Stargate:Contemporary Sci-fi Meets Ancient Egypt

Since the 19^th century, ancient Egypt has been one of the most “exotic” cultures to admire for those in the western world. As it is a civilization of great, almost unprecedented technological and architectural advances, it has been the object of great scrutiny for scholars for centuries. Popular culture seemingly embraced this almost mystic attitude towards ancient Egypt in many films over the years, my favorite being in the movie Stargate. It is a sci-fi thriller starring James Spader, and as cheesy as it can be at times (as any sci-fi can be), I thought it was an interesting and thought provoking film. In Stargate, ancient Egyptian religion and culture are represented in a way that draws from actual ancient Egyptian fact, yet puts a “Hollywood” spin on it per say.

James Spader played “Daniel,” the nerdy scientist who uncovers the clues

The first representation in Stargate that I wished to address is that of the Egyptian sun god Ra. In the film, Ra is an alien creature that dominates humanity and uses them to continue to sustain him for thousands of years. He is portrayed as androgynous, having the features of both a man and a woman, which may actually have some precedent in ancient Egyptian culture. As studied in my Religion of the Pharaohs class, Hatshepsut was often depicted in art with the features of both a man and a woman. But were these done for the same reasons? In my opinion, the androgyny of Ra is related to Hatshepsut, but also it is done in order to communicate to the viewer how different Ra truly is as a different species than human. These androgynous features accentuate how different and alien he is in both senses of the word.

 

Life giving sarcophagus from the movie Stargate

 

Another representation that I thought was fascinating in Stargate was that of the traditional Egyptian sarcophagus. In ancient Egypt, the sarcophagus was extremely important in the process of proceeding to the afterlife, as it served as something like a passage or gateway in the rituals of preparing a person for the afterlife. Yet, the representation in the movie takes it a step further, showing that the sarcophagus can actually restore life to those dead. Though the representations may be different, what remains the same is how necessary the role of the sarcophagus is, either for attaining afterlife, or maintaining life. The role of the sarcophagus is prominent in ancient Egyptian culture and religion, exemplified by its indelible role in the plot line of the film (saving the life of Daniel’s wife).

The last representation I wished to discuss from the film is also the most far fetched in my opinion. Pyramids in Stargate were giant docking stations for Ra’s enormous spaceship. As studied in my class, pyramids had everything to do with the afterlife, being built on the west side of the Nile (West represents afterlife) as places of eternal worship for whichever pharaoh built it. This representation does not seem to have any cultural or religious significance when discussing ancient Egypt.

However, when relating how pyramids are depicted in the movie, when analyzed in comparison to contemporary cultural issues there is much to say! Depicting pyramids as “alien” may be meant as a post-colonialism mockery on the history between Britain and modern Egypt. Therefore maybe making things look alien and foreign with Ra and the pyramids might just be a way to make ancient Egypt look exotic and exciting, or it may also be a satirical mockery of the colonial attitude. I believe this is supported by the overall plot of the movie, as it is a slave revolt against a power thought to be too great to overcome. The natives, in this case, signify Egypt as a small powerless colony breaking away from Ra, the exploiting tyrant which signifies Great Britain.

Overall, the different representations of ancient Egyptian religion and culture in the film Stargate paint a very different view than what fact has us believe. Some of these changes maintained roots in ancient Egyptian fact, such as the representation of the sarcophagus, yet others were made seemingly nonchalantly in order to either put a “hollywood” spin on the story or to attack a contemporary issue such as the aftermath of colonialism. As there is so more to the film than what I was able to analyze here, I encourage anyone who is a true lover of ancient Egypt (or sci-fi) to watch the film themselves and see what conclusions they find!

 

Making the Best of an Unlikely Situation: A Trip to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

Recently, I made a trip to San Jose to visit the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. However, this trip had a bit of a snag to it. When we arrived there, we were informed that there were rolling blackouts in the area, and without power there was no way we could get inside the museum. As disappointing as this was, my class and I made the best of this predicament.

First, we attended a small cosmetology workshop discussing what kind of makeup ancient Egyptians were known to wear. I was able to relate this to several things we learned in the course I am in, namely the many precious materials mined to promote the wealth and stature of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs. One of the materials we learned about, malachite, is a copper ore that gives a green in Egyptian eye makeup. This ore was one of many that was brought back when the pharaoh Hatshepsut made her extremely well known expedition to Punt, which was just one of many expeditions to obtain this material and many others from this resource rich land.

Malachite ore would have made Egyptian eye makeup look similar to this color.

Once the cosmetic workshop was over we made a brief visit to the Rosicrucian library, and then had a tour of the grounds surrounding the museum, during which I was able to observe several pieces of Egyptian replicas. One such piece was that of an ancient Egyptian obelisk depicting hieroglyphs, seen below

Obelisk Replica at Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum grounds

Obelisks such as this were an architectural beauty in ancient Egypt, and I remember seeing the impact they had on Egyptian architecture when my class studied the temple at Karnak. Karnak in itself is an architectural marvel due to the span of time during which it was built, ranging from the Middle Kingdom to well beyond. Many pharaohs added their own temples to it that they are known by, but the famous obelisk at Karnak was in honor of, once again, Hatshepsut, who as you can tell made an indelible mark on ancient Egyptian history well beyond the fact that she was a female pharaoh.

