CONTENT
Introduction………………………………………………………. .3
Chapter 1. Religious and mythological representations of the ancient Egyptians ...................................................... .5

Egyptian mythology ..................................5
Ancient Egyptian "Book of the Dead" ............... 12

Chapter 2.. Magic in ancient Egypt .............................. ..20
2.1 Magic stones and amulets ......................21
2.2 Magic figures ................................. 24
2.3 Magic drawings, formulas, spells ... ..30
2.4 Magic funeral rituals ............... 35
Conclusion…………………………………………………. .40
Bibliography…………………………………………41

Introduction

The fragments of the religious texts of the ancient Egypt, who came to us, indicate how important the place occupied in the Egyptian religion and the culture of Vera in magic, that is, that with the help of magical practices (names, spells, charms, formulas, figures, images and amulets, And also ceremonies accompanied by "words of power" 1), one can achieve supernatural results. From the very beginning of its history and before its completion, the ancient Egyptians were influenced by this faith.
Egyptian magic arose in those days when the primitive residents of idiot and prehistoric Egypt were believed that the earth, the underworld, the air, the sky, inhabited by countless creatures, visible and invisible. These were considered friendly or hostile person, depending on whether natural phenomena were allegedly overlooking, favorable or unfavorable for people. The favor of meek and friendly creatures could be achieved by gifts and sacrifices. And manifestations of hostility from harsh and inexplicitable could be avoided or pleased with them and cheering on them, or calling for help - through the amulet, the secret name, the magic formula, the drawing is more powerful than those that threatened him. Most of the ancient peoples used magic in order to give a man strength of a supernatural being, allow him to achieve what is outside of its capabilities, and to become as much as powerful as the true owner of this force. But Egyptian magic forced friendly and hostile forces to fulfill the will of man regardless of their desire.
Of the religious books of ancient Egypt, we know that the power of the priest or a person who knows and skillfully applying magic was considered almost limitless.
Elements of the Egyptian "black" and "white" magic can be traced in the magical systems of many countries of the world. It is impossible to say exactly how many beliefs and religious systems of other peoples experienced their influence, but undoubtedly one: the religious ideas of many pagan cultures and Christian sects originate in Egypt.
The purpose of this work is to state the ideas of believing the ancient Egyptians regarding the gods, the court, the resurrection and immortality. Consider what methods they influenced the fate of the person, the people and the state as a whole. An attempt to give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe magical side of the Egyptian religion.

Chapter 1. Religious and mythological representations of the ancient Egyptians.

