Red Land Black Land
Daily Life in Ancient Egypt
Barbara Mertz
copyright 1966, 1978, 2008
One of the Titles for the Queens of Egypt was "She for Whom Anything She Says is Done."
Nefertiti is shown doing 'kingly' stuff such as bashing people over the head in pharonic 'style' there are many who believe she held title of king.
Taururt occasionally had the title of king.
Sobekenefru is another
according to greek documentation so is niticorus
"durring the late dynasties, certain royal women aquired a new position, which probably imlied a certain degree of political power. This position was signified by the title of "Gods Wife" which was orriginally a relitious title belonging to the queens of the New Kingdom. Presumably it referred to the intimate relations of the queen with the god Amun, who was the real father of her royal son The later princesses who held the same title may also have been brides of Amun Ra, but they did not present him with ofspring. They lived in Thebes, where they assumed some of the powers of the high priests of Amun. Since the capital of Egypt durring this period was in the Delta, the king thus secured a valuable viceroy in the south - all the more valuable because she could rule as his representative, but never as pharoah. The gods wife, also known as 'the adorer of the god and the god's hand' may or may not have been celibate, but he office was passed on by adoption, not by birth. When a new king ascended the throne he send his daughter to Thebes, where she was adopted by the current Gods Wife, whom, in due time, she succeded."
"May she flow away - she who comes in the darkness
who enters in furtively
with her nose behind her, her face turned backward
failing in that for which she came!
Have you come to kiss this child?
I will not let you kiss him !
Have you come to harm him?
I will not let you harm him !
Have you come to take him away?
I will not let you take him away from me !
and this is, by far, the most interesting view of the heru -set myth I have ever seen
p114
"As for the stories, there is only one which was almost certainly regarded as a com9ic tale -"the Contendings of Horus and Set", which we will conside in detail in another chapter. It is a broad, bawdy story which pays scant respect to the immortal gods, and much of its humor is of a visual nature. The divine assembly of the gods brawls and bickers like a group of spoiled children, Isis bustles about playing tricks on her enemies, and Astarte gets the supreme god Re out of a fit of the sulks by exposing herself to him. These touches are not especially subtle, and they are certainly meant to be funny. Some other other tales are not so easy to diagnose. Take the story of Wenamon for isntance."
The idea of slaves in ancient egypt is a bit differant thant what you usually think of.
"... they were better off than the ordinary peasant. They were entitled to food and lodging, clothes and ointment, and those who worked in great shousholds might rise to positins of considerable importance. We know that some were emancipated and others married into the families of the owners."
Yuya, I really like this name. Yuya was Queen Tiyes dad (she was a commoner *ghasp*and even worse, the mother of the heretic king. But enough about her, what about Yuya? He was an officer of charioteers. The big deal here that even there there is *no* physical evidence people believe YuYa is an immigrant. He had a chariot in his tomb.
Also it seems the author agrees with me about the 'race' of the Anceint Egyptian. They were Egyptian. End of discussion. We all know how they started out, but by 1st Dynasty, they were hodgepodge.
As ms Mertz is discusssing the conquering of thutmose, she brigs up a nice point
"Judging from his accounts, clemancy was the order of th day, not a brutal ack of the conquered city. Since it now belonged to the pharoah, with all its people and thier possessions, the common soldiers could not be allowed to loot it. Perhaps this is why the poor soldier in our quotation had to carry the Syrian woman insted of leaving her to die by the wayside, but it would be nice to think that compassion had something to do with it."
"Some of the conquered peoples chose or were chosen to serve the conquerors as soldiers rather than slaves. They could earn freedome and promotion."
!!!!!!!!!!!
For a scorpion bite
I am the King's son, the eldest and first, Anpu; my mother Sekhmet-Auset came after me forth to the land of Syria, to the hill of the land of Heh, to the nome of those cannibals, saying "Haste, haste, my child, king's son, eldest and first, Apu.." --- lick the bite while its still bleeding, then you recite to some oil, then recite to it seven times, put it on the bite daily; soak up a strip of linen you put it on.
(that just looks very vague to me)
"Set's position is an usuaual one, and it is still imperfectly understood. Whether or not it is understandable in our terms, is another matter."
