Egyptian mythology

**Egyptian mythology** is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyptian religion. Myths appear frequently in Egyptian writings and art, particularly in short stories and in religious material such as hymns, ritual texts, funerary texts, and temple decoration. These sources rarely contain a complete account of a myth and often describe only brief fragments.

Inspired by the cycles of nature, the Egyptians saw time in the
present as a series of recurring patterns, whereas the earliest periods
of time were linear. Myths are set in these earliest times, and myth
sets the pattern for the cycles of the present. Present events repeat
the events of myth, and in doing so renew maat, the fundamental order of the universe. Amongst the most important episodes from the mythic past are the creation myths, in which the gods form the universe out of primordial chaos; the stories of the reign of the sun god Ra upon the earth; and the Osiris myth, concerning the struggles of the gods Osiris, Isis, and Horus against the disruptive god Set.
 Events from the present that might be regarded as myths include Ra's
daily journey through the world and its otherworldly counterpart, the Duat. Recurring themes in these mythic episodes include the conflict between the upholders of *maat* and the forces of disorder, the importance of the pharaoh in maintaining *maat*, and the continual death and regeneration of the gods.

The details of these sacred events differ greatly from one text to
another and often seem contradictory. Egyptian myths are primarily
metaphorical, translating the essence and behavior of deities into terms
 that humans can understand. Each variant of a myth represents a
different symbolic perspective, enriching the Egyptians' understanding
of the gods and the world.

As far as megaten goes, there are less references to egyptian mythology in the plots than there are for some other types of mythology. There are several demons from it however, so there is a bit to describe. And it has a few aspects that relate to the games. Notably, the fact that the myths reflect an abstract archaic past that in the present is repeated has a bit to do with how gods appear in the games. Because since demons are formed by observation, how time actually works for them is considered ambiguous, as well as in what sense their ancient myth aspects happened. But in the present they are obviously real beings capable of doing things and reliving these events commonly. So there's a distinction between the archaic more abstract aspect, and the more modern cyclical aspect. One that also reflects how time is not linear in the abyss. Obviously the extent megaten takes this goes a bit further than some of these myths do, however.

## Maat

**Maat**. The Egyptian word maat or ma'at, refers to the fundamental order of the universe in Egyptian belief. Established at the creation of the world, *maat* distinguishes the world from the chaos that preceded and surrounds it. *Maat*
 encompasses both the proper behavior of humans and the normal
functioning of the forces of nature, both of which make life and
happiness possible. Because the actions of the gods govern natural
forces and myths express those actions, Egyptian mythology represents
the proper functioning of the world and the sustenance of life itself. Since it reflects both cosmic functioning and moral action it is similar to concepts like tao or li, which show up as in-game descriptions of how to contextualize things.

To the Egyptians, the most important human maintainer of *maat* is the pharaoh.
 In myth the pharaoh is the son of a variety of deities. As such, he is
their designated representative, obligated to maintain order in human
society just as they do in nature, and to continue the rituals that
sustain them and their activities.

Maat also represents the ethical and moral principle that every Egyptian
citizen was expected to follow throughout their daily lives. They were
expected to act with honor and truth in manners that involve family, the
 community, the nation, the environment, and the gods. Maat as a principle was formed to meet the complex needs of the emergent
 Egyptian state that embraced diverse peoples with conflicting
interests. The development of such rules sought to avert chaos
 and it became the basis of Egyptian law. From an early period the King
would describe himself as the "Lord of Maat" who decreed with his mouth
the Maat he conceived in his heart.

The significance of Maat developed to the point that it embraced all
aspects of existence, including the basic equilibrium of the universe,
the relationship between constituent parts, the cycle of the seasons,
heavenly movements, religious observations and fair dealings, honesty
and truthfulness in social interactions. The ancient Egyptians had a deep conviction of an underlying holiness
 and unity within the universe. Cosmic harmony was achieved by correct
public and ritual life. Any disturbance in cosmic harmony could have
consequences for the individual as well as the state. An impious King
could bring about famine or blasphemy blindness to an individual. In opposition to the right order expressed in the concept of Maat is the concept of **Isfet**: chaos, lies and violence.

In addition to the importance of the Maat, several other principles
within ancient Egyptian law were essential, including an adherence to
tradition as opposed to change, the importance of rhetorical skill, and
the significance of achieving impartiality, and "righteous action". In
one Middle Kingdom (2062 to c. 1664 BCE) text the Creator declares "*I made every man like his fellow*". Maat called the rich to help the less fortunate rather than exploit them, echoed in tomb declarations: "*I have given bread to the hungry and clothed the naked*" and "*I was a husband to the widow and father to the orphan*".

To the Egyptian mind, Maat bound all things together in an
indestructible unity: the universe, the natural world, the state, and
the individual were all seen as parts of the wider order generated by
Maat.

**As ethics**. There is little surviving literature that describes the practice of
ancient Egyptian law. Maat was the spirit in which justice was applied
rather than the detailed legalistic exposition of rules (as found in Mosaic law
 of the 1st millennium BCE; but see the 42 negative confessions, below).
 Maat represented the normal and basic values that formed the backdrop
for the application of justice that had to be carried out in the spirit
of truth and fairness. From the 5th dynasty (c. 2510–2370 BCE) onwards
the Vizier responsible for justice was called the *Priest of Maat* and in later periods judges wore images of Maat.

**As a godess**. Maat was the goddess of harmony, justice, and truth represented as a young woman, sitting or standing, holding a *was* scepter, the symbol of power, in one hand and an **ankh**,
 the symbol of eternal life, in the other. She is the tangible embodiment of the concept. Sometimes she is depicted
with wings on each arm or as a woman with an ostrich feather on her
head. The meaning of this emblem is uncertain, although the god Shu, who in some myths is Maat's brother, also wears it. Depictions of Maat as a goddess are recorded from as early as the middle of the Old Kingdom (c. 2680 to 2190 BCE). The sun-god Ra
 came from the primaeval mound of creation only after he set his
daughter Maat in place of Isfet (chaos). Maat had an invaluable role in the ceremony of the Weighing of the Heart. (See below: "The Weighing of the Heart").