1.1 Egyptian mythology.
Sources of studying the mythology of ancient Egypt differ in incomplete and non-systematic presentation. The nature and origin of many myths are reconstructed on the basis of late texts. The main monuments reflecting the mythological representations of the Egyptians are a variety of religious texts: the hymns and prayers of the gods, the records of the burial rites on the walls of the tomb. The most significant of them - "Pyramid Texts" - the most ancient texts of the funeral royal rituals, carved on the walls of the inner premises Pyramids of the Pharaohs V and VI of the Dynasties of the Ancient Kingdom (XXVI - XXIII century BC. Er); "Texts of sarcophagus", preserved on the sarcophagas of the Middle Kingdom era (XXI - XVIII century BC), "The Book of the Dead" - established from the period of the new kingdom and until the end of the history of Egypt.
Egyptian mythology began to form in VI - IV thousand BC. er, long before the occurrence of class society. In each area (number) there is its own pantheon and the cult of the gods embodied in heavenly luminas, stones, trees, birds, snakes, etc.
Cosmogonic myths, judging by the archeology, in the most ancient period of Egyptian history have not yet been the cosmic gods that the creation of the world has been attributed. Scientists believe that the first version of this myth emerged shortly before the unification of Egypt. According to this version, the sun was born from the Union of Earth and the sky. This personification is undoubtedly ancient than the cosmogonical ideas of priests from major religious centers. As usual, from the already existing myth did not refuse, and images of heba 2 and Nut 3 as the parents of the god of the Sun RA are preserved in religion throughout the ancient history. Every morning the nute is in the light of the sun and every evening hides it for the night in his womb.
A common to all cosmogonical concepts was the idea that the creation of the world was preceded by chaos of water immersed in the eternal darkness. The beginning of the exit from chaos was binding to the emergence of light, the embodiment of which was the sun. The idea of \u200b\u200bthe aquatic spacious, from which at first a small hill appears, closely related to Egyptian realities: it almost exactly corresponds to the annual spilling of the Nile, whose water was covered with the entire valley, and then, retreating, gradually discovered the land ready for a stitch. In this sense, the act of creating the world seemed to be repeated annually.
Egyptian myths about the beginning of the world do not represent a single, one-piece story. Often, the same mythological events are depicted in different ways, and the gods in them are in various appearance. It is curious that with many cosmogonical plots, explaining the creation of the world, extremely little place is given to the creation of a person. The ancient Egyptians seemed that the gods created the world for people. In the written literary heritage of Egypt, there are very few direct guidelines for the creation of the genus of human, such instructions are an exception. Basically, the Egyptians were limited to conviction that a person must his existence of the gods that are waiting for this thanks, understood very simple: a person must worship the gods, build and contain temples, regularly commit sacrifices.
Heliopol's priests created their version of the world, declaring it by the creator of the God of the Sun of the Republic of Armenia, identified with other gods - Creators at Atum 4 and Hepry 5. Atuma was usually depicted in the guise of a person, Hepry in the form of a scarab, which means that his cult dates back to the time the gods attached the appearance of animals. It is curious that Hepri had never had his own cult destination. As the personification of the rising sun, he was identical to Atumu - the Coming Sun and Ra - Luminous Day. The scarab appearance attached to him was associated with the conviction that this beetle is able to multiply in itself, hence his divine creative force. And the type of scarab, pushing his ball, prompted the Egyptians the image of God, rolling the sun across the sky.
The myth of the creation of the world by Atum, RA and Hepry is recorded in the "Texts of the Pyramids", and by the time the text it was first carved in stone, he probably existed for a long time ago and was widely known.
According to the "Texts of the Pyramids", RA - ATUM - Hepry created himself, arising from chaos called by nun. NUN, or PRIOVAN, was usually depicted as a unbarrous boring water space. Atum, appearing from him, did not find the place where he could be held. Therefore, he first created Ben-Ben hill. Standing on this island of solid soil, Ra-Atum-Hepry began to create other space gods. Since he was one, he had to give birth to the first pair of gods. Other gods occurred from the union of this first couple, thus, according to Heliopol myth, the Earth and the ruling deity appeared. In the continuing act of creation from the first pair of gods - Shu (air) and Tefunut (moisture) - GEB (Earth) and Nut (Sky) were born. They, in turn, spawned two gods and two goddesses: Osiris, Seth, Isido and Oil. So there was a great nine of the gods - Healthy Enneada.
Sometimes the Heavenly Code appeared in the form of a cow with a body covered with stars, but there were still ideas, according to which the sky is a water surface, a sky Nile, in the afternoon in the afternoon afternoon. Under the ground, too, there is a Neal, on him the sun, going down the horizon, floats at night. Neil, flowing on the ground, personified in the image of God Hapi, who contributed to harvest with his fertile spills. The Nile himself was also inhabited by good and evil deities in the image of animals: crocodiles, hippo, frogs, scorpions, snakes, etc. The fertility of the fields were injured by the goddess - Vlady man of the bins and barn rhenenutet, which was revered in the image of the snake, which appears on the field during the harvest, Watching the care of harvesting. Vintage grapes depended on the god of the vine of the vines of Shai.
Myths of the clock cult.
A large role in the Egyptian mythology played ideas about the afterlife as a direct continuation of the earthly, but only in the grave. Its necessary conditions - the preservation of the body of the deceased (hence the custom of mummifying the corpses), ensuring the dwelling for it (tombs), food (brought by alive fertile gifts and sacrifices). Later, there are ideas that the dead (i.e. their Ba, soul) go to sunlight, take off to the sky to the gods, are weird in the underground kingdom (Duat). The essence of a person thoughted in the inepler unity of his body, the souls (they were considered, there were several: ka, Ba; the Russian word "soul", however, is not the exact compliance of the Egyptian concept), name, shadow. The soul of all sorts of monsters in the underground kingdom, we can escape from which it is possible with special spells and prayers. Over the late Osiris, along with other gods, the afterlife is preferred (the 125th chapter "Books of the Dead" 6 is specifically dedicated to him. In the face of Osiris, psychostasia occurs: weighing the heart of the deceased on the scales balanced by the truth (by the image of the goddess Maat or her symbols). The sinner devoured a terrible monster of AMT (lion with a crocodile head), the righteous came to life for a happy life in the fields of Iaru. Justified on the court of Osiris could be only a humble and patient in the earthly life, the one that did not cradle, did not enjoy the temple property, did not restrain, did not say evil against the king, etc., as well as "pure heart" (" I'm clean, clean, clean"- argues the deceased in court).
Agricultural myths.
The third main cycle of the myths of ancient Egypt is associated with Osiris. The Osiris cult is associated with the spread of agriculture in Egypt. He is the God of the productive forces of nature (in the "Book of the Dead" he named grain, in the "Texts of the Pyramid" - the God of Grape Vines), fading and resurrection vegetation. So, Sev was considered the grain funeral - Osiris, the emergence of germs was perceived as his revival, and cut off the coal during the harvest - as the killing of God. These functions of Osiris were reflected in extremely common legend describing his death and revival. Osiris, happily reigning in Egypt, causally killed his younger brother, an angry set. Osiris Isisida sisters (at the same time, being his wife) and the oil is looking for the body of the murdered for a long time, and finding mourned. Isis hurts from the dead husband of the son of the mountain. Mattering, the Mountains joins the fight against the network, at the trial of the gods he, with the help of Isis, seeks to recognize himself as the only lawful heir to Osiris. Having defeated Sket, the mountains resurrect the father. However, Osiris, not wanting to remain on earth, becomes the king of the afterlime world and the supreme judge over the dead. The throne of Osiris on the ground goes to the mountain.
The myths associated with Osiris were reflected in numerous rituals. At the end of the last winter month, "Hoyyak" - the beginning of the first month of Spring "Tibi" was committed by Mystery of Osiris, during which the main episodes of the myth of him were played in dramatic form. The priestesses in the images of Isis and oil depicted searches, mourning and burial of God. Then the "Great Fight" took place between the mountain and the network. The drama was completed by the waters dedicated to Osiris the "Jed" pillar, symbolizing the revival of God and, mediated - all of nature. In the dualist period, the holiday ended with the struggle of two groups of participants of the Mysteries: one of them was represented by summer, and the other - winter. The victory has always obedient summer (the resurrection of nature). After uniting the country under the rule of the rulers of the Upper Egypt, the character of the mysteries is changing. Now two groups are fighting, one of which is in the clothes of the Upper Egypt, and the other is lower. Victory, of course, remains behind the group, symbolizing the upper Egypt. On the days of Osiris, dramatized rites of the coronation of pharaohs also coped. During Mystery, the young Pharaoh spoke in the role of Mountain - the son of Isis, and the deceased king was depicted by Osiris sitting on the throne.
The character of Osiris as a god of vegetation was reflected in another ritual cycle. In a special placement of the temple, the similarity of the Osiris figure was made from clay, which was singing grain. By the Holidays Osiris, his image was covered with green shoots, which symbolized the revival of God. In the drawings, Mummy Osiris is often found with sprouted shootings from it, which wipes the priest.
Osiris's idea How about God fertility was transferred to Pharaoh, who was considered a magical foam of the fertility of the country and therefore participated in all major agricultural rites: with the onset of the raising time, the Nile threw a scroll into the river - a decree that the beginning of the spill came; The first solemnly started the preparation of the soil for sowing; He cut off the first hen on the festival of the harvest, for the whole country he brought the gratitude of the goddess repente 7 and the statues of the dead pharaohs after the end of the field work.
A bright trail in Egyptian mythology left the cult of animals, widespread in all periods of Egyptian history. The gods in the form of animals, with the heads of birds and animals, the gods scorpions, the Stemes act in the Egyptian myths along with the deities in the human appearance. The more powerful God was considered, the more religious animals attributed to him, in the appearance of which he could appear before people.
The Egyptian myths reflected the peculiarities of the world's skitting of the residents of the Nile Valley, their ideas about the origin of the world and his dispensation, which have developed over the Millennium and go back to primitive times. Here and attempts to find the origins of being in the biological act of the creation of the gods, the search for the initial substance, the impersonal divine couples, is the germ of the later exercises about the first elements of the world, and, finally, as one of the highest achievements of the Egyptian theological thought - the desire to explain the origin of the world, people and the whole culture As a result of creative strength, embodied in the word of God.

