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Paradise in Ancient Egyptians Culture

In Western culture the word "paradise" usually refers to a  location: first, the Garden of Eden, where the first human beings lived in  perfect harmony with their maker and with the rest of his creation, then  the  abode  of  the  blessed  dead  where  this  primeval  harmony  has  been  restored and where they live forever in bliss. Comparably well-defined  and more or less permanent locations did not exist in ancient Egyptian religion. This does not mean, however, that the concept of an ideal world  at the beginning of time did not exist. The opening lines of the Book of  the Heavenly Cow describe it as follows: "Once upon a time it happened  that  Re,  the  god  who  created  himself,  arose  after  he  had  held  the  kingship  and  men  and  gods  were  still  united.  Then  mankind  began  to  plan  a  rebellion  against  Re,  for  His  Majesty  had  become  old."  Other  texts also allude to this primeval world, the "era of Re" (rk R') or the  "era  of  the  god"  (rk  ntr), and  king  lists  often  begin  with  a  dynasty  of  gods, headed by either Re or Ptah, which comes before the dynasties of  the human pharaohs. During this era gods and humans lived together in  an undivided world, and it was humankind's fault that this harmonious  situation came to an end. According to the version of the myth recorded  in the Book of the Heavenly Cow, Re initially decided to annihilate all  human  beings,  but  after  a  great  many  of  them  had  been  killed,  he  eventually  took  pity  on  them;  instead  of  continuing  the  massacre,  he  withdrew to the back of the Heavenly Cow and retired from his duties,  leaving the day-to-day running of affairs to his deputy, the god Thoth.  One of the earliest references to this myth is found in the Coffin Texts  (Spell 1130), where the Lord of All says, "I made everyone equal to his  fellow,  and  I  told  them  not  to  do  evil,  but  it  was  their  hearts  which  disobeyed what I had said." In chapter 175 of the Book of Going Forth  by  Day,  the  creator  god  asks  Thoth  for  advice  after  the  Children  of  Nut—i.e., the first generation of humanity—have rebelled against him,  and Thoth replies: "You should not witness evil, you should not suffer it.  Let their years be shortened and their months be curtailed, for they have  corrupted  the  hidden  things  in  everything  you  have  created."  Human  beings  have  destroyed  the  perfect  order  of  creation;  as  a  result,  death  comes into the world and "paradise" is lost.

A model of the original ideal world is found in the Egyptian temple  with  its  perpetual  cycle  of  rituals,  the  aim  of  which  was  the  reigning  maintenance of the perfect cosmic  and  social  order  (maat)  established  at  creation.  Only  the  reigning  king,  who  was  himself  a  god  among  men  and  a  man  among the gods and who was therefore able to act as the deputy of  the gods on earth, had access to the inner temple; in everyday cultic  practice,  however,  he  was  replaced  by  priests  who  acted  on  his  behalf.  Ordinary  human  beings  had  no  access  to  the  gods  in  the  temple. Only after death were they reunited with the gods, whom  they  would  then  be  able  to  worship  directly,  without  a  royal  intermediary,  as  is  shown  by  numerous  representations  on  tomb  walls and funerary objects, especially after the Amama period.

The  abode  of  the  dead  can  hardly  be  described  as  Paradise,  however. The spell from the Book of Going Forth by Day (or Book of the Dead, BD)  quoted  above  contains  a  dialogue  between  Osiris,  the  god  of  the  dead  with  whom  the  deceased  himself  is  identified, and Atum, the creator god: "0 my lord Atum, why is it  that  I  have  to  travel  to  the  district  of  silence,  where  there  is  no  water and no air, which is so deep, so dark and so impenetrable?— You will live there in peace of mind.—But one cannot even have  sex  there!—I  have  given  blessedness  instead  of  water,  air  and  sexual pleasure, and peace of mind instead of bread and beer, so  says Atum." Clearly the idea of being trapped forever in the realm  of  the  dead  provoked  mixed  feelings  in  the  Egyptians,  and  although  at  death  everyone  who  successfully  passed  the  final  judgment became an Osiris, most funerary texts put emphasis on  the  identification  of  the  deceased  with  the  sun  god,  who  is  not  restricted  in  his  movements  but  enters  the  netherworld  at  night,  only to be reborn and resurrected in the morning. The mummified  body of the deceased rests in its tomb in the underworld, but his ba, represented as a bird with a human head, is able to move in and  out of the tomb. The ba joins Re on his eternal journey along the  sky  and  through  the  realm  of  the  dead:  at  sunrise,  when  Re  is  reborn,  the  ba  leaves  the  tomb,  and  at  night,  when  Re  travels  through the underworld, where he temporarily unites with the body  of Osiris, the ba returns to the mummified body in the tomb.