## Theology and Practices

Because the Egyptians rarely described theological ideas explicitly,
the implicit ideas of mythology formed much of the basis for Egyptian
religion. The purpose of Egyptian religion was the maintenance of *maat*, and the concepts that myths express were believed to be essential to *maat*.
 The rituals of Egyptian religion were meant to make the mythic events,
and the concepts they represented, real once more, thereby renewing *maat*. The rituals were believed to achieve this effect through the force of *heka*, the same connection between the physical and divine realms that enabled the original creation.

For this reason, Egyptian rituals often included actions that symbolized mythical events.
 Temple rites included the destruction of models representing malign
gods like Set or Apophis, private magical spells called upon Isis to
heal the sick as she did for Horus, and funerary rites such as the Opening of the Mouth ceremony and ritual offerings to the dead evoked the myth of Osiris' resurrection. Much of Egyptian ritual was focused on more basic activities like
giving offerings to the gods, with mythic themes serving as ideological
background rather than as the focus of a rite.
 Nevertheless, myth and ritual strongly influenced each other. Myths
could inspire rituals, like the ceremony with Isis and Nephthys; and
rituals that did not originally have a mythic meaning could be
reinterpreted as having one, as in the case of offering ceremonies, in
which food and other items given to the gods or the dead were equated
with the Eye of Horus.

Kingship was a key element of Egyptian religion, through the king's
role as link between humanity and the gods. Myths explain the background
 for this connection between royalty and divinity. The myths about the
Ennead establish the king as heir to the lineage of rulers reaching back
 to the creator; the myth of divine birth states that the king is the
son and heir of a god; and the myths about Osiris and Horus emphasize
that rightful succession to the throne is essential to the maintenance
of *maat*. Thus, mythology provided the rationale for the very nature of Egyptian government.

Temples existed from the beginning of Egyptian history, and at the
height of the civilization they were present in most of its towns. They
included both mortuary temples to serve the spirits of deceased pharaohs
 and temples dedicated to patron gods, although the distinction was
blurred because divinity and kingship were so closely intertwined.
 The temples were not primarily intended as places for worship by the
general populace, and the common people had a complex set of religious
practices of their own. Instead, the state-run temples served as houses
for the gods, in which physical images which served as their
intermediaries were cared for and provided with offerings. This service
was believed to be necessary to sustain the gods, so that they could in
turn maintain the universe itself. Note here how this aspect actually ties heavily to megaten, in that the gods need human action to sustain them. This relates to how the gods in-game subsist on observation, and could die if this sustenance failed to exist.

The word "magic" is used to translate the Egyptian term *heka*, which meant, as James P. Allen puts it, "the ability to make things happen by indirect means".
 Heka was believed to be a natural phenomenon, the force which was used
to create the universe and which the gods employed to work their will.
Humans could also use it, however, and magical practices were closely
intertwined with religion. In fact, even the regular rituals performed
in temples were counted as magic.
 Individuals also frequently employed magical techniques for personal
purposes. Although these ends could be harmful to other people, no form
of magic was considered inimical in itself. Instead, magic was seen
primarily as a way for humans to prevent or overcome negative events.

## Creation and eschatology

In Egyptian belief, the disorder that predates the ordered world
exists beyond the world as an infinite expanse of formless water,
personified by the god **Nun**. The earth, personified by the god **Geb**, is a flat piece of land over which arches the sky, usually represented by the goddess **Nut**. The two are separated by the personification of air, **Shu**. The sun god Ra
 is said to travel through the sky, across the body of Nut, enlivening
the world with his light. At night Ra passes beyond the western horizon
into the Duat, a mysterious region that borders the formlessness of Nun. At dawn he emerges from the Duat in the eastern horizon.

Among the most important myths were those describing the creation of the
 world. The Egyptian developed many accounts of the creation, which
differ greatly in the events they describe. In particular, the deities
credited with creating the world vary in each account. This difference
partly reflects the desire of Egypt's cities and priesthoods to exalt
their own patron gods by attributing creation to them. Yet the differing
 accounts were not regarded as contradictory; instead, the Egyptians saw
 the creation process as having many aspects and involving many divine
forces. This abstraction of the concepts relates to things in-game as well, where different gods are seen as having overlapping roles without this being an issue, since they represent an aspect of the role in a way that doesn't prevent other gods from doing so.

One common feature of the myths is the emergence of the world from
the waters of chaos that surround it. This event represents the
establishment of **maat** and the origin of life. One fragmentary tradition centers on the eight gods of the Ogdoad,
 who represent the characteristics of the primeval water itself. Their
actions give rise to the sun (represented in creation myths by various
gods, especially Ra), whose birth forms a space of light and dryness
within the dark water.
 The sun rises from the first mound of dry land, another common motif in
 the creation myths, which was likely inspired by the sight of mounds of
 earth emerging as the Nile flood receded. With the emergence of the sun
 god, the establisher of *maat*, the world has its first ruler.
 Accounts from the first millennium BC focus on the actions of the
creator god in subduing the forces of chaos that threaten the newly
ordered world.

Atum, a
 god closely connected with the sun and the primeval mound, is the focus
 of a creation myth dating back at least to the Old Kingdom. Atum, who
incorporates all the elements of the world, exists within the waters as a
 potential being. At the time of creation he emerges to produce other
gods, resulting in a set of nine deities, the Ennead,
 which includes Geb, Nut, and other key elements of the world. The
Ennead can by extension stand for all the gods, so its creation
represents the differentiation of Atum's unified potential being into
the multiplicity of elements present within the world.

Over time, the Egyptians developed more abstract perspectives on the creation process. By the time of the *Coffin Texts*,
 they described the formation of the world as the realization of a
concept first developed within the mind of the creator god. The force of
 heka,
 or magic, which links things in the divine realm and things in the
physical world, is the power that links the creator's original concept
with its physical realization. Heka itself can be personified as a
 god, but this intellectual process of creation is not associated with
that god alone. An inscription from the Third Intermediate Period (c. 1070–664 BC), whose text may be much older, describes the process in detail and attributes it to the god Ptah,
 whose close association with craftsmen makes him a suitable deity to
give a physical form to the original creative vision. Hymns from the New
 Kingdom describe the god Amun, a mysterious power that lies behind even the other gods, as the ultimate source of this creative vision.