1.2 Ancient Egyptian "Book of the Dead"

Ancient Egyptian "Book of the Dead" -the collection of spells, which the Egyptians (in the era of the new kingdom and later) was placed in the tomb so that the dead could safely overcome the dangers of the other world and gain enlightened immortality. This term, the current Egyptians denoted Papiral scrolls with mysterious letters and drawings, which they found together with the mummies of their distant ancestors, in no way spreading it to the content of the text they, of course, did not know.
The true title of "Dead Books" was "Er Pretch Em Cher" 8. It reflects the main essence of this wonderful text: to help the deceased to transfer all the dangers of the afterlime world, to go through the posthumous court and together with the solar barka of God RA again return to Earth, i.e., to rise, resurrect - "Updated", as the Egyptians said. To defeat death to lead an already spiritual and sensual existence in a rejuvenated, beautiful, unstable body on eternally beautiful fertile land surrounded by his relatives and loved ones. This is a book about overcoming death, about the victory over it and at the same time how to do it.
The story of the "Books of the Dead" dates back to endlessly remote times when the primitive religious representations of the ancient inhabitants of the Nile Valley began to make shape in an increasingly more complex cult of local gods and the funeral ritual formed in their main features. Apparently, even before the unification of Egypt to one state, in the completed period, the collection of clock formulas began to develop, much later, with the pharaohs of the V-Vi-d dynasty (approx. 2355 BC. E.) Stranded on the walls of the burial cameras already quite Modest but sizes of royal pyramids (famous grand pyramids in Giza "silent"). For the first time, this happened with the pharaoh unise, already on the outcome of the ancient kingdom.
These inscriptions found at the end of the last century the outstanding French Egyptologist G. Maspero and called them the texts of the pyramids. This work, apparently, was a record of the funeral ritual and concerned exclusively a royal personality, which naturally does not mean that all other inhabitants of Egypt did not have any ideas about the posthumous existence. However, in the tombs of the necropolis of the ancient kingdom of texts relating to the posthumous residence of "simple" dead, no. So, speaking about the era of the ancient kingdom, we can judge only about the posthumous being of Pharaoh, who expected the upcoming before the gods and joining their sites. After death, he flew over to the sky and there, in an infinite star space, sailed along with the Sunny God of the Republic of Armenia in "Field of Million years." "Your wings are growing like a falcon, you are widely like a hawk, on which they look at the evening, after he crossed the sky"; "Flying flying. He flew away from you, people, for he does not belong to the earth, he belongs to the sky ... "
With the completion of the ancient kingdom, at the end of the third millennium BC. e., the funeral literature undergoes significant changes. Now, not only Pharaoh has placed the funeral texts, going to the kingdom of the gods: such fate awaited everyone. Already in the last dynasties of the ancient kingdom, the "Pyramids" texts are beginning to leave the burial cameras of the Navy, and appear on the inner and outer walls of rectangular wooden sarcophages of their subjects. In many respects, these are the same "Pyramid Texts", but still they are already so different from them, which is clearly representing a new stage in the development of clock literature. In the "Texts of Sarcophagi" (so they are called in scientific literature) Sunny cult connected with the Degenous Pharaoh is intertwined with chtonic (Earth); The illuminated world is located in a completely special place of the space of the Universe, where the RA is sent every night with his retinue to fight the forces of the gloom. Here, as in the "Texts of the Pyramids", many magical formulas and spells, mentions of ancient myths (more than those relating to Osiris) and liturgical recipients. All this is divided into separate "sayings", or chapters that have their names, many of which entered later in the "Book of the Dead". At the sarcophagas of the XII dynasty (OK 1991 BC), another text dedicated to afterlife and language referred to the era of the ancient kingdom appears. This is the famous "Book of two ways", created in order to alleviate the way to make the road to the PHEP fields (fields of the world) by the Fields of Eternal Bliss, where wheat in the growth of a person, where there is no crop and hunger, where the deceased are in the endless bliss under the Senyu The mysterious sky of the afterlife kingdom.
It is in the "two way book" for the first time illustrating the text of the images that have so important in the "Book of the Dead" appear. B. A. Turaev writes about the "Book of two ways" so: "This is an illustrated Vade Mecum of the dead man, facilitating his way on land and water of the afterlife and consisting of the latter and texts, which disintegrate on the 16" chapters "(Sat." Receptions ") In three groups. The first group begins by referring to some kind of deity that gives a pass for a journey in the necropolis of Sokar Ra-Setau, where the deceased facilitates the suffering of Osiris, which is then glorified. Wandering then speaks of his victory over the enemy, who keeps in his claws as a lion. All this ends with the words: "The book of this was under the sandals of a total. End of her ... " The second group talks about the pilgrimage of the deceased on various Egyptian shrines, obviously transferred to another world. He enters and in Heliopol, and in Buto, and in the "House of Life of Abidos", and "on the pure earth Nile"; Everywhere sees local shrines and notes. The third group actually represents the "book about two ways." After the image of the doors, a map is given to these paths, divided by the entire length of the red stripe depicting the "Sea Fire": on top of it - "Waterways", from below - land. The first lead first along the fiery lake; The text warns at the crossroads from the Fiery Sea: "Do not go to him." On land, the soul passes through the dams protected by the guardians, which you have to read the "transmission of passage" or issue yourself for the gods for free skipping. As can be seen from the above description, the achievement of eternal bliss places was not easy, and sometimes deadly and became almost impossible without accurate knowledge of the topography of the afterlife and the presentation of his inhabitants. Without an accurate map and detailed image, it was impossible to go on the road along two ways of the kingdom of the dead. From now on, the funeral literature began to be accompanied by drawings, facilitating this risky journey and with the time of the independent type of Egyptian schedules, an integral part of the papyrus "Book of the Dead.
The new period in the development of religious literature comes with the end of the Middle Kingdom. At this time, the clock texts recorded on the papyrus become the property of almost all layers in the population. As in the previous era, the main collection of funeral texts is developing, replaced by the "Texts of Sarcophagi" of the Middle Kingdom. Already at its end, the first papiral scrolls appear, and from the XVIII dynasty (approx. 1552 BC. Er) they spread throughout. "From now on, starting, ... Religious texts relating to the underground world, were collected together and recorded in the form we now know as the" Book of the Dead ", and every Egyptian, who was quite conspirable to afford to pay the scribe even For the most incomplete list of sacred texts, a papyrus scroll with him, who could be a short passage, concluded no more than the most necessary chapters, or could be an impressive work that achieved hundreds or more feet of length and concluded all precautions, what the wisdom of the Egyptian The scribe knew against the dangers of the darkness of the duat. That is why nine of every ten Egyptian papyrus - funeral papyrus, and why nine out of every ten funeral papyrus - copies of what we know as the "Book of the Dead", others are copies of the later options and the reductions of this basic book- "Gate Book", "Breath Book", "The book of knowledge of what is in the underground world", and so on " nine . Of course, the manufacture of papyrus scrolls required much less time and money costs than the painting of bulky wooden boxes. It should also be remembered that anthropoid sarcophages repeating the shape of the human body and unsuitable for the premises of long inscriptions in the era of the new kingdom. The new papyrius collection was made almost that "on the stream" with the leaving of the free space for the name of the buyer. So done the vast majority of scrolls.
The "Book of the Dead" appeared as if the result of all long development of Egyptian religious literature. This one, the third stage of its existence, corresponding to the era of the new kingdom (1580-1085 BC), shows how difficult the theological thought for a long hundreds of years has passed. The main object of the clock cult becomes Osiris - a chtonic deity, the good of God, the wise lord of the kingdom of the dead, the underground sun, whose posthumous court and restoring justice, whose house is right in the fields of Ialu (Fields of the Kamyshem), where they work well.
Like very many other nations, the Egyptians had confidence that some events in a different world could be affected from here. It is possible, for example, somehow influence the fate of the late or to report to the highest forces, acting from there. For these purposes, they resorted to magic.
The magic of the ancient Egyptians is one of the most attractive phenomena for modern fans of mysticism and the innermost knowledge of antiquity, but in essence it is very close to the actions committed by shamans whose activities are mainly and is aimed at the impact on the otherworld other peace.
Now - about the text itself. The "Book of the Dead" is a collection of various purposes, often in the literature conditionally referred to as heads. They can be divided into three categories: prayers and hymns of various gods, magic spells and records of the funeral ritual (explanations, how to install the burial bed, how to furnish the burial chamber, etc.). The order and number of sponsors in different lists were different. Moreover, not the last role was played by the consistency of the customer. The total number of transactions found in different copies of the "Books of the Dead", - 193, but in fact a complete collection of chapters, apparently, did not exist. There was also the text named "Perpet Em Hyer in the same chapter", which if necessary, could replace all the others.
The current numbering of chapters was proposed by the German Egyptologist by the last century R. Lepsius, on the basis of a copy of the "Books of the Dead" published by him, the Ptolemeevsky era (305--30. BC), when the order of reality was already unified. Although the overwhelming number of properties have title, they do not always correspond to the content of the text itself; First of all it refers to spells. It is difficult to talk about the logical structure of each scroll, but if we consider the entire collection as a whole, it becomes more noticeable.
The content of the "Book of the Dead" can be divided into four parts (as the French Egyptologist A. MORE): 1) Chapter 1-16. Procession of the funeral procession to necropol prayers about "output per day"; Hymns of the Sun and Osiris. 2) Chapters 17-63: "Exit per day" and the revival of the deceased; His victory over the forces of darkness; impotence of enemies; The power of the deceased over the elements. 3) chapters 64-129: "Exit per day" - the transformation of the deceased in a deity; The introduction of it to the solar roaster: the knowledge of different sacraments; disgust in the tomb; Mail court. 4) Chapters 130-162: The glorification of the deceased - texts designed to read during the year (at certain holidays, in the days of the deadlocks of the dead) and the goal to protect the mummy. This is the content of the "Perret Em Cher"; Before the 63rd chapter stands the title: "Brought from another book to add -" Perpet Em Hyer ", and then 30 chapters follow.
Pictures placed with the text played a colossal role: the first example of a book illustration in history. So the content received not only verbal, but also the visual expression.
The nature of the Egyptian drawing letter is such that the images on the pages of the "Book of the Dead" Egyptians were not only considered, but also read almost the same as the text. In this regard, the illustration to the collection was more informative for contemporaries than for us.

