The actiN'ities of the gods of the Pharaonic period, as well as their interactions with humans, are largely encapsulated in diine ‘attributes’ (such as epithets and iconographic features) or such genres as is, spells and rites, rather than being exprc. ssed in conventional narrative forms. On the basis of these scattered fragments of information, howtw er, it has priwed possible to reconstruct versions of a variety of‘myths’ of the Pharaonic period, associated with such issues as c:r|':.tios, kivi-siiiR and life after death (see I'cm'.r vr'i m:i,[i;F, s and osiRLs). 'Phere arc, however, also a number of surviving literary te. vts that more closelv approximate to the Classical concept of a narrative-style myth, such as the 7ale of Horns and Seth and the 'liilc of I. sis and the Seven Scorpions. In addition, the reliefs and inscriptions in the ambulatory of the Ptolemaic temple of iioRis at I'.Di'L (as well as the Middle Kingdom ‘Ramesseum Dramatic Papyrus’) have been interpreted by mam scholars as the texts of a mythological ‘drama’, consisting of the enactment of the triumph of the god Horus ov er his rival. sk'i h.
See also ml; itook of iiif. df. ad; coffin ¦n:Ts; fli;r.v tfxt. s; iwr. v.vud ri'.xis and RKl. lGION.
H. I'r. VNKI'OR'I', kingship and the gods: a study oJ Sear Eastern religion as the integration of society and nature ((Chicago, 1948).
II. \. h'viRVi. w, The trianiph of Moras A)x(.oy, 1974).
M. .‘fit.\il i. i,ia{, ‘Dramati. scher Rame. s.seumspapyru. s’, Le. xikon der.-Igypiologie i, ed. \. 1 lelck, E. Otto and W. Westendorf (Wiesbaden, 197.S), 1L32-TO.
J. Assvi VNN, ‘DicAerborgcnhcil des Mythos in.gypten', C U 25 (1977). 7-H.
L. Hri wkr-Tr u I, ‘.Mythos’, Le. xikon der figyplologie IV, ed, W. I lelck. F,. Otto and W. Westendorf (Wiesbaden. 1982), 277-86.
J. R. .'Vu. F.s, Genesis in Egypt - the philosophy of ancient Egyptian creation accounts (New Maven,
1988).
G. 11VRF, Egyptian myths (London, 1990),
NAG FX-DEIR
World History