The origin of humans is not a major feature of Egyptian creation
stories. In some texts the first humans spring from tears that Ra-Atum
or his feminine aspect, the Eye of Ra,
 sheds in a moment of weakness and distress, foreshadowing humans'
flawed nature and sorrowful lives. Others say humans are molded from
clay by the god Khnum.
 But overall, the focus of the creation myths is the establishment of
cosmic order rather than the special place of humans within it.

Egyptian texts typically treat the dissolution of the world as a
possibility to be avoided, and for that reason they do not often
describe it in detail. However, many texts allude to the idea that the
world, after countless cycles of renewal, is destined to end. This end
is described in a passage in the *Coffin Texts* and a more explicit one in the *Book of the Dead*,
 in which Atum says that he will one day dissolve the ordered world and
return to his primeval, inert state within the waters of chaos. All
things other than the creator will cease to exist, except Osiris, who
will survive along with him. Details about this eschatological prospect are left unclear, including the fate of the dead who are associated with Osiris.
 Yet with the creator god and the god of renewal together in the waters
that gave rise to the orderly world, there is the potential for a new
creation to arise in the same manner as the old.

## Time

The Egyptians' vision of time was influenced by their environment.
Each day the sun rose and set, bringing light to the land and regulating
 human activity; each year the Nile flooded,
 renewing the fertility of the soil and allowing the highly productive
agriculture that sustained Egyptian civilization. These periodic events
inspired the Egyptians to see all of time as a series of recurring
patterns regulated by *maat*, renewing the gods and the universe.
 Although the Egyptians recognized that different historical eras differ
 in their particulars, mythic patterns dominate the Egyptian perception
of history.

Many Egyptian stories about the gods are characterized as having
taken place in a primeval time when the gods were manifest on the earth
and ruled over it. After this time, the Egyptians believed, authority on
 earth passed to human pharaohs.
 This primeval era seems to predate the start of the sun's journey and
the recurring patterns of the present world. At the other end of time is
 the end of the cycles and the dissolution of the world. Because these
distant periods lend themselves to linear narrative better than the
cycles of the present, John Baines sees them as the only periods in which true myths take place.
 Yet, to some extent, the cyclical aspect of time was present in the
mythic past as well. Egyptians saw even stories that were set in that
time as being perpetually true. The myths were made real every time the
events to which they were related occurred. These events were celebrated
 with rituals, which often evoked myths. Ritual allowed time to periodically return to the mythic past and renew life in the universe.

As stated above, this relates to how gods in-game are formed from observation, and so there is ambiguity about the events they undertook in the mythic past, versus the ones they tangibly do in the present. These events in the mythic past are seen as still "real" in-game, but in a way that humans may not be able to comprehend if they are not tangibly within the timeline. Doubly since the abyss exists in a sense outside of time. In what sense some of these events happened if they did not happen within time is seen as something that is in a sense beyond comprehension.

## Afterlife

In the Duat, the Egyptian underworld,
 the hearts of the dead were said to be weighed against her single
"**Feather of Ma'at**", symbolically representing the concept of Maat, in
the *Hall of Two Truths*. This is why hearts were left in Egyptian
mummies while their other organs were removed, as the heart (called
"ib") was seen as part of the Egyptian soul.
 If the heart was found to be lighter or equal in weight to the feather
of Maat, the deceased had led a virtuous life and would go on to **Aaru**. Osiris came to be seen as the guardian of the gates of Aaru after he became part of the Egyptian pantheon and displaced Anubis in the Ogdoad tradition. A heart which was unworthy was devoured by the goddess Ammit and its owner condemned to remain in the **Duat**.

The weighing of the heart, pictured on papyrus in the Book of the Dead
 typically, or in tomb scenes, shows Anubis overseeing the weighing and
the lioness Ammit seated awaiting the results so she could consume those
 who failed. The image would be the vertical heart on one flat surface
of the *balance scale* and the vertical Shu-feather standing on the
 other balance scale surface. Other traditions hold that Anubis brought
the soul before the posthumous Osiris who performed the weighing. While
the heart was weighed the deceased recited the 42 Negative Confessions
as the Assessors of Maat looked on.

Egyptians were often entombed with funerary texts in order to be well equipped for the afterlife as mandated by Egyptian burial customs. These often served to guide the deceased through the afterlife, and the most famous one is the *Book of the Dead* or *Papyrus of Ani* (known to the ancient Egyptians as *The Book of Coming Forth by Day*). The lines of these texts are often collectively called the "Forty-Two Declarations of Purity".[29]
 These declarations varied somewhat from tomb to tomb as they were
tailored to the individual, and so cannot be considered a canonical
definition of Maat, despite similarities.

The Egyptians had elaborate beliefs about death and the afterlife. They believed that humans possessed a **ka**, or life-force, which left the body at the point of death. In life, the ka received its sustenance from food and drink, so it was believed that, to endure after death, the ka must continue to receive offerings of food, whose spiritual essence it could still consume. Each person also had a ba, the set of spiritual characteristics unique to each individual. Unlike the ka, the ba remained attached to the body after death. Egyptian funeral rituals were intended to release the ba from the body so that it could move freely, and to rejoin it with the ka so that it could live on as an akh. However, it was also important that the body of the deceased be preserved, as the Egyptians believed that the ba returned to its body each night to receive new life, before emerging in the morning as an akh.

Originally, however, the Egyptians believed that only the pharaoh had a *ba*,
 and only he could become one with the gods; dead commoners passed into a
 dark, bleak realm that represented the opposite of life. During the late Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) and the First Intermediate Period (c. 2181–2055 BC), the Egyptians gradually came to believe that possession of a *ba* and the possibility of a paradisiacal afterlife extended to everyone.

In the fully developed afterlife beliefs of the New Kingdom, the soul had to avoid a variety of supernatural dangers in the Duat,
 before undergoing a final judgment known as the "Weighing of the
Heart". In this judgment, the gods compared the actions of the deceased
while alive (symbolized by the heart) to Ma'at, to determine whether he
or she had behaved in accordance with Ma'at. If the deceased was judged
worthy, his or her *ka* and *ba* were united into an *akh*. Several beliefs coexisted about the *akh*'s destination. Often the dead were said to dwell in the realm of Osiris, a lush and pleasant land in the underworld.
 The solar vision of the afterlife, in which the deceased soul traveled
with Ra on his daily journey, was still primarily associated with
royalty, but could extend to other people as well. Over the course of
the Middle and New Kingdoms, the notion that the *akh* could also travel in the world of the living, and to some degree magically affect events there, became increasingly prevalent. Ba shows up in devil summoner as a flight race demon.

