Research Catalog

Title

Egyptian mythology : a guide to the gods, goddesses, and traditions of ancient Egypt / Geraldine Pinch.

Author

Pinch, Geraldine.

Publication

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xi, 257 p. : ill., maps; 24 cm.

Summary

From stories of resurrected mummies and thousand-year-old curses to powerful pharaohs and the coveted treasures of the Great Pyramids, ancient Egypt has had an unfaltering grip on the modern imagination. Now, in Egyptian mythology, Geraldine Pinch offers a comprehensive introduction that untangles the mystery of Egyptian mythology spanning ancient Egyptian culture from 3200 BC to AD 400. Pinch opens a door to this hidden world and casts light on its often-misunderstood belief system. She discusses the nature of myths and the history of Egypt, from the predynastic to the postpharaonic period. She explains how Egyptian culture developed around the flooding of the Nile, or the "inundation," a phenomenon on which the whole welfare of the country depended, and how aspects of the inundation were personified as deities. She explains that the usually cloudless skies made for a preoccupation with the stars and planets. Indeed, much early Egyptian mythology may have developed to explain the movement of these celestial bodies. She provides a timeline covering the seven stages in the mythical history of Egypt and outlining the major events of each stage, such as the reign of the sun God. A substantial A to Z section covers the principal themes and concepts of Egyptian mythology as well as the most important deities, demons, and other characters. For anyone who wants to know about Anubis, the terrifying canine god who presided over the mummification of bodies and guarded burials, or Hathor, the golden goddess who helped women to give birth and the dead to be reborn, or an explanation of the nun, the primeval ocean from which all life came, Egyptian Mythology is the place to look. Spanning Ancient Egyptian culture (ca. 3200 BC to AD 400), the handbook of Egyptian mythology is the only complete survey of Egyptian mythology of its kind available in English.

Uniform Title

Handbook of Egyptian mythology

Alternative Title

Handbook of Egyptian mythology

Subjects

• Mythologie égyptienne
• Mythology, Egyptian

Note

• Originally published as: Handbook of Egyptian mythology. c2002.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 233-238) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Chronology: Introduction: What is a Myth? -- Myth and geography -- History and the source of Egiptian myth -- Protodynastic (Dynasty 0) and early dynastic periods (Dynasties 1-2): c. 3200-2686 BCE: Early Kings -- King and the Gods -- Old Kingdom (Dynasties 3-6) and first intermediate period (Dynasties 7-11): c. 2686-2055 BCE: Pyramid builders -- Pyramid texts -- Middle Kingdom and second intermediate period (Dynasties 11-17): c.2055-1550 BCE: Coffin texts -- Literature -- Magic and popular religion -- New Kingdom (Dynasties 18-20 and third intermediate period (Dynasties 21-24): c. 1550-747 BCE: Temples and Kings -- Underworld books -- Book of the dead -- Mythology in literature -- End of the new Kingdom -- Late period and Ptolemaic period (Dynasties 25-30 and the Ptolemies): 747-30 BCE: Memphite Theology -- Persians and Greeks -- Alexandria and Memphis -- Priests and temples under the Ptolemies -- Isis and Horus -- Roman period: 30 BCE-395 CE: Plutarch's Osiris --^

ISBN

• 0195170245 (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 9780195170245 (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 1576072428 (cloth)
• 9781576072424 (cloth)

LCCN

^^2003060927

OCLC

52937806

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library