The Red Pyramid earned him the 2010 School Library Journal’s Best Book, 2011 Children’s Choice Book Awards: Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year, and the 2012 Indian Paintbrush Award. Ritner, Robert Kriech (1993). The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. ISBN 0-918986-75-3. This list is primarily, but by no means exclusively, for beginners with little or no familiarity with ancient Egyptian mythology and religion. #1, #2, and #3 are introductory books on ancient Egyptian mythology and religion for adults, and #4 and #5 are introductions for kids. #7, #8, #9, and #10, however, go well beyond the basics and delve deeper into more specialized topics – ancient Egyptian theology, views on death and the afterlife, intellectual history, etc. As such, they’ll be a great delight for those at a more intermediate or advanced level, and/or those who want to jump right into those more specialized areas. No books on this list assume any prior knowledge of ancient Egypt, so even though some are more consciously designed to be introductions to the topic than others, you could theoretically start with any of them. Ra's movements through the sky and the Duat are not fully narrated in Egyptian sources, [89] although funerary texts like the Amduat, Book of Gates, and Book of Caverns relate the nighttime half of the journey in sequences of vignettes. [90] This journey is key to Ra's nature and to the sustenance of all life. [30] Ra on the solar barque, adored with the sun-disk So flexible were Egyptian myths that they could seemingly conflict with each other. Many descriptions of the creation of the world and the movements of the sun occur in Egyptian texts, some very different from each other. [32] The relationships between gods were fluid, so that, for instance, the goddess Hathor could be called the mother, wife, or daughter of the sun god Ra. [33] Separate deities could even be syncretized, or linked, as a single being. Thus the creator god Atum was combined with Ra to form Ra-Atum. [34]

Baines, John (April 1991). "Egyptian Myth and Discourse: Myth, Gods, and the Early Written and Iconographic Record". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 50 (2): 81–105. doi: 10.1086/373483. JSTOR 545669. S2CID 162233011. Tobin, Vincent Arieh (2001). "Myths: An Overview". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Vol.2. Oxford University Press. pp.464–469. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.Each article in The Ancient Gods Speak is written by an expert on that particular aspect of ancient Egyptian mythology and religion. Covered topics range from gods and goddesses to concepts (“afterlife,” “akh,” “paradise,” etc.) to elements of religious practice – in short, virtually the whole scope of the field. The culture of Ancient Egypt is a must for anyone who wants to increase their cultural knowledge. We invite you to consult our Egyptian mythology books in PDF, a free collection that will allow you to take an entertaining walk through thousands of years of this great civilization. The Egyptians also performed rituals for personal goals such as protection from or healing of illness. These rituals are often called "magical" rather than religious, but they were believed to work on the same principles as temple ceremonies, evoking mythical events as the basis for the ritual. [48] Wilkinson, Richard H. (1993). Symbol and Magic in Egyptian Art. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-23663-1. Many Egyptian stories about the gods are characterized as having taken place in a primeval time when the gods were manifest on the earth and ruled over it. After this time, the Egyptians believed, authority on earth passed to human pharaohs. [62] This primeval era seems to predate the start of the sun's journey and the recurring patterns of the present world. At the other end of time is the end of the cycles and the dissolution of the world. Because these distant periods lend themselves to linear narrative better than the cycles of the present, John Baines sees them as the only periods in which true myths take place. [63] Yet, to some extent, the cyclical aspect of time was present in the mythic past as well. Egyptians saw even stories that were set in that time as being perpetually true. The myths were made real every time the events to which they were related occurred. These events were celebrated with rituals, which often evoked myths. [64] Ritual allowed time to periodically return to the mythic past and renew life in the universe. [65] Major myths [ edit ]

Allusions to myth were very widespread in Egyptian art and architecture. In temple design, the central path of the temple axis was likened to the sun god's path across the sky, and the sanctuary at the end of the path represented the place of creation from which he rose. Temple decoration was filled with solar emblems that underscored this relationship. Similarly, the corridors of tombs were linked with the god's journey through the Duat, and the burial chamber with the tomb of Osiris. [112] The pyramid, the best-known of all Egyptian architectural forms, may have been inspired by mythic symbolism, for it represented the mound of creation and the original sunrise, appropriate for a monument intended to assure the owner's rebirth after death. [113] Symbols in Egyptian tradition were frequently reinterpreted, so that the meanings of mythical symbols could change and multiply over time like the myths themselves. [114] Illustrations of gods and mythical events appear extensively alongside religious writing in tombs, temples, and funerary texts. [42] Mythological scenes in Egyptian artwork are rarely placed in sequence as a narrative, but individual scenes, particularly depicting the resurrection of Osiris, do sometimes appear in religious artwork. [111] You know we never leave the kids out. The award-winning Donna Napoli collaborated with the accomplished illustrator Christina Balit to create one of our favorite mythology books for kids. The true realm of the gods is mysterious and inaccessible to humans. Mythological stories use symbolism to make the events in this realm comprehensible. [28] Not every detail of a mythic account has symbolic significance. Some images and incidents, even in religious texts, are meant simply as visual or dramatic embellishments of broader, more meaningful myths. [29] [30]

