Kara and Amber take a deep dive into the so-called “Cannibal Hymn” (Utterances 273–274) of the Pyramid Texts, which date to the late Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period (ca. 2375–2055 BCE) and are the oldest funerary texts from ancient Egypt. They do some reading, some interpreting, and talk about the great power the ancient Egyptians believed these texts held, and how they're a part of the restricted knowledge and magical power that the Egyptians kept for their god–kings.

Sources

Eyre, Christopher. 2002. The Cannibal Hymn: a cultural and literary study. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.

Faulkner, R. O. 1969. The ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts: translated into English, 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Goebs, Katja. 2004. “The Cannibal Spell: continuity and change in the Pyramid Text and Coffin Text versions.” In: Bickel, Susanne and Bernard Mathieu (eds), D'un monde à l'autre: Textes des Pyramides & Textes des Sarcophages. Actes de la table ronde internationale, "Textes des Pyramides versus Textes des Sarcophages", IFAO - 24-26 Septembre 2001, 143-173. Le Caire: Institut français d'archéologie orientale.

Hornung, Erik. 1992. Idea into image: essays on ancient Egyptian thought. Translated by Elizabeth Bredeck. New York: Timken.

Sethe, Kurt. 1908-1922. Die altaegyptischen Pyramidentexte: nach den Papierabdrücken und Photographien des Berliner Museums, 4 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs.

In month’s Q&A we have questions concerning kingship & the gods, turtles (!!), and the Book of the Dead. Kara also answers some frequently asked questions about her new online course on ancient Egyptian cosmogony and cosmology.

Ancient Egyptian Cosmogony and Cosmology: Secrets of the Primordial Waters

An eight-part lecture series by Dr. Kara Cooney

SHOW NOTES

Kingship & Religion

* Overview of the King’s role in state religion

* Dunand, Françoise and Christiane Zivie-Coche. 2004. Gods and men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE. Translated by David Lorton. Ithaca, NY; London: Cornell University Press.

* Baines, Lesko, and Silverman. 1991. Religion in Ancient Egypt. Gods, Myth, and Personal Practice. Cornell University Press.

* Maat vs. Isfet

* Third Intermediate Period & the High Priests of Amun

* Herihor

* Piankhy

* Royal Ka- Bell, Lanny 1985. Luxor temple and the cult of the royal Ka. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 44 (4), 251-294.

* Abydos King List

Book of the Dead and Ideological Textual Knowledge

* Gloss

* Book of the Dead, Chapter 17

Turtles vs. Tortoise in Ancient Egypt

* Fischer 1968. Ancient Egyptian Representations of Turtles. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Papers 13. New York

* El-Kady. 2011. The Religious Concept of the Dual Character of the Turtle in Graeco-roman Egypt

* Ritner, Robert K. 2000. The "Breathing-permit of Hôr": thirty-four years later. Dialogue: a journal of Mormon thought 33 (4), 97-119

Retainer Sacrifice

* Review our episode with Dr. Rose Campbell- Part I & II

* Animal Sacrifice/Butcher scene

Recycling for Death: Coffin Reuse in Ancient Egypt and the Theban Royal Caches

If you are a paid subscriber on Substack or Patreon and would like a signed bookplate, you can reply to this post or email us at [email protected].

Kara’s latest book, Recycling for Death: Coffin Reuse in Ancient Egypt and the Theban Royal Caches, is now available! In this episode UCLA PhD candidate Kylie Thomsen joins the Afterlives crew to talk about the years of research and preparation behind the publication of this meticulous study of the social, economic, and religious significance of coffin reuse and development during the Ramesside and early Third Intermediate periods.

Get your copy of Recycling for Death

In this episode Kara and Jordan talk to Egyptologist Melinda Nelson-Hurst about her online Egyptology platform, Voices of Ancient Egypt, which teaches you how to read the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that you’ll see in museums, online, and on your next trip to Egypt – in less time and without the overwhelm.

About our Guest:

Melinda Nelson-Hurst is an Egyptologist (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania), specializing in the social history and archaeology of ancient Egypt, especially during the Middle Kingdom. In particular, Dr. Nelson-Hurst's research has focused on families and their influence within the state administration, office acquisition, inheritance, and family members' obligations to deceased relatives, as well as on Third Intermediate Period burial assemblages and the history of modern collections.Since 2018, Melinda has run the online Egyptology platform, Voices of Ancient Egypt. Through online courses and YouTube videos with over a million views, Voices of Ancient Egypt brings the study of ancient Egypt out from behind the classroom and library walls, so you can experience it in the real world. Voices of Ancient Egypt’s programs specialize in teaching you to read the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that you’ll see in museums, on Instagram, and on your next trip to Egypt – in less time and without the overwhelm.

Youtube- Voices of Ancient Egypt

IG- Voices of Ancient Egypt

Voices of Ancient Egypt

YouTube Video on how to write your name in hieroglyphs

Resources for the Episode

Scripts:

Hieratic and Demotic

Hieroglyphs

Stages:

Old Egyptian

Middle Egyptian

Late Egyptian

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

View the Rest of the Examples Mentioned in the Episode

SIGN UP FOR SCRIBAL SCHOOL!

Want to learn more? Get all the details about Scribal School and how Melinda's students learn to read hieroglyphs by signing up for Melinda's free class:

"3 Steps to Fast-Track Your Journey from Student to Scribe"

Many of you asked for it, and it’s finally here—an new online course from Kara is now available. Kara and Amber take a behind-the-scenes look at how her new course on ancient Egyptian cosmogony and cosmology came together and what is covered in this eight-part lecture series.