**The** **Egyptian pyramids** are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt. The shape of Egyptian pyramids is thought to represent the primordial mound
 from which the Egyptians believed the earth was created. The shape of a
 pyramid is thought to be representative of the descending rays of the
sun, and most pyramids were faced with polished, highly reflective white
 limestone, in order to give them a brilliant appearance when viewed
from a distance (and so looked much different than their ruins now do).

While it is generally agreed that pyramids were burial monuments,
there is continued disagreement on the particular theological principles
 that might have given rise to them. One suggestion is that they were
designed as a type of "resurrection machine."

The Egyptians believed the dark area of the night sky around which
the stars appear to revolve was the physical gateway into the heavens.
One of the narrow shafts that extend from the main burial chamber
through the entire body of the Great Pyramid points directly towards the
 center of this part of the sky. This suggests the pyramid may have been
 designed to serve as a means to magically launch the deceased pharaoh's
 soul directly into the abode of the gods.
All Egyptian pyramids were built on the west bank of the Nile, which, as the site of the setting sun, was associated with the realm of the dead in Egyptian mythology.

## Symbols

**The ankh** is a cross with a looped top which, besides the
concept of life, also symbolized eternal life, the morning sun, the male
 and female principles, the heavens and the earth. Its form embodied
these concepts in its key-like shape; in carrying the *ankh*, one
 was holding the key to the secrets of existence. The union of opposites
 (male and female, earth and heaven) and the extension of earthly life
to eternal, time to eternity, were all represented in the form of the
looped cross. Some suggest that its popularity was a heavy inspiration on the christian symbol of the cross. Osiris is seen using one in game, and there is a magatama called ankh in nocturne.

**The** **Eye of Horus** is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection, royal power and good health. The eye is personified in the goddess *Wadjet*. The Eye of Horus is similar to the Eye of Ra, which belongs to a different god, Ra, but represents many of the same concepts.

Horus was the ancient Egyptian sky god who was usually depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner or peregrine falcon.[9] His right eye was associated with the sun god, Ra. The eye symbol represents the marking around the eye of the falcon, including the "teardrop" marking sometimes found below the eye. The mirror image, or left eye, sometimes represented the moon and the god Djehuti (Thoth).[10]
In one myth, when Set and Horus were fighting for the throne after Osiris's death, Set gouged out Horus's left eye. The majority of the eye was restored by either Hathor
 or Thoth (with the last portion possibly being supplied magically).
When Horus's eye was recovered, he offered it to his father, Osiris,
 in hopes of restoring his life. Hence, the eye of Horus was often used
to symbolise sacrifice, healing, restoration, and protection.

Many members of the egyptian pantheon are seen with eye of horus symbols on them.

**The scarab** is the famous beetle image seen in Egyptian art and iconography which represents the *Scarabaeus sacer*,
 a species of the dung beetle. The dung beetle was associated with the
gods because it rolled dung into a ball in which it laid its eggs; the
dung served as food for the young when they hatched. In this way, life
came from death.

They were closely identified with the god Khepri who was thought to roll
 the ball of the sun across the sky, keep it safe in its travels through
 the underworld, and push it up into the dawn the next day. When Ra
became the pre-eminent sun god, Khepri continued in this role as an
assistant. Strangely, this symbol is seen being held by oberon.

**The crook and flail** are among the most famous symbols from ancient Egypt
 symbolizing the power and majesty of the king. Both these items were
associated with Osiris and symbolized his early rule of the land. The
symbols appear in the Early Dynastic Period during the reign of the
first king, Narmer (c. 3150 BCE) and linked the king with the mythical
first king of Egypt Osiris.

According to the myth, Osiris' kingdom was usurped by Set, who murdered
him, but he was resurrected by his sister-wife Isis. She bore him a son,
 Horus, who defeated Set and restored order to the land. The king was
associated with Horus (with some exceptions) during life and with Osiris
 in death. Once Horus avenged his father and defeated Set, he took the
crook and flail of his father to represent the legitimacy of his reign,
and so it was for the kings of Egypt who identified with these gods. Osiris is seen holding them in-game

**The was scepter** is a staff topped with the head of a canine, possibly Anubis, by the time of the New Kingdom (1570-1069 BCE) but earlier a totemic animal like a fox or dog. The *was* scepter evolved from the earliest scepters, a symbol of royal power, known as the *hekat*, seen in representations of the first king, Narmer (c. 3150 BCE) of the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150-2613 BCE). By the time of the king Djet (c. 3000-2990 BCE) of the First Dynasty, the *was* scepter was fully developed and symbolized one's dominion and power.

The scepter was usually forked at the bottom but this changed
according to which god or mortal was holding it and so did the color of
the staff. Hathor,
associated with the cow, holds the scepter forked at the bottom in the
shape of cow horns. Isis holds a similar object but with the traditional
 fork representing duality. The *was* scepter of Ra-Horakhty
('Horus in the Horizon'), god of the rising and setting sun, was blue to
 symbolize the sky while that of the sun god Ra was represented with a
snake attached to it symbolizing rebirth, as the sun rose again each
morning.

**The sun disk** is a symbol for the sun commonly seen in egypt. Most notably is the version with extended downward rays associated with the worship of aten, the god of a short lived monotheistic religion. Although the symbol in a vacuum is not seen, in smtii the avatar elohim is based on aten, and surrounded by egyptian symbolism such as the pyramid and sphinx.

**The ben-ben** was the primordial mound upon which the god Atum
stood at the beginning of creation. It is easily the best-known symbol
from ancient Egypt, after the *ankh*, even if one does not recognize the name. The pyramids of Egypt, wherever one finds them and from any age, represent the *ben-ben* as they rise from the earth toward the heavens.

**The djed** is a column with a broad base narrowing as it rises to a capital and crossed by four parallel lines. It first appears in the Predynastic Period in Egypt
 (c. 6000-c. 3150 BCE) and remains a staple of Egyptian iconography
through the Ptolemaic Period (323-30 BCE), the last to rule the country
before the coming of Rome.
Although understood as representing stability, the symbol served to
remind one of the close presence of the gods as it also referenced the
god Osiris and so was linked with resurrection and eternal life. The *djed*
 was thought to represent the god's backbone and frequently appears on
the bottom of sarcophagi in order to help the newly arrived soul stand
up and walk into the afterlife. Osiris is seen with a subtle one in game.

