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Post by kungfuzu on Jun 28, 2021 20:48:36 GMT -8
I have just finished Allen Drury's A God Against The Gods which deals with the Eighteenth Dynasty in ancient Egypt, with emphasis and the Pharaoh Akhenaten, who some believe was the first person to believe in monotheism. Akhenaten, who was born around 1390 B.C. was originally known as Amonhotep IV. He changed his name to distance himself from Amon and the many other gods of Egypt. I did not know it, but his wife was the famously beautiful Nefertiti. The Eighteenth Dynasty had, for hundreds of years, promoted and allied with Amon and his priests in a mutually beneficial relationship. This relationship gets out of balance with Amon taking on too much power. The Pharaoh Amonhotep III works on weakening Amon and his cult for a number of reasons. He notes with some scorn that Amon has taken unto himself and his priests half of the wealth of the empire and he is determined to redress the situation. Of course, he meets with more resistance than he thought he would. One of the Pharaoh's servants, Amonhotep the son of Hapu has been observing the fight and writes of the Pharaoh's surprise at the resistance he is encountering. In this short clip, Drury has shown exactly how power is expanded and held. Today, think of China as Amon and the Eighteenth Dynasty as America. It was the USA that supported and helped build China over the last forty-odd years. And for some time now, China has been paying the many lesser gods around the world, including many in America, to tow the line. The link will take you to a photo of the exact edition of this book which I have just read. It along with about thirty or forty other new books were published by The First Edition Society back in the 1970s and 1980s. My father subscribed to these books knowing that I would inherit them. I have read some of them, but now I have decided to read them all.
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 29, 2021 21:43:31 GMT -8
Everything I’ve seen in various documentaries has described Akhenaten as a willful heretic bent on a radical, Obama-like “fundamental transformation” of Egypt. Drury’s book would seem to present him more as a reformer.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jun 30, 2021 9:45:03 GMT -8
In his preface, Drury writes that Akhenaten might have been the first great idealist, or something to that effect. He presents him in a much less forgiving light in the book. Drury's Akhenaten is a extremely willful young man who is driven by the psychological damage done by his physical deformities. The Pharaoh had been a beautiful and intelligent child, but a mysterious disease started attacking his body when he was about ten years old. For several years his body became more and more misshapen by the progress of the malady. Luckily, it stopped after a few years. Yet, the boy was profoundly effected by this. The grudge against Amon-Ra went bad some years. Akhenaten's father had attempted to peel back Amon's power, but Amon's high priest, the Pharaoh's brother-in-law, had Akhenaten's older brother secretly murdered to put a stop to this. As a result, Akhenaten's parents brought him up to understand that Amon-Ra and his priests needed to be reined in. The boy's rearing was too successful. He held a particular hate in his heart against his uncle the high priest. When he became co-Pharaoh, he started pushing his belief in the Aten. For ten years he showered money on the cult and tried to bring the people around to his ideas. In this he was not very successful. Toward the end of the book, after his father has died and Akhenaten has become sole Pharaoh, he decides that if everyone can't understand and do what's good for them, he will force them to get with the program. The tension grows throughout the book and I half expected someone to assassinate the prick/pervert. This did not happen, but Drury wrote a followup book titled, "Return to Thebes" which, I believe wraps up the story. Maybe it happens there. Of course, the story is about 98% invention. I read a history book book on Egypt just before I read this one and it is amazing how much they don't know about ancient Egypt. They don't even know the exact dates and lineage/names of many Pharaohs. Of course, whenever someone makes a film about Egypt, they generally pretend to know much more than they actually do. Archaeology can only tell us so much.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jun 30, 2021 10:47:26 GMT -8
I may check this book out.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jun 30, 2021 11:36:17 GMT -8
I would say it is a good book, but not a great book. The story proceeds through the eyes of the different characters involved. Each presents his or her thoughts at a particular time. Through this, the reader sees the various motivations of each as well as how some of the characters misunderstand others.
For example, Queen Tiye and some around her believe she is the one actually ruling the country as her husband Pharaoh Amonhotep III is lazy and self-indulgent. But when Amonhotep gives his thoughts to the reader, he shows that he understands quite well that his wife thinks she runs things, but he still has his hands on the reins of power.
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 2, 2021 7:38:23 GMT -8
I have’t checked that book out yet but you got me thinking about ancient Egypt. I watched an interesting documentary on The Roku Channel titled Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs. It’s a hodgepodge. More of a scattershot overview than an actual documentary on mummification. But it’s free so hey. Then to really get into hardcore Egyptology, I rented 1932’s The Mummy with Boris Karloff. Hailed as a classic, I don’t see it as anything more than a throw-away Saturday matinee thriller. But for it’s time it was probably a stand-out. I’m re-watching the Poirot episodes in order on Britbox. So, by coincidence, next up was episode 1 of season five: The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb. It’s actually one of the better episodes. But I can’t help rolling my eyes at Agatha Christie’s idea of a plot, generally speaking. They are often comically awful. But the characters and drama are interesting. So, as you can see, that is a rather thorough introduction to Egyptology by hook and by crook. I may yet get to the book in question.