Chapter 2. Magic in Ancient Egypt.

The "magic" of Egyptians existed in two varieties: on the one hand, it was used on legal grounds for the benefit of the living and the dead, on the other - she was a tool of secret conspiracy and was intended to damage the fact that they were applied against whom. There is no doubt that the main purpose of magical books and ceremonies was to benefit those who acquired enough knowledge. Unfortunately, strangers who visited Egypt did not understand his customs, as a result of which among the neighboring peoples, the incorrect interpretation of the Egyptian religion and exaggerated opinion about their possibilities was common. The magical ceremonies committed in the burials were represented by non-either stupid superstitions or the techniques of "black" magic.
If the magic of any people of the Ancient East was directed against the forces of darkness and people, who used it, sought to counteract their cruel plans by attracting a number of a number of benevolent creatures to their side, - the Egyptians sought to gain power over their gods and get the opportunity to call them His wishes. Such ambitious results were achieved with certain words, which should have been pronounced by a specially prepared person to obtain an effect. It was also possible to write them on any material - papyrus, precious stone and the like things that a person wore on themselves, if, of course, the effect of these words could be transmitted to the distance. Such amulets or talismans in Egypt worned almost everyone who could afford it (whether a man, a woman or child), so there is nothing surprising that the Egyptians from ancient times were considered the people of magicians and sorcerers. Jewish, Greek and Roman authors talk about them as connoisseurs of occult sciences and the lords of forces, which, depending on the circumstances, can be used for the benefit or harm to the person.
Having achieved a high level of craft development, the Egyptians were very skilled as well in literary writings, and in the manufacture of books, especially those related to ceremonies committed in the good of the dead.
Now we will briefly consider the fixed assets used by the Egyptians to make magical actions: stones, amulets, figures, images, formulas, names, ceremonies, and so on.