## Gods

The Egyptians believed that the phenomena of nature were divine forces in and of themselves.
 These deified forces included the elements, animal characteristics, or
abstract forces. The Egyptians believed in a pantheon of gods, which
were involved in all aspects of nature and human society. Their
religious practices were efforts to sustain and placate these phenomena
and turn them to human advantage. This polytheistic
 system was very complex, as some deities were believed to exist in many
 different manifestations, and some had multiple mythological roles.
Conversely, many natural forces, such as the sun, were associated with
multiple deities. The diverse pantheon ranged from gods with vital roles
 in the universe to minor deities or "demons" with very limited or
localized functions.
 It could include gods adopted from foreign cultures, and sometimes
humans: deceased Pharaohs were believed to be divine, and occasionally,
distinguished commoners such as Imhotep also became deified.

The depictions of the gods in art
 were not meant as literal representations of how the gods might appear
if they were visible, as the gods' true natures were believed to be
mysterious. Instead, these depictions gave recognizable forms to the
abstract deities by using symbolic imagery to indicate each god's role
in nature. Thus, for example, the funerary god Anubis was portrayed as a jackal,
 a creature whose scavenging habits threatened the preservation of the
body, in an effort to counter this threat and employ it for protection.
His black skin was symbolic of the color of mummified flesh and the fertile black soil that Egyptians saw as a symbol of resurrection. This iconography was not fixed, and many of the gods could be depicted in more than one form.

The relationships between deities could also be expressed in the process of syncretism,
 in which two or more different gods were linked to form a composite
deity. This process was a recognition of the presence of one god "in"
another when the second god took on a role belonging to the first. These
 links between deities were fluid, and did not represent the permanent
merging of two gods into one; therefore, some gods could develop
multiple syncretic connections.
 Sometimes, syncretism combined deities with very similar
characteristics. At other times it joined gods with very different
natures, as when Amun, the god of hidden power, was linked with Ra,
 the god of the sun. The resulting god, Amun-Ra, thus united the power
that lay behind all things with the greatest and most visible force in
nature. Note the relation of the casual nature of this to the idea of demon fusion.

Many deities could be given epithets that seem to indicate that they
were greater than any other god, suggesting some kind of unity beyond
the multitude of natural forces. In particular, this is true of a few
gods who, at various times in history, rose to supreme importance in
Egyptian religion. These included the royal patron Horus, the sun god Ra, and the mother goddess Isis. During the New Kingdom
 (c. 1550–1070 BC), Amun held this position. The theology of the period
described in particular detail Amun's presence in and rule over all
things, so that he, more than any other deity, embodied the
all-encompassing power of the divine.

Because of theological statements like this, many past Egyptologists, such as Siegfried Morenz (de),
 believed that beneath the polytheistic traditions of Egyptian religion
there was an increasing belief in a unity of the divine, moving toward monotheism.
 Instances in Egyptian literature where "god" is mentioned without
reference to any specific deity would seem to give this view added
weight. However, in 1971 Erik Hornung
 pointed out that the traits of an apparently supreme being could be
attributed to many different gods, even in periods when other gods were
preeminent, and further argued that references to an unspecified "god"
are meant to refer flexibly to any deity. He therefore argued that,
while some individuals may have henotheistically
 chosen one god to worship, Egyptian religion as a whole had no notion
of a divine being beyond the immediate multitude of deities. Yet the
debate did not end there; Jan Assmann and James P. Allen
 have since asserted that the Egyptians did to some degree recognize a
single divine force. In Allen's view, the notion of an underlying unity
of the divine coexisted inclusively with the polytheistic tradition. It
is possible that only the Egyptian theologians fully recognized this
underlying unity, but it is also possible that ordinary Egyptians
identified the single divine force with a single god in particular
situations.

During the New Kingdom the pharaoh Akhenaten abolished the official worship of other gods in favor of the sun-disk Aten.
 This is often seen as the first instance of true monotheism in history,
 although the details of Atenist theology are still unclear and the
suggestion that it was monotheistic is disputed. The exclusion of all
but one god from worship was a radical departure from Egyptian tradition
 and some see Akhenaten as a practitioner of monolatry rather than monotheism,
 as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods; he simply
refrained from worshipping any but the Aten. Under Akhenaten's
successors Egypt reverted to its traditional religion, and Akhenaten
himself came to be reviled as a heretic.

**Amon-ra** is a deity of Egyptian and Berber lore. Amon-Ra or Amun represents the
essential that's hidden and Ra represents the revealed divinity. He had
no parents and created himself. He was King of the Gods and one of the
most well known alongside Osiris. His three wives are Wosret, Ammunet, and Mut.

Amun-Ra retained chief importance in the Egyptian pantheon throughout the New Kingdom (with the exception of the "Atenist heresy" under Akhenaten). Amun-Ra in this period (16th to 11th centuries BC) held the position of transcendental, self-created creator deity "par excellence", he was the champion of the poor or troubled and central to personal piety. His position as King of Gods developed to the point of virtual monotheism where other gods became manifestations of him. With Osiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods. In-game he is depicted as neutral and does not have a major role.

**Horus**. Often identified with the sun, Horus was known as one of the most powerful of the Egyptian pantheon. Son of the god Osiris, he seeks revenge for his father's death at the hands of the treacherous Seth.
 It is said that he and Seth have a never-ending battle, and when the
sun rises, Horus begins to triumph, but when the sun sets, Seth gains
the upper hand.

The Pharaoh of Egypt was also thought to be the human
personification of Horus, and was responsible for maintaining Ma'at, or
balance, in Egypt. When the pharaoh died, he became the embodiment of
Osiris.

Horus is a falcon-headed sun god in Egyptian mythology and the
son of Osiris. He is most famous for his battle with the god Set for
supremacy, losing an eye until he had it restored by Thoth. The gods
passed judgment on the battle between Horus and Set, ultimately favoring
 Horus as the god of day. The "eye of Horus" symbol in Egyptian art
represents healing. Despite his importance in egyptian religion, he only shows up as a generic boss.

