Sunday, December 1, 2013

Ancient Egypt Stories and Myths

Egyptian stories were more about the order of the world like the rising of sun and the creation of moon than the creation of mankind. There is a great variety in the myths of ancient Egypt. According to Ancient Egypt stories, only the ocean existed at first. Then Ra (the sun-all powerful God) came out of an egg that appeared on the surface of the water. Ra brought forth four children, the gods Shu and Geb and the goddesses Tefnut and Nut. Shu and Tefnut became the atmosphere





 They stood on Geb, who became the earth, and raised up Nut, who became the sky. Ra ruled over all. Geb and Nut later had two sons, Set and Osiris, and two daughters, Isis and Nephthys. Re grew old and men no longer feared or obeyed him. So Re became angry, and summoned all the other gods to him. Re sent his daughter Sekhmet, the fiercest and most terrible of all goddesses, as an eye. She killed everyone who disobeyed her father. But eventually Re felt sorry for the people, but even he couldn't stop Sekhmet. Re tricked Sekhmet into stopping. Re continued to rule, but he was growing old and losing his wisdom.

None of the other gods could take his wisdom as they didn't know his secret name of power. Isis was the wisest of his four grandchildren, and she managed to trick Re into telling her the secret name of his power. Osiris succeeded Ra as king of the earth, helped by Isis, his sister-wife. Set, however, hated his brother and killed him. Isis then embalmed her husband's body with the help of the god Anubis, who thus became the god of embalming.

The powerful charms of Isis resurrected Osiris, who became king of the netherworld, the land of the dead. Horus, who was the son of Osiris and Isis, later defeated Set in a great battle and became king of the earth. The culture and creation myth of ancient Egypt follows some of the same unusual and obscure legends as other cultures but slightly different in variation. The Egyptians believe that the world was nothing but a chaotic body of water called Nun and the god Atum created himself from the chaos.

One well-known practice of the Egyptians is mummification, which originated from a popular myth of Osiris. Osiris was a very popular and sovereign king, being said, resentment ignited in his brother Seth. As a usual affect of jealousy, Seth wanted to get rid of him. According to the legend, Seth locked Osiris in a coffin and sent it down the Nile River where it was discovered by a king. When Osiris' wife-sister, Isis, found out she immediately recovered the body but soon after Seth chopped it up in pieces and strewn them throughout Egypt. .

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