From childhood, I have been filling out little family tree diagrams (like the one shown) and pedigree charts. As a basic part of my upbringing, I've learned the names for familial relationships: mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa, niece, nephew, cousin etc. I've always thought that things get a little fuzzy in the realm of cousins - second cousins, third cousins, and what exactly does "removed" mean again? I know I've had it explained to me, but somehow I always end up confused.
Still, our system of names for describing family members is actually relatively simple...
(This post, while hopefully having some interesting stuff in itself, will serve also as a jumping off point for my next post in several topics.)
In my last post, I talked a little bit about the religious and philosophical change that came over Egypt's Old Kingdom. I thought that here I'd expand on that idea a little, based partly on the comments on my last post, and talk about how that change was reflected in some of their other ideas.
My question while researching is, was this change reflected in how they governed the people? Did they, like several of you suggested, use their status as a demi-god to maintain better control? It seems reasonable enough to me. But what if the Pharaoh's status was already so high that this was really just another layer of icing on a hugely overdone cake?
(This is actually a real picture. It was on the BBC, so it must be. Really, go type in 'huge cake' on Google image search sometime. In fact, do it now, if you don't find Egypt all that interesting. But make sure to come back and finish reading this post, or I'll be sad.)
I found something interesting that relates to that question. The philosophy of the Egyptian government seems to have not been simply one ruler over everything. In theory, of course, the Pharaoh was the ultimate king of the land; but in practice, it soon became impossible for him to deal with all of the issues he needed too without assistance. Thus, the kings began to use a new level of delegation in their government(source). This can also be seen in Imhotep's status under Djoser. He has a very impressive list of titles (source) that show many areas that he was made the administrator of. So at first it seems like they aren't taking to their new 'godlike' status as impressively as some would. But on further reflection, I thought: wouldn't this system of government make sense to someone who believed in a king of the gods? The head god directing his lesser servants from the top?
(Get it? The top?)
In any case it makes sense to me. I know from experience with anything that requires large-scale planning that it's usually important for the leader to delegate certain responsibilities to trustworthy people. Otherwise it's just too much to do.
To tie this thought about government more closely into oral knowledge, I decided to look for any decrees of the Pharaohs of that time, and see how they used the eloquence of words written to be proclaimed.
Unfortunately there is not much evidence of these things that remains...So I'm going to keep looking and try to bring that up in a later post.
However I did find another interesting idea from the Old Kingdom's philosophy. There was a strong belief in fate, that one's destiny was determined from birth. Interestingly, at birth, a person's manner and time of death were supposed to be decreed verbally by seven 'Hathors', or Fates in the Greek equivalent.
Eventually, there was even a ceremony performed at birth was intended to close the mouths of the Hathors so they could not predict calamity on a newborn. Source
This is an example of the oral knowledge closely associated with religious and philosophical ideas. There are several stories with reference to fate, transcribed during the Middle Kingdom but most likely originating during the Old as an oral tradition. One tells the story of a prince who seemingly evades his predestined death, and another speaks of a man whose fate leads him far from home and into riches and power. I'd suggest reading at least the first one yourself sometime, since it's a great old fairy tale as well as a glimpse into the old ideas about fate. (Sadly, it's missing the very end of the story...)
In any case, I think that this emphasis in storytelling on the idea of fate directing people's lives led to what some people see as the Egyptian preoccupation with death. When all your stories contain the idea that your death is known from birth, I would think it tends to work into the collective psyche of the people. Perhaps, to tie it all in together, the idea of the Pharaoh's divinity was his personal attempt to change the inevitable passing from this life by ensuring the gods' protection even in death. That, I think, is the power of a continuous oral tradition to impact the workings of a people.
...And just for fun, every week I'll be putting a different translation of "the old kingdom of egypt" in the post labels. There's no real reason, except that it's cool. This week's bonus label is brought to you by France.
Since our group has been assigned to blog about the topic of rhetoric, with a particular emphasis on eloquence and philosophy, I thought I'd do a little background research on what these terms actually mean before I tried to write about them. I went to the library, found some great information (in a REAL book!!), and figured I'd share. Keep reading to find out what I learned and hopefully get some context for everything we've been (and will be) talking about in our blog posts this week and next week!
