merelygifted:

ancientpeoples:

Painted Tunic

1275 BC (circa)

New Kingdom

This tunic, with one long sleeve attached, bears a painted image of the goddess Hathor, shown as a cow emerging from the mountain of the West. Hieroglyphs above the cow describe her as ‘Hathor foremost of Thebes, lady of heaven, mistress of the gods’. Around the animal’s neck is a necklace with a sistrum (an emblem of Hathor) attached; between the horns are two feathers and a solar disc. The first line of the inscription below gives the title ‘mistress of the house’ and the name (unfortunately unclear but ending in ‘-imentet’) of the woman who dedicated the tunic; the second line repeats the name and epithets of Hathor.

It has been described as a child’s tunic, but it is more likely that it was specially produced as a votive offering to the goddess. Many types of votive objects were deposited in temples all over Egypt as gifts expressing devotion to deities, who, it was hoped, would in turn favour the donor. This and similar textiles may have been donated by women to the cult, perhaps accompanying specific prayers for children or successful childbirth. However, none of the inscriptions make reference to this. Another suggestion is that the tunics may have been used to clothe divine images; there is some evidence from the titles of the persons named on them that only those connected with the Hathor cult presented such garments. They presumably had to be stored carefully in the temples to maintain and protect the decoration and efficacy of the object.

Hathor was a popular deity with associations ranging from joy to music and dance, and was also one of the few state gods to whom ordinary people could appeal. Her cult was very prominent on the West Bank at Thebes, near the temples of Deir el-Bahari. The motif of the cow emerging from the western mountain, associated with burial and rebirth, is extremely common at Thebes. The rock-cut Hathor shrine containing a statue of the goddess as a cow, which was discovered in 1906 between the Middle and New Kingdom temples, embodies this idea in three dimensions (Cairo, JE 38574-5).

(Source: The British Museum)

omg do want lol

thefaceofthedog:

satsekhem:

mistixs:

satsekhem:

mistixs:

satsekhem:

mistixs:

Lake of Fire…
That was a thing in Ancient Egypt?
(Also does anyone know of an accurate place to read the Book of Gates?)
thetwistedrope satsekhem

Yes, the Lake of Fire was a thing. If my readings are correct, I believe that there are actually multiple lakes of fire. Periodically it is used for torture; sometimes for regeneration.

The Ancient Egyptians Books of the Afterlife by Erik Hornung is a good starter for all of that.

Cool! Thanks for the info! Was the Christian hell inspired by this?
Why were the people tortured?
Also, when a text refers to the Duat as the Tuat, is it outdated? The most recent Book of Gates translation I could find was 1905, but it SEEMS accurate (ie the depictions of gods are reasonable and consistent with other texts)

I can’t comment on whether it’s related to the Christian concept of hell. I recommend asking someone who has experience there.

In the Book of Gates, the Lake of Fire is used as a place of punishment and a place of provision. The blessed and transfigured dead are provided items of use while the “damned” are punished. As to what would qualify one for being “damned,” Hornung doesn’t state this specifically, however based on what I know about the ancient Egyptian belief systems, people who were punished and/or tortured would have been enemies against ma’at/Re/O.

The Lake of Fire has mentions in the Amduat, the Book of Hours, and the Book of the Dead (spell 110). The Lake of Flames has mention in the Book of Two Ways, which may or may not be the same as the Lakes of Fire.

The 1905 resource you are using, if Hornung’s information is correct, is Budge. I do not recommend this. Hornung’s book is out of print unfortunately and I can’t find a copy available of the Maystre/Piankoff English translation. Honestly, I would really look at The Ancient Egyptian Book sof the Afterlife by Hornung. He goes into enough depth regarding the different books to be worth the purchase.

What translation does Hornung use? (Lol Hornung autocorrected to hornier :p)

I’m not sure what you’re asking? Hornung is an Egyptologist whose main field is funerary literature. He translated the texts, afaik, himself.

I thought the ‘damned’ has their hearts, and therefore existence eaten by Ammit..?

nile-flood:

銅の斧

thebitterfrenchcanadian:

surethattotallyhappened:

vivalaglamourpuss:

ithinkyoufoundsomething-deactiv:

an important factual presentation by me

All the facts.

CLEOPATRA WAS GREEK FUCKING HELL SHE WAS PART OF THE PTOLEMAIC DYNASTY AND THEY WERE MACEDONIAN GREEKS AND IT WAS STARTED BY PTOLEMY WHO WAS THE COUSIN OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT WHO WAS WHITE AND BLONDE. 

THERE WERE OTHER EGYPTIAN DYNASTIES THAT WERE BLACK

PICK A BETTER FUCKING EXAMPLE YOU’RE EMBARASSING YOURSELVES

^ and the Ptolemaic dynasty was NOTORIOUS for keeping their lineage Ptolemaic to the point where cleopatra was even married to her younger brother so it’s safe to say Cleo was not black even a drop black because there was almost no cross breeding SRY friends

ta3leem:

bloglikeanegyptian:

because i’m really tired of rhetoric regarding egypt on this website, and because i’m tired of repeating the same things over and over, here’s a post of things every person who posts something about egypt should be aware of before opening their big fat…

pulsir:

Nile - Sacrifice Unto Sebek

nivenus:

When the cast of Exodus: Gods and Kings—Ridley Scott’s upcoming Biblical epic—was announced a lot of people made the complaint that the it was overwhelmingly white, a move they decried as both inaccurate and racist. They were right. Unfortunately, in response a lot of people have peddled another historical (and racist) error: that the ancient Egyptians were black and that modern Egyptians are imposters.

Read More

sutekihotaru:

An Egyptian’s spirit life
“A living Egyptian’s body is called khet or iru, meaning “appearance.”The body is known as khat.When the khat is mummified, it becomes a sah. Mummification changes the dead person into a new body filled with magic. Each individual has three souls, called the ka, the ba, and the akh.The ka is a person’s “life force,” which is given to a new being by Heqet after Khnum has created them on his potter’s wheel. Ka is represented in hieroglyphs by a pair of arms pointing upward, as seen in the picture above of a husband and wife raising their arms to Osiris.The ka survives a person’s death, so it requires food and drink, which is why Egyptians make food offerings to the dead. The ba is an individual’s personality, what makes them unique. The ba must leave the tomb to rejoin the person’s ka in order to become an akh.The akh is the dead person’s spirit, a ghost that can reach beyond the tomb to have both positive and negative effects on the living.When the ka and ba are reunited with the akh the dead person becomes enduring and unchanged for all eternity.” _ From “Living in Ancient Egypt” by Norman Bancroft-Hunt.