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Spirit, fetish, totem and
Egyptian gods
Picture: The Great White, an early baboon god from the
Late Predynastic Period, c. 3000 BC.
Egyptian Museum, Berlin.
Like most early humans the prehistoric peoples who dwelt
around the Nile seem to have been reverential towards the
powers of the natural world - both animate and inanimate. The
former seem to have taken precedence in Egypt, although the
recurrent star images found on the Gerzeh Palette and other
artifacts from the later Neolithic Period (3600-3300 BC) may
indicate that an astral cuIt developed early in Egypt.
However, the first clear divinities we find in Egypt's
archaeological record are in most cases animal deities such as
the cow and the falcon gods which represented
aspects of the cosmos, yet which doubtless were believed to
hold sway over human occupations and lives. By the late
prehistoric period we find evidence of animals especially dogs
(or jackals), gazelles, cattle and rams - which were buried in
what appear to have been ritual contexts, and also
representations of animals which may signify some kind of
animism or fetishism (the idea that animals, like humans,
possessed 'spirits' which must be respected
and propitiated). If these zoomorphic images are not
merely totems of tribal groups and do signify manifestations of
the divine in some way, they represent a significant stage in
the development of the Egyptian gods. The idea that the
divine might be manifest in animal form is a vital prerequisite
for the animals which are shown acting in entirely human ways
and which are the major representations of the Egyptian
gods at the end of the Predynastic Period. The celebrated
Narmer Palette which dates to this time of transition (c.
3000 Be) provides clear example of this situation. On its
reverse the palette shows a falcon holding a captive and on the
obverse a bull breaking down a city wall and trampling an enemy
figure. Long-necked mythical serpopards are also depicted, and
on both sides - doubtless indicating their importance - twin
images of a cow-head deity fusing human and bovine features
surmount these scenes. Here and in other artifacts of this
period we doubtless have zoomorphic deities, and it would seem
that a good many were already extant.
On the other hand, it is disputed whether deities in human form
appeared in this early period or later. Crudely formed
anthropomorphic figures of clay or ivory are found in the
archaological record of the Naqada Period and even earlier, but
although they have been interpreted as deities, extensive smady
by Peter J. Ucko showed that a wide variety of uses and
meanings of these figures is likely and none can be certainly
accepted as representing a deity. By the beginning of the
historical period we do have evidence of deities such as Min
and Neith being worshipped in human forms, although the concept
of anthropomorphic deities seems to have been adopted only
slowly in Egypt and was, in one sense, never complete, as
Egyptian gods and goddesses frequently were viewed as
hybrid forms with the heads or bodies of animals throughout
Egyptian history. The goddess Hatho, for example, appears
to have been one of the first deities to be given
anthropomorphic form, but even she retained the horns of her
sacred animal, the cow, and was frequently depicted in bovine
form millennia after her appearance.
The Primal and Political
Needs for Egyptian Gods
The development of the concept of
individualized deities who held power over specific events and
natural conditions is usually seen as concurrent with the
development of the desire to gain some kind of control over the
world and human vulnerability. In this the needs of early human
societies were the same everywhere - and did not particularly
change throughout history - though the immediate vulnerability
of ancient humans to attacks by wild animals and the
forces of nature may have gradually given way to the awareness
of longer-term needs such as freedom from pain and
want.
Once a central government arose around 3000 BC, perceived and
real needs may have changed rapidly for the ancient population
of the Nile Valley. National deities came into existence as
well as the cult of the divine king; and as John Baines has pointed out,
the emergence of monarchy and the resultant origin of the
Egyptian state effectively transformed ancient religion by
providing a new focus which unified its different goals and
needs. Indeed, it might be said that from this point
forward, the infancy of Egypt's deities had ended and more
than 3,000 years of subsequent historical development would
fail to radically change the underlying nature of Egyptian
religion.
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