The Anglo-Saxon use of philosophy and eloquence to effect others was largely changed and affected by the shift from paganism to christianity with the arrival of christian missionaries in the 6th century to the germanic tribes in Britain. The philosophical concepts of "Fame" and "Fate" brought on by heroic traditions were contradicted by christian beliefs and the poetic tradition in germany was losing its value as an oral tradition. To understand the great change this shift had to their oral knowledge and ability to use philosophy and poetry to communicate, we first must analyze the basis for poetry and philosophy in the Anglo Saxon germanic tribes.
After rebelling against the Christian Britons, the Anglo-Saxons set up Germanic kingdoms, thus beginning the The Anglo-Saxon era of England which lasted from approximately 450-1066 A.D. Each kingdom was ruled by a certain lord. In the new Anglo-Saxon society, the closest relationships were between a lord and his kin. The Germanic clan or "Comitatus" consisted of men who followed their lord with strong loyalty and sacrifce. The comitatus held their duty to their lord as their most important task in life and believed it to be the greatest loss to be separated from lord and kin. This sorrow from loss can be seen in the Anglo Saxon poems "The Wanderer" and "The Seafarer". "The Wanderer" describes a man that has been exiled from his lord and clan, and must wander aimlessly. The man speaks of how horrible it is to be separate from his clan and lord, considered to be the worst punishment and dishonor:
"When friendships are no more. His fortune is exile, Not gifts of fine gold; a heart that is frozen, Earth’s wisomeness dead. And he dreams of the hall-men, The dealing of treasure, the days of his youth, When his lord bade welcome to wassail and feast. But gone is that gladness, and never again Shall come the loved counsel of comrade and king." (II. 27-34)
Similarly the poem "The Seafarer" describes the same horrible loss and misery of a sailor who is isolated at sea, he describes his loneliness as “Wretched and anxious, in the paths of exile/ Lacking dear friends, hung round by icicles.” (II. 14-15) He has truly lost everything, his kin, lord, and duty.
When the Germanic Tribes came to Britain in the fifth century, they brought the language of Old English with them. They also brought this tradition of poetry that was usually mournful, conveying the suffering and loss of the burdened and miserable lives of the people who wrote them. The Anglo-Saxon poems, “The Wanderer,” and "The Seafarer" convey how this tradition of eloquence captures the culture’s philosophical concepts of "Fame" and "Fate" and the importance of a Lord to the Germanic tribes. The Anglo-Saxons did not believe in an afterlife, only the idea that they are assigned a certain fate that could be good or bad depending on the hero's circumstance. If one had the courage to fight his fate and create "Fame" than he would be remembered and spoken of as a hero in poems following his death. This was the goal for peoples of the germanic tribes, as seen in the famous poem Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon culture saw Fame as a worthy and honorable objective: “So fame/ Comes to the men who mean to win it/ And care about nothing else!”17 (II. 507-509)
Once the Christian missionaries came to Briton in the 6th century, they began converting the Anglo Saxons to christianity. Christianity introduced new concepts such as an afterlife of heaven and hell and the cause and effect pattern of our actions on earth resulting in where we go in the afterlife. This contradicted the pagan beliefs of the Anglo Saxons and their main philosophical foundation of "Fame" and "Fate." This would cause the poems such as "The Wanderer" and "The Seafarer" to lose value and change the oral tradition of using poetry and philosophy to pass down pagan beliefs. The use of eloquence and philosophy in the Anglo Saxon culture would change forever after this point. This shift conveys the importance the pagan beliefs and philosophies of the Anglo Saxons were for their basis of knowledge that could be communicated through their rhetoric to convince others of their view on life.
So why do you think the Anglo Saxons placed such great importance on Fame and Fate? How does their poetic tradition show their ability to use language as a way to communicate philosophical ideals?
(I have to apologize in advance - the formatting was confused on this post. I fixed most of it, but it's still a little skewed.)
