Just Finished Reading: Egyptian Myth – A Very Short Introduction by Geraldine Pinch

I’ve touched on the mythology of the Ancient Egyptians over the years and have always found the subject fascinating. It seems – amongst the myths that have influenced European culture the most – to be the strangest of the bunch by far. Central to this strangeness, for me anyway, is the number of deities who are partially or wholly animal in nature. I suppose that this is understandable given the proximity and importance of wildlife to both the Egyptian economy and environment but it still takes some getting used too. The many, many Gods and Goddesses mentioned throughout the millennia long history of Egypt – a surprising number which are familiar – stem from the names given to them dependent on who was giving the name, where they were located at the time and the particular aspect of the God being addressed. Sometimes it is enough to make your head spin. Being used to Gods with single names – no matter who was addressing them and no matter which of their aspects were being expressed - it is confusing at best for deities to have five, ten, even fifteen names. Sometimes though you simply have to accept the facts and learn them.

An interesting thing I learnt from this book is the common misunderstanding, which I shared, that the Ancient Egyptians where obsessed with death. They were in fact dedicated to life – as they believed that it was only their ritual actions that kept the world in existence. They believed that the natural order of things was Chaos – not Order – and that every day it was the responsibility of the great, the good and the commons to make sure that existence continued. The Gods themselves were an important part of this process and humanity was central to giving the Gods the power to ensure that Chaos did not triumph in the short term.

This was a well written and often fascinating little volume. Easy to read and informative I actually read it in a single day (without a great deal of effort). Obviously such a short volume can only really give you a taste of the subject – especially one so large as this – so don’t expect to become an expert on the subject on the back of it. However, this book does give you a grasp of the basics and does provide a useful bibliography to follow things up. You’ll soon pick up the details of the major players (especially if you’ve ever watched Stargate SG-1) and you’ll be surprised at how familiar some of the stories are. Recommended to anyone with an interest of our ancient past.