Maat

NOTE: Please also refer to this update of this post, if you have the time. Thanks!

In previous blog posts, I've neglected to mention a critical part of the philosophy of the Old Kingdom - Maat.

There are two main different 'incarnations' of Maat:

1- Maat as a goddess in the Egyptian pantheon (see above picture)

2 - Maat as the Order of the universe

The first incarnation doesn't hold much special meaning to our discussion of oral knowledge, beyond being an extra deity among many. The second, however, is a clear philosophical aspect invented during the Old Kingdom, reflected in their recorded traditions.

Maat was basically the order side of the archetypal order/chaos struggle. It was often reflected in those traditions that were eventually recorded non-verbally (thus giving us access to them) - one of the earliest references to Maat is found in the Pyramid Texts of Unas. Here, Maat is used in the context of social and global order: The deceased Pharaoh is called the "Guardian of Maat" (Utterance 260, line 319), an important concept to their time. Maat was not only the divine force of Order, it was also the authority behind the Pharoah's decrees and kingship - as the Guardian of Maat, it was his job to maintain that order.

Maat was the idea of justice behind the law, but the Government decided on specific punishments and enforced them through the court system. Maat was more of a set of human ideals, of fairness to others and the maintaining of equality among people.Perhaps because of this concept of equality, women in ancient Egypt had virtually equal legal rights with the men (source).

Interestingly, this brings to mind another discussion we had in the comments of one of my earlier posts, where Jenna asked if the Pharaohs used their 'divine' status to influence the people. One site that I found suggests that this may have been the case - Maat, they believe, represented not only the grand Order of things, but also the societal order of the Kingdom - the keeping of things in the way they had always been, the maintaining of the current government, and so on.

this sounds ominously like a method of keeping the lower class people in line through their philosophy and religion, for if they disobeyed the decrees of the Pharaoh, they disobeyed not only his words but the very order of the universe.

So the Pharaoh was even more to be feared through this concept. And they made use of the idea, certainly, especially as recorded in some Pyramid texts, where certain phrases are seen that proclaim how the Pharaoh upheld justice among the people.

So, although Maat as a social and cosmic idea has many good aspects, and has been compared to aspects of Confucianism and Taoism, it may have also been twisted by the Pharaohs to make their decrees the will of the universe, while treating dissension from the normal way of things as a dangerous anomaly in the Ordered fabric of society and the world.

I've never though of Order as a dictatorial method, but perhaps it's possible. I'm interested to know if anyone else thinks this idea is plausible?

If you'd like to read more specifically about Maat and how the concept translated into realities, go here (I used this site as a source earlier as well).

This week's translation of "The old kingdom of Egypt" (found in the post labels) is brought to you by Germany.

COMING SOON - An update to this post, containing content from my interview with an actual Egyptologist. If all goes well, I'll just post that whenever I can, most likely within a couple days.

!khwa and gaua; rain and spirits

In a dry desert such as the Kalahari, every drop of rain is treasured, for without it, death is eminent. For the Kalahari Bushmen, rain is everything. I found this translation of a bushmen poem, "When the rain clouds turn black" in the book The First Bushman's Path.

when the wind is in the west and the clouds turn back:

when the wind is in the west and we are

thirsty because the rain clouds turn back:

when the wind is in the west and the rain clouds turn back:

when we are thirsty because the wind is

in the west and the sun beats down on us:

when the wind is in the west and the rain clouds turn back:

when the rain has passed along far off in 

the distance because the wind is in the west,

then we shall drink, for the children shall bring us water:

the children will go to dip up water for

us at the water-pits because we are thirsty:

they shall go to the water for us, they shall dip up water:

they will fetch water for us because they want us to drink

because they feel that we are being slaughtered by the sun,

and we shall drink, when they bring us water we shall drink,

because we feel thirsty, and because we feel we are hungry(1).

Aboriginal Words: the Building Blocks of Aboriginal Rhetoric and Philosophy

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...

Anglo Saxon Epic Poetry: An Interview with My High School English Teacher!

I know that Apple founder and previous CEO Steve Jobs does not have much to do with my topic today of Epic Poetry. But I would just like to begin my blog with a short tribute to a man who passed away today who I believed revolutionized the way we transmit knowledge in the digital age. 10 years ago he came up with a product that allowed us to listen and buy music digitally through the invention of iTunes and the iPod, the knowledge of millions of musicians was now at our fingertips where we were desperate buying CDs before. He knew what consumers wanted before they even did: a computer that was simple and consumer friendly, an iPad that was easy to use, a phone that could be used for music and business. He was someone who knew how to analyze the best ways we could digitally transmit knowledge and inspired eventual founders of web portals such as Yahoo and Google to help with the communication of knowledge. To segway to my topic for today of the oral tradition of epic poetry, I'd like to mention how Steve Jobs was able to put the world at the end of their seat every time he announce a new product. Steve Jobs was probably most famous for the way in which he orally presented each new product in what is called his "keynote address." He dresses up in a black turtle neck and jeans, and orally communicates how well products have done and the exciting new announcements of products to come. In this way he used oral knowledge as a way of communication to consumers and as a selling point. This was unique to Apple and its CEO, and I believe one of its most valuable marketing tools. I'd like to relate Apple's form of oral tradition back to 1400 years earlier when the Anglo Saxons were also able to pass down knowledge by communicating their Epic poetry. This blog will explore how exactly they were able to do that.