2.1 Magic stones and amulets.

Amules we call various items, decorations and details of clothes that were used by the Egyptians, and later and other nations to protect the body of a living or deceased person from death
etc.................

Sources of studying the mythology of ancient Egypt differ in incomplete and non-systematic presentation. The nature and origin of many myths are reconstructed on the basis of late texts. The main monuments reflecting the mythological representations of the Egyptians are a variety of religious texts: the hymns and prayers of the gods, the records of the burial rites on the walls of the tomb. The most significant of them - "Pyramids" texts are the most ancient texts of the clock royal rituals, carved on the walls of the inner premises Pyramids of the Pharaohs V and VI of the Dynasties of the Ancient Kingdom (XXVI - XXIII century BC); "Texts of sarcophagus", preserved on the sarcophagas of the era of the Middle Kingdom (XXI - XVIII century to our era), "The Book of the Dead" - established from the period of the new kingdom and until the end of the history of Egypt.

Egyptian mythology began to form in VI - IV millennia BC, long before the occurrence of class society. In each area (number) there is its own pantheon and the cult of the gods embodied in heavenly luminas, stones, trees, birds, snakes, etc.

The meaning of Egyptian myths is invaluable, they give valuable material and for a comparative study of religious representations in the ancient East, and to study the ideology of the Greco-Roman world, and for the history of the emergence and development of Christianity.

Cosmogonic myths

Judging by the archeology, in the most ancient period of Egyptian history, there were still no cosmic gods that were attributed to the creation of the world. Scientists believe that the first version of this myth emerged shortly before the unification of Egypt. According to this version, the sun was born from the Union of Earth and the sky. This personification is undoubtedly ancient than the cosmogonical ideas of priests from major religious centers. As usual, from the already existing myth did not refuse, and images of the heba (God of the Earth) and the Nut (Goddess of the sky) as the parents of the god of the Sun RA are preserved in religion throughout the ancient history. Every morning the nute is in the light of the sun and every evening hides it for the night in his womb.

Theological Systems that offered another version of the creation of the world arose, probably at the same time in several largest religious centers: Heliopole, Hermopol and Memphis. Each of these centers declared the creator of the world of his main God, who was, in turn, the father of other gods, united around him.

A common to all cosmogonical concepts was the idea that the creation of the world was preceded by chaos of water immersed in the eternal darkness. The beginning of the exit from chaos was binding to the emergence of light, the embodiment of which was the sun. The idea of \u200b\u200bthe aquatic spacious, from which at first a small hill appears, closely related to Egyptian realities: it almost exactly corresponds to the annual spilling of the Nile, whose water was covered with the entire valley, and then, retreating, gradually discovered the land ready for a stitch. In this sense, the act of creating the world seemed to be repeated annually.

Egyptian myths about the beginning of the world do not represent a single, one-piece story. Often, the same mythological events are depicted in different ways, and the gods in them are in various appearance. It is curious that with many cosmogonical plots, explaining the creation of the world, extremely little place is given to the creation of a person. The ancient Egyptians seemed that the gods created the world for people. In the written literary heritage of Egypt, there are very few direct guidelines for the creation of the genus of human, such instructions are an exception. Basically, the Egyptians were limited to conviction that a person must his existence of the gods that are waiting for this thanks, understood very simple: a person must worship the gods, build and contain temples, regularly commit sacrifices.

Heliopol's priests created their version of the world, declaring him by the creator of the Sun of the Republic of Armenia, identified with other gods - the creators of Atumu and Hepry ("Atum" means "perfect", the name "Hepry" can be translated as "the one who arises" or "one Who leads to the emergence. " Atuma was usually depicted in the guise of a person, Hepry in the form of a scarab, which means that his cult dates back to the time the gods attached the appearance of animals. It is curious that Hepri had never had his own cult destination. As the personification of the rising sun, he was identical to Atumu - the Coming Sun and Ra - Luminous Day. The scarab appearance attached to him was associated with the conviction that this beetle is able to multiply in itself, hence his divine creative force. And the type of scarab, pushing his ball, prompted the Egyptians the image of God, rolling the sun across the sky.

The myth of the creation of the world by Atum, RA and Hepry is recorded in the "Texts of the Pyramids", and by the time the text it was first carved in stone, he probably existed for a long time ago and was widely known.

According to the "Texts of the Pyramids", RA - ATUM - Hepry created himself, arising from chaos called by nun. NUN, or PRIOVAN, was usually depicted as a unbarrous boring water space. Atum, appearing from him, did not find the place where he could be held. Therefore, he first created Ben-Ben hill. Standing on this island of solid soil, Ra-Atum-Hepry began to create other space gods. Since he was one, he had to give birth to the first pair of gods. Other gods occurred from the union of this first couple, thus, according to Heliopol myth, the Earth and the ruling deity appeared. In the continuing act of creation from the first pair of gods - Shu (air) and Tefunut (moisture) - GEB (Earth) and Nut (Sky) were born. They, in turn, spawned two gods and two goddesses: Osiris, Seth, Isido and Oil. So there was a great nine of the gods - Healthy Enneada. This version of the creation of the world was not the only one in Egyptian mythology. According to one of the legends, the creator of people was, for example, Gonchar - the God of Hnum, which appeared in the appearance of the Baran, - who cut them out of clay.

