The History Of The Creation Of The Ancient Egyptian "Book Of The Dead" - Alternative View

The History Of The Creation Of The Ancient Egyptian "Book Of The Dead" - Alternative View
The History Of The Creation Of The Ancient Egyptian "Book Of The Dead" - Alternative View

Video: The History Of The Creation Of The Ancient Egyptian "Book Of The Dead" - Alternative View

Video: The History Of The Creation Of The Ancient Egyptian "Book Of The Dead" - Alternative View
Video: The Egyptian Book of the Dead: A guidebook for the underworld - Tejal Gala 2024, March
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Pagan Egyptian theology is a truly magnificent phenomenon: it developed longer than the entire European civilization has existed - more than 3600 years. The influence he had on all existing and existing theological teachings is enormous. The true origins of all the esoteric teachings of the West and the East lie in the grandiose building of the temple of Egyptian cults, mysteries and rituals.

Everything that was said by the great teachers of other nations after the extinction of Egyptian civilization pales in comparison with the light of the ancient teachings of the Egyptian initiates. All the later teachings of the followers of Moses, Jesus, Adoniram and Muhammad are just vague omissions; all later rituals are only an awkward adaptation of the ancient ritual heritage; all sacraments are just a simulacrum or even a profanation.

Many teachings drew abundantly from the lake of divine knowledge of Egypt names, plots, myths, conceptual concepts, foundations and entire text fragments. This was the case with the Orphics, who were closest to the original sources. This is what Moses did when creating his Pentateuch. Everything "Egyptian" in Christianity has long been known. Other Egyptian influences go unnoticed in the eclectic doctrines of Muhammad and the free masons, but their identification is only a matter of time.

Egyptian mythology does not at all need "a scientific reconstruction of the genesis and its most ancient state." Everything lies on the surface, there are clear indications and explanations of both the Egyptian itself and other ancient traditions about everything. And with all this, the specific forms of the emergence and development of the Egyptian religion are far from clear to European scientists-Egyptologists. The emergence and early stages of development of many myths and cults are lost in the darkness of the centuries of the pre-dynastic period of Egypt.

The funerary activities of the prehistoric aborigines of the Nile (Melampods) were rooted in their instinct for social attachment. Therefore, the general line of development of forms of burial in the Nile Valley went from the desire to preserve the body of the deceased (through mummification) to keeping it nearby his dwelling, first in an ordinary semi-dugout, a cave or in an earthen grave, and then in a special crypt.

The later practice of mummification gave rise to the development of special types of urns for storing the entrails of the deceased (the so-called canons) and special cases for storing the mummy itself (the so-called sarcophagi).

Comprehension and verbal accompaniment of these funeral actions over the centuries turned into a special funerary cult of Ancient Egypt.

The ancient Egyptians had a firmly rooted custom to bury with the deceased works of funeral literature (Sahu), the purpose of which was to provide the deceased with a blissful existence in the other world.

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From the end of the 3rd Dynasty (about 2625 BC), the priests of the funeral cult read from the scroll of the papyrus of the requiem, and therefore, a written canon of the funeral service already existed.

The pharaohs of the 5th and 6th royal houses (2355-2155 BC) commanded to inscribe with artistically executed hieroglyphs, painted green, memorial texts on the walls of the inner rooms of their pyramids.

It is believed that the desire to provide themselves with a funeral cult with magical inscriptions inside the pyramid arose among the pharaohs, who felt the signs of the collapse of the Old Kingdom and the unreliability of the existing funeral cult.

The collection of all the tsar's funeral dirges of the Old Kingdom received the code name "Pyramid Texts".

The first period of the interregnum and fragmentation of Egypt (2150-2040 BC) gave rise to a new canon of memorial magical texts intended for the local nobility and appanage rulers of various districts-nomes. He received the name "Texts of the Sarcophagi". These texts contain a number of sayings from the "Pyramid Texts", but mainly consist of the works of the priests of the time, usually in the form of dialogues.

The magical texts that opened the otherworldly abode to the deceased and told him how to gain immortality correctly began to be written on papyrus under the pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom (about 2010-1785 BC).

From the walls of the sarcophagi, the texts of the requiem passed to the papyrus scrolls, which were placed inside the coffin. The funeral texts of the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC), recorded on papyri, were called "The Book of the Dead".

The "Book of the Dead" includes the most ancient sayings from the "Texts of the Pyramids", sayings from the walls of sarcophagi and the sayings of the priests of the funeral cult of the New Kingdom. Thus, the book of the Dead was compiled from about 2325 to 1700. BC e., and its final edition, which has come down to our times, belongs to the era of the Sais dynasty (663-525 BC).

Taking into account the fact that traditional memorial sayings existed in oral and even written form long before they were fixed on the walls of the royal pyramids, the Book of the Dead reflects the development of the Egyptian memorial service in the 3rd - first half of the 1st millennium BC. e. and is one of the longest-lived books of magical and divine content in the world.

The Book of the Dead was created mainly in the districts of Middle and Lower Egypt by the priesthoods of Abydos, Panopolis, Hermopolis, Heracleopolis, Memphis, Heliopolis, Busiris and Butoh. The Theban priests had nothing to do with its creation, since the name of Amun is not directly mentioned in it.

The Book of the Dead is divided into approximately four large sections:

The first section includes chapters 1 through 16, accompanying the march of the funeral procession to the necropolis, prayers for "leaving (the deceased) in the afternoon" and hymns to the gods Ra and Osiris.

The second section (chapters 17-63) contains a description of the rituals of "leaving (the deceased) during the day" and his revival, victory over the forces of darkness, weakening the enemies of the deceased, gaining power over the elements.

The third section (chapters 64-129) includes a description of the following rituals that accompanied the "exit (of the deceased) during the day": the transformation of the deceased into a deity, communion with the Boat of Million Years, cognition of various mysteries, return to the tomb and the Afterlife.

The fourth section covers chapters 130 to 162, which describes magical rites that were intended to protect the mummy, and also contains memorial texts glorifying the name of the deceased. These sayings were read during the year after death on certain holidays and on the days of making gifts to the deceased.

Over time, the "Book of the Dead" was supplanted by new memorial vaults such as the book "Amduat" 4 ("[The Book] about what is in the Duat"), "The Book of the Gates", etc. All of them were inscribed on the walls of the royal rock tombs XVI -XIII centuries. BC e. Egyptian funeral literature also developed later in Persian, Macedonian, Hellenistic and Roman times. In addition to the Book of the Dead, many shorter and slender memorial books appeared, but the authority of the Book of the Dead remained until the time of Cleopatra, Anthony and Caesar.

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