Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt

310 Pages·1998·39.728 MB·English

by  Robert Thomas Rundle Clark

R.T. R C
undle lark
Myth and
Symbol in
Ancient
Egypt
MYTH AND SYMBOL IN
ANCIENT EGYPT

MYTH AND SYMBOL
IN
ANCIENT EGYPT
R. T. RUNDLE CLARK
WITH 18 PLATES
40 LINE DRAWINGS
A CHART OF RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS
AND A MAP
THAMES AND HUDSON
Any copy of this book issued by the publisher as a paperback
is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of
trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise
circulated without the publisher's prior consent, in any form
of binding or cover other than that in which it is published,
and without a similar condition including these words being
imposed on a subsequent purchaser
©1959 Thames and Hudson Ltd, London
Published in the United States by
Thames and Hudson Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue,
New York, New York 10110
First paperback edition 1978
Reprinted 1991
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or
any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher
Library of Congress Catalog card number: 11-92262
Printed in the United States of America
CONTENTS
PREFACE page II
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE 16
THE GODS 18
MYTHOLOGICAL SCHEME 20
map: CHIEF CULT CENTRES OF ANCIENT EGYPT 23
INTRODUCTION 25
I THE HIGH GOD IN THE OLD KINGDOM 35
II THE HIGH GOD IN THE AGE OF THE COFFIN
TEXTS 68
III OSIRIS — ORIGINAL SCHEME 97
IV OSIRIS UNIVERSALIZED 124
V ESOTERIC OSIRIS 157
VI SOME MYTHS ABOUT THE GREAT GODS l8l
1 How Re left the lower world 181
2 The Delta Cycle 186
3 The Great Quarrel 195
4 Seth and Apopis 208
5 The Birth and Flight of Horus 213
VII MYTHOLOGICAL SYMBOLS 218
1 The Eye 218
2 The Waters cf Eternity 230
3 The Ka 231
4 The Djed Column 235
5 The Lotus 239
6 The Cosmic Serpent 239
6 Contents
7 The Phoenix page 245
8 The Primeval Ocean 249
9 Separation of Earth and Sky 250
10 Dawn 251
11 The Transformation of the Soul 252
CHART OF THE MAJOR RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS 257
VIII CONCLUSION 260
NOTES 269
INDEX 283
ILLUSTRATIONS
Plates
I The spirit of the eternal waters protects the eye of the
High God facing page 112
2 Semty and Lector priests 112
3 Shu separates earth and sky 113
Horns the child sets out to avenge his father 128
4
5 Nephthys weeps for Osiris 129
6 Horus raises the Djed Column 160
7 The ibis of Thoth 161
8 The Divine Falcon 161
9 Osiris in the starry Underworld, protected by the Cosmic
Serpent 176
10 The Soul rising from the Primeval Lotus 177
II The Phoenix 192
12 Sito, the Primeval Serpent 193
13 Symbols of upward movement 208
Sunrise 209
*4
15 Sunrise—alternative version 224
16 Night and morning sun 225
17 The soul bird flies through the Underworld with the sun 240
l8 Transformations of the soul 241
8 Illustrations
Line Drawings
Fig. Page
i Representations of sunrise 3 2
2 Primeval Mound symbols 39
3 Pictures of Khopri 40
Symbolic ways of writing To-land
4 4i
Offering Mayet, the World Order
5 43
6 Shu, helped by wind spirits, separates Nut and Geb
49
7 The Cosmic Serpent ‘Provider of Attributes’
52
8 The Cosmic Serpent encircles Hermopolis
53
9 The Primeval Goose 55
10 The half-formed Self Creator and the Cosmic Flower 66
Two serpents enclose the Cosmic Form 81
ii
12 Forms of Hathor Head 89
The Eye as an independent god
13 93
H The Inundation makes the vegetation grow IOI
Isis suckles Horus in the Delta Swamps 107
15
16 The Seth animal II$
17 Isis and Nephthys mourn Osiris 129
l8 The Atef Crown
137
Forms of the Aker
19 154
20 One end of the Aker at the edge of the world 155
21 The souls of Re and Osiris meet at Mendes O
O
22 Re and Osiris as one god, sustained by Isis and Nephthys 159
23 The serpent enfolds Osiris in the earth I6I
24 Seven forms of Osiris within the serpent 167
25 Osiris breaks out of the serpent’s coils 169
Illustrations 9
Fig. Page
26 Straightening out Apopis 170
27 Osiris enthroned on the Mound 171
28 Horus arises from Osiris 173
29 Falcon and human forms of the Eye 219
30 The parts of the Eye 220
31 Vicissitudes of the Eye 221
32 Onuris, who rescued the Eye 229
33 Forms of the Ka sign 231
34 A child dandled by its own Ka (good luck) 233
35 Forms of the Djed Column 235
36 Djed Columns supporting an arch 236
37 Djed Columns supporting the World Space 237
38 Time and Form emerge from the Cosmic Serpent 244
39 Serpent containing the Cardinal Points 245
40 The Phoenix 247