The theologians of Memphis, the largest political and religious center of Ancient Egypt, one of his capitals, included in their myth about the creation of the world of many gods belonging to different religious centers, and subjugated their PTA as the Creator of Total. Memphis version of cosmogony compared to Heliopolsky significantly more distracted: the world and gods are not created with the help of a physical act - as in the process of creating atum, - and solely thought and the word.

Sometimes the Heavenly Code appeared in the form of a cow with a body covered with stars, but there were still ideas, according to which the sky is a water surface, a sky Nile, in the afternoon in the afternoon afternoon. Under the ground, too, there is a Neal, on him the sun, going down the horizon, floats at night. Neil, flowing on the ground, personified in the image of God Hapi, who contributed to harvest with his fertile spills. The Nile himself was also inhabited by good and evil deities in the image of animals: crocodiles, hippo, frogs, scorpions, snakes, etc. The fertility of the fields were injured by the goddess - Vlady man of the bins and barn rhenenutet, which was revered in the image of the snake, which appears on the field during the harvest, Watching the care of harvesting. Vintage grapes depended on the god of the vine of the vines of Shai.

Myths of the clock cult

A large role in the Egyptian mythology played ideas about the afterlife as a direct continuation of the earthly, but only in the grave. Its necessary conditions - the preservation of the body of the deceased (hence the custom of mummifying the corpses), ensuring the dwelling for it (tombs), food (brought by alive fertile gifts and sacrifices). Later, there are ideas that the dead (i.e. their Ba, soul) go to sunlight, take off to the sky to the gods, are weird in the underground kingdom (Duat). The essence of a person thoughted in the inepler unity of his body, the souls (they were considered, there were several: ka, Ba; the Russian word "soul", however, is not the exact compliance of the Egyptian concept), name, shadow. The soul of all sorts of monsters in the underground kingdom, we can escape from which it is possible with special spells and prayers. Over the late Osiris, along with other gods, a diploma will be verticked (the 125th chapter "Books of the Dead" is specifically dedicated to him. In the face of Osiris, psychostasia occurs: weighing the heart of the deceased on the scales balanced by the truth (by the image of the goddess Maat or her symbols). The sinner devoured a terrible monster of AMT (lion with a crocodile head), the righteous came to life for a happy life in the fields of Iaru. Justified at the court of Osiris could only be a humble and patient in the earthly life, the one that did not cradle, did not encroach on the temple property, did not restrain, did not say evil against the king, etc., as well as "pure heart" ("I am clean , clean, clean, "says the deceased in court).

Agricultural myths

The third main cycle of the myths of ancient Egypt is associated with Osiris. The Osiris cult is associated with the spread of agriculture in Egypt. He is the God of the productive forces of nature (in the "Book of the Dead" he named grain, in the "Texts of the Pyramid" - the God of Grape Vines), fading and resurrection vegetation. So, Sev was considered the grain funeral - Osiris, the emergence of germs was perceived as his revival, and cut off the coal during the harvest - as the killing of God. These functions of Osiris were reflected in extremely common legend describing his death and revival. Osiris, happily reigning in Egypt, causally killed his younger brother, an angry set. Osiris Isisida sisters (at the same time, being his wife) and the oil is looking for the body of the murdered for a long time, and finding mourned. Isis hurts from the dead husband of the son of the mountain. Mattering, the Mountains joins the fight against the network, at the trial of the gods he, with the help of Isis, seeks to recognize himself as the only lawful heir to Osiris. Having defeated Sket, the mountains resurrect the father. However, Osiris, not wanting to remain on earth, becomes the king of the afterlime world and the supreme judge over the dead. The throne of Osiris on the ground goes to the mountain. In another version of the myth, the resurrection of Osiris is associated with the annual spills of the Nile, which are explained by the fact that Isis, mourning Osiris, after the "Night of Tears" fills the river with his tears.

The myths associated with Osiris were reflected in numerous rituals. At the end of the last winter month, "Hoyyak" - the beginning of the first month of Spring "Tibi" was committed by Mystery of Osiris, during which the main episodes of the myth of him were played in dramatic form. The priestesses in the images of Isis and oil depicted searches, mourning and burial of God. Then the "Great Fight" took place between the mountain and the network. The drama was completed by the waters dedicated to Osiris the "Jed" pillar, symbolizing the revival of God and, mediated - all of nature. In the dualist period, the holiday ended with the struggle of two groups of participants of the Mysteries: one of them was represented by summer, and the other - winter. The victory has always obedient summer (the resurrection of nature). After uniting the country under the rule of the rulers of the Upper Egypt, the character of the mysteries is changing. Now two groups are fighting, one of which is in the clothes of the Upper Egypt, and the other is lower. Victory, of course, remains behind the group, symbolizing the upper Egypt. On the days of Osiris, dramatized rites of the coronation of pharaohs also coped. During Mystery, the young Pharaoh spoke in the role of Mountain - the son of Isis, and the deceased king was depicted by Osiris sitting on the throne.

The character of Osiris as a god of vegetation was reflected in another ritual cycle. In a special placement of the temple, the similarity of the Osiris figure was made from clay, which was singing grain. By the Holidays Osiris, his image was covered with green shoots, which symbolized the revival of God. In the drawings, Mummy Osiris is often found with sprouted shootings from it, which wipes the priest.

Osiris's idea How about God fertility was transferred to Pharaoh, who was considered a magical foam of the fertility of the country and therefore participated in all major agricultural rites: with the onset of the raising time, the Nile threw a scroll into the river - a decree that the beginning of the spill came; The first solemnly started the preparation of the soil for sowing; He cut off the first hen on the festival of the harvest, for the whole country, he brought the gratitude of the goddess of the yield of Renenutet and the statues of the dead pharaoh after the end of the field work.

A bright trail in Egyptian mythology left the cult of animals, widespread in all periods of Egyptian history. The gods in the form of animals, with the heads of birds and animals, the gods scorpions, the Stemes act in the Egyptian myths along with the deities in the human appearance. The more powerful God was considered, the more religious animals attributed to him, in the appearance of which he could appear before people.

