him and his father and grandfather. However, parts of the Buhen temples that were moved to the Khartoum Museum, contains scenes of Hatshepsut’s coronation and veneration of her father, Thutmose I. There are no records of any 18th dynasty kings building before Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut also inscribed a lengthy tale on Speos Artemidos, saying that she was the first person to start to restore temples in the area of Memphis since the Hyksos destroyed the area. She claimed to rebuild temples at Hermopolis and at Cusae. This work was claimed to be overlooked by one of her nomarch named, Djehuty. Djehuty was a general under king Thutmose III, and then a nomarch to Hatshepsut. Djehuty had the titles “king's scribe”, “overseer of troops” and “overseer of the northern countries”. Hatshepsut gave the most attention to Thebes. She had a huge focus on the Temple of Karnak, and worked on restoring and expanding on the once great temple. Djehuty had a large role in this project as well. Illustrated on the walls of this temple, was the Queen’s expedition to
The unification of Ancient Egypt became the major foundation for which the way Egyptian and African history is taught in this day and time. The combination of the two dynamic kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt played a significant role in shaping Egypt’s impact on the early civilization of mankind. Before the unification can be explored, we must further understand the differences of the two kingdoms. This will allow us to better grasp the concept of how the two advanced kingdoms complemented one another during their unification. The geographical qualities/relationship with the Nile River, trade routes, symbols, and religious beliefs will be fully analyzed in order to compare and contrast the two kingdoms. King Narmer’s (Menes) role in the unification
Moreover, the main character of this arguably structural fictional novel, travelogue and biography, which encompasses both historical and biographical events, begins his journey through the truths of studying eleventh century Egypt. Amitav places himself in the story as a doctoral student who is given the opportunity to study social anthropology. As we learned and discussed throughout this course, there are a variety of methods in which to study religion. Social anthropology focuses on“the study of human beings and societies viewed primarily as both the creators and the creations of culture . . . sociology of religion . . . focuses its attention on social behavior and the way in which religion interacts with other dimension...
...ing the most known statues of any Egyptian pharaoh. His 250 statues are a portrait of Amenhotep III rule, spanning his whole life and depicting major events among his rule. He is also acquainted with constructing many monuments and structures a man made lake in honor of his dead wife, numerous additions onto the temple of Karnack, a forecourt, the tenth pylon, numerous monuments in Nubia and an enormous mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile. These many constructions would have benefited Egypt by providing lower class Egyptians projects to work on and the end result would have added to Egypt’s culture and art. Not only that but Amenhotep III is also credited with having the first idea of a newspaper with the discovery of 200 scarabs with hieroglyphs explaining building projects, marriages, hunting trips and royal news that were sent out amongst ancient Egypt.