Thursday, February 25, 2021

Reading Notes Part b: Ancient Egypt

 Ancient Egypt 


Thoth Figure. (Source:Pixabay )


The Two Brothers Part 1

-Anpu-older brother
-Bata-younger brother
-Anpu- house and wife of own, Bata lived with him and was like a son to him
-Bata worked hard in the fields
-"he was imbued with the spirit of a god."
-Anpu's wife lied about Bata hurting her
-Anpu waiting to kill Bata

The Two Brothers Part 2

-Oxen warned Bata (talking animals)
-Bata cried out to Ra-Harmachis "O blessed lord! Thou art he who distinguisheth between falsehood and truth."
-Ra helped to uncover the truth
-Bata set out for "the fair region of the flowering acacia"
-Anpu slayed his wife and cast her to the dogs
-Gods took pity on Bata and made him a wife "whose body was more beautiful than any other's in the land, because she was imbued with divinity."
-seven Hathirs saying "She shall surely die a speedy death."
-Bata "opened unto her his whole heart and revealed its secrets"

The Two Brothers Part 3

-Bata's wife left the house
-lock of her hair was brought to the King in Egypt
-King sent out messengers to find her 
-the "girl wife" told all of Bata's secrets to the King and the king had the acacia cut down where Bata's soul was and he died
-Bata was brought back to life by Anpu

Two Brothers Part 4

-girl wife said to the Pharoh "Promise me now before the god that thou wilt do what I ask of thee."- repetition 

The Book of Thoth Part 1

-Ahurah- wife of Nefer-ka-ptah and mother of Merab
-Nefer0ka-ptah only cared to read ancient records

The Book of Thoth Part 2

-Ahurah- "for she knew that sorrow must come of this journey to the Southern Land." -Foreshadowing
-Schoenus- ancient unit of length and area based on the knotted cords first used in Egyptian surveying, "river-measure"
-"snakes and scorpions and crawling things watched but could not stop him"-repetition 
-wrote spells on papyrus, dipped it into beer so all the spells washed off and drank the beer and knew the spells

The Book of Thoth Part 3

-Thoth discovered the Book had been taken and "raged like a panther of the South"
-"and now the sorrow for which Ahura watched and waited was about to come upon them"
-same words used to describe Ahurah's, Merab's, and Nefer-ke-ptah's deaths
-repetitive 
-"Thus was the vengeance of Thoth fulfilled, but the Book remained with Nefer-ke-ptah."

The Tale of King Rhampsinitus

-erected 2 statues- Summer (faced North and was worshipped) and Winter (Faced south and was ignored)
-built a strong stone chamber to hold his wealth, but one builder placed a stone so that it could be moved later
-after treasure was moved in, builder got sick, and he told his two sons of his secret 


Bibliography:

Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907). 

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