The Egyptian myths reflected the peculiarities of the world's skitting of the residents of the Nile Valley, their ideas about the origin of the world and his dispensation, which have developed over the Millennium and go back to primitive times. Here and attempts to find the origins of being in the biological act of the creation of the gods, the search for the initial substance, the impersonal divine couples, is the germ of the later exercises about the first elements of the world, and, finally, as one of the highest achievements of the Egyptian theological thought - the desire to explain the origin of the world, people and the whole culture As a result of creative strength, embodied in the word of God.

Literature

Mythology. Encyclopedia, -M .: Belfax, 2002

Legends and myths of ancient Egypt, -M.: Summer Garden, 2001

Religion played a big role in the life of Egyptians. Their religious views were in the era of the ancient kingdom, in the future they have undergone significant changes, which, nevertheless, did not touch the initial features and the characteristics of religion. The ancient Egyptians deified nature and earthly power identified with the pharaoh. In each number (region) of Egypt, his own deity was worshiped. A feature of the Egyptian religion is the long preservation of the remnants of the oldest beliefs - Totemism. Therefore, the Egyptians represented their gods in animal images, snakes, frogs, crocodiles, rams, cats. The beasts were considered sacred, they were kept at the temples, and after death they were embarrassed and buried in sarcophagas. The zoomorphism of the Egyptian gods is also based on totemism. The god of the mountains was likened to falcon, Anubis - Shakal, Khnum - Baran, Sobets - Crocodile, Goddess Hathor - Cow.

With the development of the Egyptian civilization, the gods began to give an anthropomorphic appearance. The remains of the oldest worship of the animal gods were installed in the form of bird and animal heads in anthropomorphic (human-like) deities and manifested themselves in the elements of the headdresses (Sokol's head at Mountain, Horn of Cow in Isides, Gazelki Gazeli at Satit, Baran Horns at Amon, etc. ).

With all the diversity of the gods the main thing was the God of the Sun - Ra King and father of the gods. No less important and revered was Osiris - The god of death personifies the dying and resurrection nature. The Egyptians believed that after their death and resurrection, Osiris became the king of the underground kingdom. The most important goddess was Isisosiris's wife and sister, patroness fertility and motherhood. God of the Moon Honsu was simultaneously the God of writing; The goddess of truth and order was considered Mat.

The deification of pharaohs occupied a central place in religious cult Egypt. Pharaoh was "the manager of everything that is sent by the sky and focused on earth." Since the formation of the statehood, Pharaoh was considered a living God on Earth, the embodiment of God Mountain. In the ancient kingdom, he was represented as the earthly son of the RA god, in the middle kingdom - the son of Amona. After the death of Pharaoh, buried with an extraordinary magnitude in the specially erected tomb with the richest funeral inventory. Like the gods, Pharaohs had their temples, where victims were brought to them and in their honor worship was held. The deification of Pharaoh reflected the huge power of the monarch, as the unlimited head of the Egyptian state and sanctified and strengthened this power in the interests of the dominant class.

Egyptian polytheism did not contribute to the centralization of the state, strengthen the supreme power and submissal of the tribes conquered by Egypt. Pharaoh Amenhotep IV. (1419 - OK. 1400 GG. BC) made a religious reformer, trying to approve the cult of one God. It was the first in the history of mankind attempt to establish monotheism. He introduced a new state cult, declaring the True Divine Sun Disk under the name of God ATON. He made the city of Agetaton (modern settlement of El Amarne) and accepted the name Ehnaton,what meant "Hand Alder Athon". He tried to break the power of old pride and old nobility: the cults of all other gods were canceled, their temples were closed, and the property was confiscated. However, the reforms of Ehnaton caused the strong resistance of the powerful and numerous layer of priests and were short-lived. The successors of the pharaoh reformer were soon forced to go to reconciliation with the priests. The cults of old gods were restored, the positions of local priesthood intensified.

The most important element of the religious representations of the ancient Egyptians was faith in the afterlife - protest against death. The desire of immortality determined the entire worldview of the Egyptians, perished the entire religious thought of Egypt, formed ancient Egyptian culture. The desire for immortality became the basis for the occurrence clock cult Which has played a big role not in only the religious and cultural, but also political, economic, life of ancient Egypt. According to the consecration of the ancient Egyptians, death did not mean the end: life on earth could be extended forever, the deceased could wait for the resurrection. This led to the occurrence of art of manufacture mumiy Mummification provided long-term body saving. A posthumous existence was perceived as a continuation of the usual life of a person on Earth: nobleman remains no one, artisan - craftsman, etc. Therefore, to perform the necessary work in the afterlime world in the tomb put specially made figures of people - servants, workers, tools of labor. Thus, the Egyptian religion passed a long development path and over time turned into a complete religious system. And the geographical isolation of Egypt contributed to the independence of religious development, the weakness of the influence of other religious systems.

Thus, the Egyptian religion passed a long development path and over time turned into a complete religious system. And the geographical isolation of Egypt contributed to the independence of religious development, the weakness of the influence of other religious systems.

3.1.3 writing and literature

Each civilization has created its letter system. Egyptian writing originated at the end of IV thousand BC, held a long path of formation and as a developed system was formed by the time of the Middle Kingdom. The first written signs arose from the drawings, more correctly from the figure letter in the form of a certain set of signs transmitting sounds and pronounced words, symbols and stylized drawings explaining the meaning of these words and concepts. Such written signs were called hieroglyphs, and Egyptian writing - hieroglyphic. Thanks to the organic combination of signs denoting syllables, ideograms, explaining the meaning of the word, the Egyptians managed to accurately and clearly transfer not only simple facts of reality and farm, but also complex shades of an abstract thought or an artistic image.

The material for writing hieroglyphs served: stone (walls of temples, tombs, sarcophagus, walls, obeliski, statues, etc.), clay shards (ostrakones), wood (sarcophagi, boards, etc.), leather scrolls. Wide application received papyrus. Papiral "Paper" was made of specially cooked stalks of Papirus plants, into the abundance of the Nile growing in the boards. The scribes wrote a tassel made from the stem of the marsh plant Kalamus, one end of which the scribe chew. Damped in water brushed looked into the groove with paint. If the text was applied to a solid material, the hieroglyphs were output carefully, but if the entry was made on the papyrus, then the hieroglyphic signs were reformed and modified beyond recognition compared to the original sample. Training in various types of hieroglyphic letters occurred in special test schools and was available only to representatives of the dominant class.