"Life is too short to devote years of study to learning that what went on with the ancients was just more of the same. It is too short to let us live both our lives and theirs from day to day unless they have something to add to the story, something we do not have, something quite wonderful and unexpected. Of all people the Egyptians are most likely to supply us with such matter." -Hugh Nibley, from Abraham in Egypt
The Old Kingdom is the term for the Egyptian dynasties between about 2686 BC and 2181 BC. It is known as the Age of Pyramids, when the great Architect, Imhotep,
was a servant to the Pharaoh Djoser (For a very interesting theory about Imhotep's
relation to a well-known biblical prophet, see this link).
It was also an age of religious change for the Egyptians.
The Egyptian religion was hugely complex, and had already gone through several
changes in what or who was worshiped, the qualities of the gods, and even in who was said to have created the universe. It is believed that the original pantheon of
gods was compiled from various tribal myths and local religious traditions, which were
then reconciled by the 'official'
priests in order to make them all conform. During the Old Kingdom, the change was different than any before.
This new shift in their religion involved mainly one figure: the sun-god, Ra.
That's him.
Ra was said to be the king of the gods, the ruler of earth. This was a departure from
the previous incarnations of religion in Egypt,since before there had been no
discernible ruler of the gods.
In some ways, he was made to be analogous to Zeus or Jupiter,though with a major difference - he was the Sun-god rather than the god of the sky, since the Egyptians believed that the sun was the source of knowledge and power for the earth. (source)
Along with this shift, and possibly serving as the reason for it, was a change in attitude towards the Pharaohs. The royal line was declared to be descended directly from Ra, and so presumably worthy to inherit power over his creations on the earth.
From this came the interesting fixation with the afterlife - since they were descended from gods, the Pharaohs wanted to make sure that they were in good standing with their 'relatives,' especially upon their death.
From this came what is known as 'pyramid texts.' On the walls of the burial chambers and hallways of the Pharaoh's pyramid or grave site, they would write down words and phrases to be sung or spoken to the gods during the final portion of the king's burial ceremony. The language addresses each deity individually with nearly the same requests or speeches,both of which attest that the Pharaoh is worthy of joining the gods in their abode. In fact, they seem to be attempting to convince the gods to accept him(see here for an example translation of one pyramid's wall inscriptions for the Pharaoh Unas).
These inscriptions provide an excellent example of Egyptian persuasive speech and writing. We can see the use of the rhetorical idea of pathos, or a petition to the emotions of the audience.
Here's an excerpt that shows an appeal to Ra:
"He [comes] to you, O his father, he comes to you, oh Re [(Ra)], he comes to you, O his father, he
comes to you, O Overthrown One, he comes to you, O his father,...he comes to you, O Wanderer."
-From the east wall of the sarcophagus chamber in the pyramid of Unas
Their two main techniques are pretty clear here, in my opinion. Not only do they appeal to Ra emotionally, reminding him that Unas is his 'son' and therefore should be accepted by him, but they also make use of repetition, an even bigger tool they enjoyed using. It's far too long to put it all here, but you can check out the lengthy, repetitive appeals to each god in the link I gave above.
The repetition in the priests' recorded speeches reminds me of ancient Hebrew writings, like the Bible: the most important points would be emphasized by repetition to impress them on the audience.
Here, the only difference is that the ones they were trying to convince were not mortal, and were believed to be in charge of deciding the fate of their king's eternal soul. A lot was at stake for these priests to invoke the gods well on the pharaoh's behalf.
Who knows, maybe if they did it wrong, this would happen:
Just kidding. But seriously, they were under a lot of pressure to do their best to implore their pantheon on behalf of the Pharaoh, and they probably used the best techniques of speech that they knew. In my opinion, that's why these pyramid texts are so revealing about how the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom used their rhetorical skills.
Just on the fun side, I really enjoyed researching this topic, and I learned a lot of new and interesting things.
For example, the above is my name, transliterated as near as I could get it into ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics.
And as a bonus, here's a short video about how the uni-lateral symbols of the Egyptian "alphabet"
From childhood, I have been filling out little family tree diagrams (like the one shown) and pedigree charts. As a basic part of my upbringing, I've learned the names for familial relationships: mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, grandma, grandpa, niece, nephew, cousin etc. I've always thought that things get a little fuzzy in the realm of cousins - second cousins, third cousins, and what exactly does "removed" mean again? I know I've had it explained to me, but somehow I always end up confused.