After observing the obelisk, the next thing that drew my attention were the paintings on the gate at one entrance to the grounds, seen here:

 

Painting on gate at Rosicrucian Museum grounds entrance

This painting specifically reminds me of our study of Akhenaten and his belief and worship of the sun disc god Aten. Though I am unsure what the image is actually depicting, it has a variety of Egyptian symbols that were common motifs in art during that time. It is also very reminiscent of a specific well known carving of the worship of Aten, the pseudo-monotheistic god that the pharaoh Akhenaten promoted the worship of during the Amarna period of ancient Egypt, seen below.

 

Akhenaten paying homage to the sun god Aten

Overall, despite not even being able to go into the museum, my classmates and I were able to salvage the trip and have a very good time. Though seeing actual artifacts in the museum would have been ideal, I was able to learn a bit in the workshop held and the tour of the grounds. What this has made me realize is that I know a great deal more about ancient Egypt after taking “Religion of the Pharaohs” with my professor, Dr. Schroeder, this semester. It has opened my eyes to many traditions and similarities modern society has taken from ancient Egypt, such as something as trivial as wearing eye makeup on a daily basis. The tour of the Rosicrucian grounds showed me that ancient Egypt’s influences can be seen everywhere, as long as you know what to look for!

Outside Image Sources:

1. https://woodsciencewiki.wikispaces.com/file/view/nyx_green_by_armitage85-d2za8xg.jpg/187613499/400×240/nyx_green_by_armitage85-d2za8xg.jpg
2. http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/images/aten2.jpg

The Amarna Religious Revolution: An Analysis of a switch to Monotheism in a Polytheistic Culture

 

Throughout the ages, humans have wrestled with the idea of higher beings. Is there one or is there many? Is there one that rules above all while other minor gods fulfill smaller roles? These questions have been asked over and over again about the Amarna period in ancient Egypt. The Amarna period was a time of many changes, all stemming from a strong shift in religious belief. This shift influenced the art, politics, even the geography of the entire era, and it was not a change that was ideal for many Egyptians of that time. But what exactly was this new kind of religion? Egyptians had typically been polytheistic up until this time, but perhaps this new religion was not polytheism. In fact, in my opinion, this new religion was drastic enough in its changes for it to be considered a new kind of religion entirely, specifically monotheism.

 

In order to analyze what kind of religious revolution was occurring at that time, the “Hymn to Aten” located in Mieroop’s A History of Ancient Egypt was looked upon as a source of interest. As translated from the hymn, “Every lion comes out from its den, all the snakes bite; Darkness hovers and earth is silent; As the one who created all things rests in the horizon. Statements like this appear to delineate one specific god as either being more powerful than all the rest, or there is only one god. The one who created all things almost sounds like texts we hear in monotheistic religions like Catholicism, where statements in prayer typically talk about one creator.

Modern monotheistic religions symbols.

Also similar to modern day monotheistic religions like Christianity, this god, called Aten, had a mortal associated with him. Though at times throughout ancient Egyptian history pharaohs have associated themselves or their reigns with a specific god, few have done so as completely dedicated to one god as Akhenaten. As Jesus was associated with the Christian God, so was Akhenaten associated with Aten. In the hymn to Aten, near the end of the text Akhenaten is described as the only one who truly knows Aten and the god gives him and only him council. This makes it so the entire religion must rely on the whims of one person, as it is said that only Akhenaten can associate with the god.

Symbol of Polytheism

In an Egyptian society where so many gods are venerated and glorified in many different ways, this focus on one superior god while the other gods were basically ignored seemed like an affront by many ancient Egyptians. Not only that, officials were intimidated by the power that this gave the pharaoh, and were extremely reluctant to accept it. There is evidence that Akhenaten met very staunch resistance when implementing his religious revolution, as many believe that Akhenaten and Nefertiti were forced by unrest in local officials to move the capitol to a new area, which they called Akhetaten, where they could exert control using the military. This is believed because much art from this time period depicts the military in everyday life, which is unlike how the military has been depicted before, usually in conquest over other nations, not seen in other contexts. Changes as drastic and far reaching as these seem to support the hypothesis that this is not just a change in religious style, but an attempt at a whole new religion, one that is monotheistic. The strong reaction that local officials had to the religious changes presented support this claim.

Akhenaten depicted giving offerings to the god Aten, signified by the sun disc.

 

 

Aten was the sun disc god, elevated in stature by his father Amenhotep III, and glorified to an intensity that left many ordinary Egyptians and high ranking officials alike very disgruntled with this new religious focus. Akhenaten not only encouraged worship of only his god, there is  also evidence that he discouraged the worship of other gods.