Mythology is defined by Merriam-Webster as an “allegorical narrative,” a “body of myths,” and “myths dealing with gods, demigods, and legendary heroes of a particular people.” When we think of mythology books for adults, we tend to just think of fantastical stories, epic poetry, and folktales, but most of these stories began their lives as religious narratives or mythologized history. The line between religion and mythology is quite thin. Myths helped create the basis for some religious rituals and practices, and help pass down cultural identity and religious teachings to the future generations of its culture. When we mention Egyptian mythology, we are referring to the historical period of Ancient Egypt, which goes from the Pre Dynasty to the Christian era. It spans some 3000 years, making it a period very rich in diversity of beliefs. Our books on Egyptian mythology will introduce you to its study for free. Most of Egypt's gods, including many of the major ones, do not have significant roles in any mythic narratives, [24] although their nature and relationships with other deities are often established in lists or bare statements without narration. [25] For the gods who are deeply involved in narratives, mythic events are very important expressions of their roles in the cosmos. Therefore, if only narratives are myths, mythology is a major element in Egyptian religious understanding, but not as essential as it is in many other cultures. [26] The sky depicted as a cow goddess supported by other deities. This image combines several coexisting visions of the sky: as a roof, as the surface of a sea, as a cow, and as a goddess in human form. [27] It’s the crowning achievement of ancient Egyptian spiritual literature. Considering the competition for that title – the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, the Instruction for Merikare, the Dispute between a Man and His Ba, and others – that’s saying quite a bit. Wilkinson presents all of this in very clear, simple, and jargon-free prose that should be perfectly comprehensible to any layperson. It’s extremely newbie-friendly.

Morenz, Siegfried (1973) [German edition 1960]. Egyptian Religion. Translated by Ann E. Keep. Methuen. ISBN 0-8014-8029-9. Hornung discusses the words the ancient Egyptians used for divinity and what they can tell us, the practice of fusing two or more deities together into one, the gods as upholders of the cosmos and enemies of chaos, the relationship between the gods and humanity, polytheism and monotheism (as the title implies), and much more. Personally, I was especially intrigued by his discussion of the great physicist Niels Bohr’s concept of “complementarity” in relation to the Egyptian gods and goddesses. Lurker, Manfred (1980) [German edition 1972]. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Egypt. Translated by Barbara Cummings. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27253-0. As we are dealing with thousands of years of cultural, social and religious heritage, the bibliography on Ancient Egypt is very extensive, although not as extensive as everything that happened in that long period. Nevertheless, we recommend that you start with our selection and then move on to a more specialized study.The key event in the journey is the meeting of Ra and Osiris. In the New Kingdom, this event developed into a complex symbol of the Egyptian conception of life and time. Osiris, relegated to the Duat, is like a mummified body within its tomb. Ra, endlessly moving, is like the ba, or soul, of a deceased human, which may travel during the day but must return to its body each night. When Ra and Osiris meet, they merge into a single being. Their pairing reflects the Egyptian vision of time as a continuous repeating pattern, with one member (Osiris) being always static and the other (Ra) living in a constant cycle. Once he has united with Osiris' regenerative power, Ra continues on his journey with renewed vitality. [65] This renewal makes possible Ra's emergence at dawn, which is seen as the rebirth of the sun—expressed by a metaphor in which Nut gives birth to Ra after she has swallowed him—and the repetition of the first sunrise at the moment of creation. At this moment, the rising sun god swallows the stars once more, absorbing their power. [91] In this revitalized state, Ra is depicted as a child or as the scarab beetle god Khepri, both of which represent rebirth in Egyptian iconography. [98] End of the universe [ edit ]

The first several chapters give an overview of the history and character of ancient Egyptian mythology and religion, including its mythological stories, institutions, popular devotion, views on the nature of the divine, and much more. The information in these chapters is all fairly basic, but it’s covered exceptionally well and is exactly what most people would want in a summary of this length. There are so many books available on ancient Egyptian mythology and religion, especially introductions written for beginners, that it can sometimes seem that they’re more numerous than grains of sand in the Egyptian desert. Trying to sift through them all to determine which ones are the most worthy of spending your hard-earned money on can be a daunting task. In the hopes of helping people to skip over the bad, mediocre, unreliable, or outdated books on the subject and get right to the good stuff, I’ve compiled this list of the 10 best books on ancient Egyptian mythology and religion (last updated April 2019). Temples, whose surviving remains date mostly from the New Kingdom and later, are another important source of myth. Many temples had a per-ankh, or temple library, storing papyri for rituals and other uses. Some of these papyri contain hymns, which, in praising a god for its actions, often refer to the myths that define those actions. Other temple papyri describe rituals, many of which are based partly on myth. [46] Scattered remnants of these papyrus collections have survived to the present. It is possible that the collections included more systematic records of myths, but no evidence of such texts has survived. [25] Mythological texts and illustrations, similar to those on temple papyri, also appear in the decoration of the temple buildings. The elaborately decorated and well-preserved temples of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (305 BC–AD 380) are an especially rich source of myth. [47] te Velde, Herman (2001). "Seth". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Vol.3. Oxford University Press. pp.269–271. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5. Hornung, Erik (1982) [German edition 1971]. Conceptions of God in Egypt: The One and the Many. Translated by John Baines. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-1223-4.

However, unlike Wilkinson’s or Pinch’s works, The Ancient Gods Speak is thoroughly academic. If you can’t stand academic writing, this book is definitely not for you. However, it’s still written for a lay audience, albeit probably a better-educated and/or more intellectual one than those other encyclopedia-esque introductory books. And the tradeoff for that lessened accessibility is, of course, greater scholarly rigor. Meltzer, Edmund S. (2001). "Horus". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Vol.2. Oxford University Press. pp.119–122. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5. Another possible source for mythology is ritual. Many rituals make reference to myths and are sometimes based directly on them. [5] But it is difficult to determine whether a culture's myths developed before rituals or vice versa. [6] Questions about this relationship between myth and ritual have spawned much discussion among Egyptologists and scholars of comparative religion in general. In ancient Egypt, the earliest evidence of religious practices predates written myths. [5] Rituals early in Egyptian history included only a few motifs from myth. For these reasons, some scholars have argued that, in Egypt, rituals emerged before myths. [6] But because the early evidence is so sparse, the question may never be resolved for certain. [5]