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Post by artraveler on Jul 2, 2021 7:45:13 GMT -8
I remember reading this in the 70s. I think it was about the time the Tut exhibit was making the rounds. My best girl and I went to see it at the DeYoung Museum in SF. She wore a T-shirt with a picture of Tut in an appropriate place. The caption underneath--keep your hands off my tuts.
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 2, 2021 8:39:58 GMT -8
On July 15, 1978, the Treasure of Tutankhamen exhibit opened at the Seattle Center Flag Pavilion (which is inside of Seattle Center where the Space Needle is, etc.). I was 19 years old and went with my family.
But it was really too much to see in too little time. It was very difficult to gain any appreciation for the artifacts at the time. Still, they were spectacular. The exhibit ran through November 15 of the same year.
There was indeed Tut fever. Looking back, that's a much more healthy cultural fad than say, the slut female, Miley Cyrus, twerking on live TV. If I'm sounding more and more like an Egyptian Imam, it's the culture driving me this way.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jul 2, 2021 12:28:21 GMT -8
The author of that history book on Ancient Egypt, which I mentioned earlier, thought it somewhat ironic that King Tut, who would appear to have been pretty inconsequential in life, became the most famous Pharaoh due to the fact that grave robbers had missed his tomb. I have a friend who has visited the museums in Cairo and told me the display for Tut was amazing. He said there were literally thousands of small pieces of cut semi-precious stones embedded in gold covering the coffin. The closest I have come to seeing anything like that was in 1974 in Vienna. The PRC had just started a big PR campaign and had sent these Jade Burial Suits around the world. It was a big deal at the time. Frankly, the photos below look a little faded to me. I recall the suits being of a more pronounced green. Jade burial suits
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Brad Nelson
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 2, 2021 14:09:04 GMT -8
That’s about the size of it. And the amazing thing is that his burial was a rushed thing and he certainly didn’t have the time to collect even more wonderful art pieces. Imagine what was buried with Ramses the Great. In the latest edition of the Smithsonian there is an article about new and major discoveries in and around Saqqara and the stepped Pyramid of Djoser. They found what they call “megatombs” under the ruins of the Bubasteion temple. If you have the Libby app, you can (now) checkout this magazine as you would a book. This link should take you to the article from the magazine. If it works. The jade burial suits are pretty amazing.
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Post by artraveler on Jul 2, 2021 14:39:25 GMT -8
The framing area of Egypt has not changed much in 4000 years but the population has expanded beyond the capacity, even at three crops a year, for Egyptian farmers to meet demand. Egypt imports a lot of wheat, rice and produce to feed her people. The chief suppliers are the PRC and the US. A bad crop in either country and Egyptians will go hungry. Food is a dandy weapon. Suppose the PRC, in addition to developing virus for people, are also developing a blight for rice and wheat. Ask yourself, would a CCP leader use this as a weapon to torment war?
My answer is yes, in a heartbeat.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jul 2, 2021 15:02:59 GMT -8
As I recall, the history book I read mentioned that what we know as ancient Egypt was actually two strips of land, one on each side of the river, which extended about three miles (it might have been 8 miles) from the banks of the Nile. There was also the Delta, but the long-term capitals were not built there. The rest was pretty much desert. So Ancient Egypt was pretty much a long green belt running in a South to North direction starting around the land of Kush or Nubia.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jul 2, 2021 15:18:45 GMT -8
It works. Interesting article.
The world had seen nothing like them when the PRC sent them to museums around the world in the mid-1970s. As I recall, they looked much more impressive than what one sees in the pictures. The photos don't do them justice. I believe there were at least two burial suits in the exhibition. There were also various ancient bronzes, from drinking cups to masks. One mask tended to indicate that the ancient Chinese were not all Han. The mask had "western" features.
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Post by artraveler on Jul 2, 2021 17:50:23 GMT -8
The arable farmland of Egypt may have expanded some from the original 3-8 miles from the banks of the Nile, but not much. Egypt is still dependent on the river for all of the water it uses. They are more dependent today on imported food then ever in their long history. Jordan, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia are just as vulnerable. It is desalination technology from Israel that is making a difference.
BTW the first country to send aid and experts to assist at the building collapse in Florida was -- you guessed it Israel. Israeli experts are routinely dispatched to disaster site around the world. No big announcements, no press gatherings just non-judgmental assistance. When Haiti was struck by earthquake Marines from Getmo just beet the Israeli teams.
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 3, 2021 8:53:44 GMT -8
I’m into the fourth episode of a series that isn’t too bad. The first episode is Chaos and Kings which you can watch on YouTube or on The Roku Channel. At least on The Roku Channel, the episodes will queue-up automatically. I’m into #4 and I don’t know how many there are. But it’s not a frivolous documentary series.
Okay, I found the listing at IMDB and there are indeed 5 episodes in total.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jul 4, 2021 9:55:24 GMT -8
This sounds like a documentary worth watching. I have Roku TV so I will check it out.
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 4, 2021 18:43:10 GMT -8
As it turns out, it is packaged into 4 episodes on The Roku Channel. I don’t know why IMDB had five episodes listed but this type of discrepancy seems to be a common occurrence.
