The MYTHENOR encyclopedia

Egyptian Mythology (Ancient Egypt)

Who they were

Egyptian civilization flourished along the Nile for about three thousand years, from the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt around 3100 before the common era to the Roman conquest in 30 before the common era. Nearly everything depended on the river: its yearly flood left fertile black soil in a narrow strip surrounded by desert. Egyptian religion gathered hundreds of deities, shown in human, animal or mixed form, and turned on ma'at, the harmony and balance of the world, which the pharaoh and the priests were meant to uphold. Temples were the homes of the gods. Magic, heka, was a real force, and writing was considered a divine gift: hieroglyphs were called the words of the gods. For the Egyptians, death was not an ending but a passage that demanded care, rites and memory.

Cosmology

In the beginning there was only Nun, the dark, undifferentiated waters of chaos. From them rose the ben-ben, the primeval mound, where the creator appeared, Atum-Ra, or Ptah in another tradition. From him came Shu, air, and Tefnut, moisture, and from them Geb, the earth, and Nut, the sky, arched above him. Nut gave birth to Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys, and Horus was joined to them. Each day the sun crossed the sky in a barque, and each night it passed through the Duat, the underworld, divided into twelve hours, while the serpent Apophis tried to stop the dawn. A person had several parts: the body, the ka, the ba, the akh, the shadow and the name. After death the heart was weighed against the feather of Ma'at. The just went on to the Field of Reeds; a heavy heart was devoured by Ammut.

Pantheon

Ra, the sun, was the great creator, with forms such as Khepri, the morning scarab, and Atum, the evening sun. Osiris, killed by his brother Set and restored by Isis, became lord and judge of the dead. Isis was the great magician and protective mother; Horus, the falcon whose eyes were the sun and moon, was the god of kingship. Set ruled the desert, chaos and storms, yet defended Ra's barque against Apophis. Anubis, the jackal, oversaw mummification and the scales; Thoth, the ibis, invented writing. Hathor was goddess of love and music, and as Sekhmet became a destroying lioness. Nut and Geb, Ma'at, Sobek, Bastet, Taweret, Bes and many others completed the pantheon.

In MYTHENOR

In MYTHENOR, Egypt is reinvented as the Obsidian Necropolis, under the Lapis Sky, with its own colors and names for the great deities: Kheperu, heart of the sun, Nehkarath, the star-devouring serpent, Sekhalu, falcon of the bronze dawn, and Wenmara, the jackal-guardian. There, erasing a name is the worst of deaths. The Chaos Serpent's seal is cracking, words fade from papyrus, and Merytamun, the last sentinel, guards the lapis thread. The playable character is Nakhtiu, the shadow reader.

A note on respect

The religion of ancient Egypt is not practiced today as a continuous tradition, but it is a central part of the cultural heritage of Egypt and of the world. MYTHENOR treats its gods and rites with respect, gives new names to the great deities so as not to caricature them, and always marks what is real myth and what is the game's creation.

Sources

Ancient Egyptian religion — Encyclopaedia Britannica
Ancient Egyptian Religion — Joshua J. Mark (World History Encyclopedia)
Ancient Egyptian Mythology — Joshua J. Mark (World History Encyclopedia)
Egyptian Gods - The Complete List — Joshua J. Mark (World History Encyclopedia)
Ra (Egyptian God) — Joshua J. Mark (World History Encyclopedia)
The Book of the Dead (introduction and chapter summaries) — E. A. Wallis Budge (Project Gutenberg)