 

The reason I do not believe that the religious revolution of the Amarna period was polytheistic or something else like henotheism (the practice of having one supreme god with many minor gods supporting) is the singular focus placed on Aten during this period. This switch to monotheism could have been done for a variety of reasons, political and religious. By associating one god with himself, the king consolidated all of the religious and political power within one being and not multiple gods. Gone were the days where offerings were to be made to many gods for many specific roles, Akhenaten wished for all to worship him, for only he had the power to interact with his special god. This idea of monotheism is also supported by the fact that when Akhenaten’s son, Tutankhamun, took power he allowed the return of worship of the many traditional gods of Egypt. While the many facts presented here support my hypothesis that he is promoting a monotheistic religion, we may never know the true intentions behind this switch, as we can only base our analysis off of the artistic changes of the period, the geographic changes in power by moving the capitol to a new neutral location, and long forgotten texts such as the “Hymn to Aten” analyzed here.

 

Picture Sources in Order:

http://www.adn.com/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_620/public/images/topic/commentary/religioussymbols2.png?itok=DeRIxXN-

http://www.firmament-chaos.com/images/osirisra/jpg

 

Morality and Afterlife: An Analysis of Old Kingdom Autobiographies

When I think of ancient Egyptian morality, a specific inscription or drawing always seems to come to mind.

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This drawing of Anubis weighing the soul of a mortal Egyptian man is what I, and I am sure many others, first think of. In this drawing, the soul of the deceased is weighed to determine its worth, which is determined by the good and bad deeds done throughout the mortals life.  If they lived a life full of good deeds, the gods would reward them with a happy afterlife. However, there is much more to the Egyptian relationship between morality and the afterlife than what they believed their gods would do for them. Ancient Egyptians had a complex understanding of morality, with many factors that we may not even consider today in our modern societal views of morality.

False Door of Sitinteti: Old Kingdom

In my study of ancient Egyptian afterlife practices, I came across various autobiographical accounts dating back to the Old Kingdom. These autobiographies were usually located on the false door of the deceased’s tomb. They would tell of great deeds or would attempt to tie themselves to royalty in order to show their stature and repute during their life. This seemed to most commonly be a practice of high-ranking officials during the Old Kingdom. However, most commonly recounted among these autobiographies were tales of good deeds, showing the good character of the tomb owner. These testaments to the morality of the tomb owner show just how important morality was to Egyptian afterlife beliefs.

 

Morality was paramount in ancient Egyptians understanding of the afterlife. This concept is well exemplified in the autobiography of Qar. (Simpson 412) Qar was a nomarch of the pharaoh Edfu near the end of the Old Kingdom. From the small amount of text that was recovered, several specific motifs and ideas about morality become evident. One such idea is service to the poor. As said in the autobiography, “I gave bread to the hungry and clothing to the naked of those I found in my nome. I gave jugs of milk.” This casts Qar as a compassionate and benevolent ruler. Then Qar goes beyond that, and gives grain from his own personal stores to feed the hungry. That is truly a noble sacrifice, but again he outdoes himself when he pays off the debts of the men in his nome out of his own pocket. Deed upon deed is compounded to show just how moral a ruler Qar was. His service to the poor in his region is shown to be unparalleled. Statements like these became common to most autobiographies of the era.

 

Another idea that seems central to Egyptian morality and its relationship to the afterlife is that of justice. Those in power have the responsibility to be just in their actions and choices. This is also shown in the autobiography of Qar, where it says, “I rescued a poor man from one more powerful than he. I judged two brothers so that they were satisfied.” (Simpson 413) Why would Qar have these deeds written in his autobiography other than to show that he has made wise decisions in disputes and have not taken advantage of those who lack in strength or power? To have such power, and to not be corrupted by it while maintaining a steadfast moral justice is an essential motif to most autobiographies of this era.  Therefore, this Egyptian ideal of justice is essential to good morality, which is the path to a good afterlife.

 

Another ideal that I found to be associated with the Egyptian version of morality is quite a foreign concept to us today. This is the morality of service to the king. Due to the fact that we live in a democratic society with no rightful king, owing any allegiance to a superior is already a difficult concept for us to comprehend. But basing your moral compass off of actions to serve another just does not seem quite right to me! I draw this conjecture because of how strange it may seem to the average person today. How can serving someone of authority (like the President or other government official today) be even remotely related to your own personal morality? Ancient Egyptians (or those that I studied having surviving autobiographies) had a different bond with their king then we have today with our officials.   As shown in Qar, “I pacified all desert lands for the Residence, because my watchfulness was effective therein, and I was rewarded by my lord.” The “Residence” Qar refers to is that of the king, his lands and his dominion, that Qar has done well in taking care of. Qar wants to draw this conjecture for a to bring himself closer to the king. During the Old Kingdom, the pharaoh was believed to become a god after their death. Being able to tie yourself to him, and doing good works for him, would therefore increase your chances of a good afterlife. My suspicion is that this belief in the divination of the pharaoh added this morality of service to the king to the moral ideals of autobiographies in the Old Kingdom era.

 

Over time, these brief autobiographies began to be increasingly formulaic, with the recitation of specific virtues. Giving to the poor, being just in your decisions, and being of service to the King were the most common of these virtues to be displayed. They each exemplify a piece of what Old Kingdom autobiographies showed about the moral outlook of the afterlife of ancient Egyptians, or at least those ancient Egyptians that can afford a tomb with a false door.

Reference:Click here