**Anubis** is widely known as the Egyptian deity of mummification. In
this role, he oversees the mummification process of the dead, and is
usually seen in hieroglyphic tomb-carvings as overseeing the burial
ritual for the pharaohs and those of royal lineage - this is due to the
priest involved wearing the masks of Anubis to symbolize him as the
overseer of the ritual.

His place in the Judgement Arcana comes from the ancient Egyptian
 belief that those passing into the afterlife were judged by him using a
 scale to see if the deceased's heart (lightened by good works or
weighed down by sins) was as light as the feather of maat. He likewise does not show up in any major roles, despite being a prominent god.

**Set** or **Seth** is a god of the desert, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion. In Ancient Greek, the god's name is given as *Sēth*. Set had a positive role where he accompanies Ra on his solar boat to repel Apep, the serpent of Chaos. Set had a vital role as a reconciled combatant. He was lord of the red (desert) land where he was the balance to Horus' role as lord of the black (soil) land. Set has also been classed as a trickster deity who, as a god of disorder, resorts to deception to achieve bad ends. He was originally seen as a more positive protecting figure before this demonization.
In Egyptian mythology, Set is portrayed as the usurper who killed and mutilated his own brother Osiris. Osiris' wife Isis reassembled (remembered) Osiris' corpse and resurrected him long enough to conceive his son and heir Horus. Horus sought revenge upon Set, and the myths describe their conflicts. This Osiris myth is a prominent theme in Egyptian mythology. Horus challenges set for rule of egypt later on, and various events happen, such as set having sex with horus, and even ripping out his eyes, but ultimately horus' eyes are restored and he takes charge.

According to Herman te Velde, the demonization of Set took place after Egypt's conquest by several foreign nations in the Third Intermediate and Late Periods. Set, who had traditionally been the god of foreigners, thus also became associated with foreign oppressors, including the Assyrian and Persian empires. It was during this time that Set was particularly vilified, and his defeat by Horus widely celebrated.

Set's negative aspects were emphasized during this period. Set was
the killer of Osiris, having hacked Osiris' body into pieces and
dispersed it so that he could not be resurrected. The Greeks would later associate Set with Typhon, a monstrous and evil force of raging nature. Both were sons of deities representing the Earth (Gaia and Geb) who attacked the principal deities (Osiris for Set, Zeus for Typhon).

In art, Set is usually depicted as an enigmatic creature referred to by Egyptologists as the *Set animal*, a beast resembling no known creature, although it could be seen as a composite of an aardvark, a donkey, a jackal or a fennec fox. The animal has a curved snout, long rectangular ears, a thin forked tail and canine
 body, with sprouted fur tufts in an inverted arrow shape; sometimes,
Set is depicted as a human with the distinctive head. Some early
Egyptologists proposed that it was a stylised representation of the giraffe, owing to the large flat-topped "horns" which correspond to a giraffe's ossicones.
 The Egyptians themselves, however, made a distinction between the
giraffe and the Set animal. During the Late Period, Set is depicted as a
 donkey or as having a donkey's head

Although set is considered by some to be an inspiration for the jewish and later christian satan, this is not considered a historically accurate line of influence. He is an influence however on the greek typhon. Despite the lack of information, satan and set have been equated for a long time, with people seeing relations between the gods, including the temple of set who sees satan as a new name for set. So the figures are conflated together, although doing so is a modern thing.

Set is the most used god from egyptian mythology in the series. SMTII references this association between set and satan, having satan be made from set. Set in-game is composed of half of the soul of satan (the jewish angel of judgement satan), and merges with zayin who has the other half to restore his full nature. in DDS2 this association is likewise shown, with set as a secret boss fought directly before him.

In the first megami tensei game, Set is revived by Lucifer and serves as one of his servants. He governs the Sea of Flames, the second-to-last dungeon. This ties to the earlier story where set shows up as the villain. Later, in SMTIV he is shown in a side mission trying to keep osiris from reviving. In imagine, seth also acts as the final boss of the main episode's storyline where Setsu
 transforms into him during Act 19. The first encounter is designed to
fail with either the player running out of time or dying. Players are
then given a ring to boost their damage against him by the leader of
their respective alignment. The final fight against him within the main
story is a timed encounter.

Set shows up as vile race, which is the race for demons who were demonized by their own pantheons, or something similar. Why he is shown as a law demon in II is ambiguous, especially after being chaos in MTI, and never otherwise being shown in that role. Obviously one reason is the satan conflation. Another may be how he is the god of foreigners, and so is depicted outside the egyptian context. Potentially also how due to his ambiguous nature, he is seen as a dark figure, despite being one who helps fight off the all consuming apep. Maybe also to hint at that satan is ultimately going to turn on yhvh.

**Osiris** is one the chief Egyptian gods and the first king of the Nile. He is the son of Geb and Nut. His siblings are Set, Isis and Nephthys. He married his sister Isis and became the father of Horus.

Although there are many different variations on how he died, Set
is usually said to be the murderer. After his death, Osiris became Lord
of the Underworld and Judge of the Dead.

Osiris was also known as a symbol of resurrection. Isis performed
 a magic ritual whereby she restored him to life. He is typically
depicted as a bearded man wrapped in mummy bandages and holding a crook
and a flail to symbolize his kingship. Note how he is shown in-game with common depictions of egyptian symbols.

He does not show up as a major figure, but in SMTIV Retrieving his coffin is part of the Challenge Quest *Isis' Search for the Coffin* , where Seth captured it and tossed it into Naraku. His body is torn apart by Seth before the Challenge Quest *Osiris Resurrection* in order to keep him from reviving. His body parts are collected and he is restored at the end of the quest, thanking his wife Isis and he decides to aid Flynn
 by joining him for helping him resurrect. He does admit that he is
missing one part of his body (his genitalia) and asks that he does not
tell Isis.

**Thoth** is an important god in Egyptian mythology, commonly depicted as a
man with the head of an ibis or baboon. Most depictions show them
holding a was or rod and an ankh. Thoth's role was maintaining the
universe and later associated with settling disputes between gods,
magic, science and writing.

Thoth was the God of Knowledge, the Moon, Measurement, Wisdom, the
Alphabet, Records, Thought, Intelligence, Meditation, the Mind, Logic,
Reason, Reading, Hieroglyphics, Magic, Secrets, Scribes, and Writing.
He also went by other names in the myths of ancient civilizations. He
pretty much play a major God they all of them - same soul - different
identities. His feminine counterpart was Seshat, and his wife was Ma'at.