Journey into the afterlife with Kara and Amber as they take a look at the Book of the Dead (more properly known as The Book of Going Forth by Day), a well-known collection of spells from ancient Egypt meant to aid the dead in their transition into the afterlife. Kara provides a Coffin Girl’s Guide to the Book of the Dead, focusing on spells that are most associated with New Kingdom sarcophagi, coffins, and burial chambers.

More on the Book of the Dead:

Book of the Dead on Google Arts & Culture

Explore the Book of the Dead (The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge)

The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (World History Encyclopedia)

Show Notes

Religion of the Masses

* Kemp BJ. How Religious were the Ancient Egyptians? Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 1995;5(1):25-54. doi:10.1017/S0959774300001177

* UEE Encyclopedia- Votive Practice/Personal Religion

Continuity of Ancient Egyptian Religion

* Abu el-Haggag Festival: The Modern-Day Opet

* Moulid Festival of Abu'l Hajjaj

Entertainment in the Egyptian Court

* Autobiography of Harkhuf

[the king saying] “Come north to the residence at once! Hurry and bring with you the pygmy (sic) whom you brought from the land of the horizon-dwellers life, hale, and healthy, for the dances of the gods, to gladden the heart, to delight the heart of King Neferkare who lives forever! When he goes down with you into the ship, get worthy men to be around him on deck, lest he fall into the water! When he lies down at night, et worthy men to lie around him in his tent. Inspect ten times at night! My majesty desires to see his pygmy (sic) more than the gift of the mine-lands of Punt” (Lichtheim 1973, 27).

* Little People in ancient Egypt

* Blind Harper motif

* Westcar Papyrus and the Magician Djedi

His majesty said: “Is it true , what they say, that you can join a severed head?” Said Djedi: “Yes, I can, O King, my lord.” Said his majesty: “Have brought me a prisoner from the prison, that be be executed.” Said Djedi: “But not to a human being, O king, my lord! Surely, it is not permitted to do such a thing to the noble cattle [i.e. the populace].” (Lichtheim 1973, 219)

* Female Dancers

* Seneb

King’s Ancestors

* Royal titulary

* Divine Birth

* Oppenheimer, Adela. The Early Life of Pharaoh: Divine Birth and Adolescence Scenes in the Causeway of Senwosret III at Dahshur," in M. Bârta, F. Coppens, and J. Krejci, eds., Abusir and Saqqara in the Year 2010 (Prague, 2011), 171-88

* Alexander Romance

In this episode Kara and Amber discuss the builders and destroyers of Karnak. Who could create and who could destroy? If we look at the ancient living temple space of Karnak as social document, what can it tell us?

Evolution of a Temple (Elizabeth Blyth)

More info on Karnak

University of Santa Cruz Digital Karnak

UCSC Maps of Karnak

In this episode Kara and Jordan sit down with Prof. Solange Ashby (Assistant Professor, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA) to discuss her academic journey and her research on Nubian women.

Solange Ashby received her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago. Dr. Ashby’s expertise in ancient languages, including Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Meroitic, underpins her research into the history of religious transformation in Northeast Africa. Her book, Calling Out to Isis: The Enduring Nubian Presence at Philae, explores the Egyptian temple of Philae as a Nubian sacred site. Her second book explores the lives of five Nubian women from history including queens, priestesses, and mothers. 

Dr. Ashby is an Assistant Professor in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA where she teaches Egyptology and Nubian Studies

Academia Website

SHOW NOTES

* Download the full article here- Ashby, Solange. 2018. “Dancing for Hathor: Nubian Women in Egyptian Cultic Life.” Dotawo 5. https://doi.org/10.5070/D65110046.

* Meroitic Language

* C-Group Culture

* Hathor

* Dance in ancient Egypt & Nubia

* Inner panel of the sarcophagus of Aashyt

* Tattoo practice in Nubia and Egypt

* Philae Temple

* William Leo Hansberry Society

* The Hansberry Society panel on Early Christianity, commemorating Rev. Dr. Gay L. Byron will be on Saturday August 17th at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on their YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0HcD4L9_k0YFz8L_vH-jzw

Episode Notes

Parasites and other diseases

* Mitchell, Piers D. 2024. Chapter two - parasites in ancient Egypt and Nubia: malaria, schistosomiasis and the pharaohs. Advances in Parasitology 123, 23-49. DOI: 10.1016/bs.apar.2023.12.003

* Metwaly AM, Ghoneim MM, Eissa IH, Elsehemy IA, Mostafa AE, Hegazy MM, Afifi WM, Dou D. Traditional ancient Egyptian medicine: A review. Saudi J Biol Sci. 2021 Oct;28(10):5823-5832. doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2021.06.044. Epub 2021 Jun 19. PMID: 34588897; PMCID: PMC8459052.

* The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt

Religion, Cult and Morality

* Kemp, B. J. (1995) How Religious were the Ancient Egyptians? Cambridge archaeological journal. [Online] 5 (1), 25–54.

* Van Blerk, N. (2019) The ancient Egyptians’ “Religious World” : the foundation of Egyptian law. Journal for Semitics. [Online] 28 (1), 1–20.

* Crime and punishment

* Law in Ancient Egypt

“New” Nile Branch

* The Egyptian pyramid chain was built along the now abandoned Ahramat Nile Branch

Cultural Memory in ancient Egypt and Nubia

* Prehistoric Egypt

* Newman, J. & Wendrich, W. (2022) ‘Neolithic and Predynastic Egypt’, in Reference Module in Social Sciences. [Online]. Elsevier Inc. p.

* British Museum- Egyptian rock art

* EES- Drawings along the Nile

* Wadi Hammamat Project

Valley of the Queens

* AMAZING website charting all the tombs- Valley of the Queens and Western Wadis