Title: Development of religion and thought in ancient Egypt.
Authors: Breasted, James Henry, 1865-1935.; Wilson, John A. 1899-1976,
Publisher: Harper
Year: 1959
Subjects: Religion History; Egypt Religion.; Egypt Religion History.
Abstract: "Contrary to the popular and current impression, the most important body of sacred literature in Egypt is not the Book of the Dead, but a much older literature which we now call the "Pyramid Texts." These texts, preserved in the Fifth and Sixth Dynasty Pyramids at Sakkara, form the oldest body of literature surviving from the ancient world and disclose to us the earliest chapter in the intellectual history of man as preserved to modern times. They are to the study of Egyptian language and civilization what the Vedas have been in the study of early East Indian and Aryan culture. Discovered in 1880-81, they were published by Maspero in a pioneer edition which will always remain a great achievement and a landmark in the history of Egyptology. The fact that progress has been made in the publication of such epigraphic work is no reflection upon the devoted labors of the distinguished first editor of the Pyramid Texts ... It was therefore with peculiar pleasure that just after the appearance of Sethe's edition of the Pyramid Texts I received President Francis Brown's very cordial invitation to deliver the Morse Lectures at Union Theological Seminary on some subject in Egyptian life and civilization. While it was obviously desirable at this juncture to choose a subject which would involve some account of the Pyramid Texts, it was equally desirable to assign them their proper place in the development of Egyptian civilization. This latter desideratum led to a rather more ambitious subject than the time available before the delivery of the lectures would permit to treat exhaustively, viz., to trace the development of Egyptian religion in its relation to life and thought."--Preface (p. xiii-xiv).
Contents: LECTURE I. Nature and the State Make Their Impression on Religion -- Earliest Systems ---- LECTURE II. Life after Death -- The Sojourn in the Tomb -- Death Makes Its Impression on Religion (Period: earliest times to 25th century B.C.) ---- LECTURE III. Realms of the Dead -- The Pyramid Texts --- The Ascent to the Sky (Period: 30th to 25th century B.C.) ---- LECTURE IV. Realms of the Dead -- The Earliest Celestial Hereafter (Period: 30th to 25th century B.C.) ---- LECTURE V. The Osirianization of the Hereafter (Period: 30th to 25th century B.C.) ---- LECTURE VI. Emergence of the Moral Sense --- Moral Worthiness and the Hereafter --- Scepticism and the Problem of Suffering (29th century to 18th century B.C.) ---- LECTURE VII. The Social Forces Make Their Impression on Religion -- The Earliest Social Regeneration (Period: 22d to 18th century B.C.) ---- LECTURE VIII. Popularization of the Old Royal Hereafter -- Triumph of Osiris -- Conscience and the Book of the Dead -- Magic and Morals (Period: 22d century to 1350 B.C.) ---- LECTURE IX. The Imperial Age -- The World-State Makes Its Impression on Religion -- Earliest Monotheism --- Ikhnaton (Period: 1580 to 1350 B.C.) ---- LECTURE X. The Age of Personal Piety -- Sacerdotalism and Final Decadence (Period: 1350 B.C. on.).