Thoth played many vital and prominent roles in Egyptian mythology, such
as maintaining the universe, and being one of the two deities (the other
 being Ma'at) who stood on either side of Ra's boat. In the later
history of ancient Egypt, Thoth became heavily associated with the
arbitration of godly disputes, the arts of magic, the system of writing,
 the development of science, and the judgment of the dead. He does not show up in any major roles.

**Bastet** is a Cat-headed Egyptian goddess of cats, protection, and the moon. In
Lovecraft lore she is known simply as Bast and is an Elder God. She is
said to have the body of a human but the head of a cat.

The uniting Egyptian cultures had deities that shared similar roles and usually the same imagery. In Upper Egypt, Sekhmet
 was the parallel warrior lioness deity. Often similar deities merged
into one with the unification, but that did not occur with these deities
 having such strong roots in their cultures. Instead, these goddesses
began to diverge. During the 22nd Dynasty (c. 945–715 BC), Bast had transformed from a lioness warrior deity into a major protector deity represented as a cat. *Bastet*,
 the name associated with this later identity, is the name commonly used
 by scholars today to refer to this deity. Bastet is also the protector
of cats.

Cats were considered an important and sacred species in egypt, and were dedicated to bastet. They were often mummified in the same way humans would be.

**Isis** was a goddess in ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose
worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshiped as
the ideal mother and wife, patron of nature and magic; friend of slaves,
 sinners, artisans and the downtrodden, as well as listening to the
prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers.

The goddess Isis was the first daughter of Geb, god of the Earth,
 and Nut, the goddess of the Overarching Sky, and was born on the fourth
 intercalary day. Isis was said to have literally blackmailed the true
name of Ra the supreme sun god out of him, by making a snake poison him,
 which could only be cured by Isis herself. (Ra, being a god, cannot die
 from the poison, but the pain would still last.) In later myths about
Isis, she had a brother, Osiris, who became her husband, and she then was said to have conceived Horus.
 Isis was instrumental in the resurrection of Osiris when he was
murdered by Seth. Her magical skills restored his body to life after she
 gathered the body parts that had been strewn about the earth by Seth.

She is the one who recruits you for the challenge mission to find osiris' coffin in SMTIV. And is generally chaos race. But has few roles outside of this.

**Hathor** is the cow-headed goddess of motherly love and good luck in Egyptian mythology. She is the mother and also the wife of Horus,
 the sky god. She is identified with the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Hathor
 has many other names as well, including "Lady of the Temple of Birth"
and "Mother of Gods and Men." Hathor was the second-most widely worshiped goddess in Egypt, after Isis. Cleopatra was a fervent devotee, and today the Temple of Hathor still stands.

Hathor is an ancient Egyptian goddess associated, later, with Isis
 and, earlier, with Sekhmet but eventually was considered the primeval
goddess from whom all others were derived. She is usually depicted as a
woman with the head of a cow, ears of a cow, or simply in cow form. In
her form as *Hesat* she is shown as a pure white cow carrying a
tray of food on her head as her udders flow with milk. She is closely
associated with the primeval divine cow *Mehet-Weret*, a sky goddess whose name means "Great Flood" and who was thought to bring the inundation of the Nile River which fertilized the land. Through this association, Hathor came to be regarded as the mother of
the sun god Ra and held a prominent place in his barge as it sailed
across the night sky, into the underworld, and rose again at dawn. In-game she is often law aligned.

**Apis**. In Egyptian mythology, Apis was a bull-deity worshipped in the Memphis region. It does not show up in major roles.

According to Manetho, his worship was instituted by Kaiechos of
the Second Dynasty. Apis is named on very early monuments, but little is
 known of the divine animal before the New Kingdom. Ceremonial burials
of bulls indicate that ritual sacrifice was part of the worship of the
early cow deities and a bull might represent a king who became a deity
after death. He was entitled "the renewal of the life" of the Memphite
god Ptah: but after death he became Osorapis, i.e. the Osiris Apis, just
 as dead humans were assimilated to Osiris, the king of the underworld.
This Osorapis was identified with the Hellenisti Serapis, and may well
be identical with him. Greek writers make the Apis an incarnation of
Osiris, ignoring the connection with Ptah.

**Ammut**, or Amun, is a mystical Egyptian beast awaiting in the Halls of
Judgment before the afterlife. Should the heart of the judged soul be
heavier than the Feather of Truth, Ammut devours the sinner. It does not show up in any major roles, and is a neutral demon.

**Selket** is one of the four goddess whom guarded the tomb of Tutankhamen.
Selket is seen as a benevolent deity because she gave her power over her
 scorpions to a group of sorcerer doctors known as the Charmers of
Selket. She shows up as a scorpion looking demon who is beast race in many games.

**Bes** is an Egyptian deity, protector of households, especially women and children.
Enemy of all that is bad and defender of everything good. While
originally represented as a lion on his hind legs, later depictions
transformed him into a squat, black-skinned figure with abundant fur. It shows up as genma race.

**Khonsu** is an Ancient Egyptian god whose main role was associated with the moon. His name means "*traveler*" and this may relate to the nightly travel of the moon across the sky. Along with Thoth
 he marked the passage of time. Khonsu was instrumental in the creation
of new life in all living creatures. At Thebes he formed part of a
family triad with Mut as his mother and Amun his father. At Kom Ombo he
was worshiped as son of Sobek and Hathor.

Typically he is depicted as a mummy with the symbol of childhood,
 a sidelock of hair, as well as the menat necklace with crook and flail.
 He has close links to other divine children such as Horus
 and Shu. He is sometimes shown wearing a falcon's head like Horus, with
 whom he is associated as a protector and healer, adorned with the sun
disk and crescent moon.

He is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts, in which
he is depicted in a fierce aspect, but doesn't rise to prominence until
the New Kingdom when he is described as the "*Greatest God of the Great Gods*".
 Most of the construction of the temple complex at Karnak was centered
on Khonsu during the Ramesside Period. His temple at Karnak is in a
relatively good state of preservation and on one of the walls is
depicted a cosmogony in which Khonsu is described as the great snake who
 fertilizes the Cosmic Egg in the creation of the world. Khonsu's reputation as a healer spread outside of Egypt with a
stela recording how a princess of Bekhten was instantly cured of an illness when an image of Khonsu arrived.

