Overview

Revised and expanded, this volume deals with the religious traditions of ancient Egypt, which have come down to us in a state which is both extremely fragmentary and complex. New material - especially hymns collected in Theban tombs - now allows a much more precise allocation of religious texts and ideas in terms of time, place and social context. Within the field of solar religion, no less than five different traditions have to be distinguished: 1) the liturgical traditions of the royal solar cult, which for their secrecy and exclusivity are labelled the mysteries of the sun cult; 2) the traditional mythology of the solar course expressed in hymns and pictorial representations; 3) the revolutionary process culminating in the Amarna period, which discards the mythic images and gives a monotheistic construction of the solar course, a process which starts before Akhenaten's revolution; 4) the theology of Amun-Re, the God of Thebes, before the Amarna Period, a theology of primacy where one god acts as chief of a pantheon; and 5) the quite different theology of this same Amun-Re after Amarna, a theology which answers the monotheistic experience by developing a kind of pantheism - the concept of the hidden god - who is both cosmic god and personal saviour.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jan Assmann
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Weight:   0.453kg
ISBN:  

9780367864910

ISBN 10:   0367864916
Pages:   248
Publication Date:   12 December 2019
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

"Part 1 The mysteries of the sun cult: preliminary considerations. acting. knowing. Part 2 The iconography of the solar journey: ""icon"" and ""constellation""; the icons of the solar journey reflected by the traditional solar phases hymn. Part 3 The phenomenology of the solar journey: historical aspects - the discarded image. theological aspects. stylistic aspects - the transformation of the solar phases hymn. Part 4 Amun theology of the Early Period: eulogies from tombs - Hatshesput to Amenophis II. Part 5 Ba - hiddenness and oneness: Theban Amun-Re theology in the Ramesside Period I. preliminary observations. oneness and hiddenness. transcendence and hidden unity. Part 6 Cosmic god and saviour: Theban Amun-Re theology of the Ramesside Period II. creation. life. Part 7 Judge and saviour - the god of the individual: the problem of personal piety life. saviour and helper of the oppressed. judge. ""division of power"" and ""representation."

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Author Information

Jan Assmann is Honorary Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Constance, where he is today.

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