La vita quotidiana degli Egizi e dei loro dèi

by Dimitri Meeks, Christine Favard Meeks

This is the first English translation of a highly appealing volume originally published in French in 1993. Informed by a sense of wonderment at divine doings, it treats the ancient Egyptian gods as if they were an ethnic group that captured the fancy of ethnologists or sociologists. The book begins with the discussion of the gods' community as a society unto itself. The authors describe the structures of the society of the gods and some of the conflicts that frequently upset it, with individual gods acting to protect their own positions in an established hierarchy and struggling to gain power over their fellows. The nature of their immortal but not vulnerable bodies, their pleasures, and their needs are considered. What did they eat, the authors ask, and did they feel pain? The second part of the book cites familiar traditions and littleknown texts to explain the relationship of the gods to the pharaoh, who was believed to represent them on earth. By performing appropriate rites, the pharaoh maintained a delicate equilibrium, balancing the sky home of the sun god, the underworld of Osiris and the dead, and the earth itself. While each world was autonomous and had its own mythological context, the separate spheres were also interdependent, requiring the sun's daily course and the pharaoh's ritual actions to ensure the cohesion of the universe.

Genres: History, Egyptology, Nonfiction, Mythology, Egypt, Religion, Egyptian Literature

386 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[محمد جمال]

قرأت الترجمة العربية الصادرة عن مكتبة الأسرة... الكتاب شديد الأهمية والعظمة، لكن الترجمة العربية بائسة.
نصف مملكتي للي يجيبلي النسخة الإنجليزية من الكتاب، ورقي أو إلكتروني

[Alicja · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected this book, from what I read online about it, to be more like ‘Mythos’ or something similar but it was more like reading a thesis about Egyptian gods and their contribution to Egyptians and the Pharaohs. The main thing I liked about this book was the fact they had a lot of pictures in the book did help to visualise it better. I do suggest to anyone who reads the book that they have at least a little bit of knowledge relating to Egyptian gods but not enough to know the various Gods stories otherwise it would be a very difficult read.

[Fabio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Per chi vuole addentrarsi in questo mondo e conoscere più in profondità gli dèi egizi, lo raccomando assolutamente.

[DAJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something about French Egyptologists makes them treat their subject with an odd sort of exuberance. This book is Exhibit A. As the book's own back cover puts it, the authors treat the gods "as a tribe or community that has caught the interest of anthropologists." Part One, written by Meeks, draws largely on lesser-known mythological texts from the Late and Ptolemaic Periods that include some of the most bizarre stories. Then he embellishes them with subjective judgments of the gods' behavior and with odd details like "one can imagine the expression on poor Sobek's face". (Contrary to his assertion, I can't really picture what a chagrined crocodile would look like.) This strange, colorful side of the gods isn't discussed enough in Egyptology, but too often Meeks doesn't make clear which episode comes from what source (though the footnotes help), or what symbolic meaning a mythic incident might have. He does, however, make some important observations about aspects of the gods' behavior, ranging from their law courts to their bodily functions, that other sources overlook.

Favard-Meeks wrote Part Two, about the relationship between gods and humanity. It starts out with subject matter that many other sources cover: how the Egyptians envisioned the world and how they interacted with the gods in temples. It quickly moves into less familiar territory, as its description of the underworld consists mainly of a description of the Book of Caverns, which may be the weirdest underworld book and isn't as well known as some of the others. The last sections describe several festivals and the myths related to them, many of which, like the Ptolemaic New Year festivities, aren't very commonly described in other sources.

Despite its eccentricity, the book is useful for getting a well-rounded perspective on the gods. Its vivid anecdotes feel a world away from other authors' abstract, intellectual analyses of Egyptian theology. Once, when researching a particular topic covered in both places, I switched from a passage of Jan Assmann's The Search for God in Ancient Egypt to a section of this book and felt pretty jarred by the contrast.

[Ulvhud · Rating 4 out of 5]

Letto quando ancora non avevo alcuna base del mondo egizio (se non quelle nozioni apprese alla scuola dell'obbligo), si rivela un saggio piacevole per iniziare a muovere i primi passi nel mondo egizio

[J. Else · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s got lots of intriguing information that I’ll use in my writing. However, the presentation is dry and easily gets dull. Recommend biting off small nuggets at a time.

[Recensioni in tre parole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ultraterreno. Narrativo. Contemplativo.

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nella traduzione italiana il titolo risulta fuorviante perché della “vita quotidiana degli egizi” non c’è veramente nulla. Il titolo originale “La vie quotidienne des dieux égyptiens”, rispecchia effettivamente maggiormente quanto contenuto nel libro.
Si tratta di un excursus interessante e abbastanza approfondito sui rituali religiosi che andavano a caratterizzare la religione egiziana. Vengono spiegati e illustrati alcuni aspetti interessanti e sfumature particolari: il concetto di divinità, l’anima diversificata in ka e ba, l’oltretomba, i vari aspetti degli dei, i loro ruoli,…
Sono riportati e spiegati, anche alcuni racconti mitologici o stralci di essi. Diciamo che io ero in cerca di qualcosa che approfondisse maggiormente la cosmogonia, le caratteristiche degli dei, le dinamiche che intercorrono tra le varie divinità e, appunto, i racconti mitologici in senso stretto.

[Katelis Viglas · Rating 2 out of 5]

The greek translation of the volume is included inside a historical series for the daily life in different historical ages. It's an informative compedium on the subject. The writers focus at the facts of Egyptian myths which can be considered as gods' everyday activities. Because of the specificity of the subject, I think it can be used not only by a common reader, but by egyptologists as well. Due to its divine character the daily life of these entities is totaly strange, incredible, extraordinary, usually repulsive.

[800£Chimneypiece · Rating 2 out of 5]

Da una parte sono sicuramente io che, non sapendone abbastannza, non riuscivo a seguire facilmente; dall'altra mi aspettavo un saggio sulla vita quotidiana degli Egizi includendo anche elementi riguardanti la religione, e non un saggio esclusivamente sugli dèi con sporadiche incursioni degli uomini.

[Lorenzo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very GREAT read!!!