The Contendings of Heru and Set
"In the beginning, everyone except the president of the court seems to agree that Heru ought to inherit his father's throne. Ra is in favor of Set, perhaps because that god helps him repel his snakey enemies durring the trip through the underworld -and while his authority is not enough to overrule the rest of the counceil, it is strong enough to create a deadlock.
" Set's plea is more notable for rhetoric than reason. "As for me, I am Set, great of strength among the Ennead. Daily I slay the enemies of Ra, I am in front of the Bark of Millions; no other god can do this. I should receive the office of Asar.
"The fickly Ennead immediately bellows: Set is right! Djehuti is almost the only consistent one. he speaks up for his candidate, Heru, but his reasoned arguments are submerged in an exchange of insults , which ends with Auset getting up and cursing the whole Tribunal. Her threats terrify the immortals; they assure her that everything will be fine, everyone will get what is due him. Set promises to kill one god a day unless judgement is given in his favor, and he refuses to discuss the matter any further unless Auset is thrown out of court. In desperation, Ra suggests that they all move to an island where they can debate in peace. Strict orders are given to the ferryment not to take any woman accross the water.
"Anti the ferryman, is just as irresponsible as his betters. When Auset appears, disguised as an old woman, he lets himself be bribed into taking her to the island. Sneaking up , Auset sees the Ennead at dinner. She changes her form into that of a beautiful girl and strolls back and forth outside the window until Set catches a glimps of her. It is love at first sight; he rushes out. "Beautiful maiden, I am here with you !" he anounces rapturously.
"Auset slyly presents him with a fictiious case. She is the widown, she says, of a poor herdsman, and a foreigner has come and stolen all the cattle from her son, the heir. Set, inflamed by love, or basically stupid, exclaims indignantly, "shall the cattle be given to the foreigner while the son of the man is still alive? Auset turns herself into a bird and flies up into a tree, cawing triumphantly. "It is your own mouth which has said it; it is your own cleverness which has judged you !"
"Set burst into tears. Weeping copiously, he returns to the tribunal and tells them the whole story. "well," says Ra, " in effect, "now you've done it." Even the supreme god has no choice now but to decide in favor of Heru.
"Stubborn Set refuses to accept the verdict; he demands a trial by combat. Changing themselves in to hippopotami, the two plunge into the river to see who can stay down the longest. Auset pacing up and down in agony of concern for her son, finally can stand the suspense no longer. She heaves a harpoon into the water - like the heroinces of modern thriller fiction who try to bat the villain on the head while he is wrestling with the hero. Naturally, her weapon misses and hits Heru; he has to come out of the water and tell her to take her magic weapon out of his hide. Next time Auset manages to his Set, but when he emerges, appealing to her as his sister, the inconsistent woman frees him too. This annoys Heru who cuts of his mother's head to teach her a Lesson.
"After a time, Ausets unpleasant condition dawns on Ra "Who is this woman who has no head?" he inquires. Djehuti, who knows all, tells him, and Ra decides that Heru shall be punished. In the meantime Set finds the boy asleep and gouges his eyes out. Heru is cured by Het-her's magick, and once again, the Ennead goes into exectutive session to try and settle the case.
"The story goes on and on. There is one bawdy episode in which Set tires to play a sexual trick upon his nephew, but it is turned back on him by the wiles of Auset..."
(is it just me or is Auset always pulling heru's ass out of the line of fire... oh wait... Im not wrong)
"There are battles , and more hippopootami, and endless ranting in the tribunal. THe issue is finally decided by a threatening letter from no less a personage than Asar; Set concedes to heru, Heru is crowned, and Set is consoled by Ra's promis that he shall 'thundar in the sky and be feared.'
"Obviously this story is not official dogma. It is rude, insulting, and frivolous, and I think there is no doubt that the Egyptians regarded it as a humorous tale. It is a far cry from the solemn ritual wich casual students think of as the only manifestation of the religious attitude in anciet Egypt. Yet, frivolity was not the sole alternative to ritual, nor does the Heru and Set story represent the cecret cynicism of the people as opposed to the official piety of the court. We know relatively little about popular religion in its day by day manifestions. But the few sources we do have give a third, and very significant picture of religious attitueds.
"... The Gods...... lived.... as forces which could command the awe and devotion of living men."
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