I decided that I would use a digital form of oral communication as a way to interview an expert on the subject of Anglo Saxon Poetry, I called up my high school senior english teacher. She taught IB (International Baccalaureate) English and included a lot of epic poetry in her curriculum, having the students analyze certain poems and then give what IB calls an Oral Commentary on the poem. The oral commentary was the final assessment for the oral component of the IB course in which a student randomly chooses a poem from a stack at the teacher's house and has 20 minutes to annotate it and plan what to say and then must present their thoughts for 15 min, being recorded by the IB teacher. It is a seemingly frightening experience, but really helps the students learn to orally communicate their ideas on poetry. So I knew she would have a lot of stuff to say on the oral tradition of Epic Poetry in the Anglo Saxon germanic tribes. She did not disappoint!
She explained to me that Old English is not simply a uniform language. It consists of many various dialects, but as far as literature goes, we need to treat it as a language. She told me that we receive our syntax from the Anglo-Saxons. They provide us with our context for and greater ease with use of nouns, the ability to condense grammar and shorten up words, and what is called "law of recessive accent" which is when we place the accent over the first syllable and slur over subsequent syllables.

She explained that the Anglo-Saxon gods' names are the basis for the days of the week: Tuesday from Tiw, the dark god, Wednesday from Woden, the war god, Thursday from Thor, the thunder god, Friday from Frigga, goddess of home.


The connection she made to oral knowledge was really exciting! She told me that the majority of Anglo-Saxon poetry emerges from the oral tradition at the time that was meant for entertaining lords and their families at what was called a "mead-hall." There were poet oral performers called Scops (the poets) and Gleemen (harpists) who sung or recited the poetry. These men were considered to be the only historians of that time. The way she told me we know of the oral nature of Anglo Saxon poetry is through the poetic structure, that is based on accent and alliteration, not rhyme and meter. She said that Epithets were used as a tool for alliteration, this way a God could be called a numerous amount of titles such as "Weard" (guardian) or "Meatod" (measurer) or "Drihten" (lord) or "Frea" (master), and so on. A king could be called a "noble lord" or a "ring-giver" or a "righteous guardian." The anglos saxons also loved to insert what were called "ironic understatements", these were another favorite rhetoric of the Anglo-Saxons in which the affirmative is expressed by the negation of its contrary. For example, I found online that an ironic statement could be: "Not easily did I come through it with my life."


I believe a lot of the manner in which the Anglo Saxon's orally passed down and recorded epic poetry connects to my theme from last post of the importance of fame for Anglo Saxon heroes and legends. I am really happy that my IB english teacher was able to help me learn more about the oral traditions and technique of Anglo Saxon poetry. She was even upset that I hadn't let her known earlier as she would of sent me a copy of an original written down form of epic poetry from the Anglo Saxon period to show the class, but she had just sent it to a museum a few days earlier! I know that I don't have a video of myself entertaining others through orally communicating poetry. But I did want to show a couple of films I made for IB history where I believe my group members and I were able to successfully use eloquence and oral communication as a way to teach my classmates about certain important conflicts during the cold war. I present to you UN NEWS!! Enjoy! (Oh and if you want to skip through some of the boring montage parts most of the entertaining stuff is on set with the anchormen and interviews with outside corespondents, the Fidel Castro bit in the third one is I think our best piece of work).

Here is our first production on the US involvement in the Iran Coup of 1953, entertaining highlights: 0:00-3:50. 7:30-8:15


Here is our second production on the Angolan War of Independence,entertaining highlights: 0:00-1:30, 4:40-5:15


Here is our final production on the events of the Cold War in Latin America, starring Fidel Castro! entertaining highlights: 0:00-4:00, 11:00-12:00

Aegyptus

(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.

The First Bushman's Path

"The First Bushmen were those who first inhabited the earth...When the First Bushmen had passed away, the Flat Bushmen inhabited their ground. Therefore, the Flat Bushmen taught their children about the stories of the First Bushmen." (translation of remarks of a /Xam narrator //Kabbo)

The Kalahari Bushmen, or San people, have lived in the very arid Kalahari desert region of South Africa for approximately 2000 years .

A brief overview of the background of the Kalahari bushman is available at my last post.

One of the things that is interesting about the Bushmen is that they don't have a written language, so everything in their culture is passed down orally. They share their beliefs, rituals, and hunting and survival skills to each other in their native language, from generation to generation.

Blowing the Dust Off the Cover

Who is Confucius? He was that peace-maker guy, right? Or wait, was that Ghandi? Or was it both? Ugh, I am confused. Don't worry, we'll sort everything out.

There are documents in history that have set themselves a part as defining the societies which they represent. For us in the United States, those documents are the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Those documents alone have laid the foundation for the morals of our country. Whenever a question comes up, we always revert back to the Constitution about how we should move forward. For the Chinese, The Analects by Confucius have the same luster.

Composed by his disciples in order to preserve his teachings, The Analects preserve the wisdom of one of greatest philosophers in history. Now, you might be thinking that I am off base because these are written knowledge. However, the word "analects" means "sayings" and this compilation of knowledge is a collection of the sayings and ideas of Confucius. The interaction here between two different types of knowledge shows how the preservation of knowledge can be a process involving different forms. (Source)

The Analects were written around 500 B.C. and have long been the standard of ethics and morals for the Chinese society. "For almost two thousand years, the Analects had also been the fundamental course of study for any Chinese scholar, for a man was not considered morally upright or enlightened if he did not study Confucius' works." (Source) Here are some examples of the oral wisdom written down in The Analects:

"What the gentleman demands is something of himself. What the petty man demands is something of others." (Source)

"Anyone learning without thought is lost; anyone thinking but not learning is in peril." (Source)

"With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my bended arm for a pillow, I still have joy in the midst of these things. Riches and honours acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud." (Source)

Trying to relate this to my life, I was trying to think of a text that is central to my ethic and moral beliefs. For many of us, the Book of Mormon fits that bill. Many of the writings in the Book of Mormon were originally communicated orally, such as the sermon of King Benjamin. The teachings found within this book guide our lives and give us a solid base. The Analects do the same for the Chinese civilizations.