Again, these documentaries are non-frivolous. I’m sure you know what I mean.
My interpretation is that we don’t know much about day-to-day life in Ancient Egypt. Most of the info is Pharaoh-centric. They left a lot of impressive monuments. But what was it like to live in that age?
I think the third episode answers that somewhat. It gets into the religion as practiced by common people.
Still, if the gist of these documentaries is true, you do tend to get a glimpse of the mindset of people living in that time and place. They are heavily dependent upon the Nile and its rhythms. Not for one moment did I sneer at their religious beliefs. Indeed, we have so demystified the natural world in our own age that we (in my opinion) arguably have less practical appreciation for that world.
I love their idea of the sun descending to the netherworld to be reborn again. At it wasn’t necessarily automatic that it would be reborn. There were spells to be cast, forces of chaos to be overcome, if only between the various gods.
The religion and outlook of the Egyptians was that they recognized the world as split between two forces: order and chaos. They believed the Gods (at least the helpful and good gods) instituted order. And communicating with, and pleasing, those gods was therefore vital for achieving and maintaining order. But a normal man, of course, could not. That’s where the Pharaoh came in. It was his job to be the conduit for order.
This was probably widely believed and deeply ingrained. As went the Pharaoh, so went the rest of the people. You could thus see the building of the pyramids in a new light. The idea that they were built with slave labor has already been debunked. And there’s still so much we don’t know. But you get the idea that this was a grand project the people (for the most part) willingly took part in and supported.
As for the personal conduct of the Pharaohs, this documentary didn’t get into the personalities and accomplishments in detail. But it did note (I think) that there were many good Pharaohs. And as much abuse that must have taken place having that kind of power, their religion is interesting in that the heart of the Pharaoh (or anyone) would be weighed after death against a feather. A life lived in sin would tip the scale wrong and cause one’s heart to be consumed by a monster. So it’s interesting that this element of virtue was central. How it played out (did it restrain Pharaohs from abuse of their power?) was beyond the scope of the program. And, again, is there much record of this kind of thing?
The upper and lower kingdoms were combined sometime between 4000 and 3000 B.C. There was conquest involved but the program also said there is good reason to believe this was also a gradual process. One is left with the impression that it is astonishing that this kingdom could have lasted for almost 4000 years with (I think) more or less the same political and religious structure. Obviously Akhenaten threw a monkey wrench into the works. But even so, the kingdom endured.
The United States is a mere two centuries old. And it is easy enough to imagine it being broken apart within a hundred years. Egypt, in contrast, provided a history, legacy, and outlook to life that must have been (and seemed) as solid and constant a structure as mankind has ever known. Our technology is superior. But one wonders if we are going to live successfully for anywhere near the length of time as Ancient Egypt.
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Post by kungfuzu on Jul 5, 2021 9:38:45 GMT -8
I watched the first episode last night and can agree with you. I would tone down the music a bit, but otherwise I thought the presentation reasonable and appropriate.
I believe such film documentaries are particularly important for anyone trying to learn about ancient Egypt. The civilization stands out in our minds because of its wonderful achievements in the plastic arts, architecture and hieroglyphics. It is impossible to do these justice with just dry history books.
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 5, 2021 13:43:13 GMT -8
Yes, it takes more than dry history books. Perhaps add a dose of b-movies. To that end… I watched 1959’s The Mummy with Peter Cushing as the Egyptologist, John Banning. Interestingly, the mummy himself is played by Christopher Lee. But you have no hint that it’s the 6ft. 4in. Lee behind that makeup except for his height. Although neither film is a gem, I preferred this one over the 1932 one with Boris Karloff. Both are aimed more at teenagers or young kids than adults. The 1959 The Mummy can be found for free on Roku. I’m not sure which channel. Just do a search. Also available for free is 1954’s Valley of the Kings with Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker. I found this to be better than the 6.0 rating at IMDB. The only streaming copy I found on Roku was of fairly poor quality though. Still, it was watchable. There is a DVD version at Amazon. But many of the reviews complain of the poor quality. Perhaps this is a movie somewhat lost to time. And this film is notable for being filmed in and around Egypt. As the trivia section at IMDB notes:
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Post by Brad Nelson on Jul 6, 2021 6:58:11 GMT -8
To understand Egypt, one must understand the desert. To that end let me recommend 1953’s Inferno with Robert Ryan. Robert Ryan is a mean boss (reportedly “an alcoholic and egotistic millionaire” although we never see this directly) who goes out into the desert with his wife and his chief geologist. They’re looking for magnesium or something. The geologist and Ryan’s wife are having an affair and have apparently been planning for some time to find a way to get rid of Ryan. On this expedition, Ryan somehow breaks his leg. The wife and lover turn this into an opportunity to abandon him and make it look as if Ryan has wandered off on his own in a drunken stupor — something he apparently has done before from time to time. Although I think the ending was a little dumb, it’s fun watching Ryan battle his was back, motivated by taking revenge on his wife and her lover. But he faces long odds of survival in the desert with only scant food and water…not to mention a broken leg. This was, at the time, apparently one of the better films done in 3D.
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