Civilization of ancient Egypt left humanity richest literary inheritance: fairy tales, didactic teachings, wine biographies, religious texts, poetic works. A characteristic feature of the ancient Egyptian literature is its inseparable connection with the religion and the traditional of ancient plots. Religious literature So, for example, the Egyptian "texts of the pyramids", the "Book of the Dead" - were collections of spells and guidebooks of the deceased in the afterlife kingdom.

A special kind of teaching was the prophecies of wise men who predict disaster ones for the country dominant, if the Egyptians would neglece compliance with the norms established by the gods. Such prophecies described the real disasters that occurred during the times of popular uprisings, invasions of foreign conquerors, social and political upheavals.

Favorite genres were fairy tales, In which the plots of folk fairy tales were subjected to author's processing. In these fairy tales through the dominant motives of adolescence, the ideas of good, wisdom and smelting of a simple worker, who ultimately won the cunning and cruel nobles, their greedy and cunning servants, are pierced.

The hymns and chants, performed in honor of the gods at the festivals, were massive poetry, but some of the hymns that had reached to modern times, in particular, the Anthem Nile and Anthem Athon, in which the beautiful and generous nature of Egypt is glorified in the images of the Nile and the Sun, are the poetic masterpieces of the world Class.

In addition to the diversity of genres, wealth of ideas and motifs, Egyptian literature is distinguished by unexpected comparisons, sonorous metaphors, figurative language, which makes the literature of ancient Egypt by one of the most interesting phenomena of world literature.

Astronomy in ancient Egypt

At about 5 millennia BC. The state formed in the Nile Valley - Ancient Egypt.

1. The Egyptians did not leave evidence that they carried out astronomical observations (with the exception of fixing the solar eclipse in 600 BC. Er

2. For the ancient Egyptians-astronomers, the main task was to calculate and predict the time and place of the appearance of their gods in the sky, especially their Sun God. Therefore, the surveillance of the Sun during the year was important for the Egyptians. Their ability to do this led to the division of the day and night for 12 parts (hours), to the creation of a lunar and solar calendar with 12 months (30 days each) and additional 5 days.

3. According to the representations of the ancients

egyptians, the universe has the form of a large valley stretched from north to south, in the center of it is Egypt. The sky was likened to a large iron roof, which is supported on the pillars, on it

in the form of lamps suspended stars

In ancient Egypt, there was a complex mythology with many gods. The astronomical representations of the Egyptians were closely connected with it. According to their beliefs, in the middle of the world there was Geb, one of the progenitors of the gods, the breadwinner and the defender of people. He personified the earth. Wife and sister Geiba, Nut, was the sky himself. She was called a huge mother of stars and bodies gods. It was believed that she swallows the shining every morning and every evening gives rise to them again. Because of this habit, there was once a quarrel of nuts and heba. Then their father Shu, the air, raised the sky over the earth and separated the spouses. Nut was the mother of PA (Sun) and stars and managed them. Ra in turn created a total of (moon) as his deputy in the night sky

Books on astronomy

Those books on astronomy, which were in ancient Egypt, were not intended for printing: they were used only during worship. Therefore, books can be judged only at the reference of Clement Greek from Alexandria, who gave them a list of their names:

a) about the positions of stars and star phenomena b) on the positions of the sun, the moon and five planets c) o phases of the moon

d) about rings

According to the myths of the goddess of the sky, NAT gave birth to God of RA. Goddess Nat usually

depicted as a naked woman on a starred background. The sun (RA) enters her mouth, passes through her body and

is born after 9 months (this period between

spring equinen and winter solst flow).

2. Ideas about the world of the ancient Egyptians

In his ideas about the world around the world, the ancient peoples proceeded, first of all, from the testimony of their senses: the Earth seemed flat on them, and the sky was a huge dome, spread over the ground. The picture shows how the heavenly arch is based on four high mountains locatedsomewhere on the edge of light! Egypt Nah-Xia in the center of the Earth. Heavenly shine as it were suspended on the arch.

In ancient Egypt, there was a cult of the god of the Sun of the Republic of Armenia, which carries around the sky on his chariot.

This drawing is naughty on the wall inside one of the pyramids.

According to another myth, the Day of Ra floats through the heavenly Nile and illuminates the land, and in the evening goes down to Duat (hell).

During the night services of the cult of RA, the priests had to help God who had committed their difficult swimming in the underground Nile. To do this, they needed to determine time and night. We have reached the testimony of three attempts to create the Egyptians of the star clock.

The most accurate of them were the third, in which observation instruments were used. This method of measuring night clocks in the stars was invented about 1500 BC. e. It was carried out, noting the time of the passage of certain stars through the heavenly meridian and the neighboring sections of the sky. The observer was sitting on the site to the south, opposite the figure of the person sitting on the meridian. Whether this is the servant of the temple or mannequin, is unknown. Observer with the help of a visitor device - a cutting of a cut in the upper part - followed the passage of the "watch star" above the "figure".

The tables are preserved with an indication of the stars and their positions for each of the 12 hours of the night. The provisions were designated phrases: "opposite the heart" (in the middle of the shapes), "over the right eye", "over the left ear", "over the right shoulder" - just seven regulations. Like the first two, this method of determining the time tied to a sliding calendar, demanded a permanent update 7

tables and turned out to be short-lived.

In Karnak, near FIV, the most ancient Egyptian water watches were found. They are made in XIV. BC e. The water clock, which the Greeks later called Klepsidra, were a bowl with a small hole, from which the water flowed or dripped. On the inside of the bowl, the scale was placed on which it was possible to judge how much time "Leaked". The Egyptians of that era shared the night and day for 12 hours, and the clock was obtained different depending on the seasons. Therefore, in each month they used a separate scale with its name. The clock was filled with water at the beginning of the night, and the point of reference could serve, for example, the sunset, and then during the service, the priests no longer needed to look at the sky.