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ikhet_sekhmetSome great little bits in this exhaustive survey of the evidence (amulets! letters! stelae! votaries!)
'Despite the many positive images of the afterlife, some of the owners of the biographical inscriptions express apprehensions about death. [for example, one says:] "A moment of seeing the rays of the sun is more beneficial than eternity as the ruler of the realm of the dead." ... there was perhaps some questioning of the accepted funerary beliefs and ideas concerning the afterlife...' (p47) I wonder if loads of people did, but it was unwise to express fears about what the afterlife might be like, lest they come to pass.
Talking about the 'fertility figurines' found in peoples' homes and as votive offerings at shrines, naked clay female figurines presumably used to 'bring about conception, ensure a successful pregnancy and protect offspring during childhood', Adderley says: 'The naked female figure may have represented a goddess, either a specific deity (perhaps varying from region to region) or simply a generic divine female... Waraksa has suggested that a generic form may have been used "in order to protect the deity involved from the affliction she was being asked to address."' (p173)
This made me smile. The oracular amuletic decrees, rolled up in a container and worn around the neck, were written guarantees from the gods to protect the wearer from every kind of calamity -- impressive promises of protection against "every kind of illness which is known and every kind of illness which is not known", "every death, every illness and every suffering which comes to people". But just in case, one of them added: "I shall provide [for him] a physician who heals." (My relationship with Sekhmet in a sentence.) (p 199)
The wearer might need protection against not just evil spirits, but malevolent deities, such as Sekhmet, Nefertem, Bastet, 'the fierce lion of Bastet whose sustenance is the blood of people', Ptah, Isis, Horus, Amun, Mut, Khonsu, and Thoth. It's surprising to see these righteous gods in a sort of line-up of potential aggressors against the individual; I suppose someone had to be responsible when bad things happened to people. The decree would promise to propitiate the gods in question. (p 203)
'Despite the many positive images of the afterlife, some of the owners of the biographical inscriptions express apprehensions about death. [for example, one says:] "A moment of seeing the rays of the sun is more beneficial than eternity as the ruler of the realm of the dead." ... there was perhaps some questioning of the accepted funerary beliefs and ideas concerning the afterlife...' (p47) I wonder if loads of people did, but it was unwise to express fears about what the afterlife might be like, lest they come to pass.
Talking about the 'fertility figurines' found in peoples' homes and as votive offerings at shrines, naked clay female figurines presumably used to 'bring about conception, ensure a successful pregnancy and protect offspring during childhood', Adderley says: 'The naked female figure may have represented a goddess, either a specific deity (perhaps varying from region to region) or simply a generic divine female... Waraksa has suggested that a generic form may have been used "in order to protect the deity involved from the affliction she was being asked to address."' (p173)
This made me smile. The oracular amuletic decrees, rolled up in a container and worn around the neck, were written guarantees from the gods to protect the wearer from every kind of calamity -- impressive promises of protection against "every kind of illness which is known and every kind of illness which is not known", "every death, every illness and every suffering which comes to people". But just in case, one of them added: "I shall provide [for him] a physician who heals." (My relationship with Sekhmet in a sentence.) (p 199)
The wearer might need protection against not just evil spirits, but malevolent deities, such as Sekhmet, Nefertem, Bastet, 'the fierce lion of Bastet whose sustenance is the blood of people', Ptah, Isis, Horus, Amun, Mut, Khonsu, and Thoth. It's surprising to see these righteous gods in a sort of line-up of potential aggressors against the individual; I suppose someone had to be responsible when bad things happened to people. The decree would promise to propitiate the gods in question. (p 203)
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Date: 2024-02-02 12:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-02-02 11:32 pm (UTC)