At first sight, the idea of a perpetual cycle would seem to be  difficult to reconcile with the concept of a permanent locality such  as  Paradise.  There  is,  however,  a  particular  stretch  of  the  daily  journey  of  the  sun  god,  and  of  the  deceased  with  him,  that  has  sometimes  been  called  the  Egyptian  equivalent  of  the  Greek  Elysian  Fields.  Egyptian  texts  use  two  different  names  for  this  abode: the Field of Offerings (sht htpw), and the Field of Rushes  (sht iyv).  They  are  mentioned  together  as  early  as  the  Old  Kingdom  Pyramid  Texts,  and  it  remains  unclear  whether  these  names  refer  to  two  different  locations  or  whether  they  are  two  names  for  one  and  the  same  place;  obviously,  they  are  closely  related. Although they are occasionally said to be in the northern  sky, most texts agree that they are situated in the east, at the place  of sunrise: "the gate . . . from which Re goes out into the east of the sky" is "in the middle of the  Field of Rushes" (BD 149). In chapters 109 and 110 of the Book of  Going Forth by Day, which describe and even depict these fields,  the Field of Rushes is called "the City of the God" (i.e., Re); it is  inhabited  by the  "Eastern  Souls"  and  by  Re-Horakhty  (the  rising  sun) and the Morning Star (visible only in the eastern sky). Despite  the  term  "city"  used  here,  the  Field  of  Rushes  is  really  an  in- undated marshland divided by lakes and canals; according to the  Pyramid Texts, the sun god purifies himself in the morning in the  Lake of the Field of Rushes. In BD 109 and 149 it is described as  follows: "Its walls are of iron, its barley stands 5 cubits high, with  ears of 2 and stalks of 3 cubits, and its emmer stands 7 cubits high,  with ears of 3 and stalks of 4 cubits; it is the blessed, each of them  9  cubits  tall,  who  reap  them  alongside  the  Eastern  Souls."  This  idealized farmland stands in stark contrast to the gloomy abode of  Osiris,  which  is  airless  and  without  food,  drink,  and  sexual  pleasures, totally different from the picture that emerges from the  opening lines of chapter 110: "Beginning of the spells of the Field  of Offerings and the spells of going out into the day, entering and  leaving the necropolis, attaining the Field of Rushes, dwelling in  the Field of Offerings, the Great City, the Mistress of Air, being in  control  there,  being  a  blessed  one  there,  plowing  and  harvesting  there,  eating  and  drinking  there,  making  love  there,  and  doing  everything  that  one  was  used  to  do  on  earth."  In  the  vignette  illustrating  this  chapter,  the  deceased,  often  accompanied  by  his  wife, is shown paddling across the waterways of these fields in his  boat and plowing, sowing, reaping, and threshing, often dressed in  beautiful white linen garments which demonstrate that all of this  hard  labor  should  not  be  taken  too  literally:  in  actual  fact,  it  is  carried  out  by  the  deceased's  substitutes,  the  ushabti  statuettes  which were an essential part of his or her funerary equipment.

The deceased spend only part of their lives after death in this  place of abundance, however. When the sun goes down below the  horizon  and  Re  enters  the  underworld,  they  too  return  to  their  tombs.  The  next  morning  they  will  rise  from  the  sleep  of  death  again, bathe in the waters of the Field of Rushes, and provide for  their daily sustenance there. The food offerings that they receive  every day along with the daily rituals carried out by their relatives  or their funerary priests, are the earthly equivalent of the products  of the Field of Offerings and the Field of Rushes. One of the most  common scenes in Egyptian tombs from all periods is that of the  deceased  seated  at  an  offering  table  stacked  with  tall  loaves  of  bread.  From  the  sixth  dynasty  onward,  these  loaves  are  often  replaced by the reed-leaves which in the hieroglyphic script spell  the  word  sht  ("field"),  and  in  later  texts  and  representations  the  offering tables are expressly labeled "the Fields of Offerings."

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