World Civilizations One

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Amon-Ra and the Sun Boat

Like many other ancient cultures, Egyptians belived the universe was predictable, cyclical, and rational. But this "Cosmic" order was never completely safe. Without order, justice, and "ma'at," the world would soon return to chaos, darkness, and disorder. In one myth cycle, Amon-Ra piloted the Sun-Boat in its daily travels across the sky, and at night battled the serpent Apep, who clearly represented the forces of darkness, disorder, destruction, and "dis"-ease.

Link to Apep and other Egyptian gods

Ancient Egyptian Images & The Notion of "Ma'at"

Egyptians (like the Babylonians) embraced Cohn's notions of cosmos and chaos. Indeed, concepts of order and health were embodied in "Ma'at" Read the following link for more info.
Notions of Ma'at
Brief description of Ma'at

Sumerian Culture/Sumerian Ziggurat

Many historians consider the ancient region of Sumer (the regions of modern-day Iraq and Kuwait) to be the birthplace of complex civilizations. The image is that of a stepped pyramid called a "ziggurat".
The ziggurat was probably the origin for the story of the Tower of Babel in the Hebrew Bible.
The second image is an example of Cuneiform writing that developed very early in Mesopotamia.
Description of Sumerian Culture

Sumerian Religion and Norman Cohn

Marduk, representing order, predictability, wealth, health, and success,
destroyed the Dragon-Mother Tiamat to both bring order out of chaos AND
to create the physical universe.

One of the earliest representations of the battle between order and disorder, cosmos and chaos occurred in the mythology of early Babylon. Read the following brief description at:
Battle Against Tiamat and Chaos
Read a review of Cohn's "Cosmos, Chaos and the World to Come" at:
Chaos Book Review
The late historian, Norman Cohn, developed the notions of "Chaos and Cosmos" we refer to several times in the early part of the semester. Read his obit from the New York Times:
Cohn obit