Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt

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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.

Jemisin does an in-depth analysis and exploration of the world’s theology of the world in a manner that is both readable and engaging. Pinch, Geraldine (2002). Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517024-5. The author does not stop there. He presents readers with an exhaustive list of the Egyptian Pantheon from the most famous to the least known. This Catalogue of Deities is essentially an encyclopedia containing sections about every god and goddess from ancient Egypt. Each entry details the deity’s mythology, iconography, and worship.Over time, the Egyptians developed more abstract perspectives on the creation process. By the time of the Coffin Texts, they described the formation of the world as the realization of a concept first developed within the mind of the creator god. The force of heka, or magic, which links things in the divine realm and things in the physical world, is the power that links the creator's original concept with its physical realization. Heka itself can be personified as a god, but this intellectual process of creation is not associated with that god alone. An inscription from the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1070–664 BC), whose text may be much older, describes the process in detail and attributes it to the god Ptah, whose close association with craftsmen makes him a suitable deity to give a physical form to the original creative vision. Hymns from the New Kingdom describe the god Amun, a mysterious power that lies behind even the other gods, as the ultimate source of this creative vision. [71] The ancient Egyptians believed that some powerful gods and goddesses ruled over their daily lives in all seasons. The book takes you on a journey through ancient Egypt during the time of the pharaohs and the sphinxes. 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 ] 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.

Kaper, Olaf E. (2001). "Myths: Lunar Cycle". In Redford, Donald B. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. Vol.2. Oxford University Press. pp.480–482. ISBN 978-0-19-510234-5.The changes in the beliefs and worship of the different gods were numerous. There were polytheistic and monotheistic periods. With each dynasty there were variations, everything depended, in many cases, on the wishes of the king. Although, some gods remained through the years, such as the god Ra, who even in the monotheistic stage merged with another deity.