In SMTV, khonsu is a major figure on a certain sidequest line, trying to help miyazu overcome her sickness. This tying to his role in mythology of being a healer.

**Sekhmet**. In Egypt, she is a fearsome solar goddess with the head of lioness. She also governed war and disease. In one myth, Ra
 grew tired of humanity and sent her to destroy them. However, when Ra
changed his mind, he tried to stop her by getting her drunk.

Sekhmet is listed as Lady (Earth Mother) even though she was never
considered a mother goddess or an earth goddess. However, she is known
to be a particularly violent goddess, and members of the Lady Race have
been known to consist of fierce goddesses. However, Sekhmet is widely considered to be an alter ego or aspect of Hathor and/or Isis, both of which were known as archetypal mother goddesses. She shows up as chaos.

**A sphinx** is a mythical creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. Although more associated with egypt, the most notorious myth that refers to them is from greek myth, after greece imported the concept from egypt. In Greek tradition, it has the head of a human, the haunches of a lion, and sometimes the wings of a bird. It is mythicised as treacherous and merciless. Those who cannot answer its riddle suffer a fate typical in such mythological stories, as they are killed and eaten by this ravenous monster. This deadly version of a sphinx appears in the myth and drama of Oedipus. Unlike the Greek sphinx, which was a woman, the Egyptian sphinx is typically shown as a man (an **androsphinx**).
 In addition, the Egyptian sphinx was viewed as benevolent, but having a
 ferocious strength similar to the malevolent Greek version and both
were thought of as guardians often flanking the entrances to temples.

Although sphinxes do show up as enemies in various games, generally as neutral aligned, the most notable appearance of one is futaba's mental image of her mother as angry at her in persona 5. This however was based on her being lied to about her mother's intentions, and not entirely understanding them. Its appearance in-game represents the large scale and strength of the mythological figure. In SMTII the cherubs guarding the ark (which was itself pyramid shaped) look like sphinxes. And since seth is part of satan, whether an egyptian theme was meant to be present in a big way is unclear.

The **Bennu** bird serves as the Egyptian correspondence to the Phoenix, and is said to be the soul of the *Sun-God* Amon-Ra. Some of the titles of the Bennu bird were “He Who Came Into Being by Himself”, “Ascending One”, and “Lord of Jubilees”.

It was associated with the rising of the Nile, resurrection, and
the sun. Because the Bennu represented creation and renewal, it was
connected with the Egyptian calendar. Indeed, the Temple of the Bennu
was well known for its time-keeping devices.

It shows up in a few games, most notably as a law demon in SMTII, due to being a bird.

**Cleopatra** is The last queen of Ptolemaic Egypt, who made an alliance with Julius Caesar
 to secure power and after his death, joined the general Mark Antony in
opposing Caesar's successor Octavian. The two were eventually defeated
and committed suicide together. She shows up as a godess in iva, potentially referencing how pharaohs were seen as gods.

Nanashi receives a quest to investigate the sudden disappearance of several women. He has also noted the disappearance of Asahi.
 Upon arrival at a structure with a peculiar resemblance to an inverted
pyramid, he notices that the area is almost completely covered in roses.
 Further investigation reveals that there are mummified bodies beneath
them. He journeys deeper into the structure to find and release Asahi,
only to get attacked by an army of Egyptian demons.

After their defeat, they lament the failure to fully revive
Cleopatra, since Asahi was the last of the 1465 women they had abducted
to complete the ritual. Nevertheless, Cleopatra revives in her slightly
imperfect form, attacking Nanashi for his interference.

**Apep** (or Apophis) was a god of evil, darkness and chaos in Egyptian
mythology. He hates and is the enemy of light and Maat. He always
opposes Ra and constantly battles him, losing each time. Because Apep opposed Ra he earned the title *Enemy of Ra*.
 As an embodiment of evil he was originally seen as a giant serpent but
over the years came to be view as a dragon. He was worshiped against in
ancient Egypt. He is seen as all consuming, risking to bring an end to the world. He shows up in a few side games, though never in an important role.

The few descriptions of Apep's origin in myth usually demonstrate that it was born after Ra, usually from his umbilical cord.
 Combined with its absence from Egyptian creation myths, this has been
interpreted as suggesting that Apep wasn't a primordial force in
Egyptian theology, but a consequence of Ra's birth. This suggests that evil in Egyptian theology is the consequence of an individual's own struggles against non-existence.

**Asp** is an archaic term for a kind of venomous snake which is said to
caused the poisoning and death of the legendary Egyptian queen Cleopatra. A mysterious venomous snake that can put its victim to sleep with its gaze alone. Known
 as the serpent of death, it lulls its victims to sleep allowing it to
deliver the fatal bite at will. Because male and female asps always live
 in pairs, it can be said to be an affectionate snake. If one of them is
 killed, the other will come for revenge. Egyptian cobras are currently
known as asps.

**Taueret**, or more commonly Tawaret, is the Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility. She was once the wife of the demon god Apep, the original chaos, but eventually, she was seen as more benign. Some pair her with the god Seth, other associate her the demon Ammit. She shows up as chaos and uses the same portrait as behemoth.

**Aten** was a god who for a short period was seen as the only god, being established as such in the short lived religion of atenism. Atenism was centred on the cult of Aten, a god depicted as the disc of the Sun. Aten was originally an aspect of Ra, Egypt's traditional solar deity, though he was later asserted by Akhenaten as being the superior of all deities.

In the 14th century BC, Atenism was Egypt's state religion for around 20 years, and Akhenaten met the worship of other gods with persecution; he closed many traditional temples, instead commissioning the construction of Atenist temples, and also suppressed religious traditionalists. However, subsequent pharaohs toppled the movement in the aftermath of Akhenaten's death, thereby restoring Egyptian civilization's traditional polytheistic religion. Large-scale efforts were then undertaken to remove from Egypt and Egyptian records any presence or mention of Akhenaten, Atenist temples, and Atenist assertions of a uniquely supreme god.

Aspects of atemism are seen in the composite monotheism seen in the final area of SMTII. the meggido ark is shaped like a pyramid, and guarded by sphinxes. And inside, the sun is one of the enemies you face. Implying that the monotheism of atemism was absorbed into the overall abrahamic paradigm in some way.