Egyptology at Stonehenge - Page 2


© Arnvid Aakre
Page 2
For all countries you are going you can study the religion alone - as Greek mythology or Zen Buddhism. You can study the ancient language, geography, art - or yes, history. That's not possible if you want to study Egyptology. The brilliant WordWeb or Merriam-Webster is missing the bulls eye when the first defines Egyptology as "Archeology of ancient Egyptian artifacts" and Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines it as "the study of Egyptian antiquities". Come on, that definition sounds like Egyptologists are some kind of special educated antique dealers, but that is hopefully history...

Now the blonde was coming up above the table again after her "submarine" ("submarine" is a name for a tiny glass of strong alcohol sunk into a beer), so I turned to her and said: "Ancient Egypt is unique because it's the only culture I know worldwide that defines the woman as the heaven - and not "Mother Earth". In Ancient Egypt it was the God Geb that was "Father Earth" - while his wife, the Goddess Nut was hovering the sky as "Mother Cosmos".

The other unique part is that the study of Ancient Egypt cannot be studied separately in different sections as "history", "religion", "language", "art" and so forth. You can't split the study of the Ancient Egyptian culture as all these parts was so intertwined that you will not understand the writing if you don't know the gods and the religion. In other words, you can't study Egyptian Ancient History the "exclusive" way you can study the history of USA, England, Japan, China, Peru or another country.


Note the strange word "Egyptology" and not the "History of Egypt" - and those who study this Ancient culture don't get titles as Professors in Egyptian History, they become "Egyptologists".

Split the word Egyptology and you get the two words "Egypt" and "Logos".

Logos in pre-Socratic philosophy is the force governing the universe - the source itself or the human thinking about this force. In Judaism the word of God and in the Bible the creative word of God. In short, what we in more "normal" terms can define as a superior concept governing what's "below".

For Egyptology we can say that its the total sum of the different parts of the Ancient Egyptian culture. Guess I said that Egyptology is based on the idea that the total picture is more than the sum of all its different parts.

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Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages

5.   Jul 30, 2002 11:03 AM
And I find your definition of Egyptian history, lore, religion, in the round, etc., very enlighting. Almost like a new discovery? ...

-- posted by jerrib


4.   May 29, 2002 6:28 PM
In response to message posted by jerrib:

Thanks Jerri, and yes there will always be many things we never will know - guess ...


-- posted by Arnvid


3.   May 25, 2002 7:43 PM
As I age I understand I can live my entire life and there will always be many things I will never know even if I spend all my waking hours trying. Life is just too short.

Thanks for this enlight ...


-- posted by jerrib


2.   May 21, 2002 7:04 PM
In response to message posted by Maryel:

When it come to Egypt I guess we all are beginners somehow. Remember Lenny Bell wh ...


-- posted by Arnvid


1.   May 19, 2002 9:34 AM
As you know my love of Egypt has given me the interest to get to know her. However, I am still a rank beginner. I do believe however, I have felt the essence of the land and spirits that hover and s ...

-- posted by Maryel





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