readx;?。 Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoAt the beginning of Egyptian history, the Egyptians worshipped the animals of their country: crocodiles, bulls, cats, baboons, snakes, beetles, and many more.

Later they created their gods in human form, but they still retained the heads of animals, with human bodies attached underneath, such as the Egyptian god Amun Ra (the sun god), sometimes symbolized by the head of a ram; Hartho, the goddess of nurturing, carries the head of a cow; The fierce goddess of war, Shekmet, has the head of a lion; Thoth, the god of science, is the head of a white crane.

According to the ancient Egyptians, at the beginning of heaven and earth, Buda, the god of creation, created a primordial egg on his pottery cart from which the universe hatched. Nut, the god of the heavenly vault, and Keb, the god of the earth, were united to give birth to Osiris and Isis, who were then married as well. Nut and Cabe also had Seth and Nefertis, who were also married.

Due to the Egyptians' belief in gods, their belief in immortality, and their emphasis on funeral rites, Egypt left behind many temples and tombs. Since ancient times, the Egyptians believed that many things were divine, not only giving them their names, but also believing in them.

For example, the belief in the image of animals is a characteristic of gods (sacred beasts). Some gods are just untouched animal figures, some gods only have an animal's head placed on the human body, some are idols with the symbol of the gods placed on their heads, and some are all human beings with the symbol of the gods in their hands.

From the First Dynasty to the Fourth Dynasty, there was a great belief in the god Hols, and everyone believed that the pharaoh was a descendant of the god Hols and the representative of the god Hols on earth. The god Halls is the god of light, appearing in the form of an eagle, and the sacred beast of Halls is also an eagle. Pharaoh's name usually depicts an eagle.

After the fifth and sixth dynasties, the god worshiped in Egypt gradually changed to the sun god "Ra". By the time of the New Empire, the religion shifted to the god Amon, who became the national god of Egypt.

Each god in Egypt has his sphere of power, and each different place will have the same requirements for different gods, and different places will have the same requirements for different gods, and different gods may also have the same function, and as for the character of each god, it is more difficult to grasp.

Broadly speaking, the gods of Egypt can be divided into three types: (1) animal form, (2) human form, and (3) abstract form

In addition, there are three systems according to the region:

(1) Buda, the god of craftsmen in Memphis and the creator of the world. He existed before the world even happened, and the way He created the world was created by His mind and words, and what He thought in his heart, what He said with his mouth, everything in the world, including other gods, was created by Him.

(2) It was developed in the Old Kingdom, and the system centered on the city of Heliopolis believed that before the creation of the world, there was a great god Atum, who fertilized himself to give birth to air (Hugh) and water (Tefna); The air and water were combined to give birth to heaven (nut) and earth (keb, geb); Heaven and earth were united and four more children were born, Osilies, Isis, Seth, and Nefertis, who were the creators of everything in the world.

(3) The city of Hermopolis from southern Upper Egypt is also quite abstract in its process of creation, when the world is chaotic and unclear, there are four pairs of gods, which belong to the four natures of "darkness, depth, invisibility, and boundlessness", and these eight gods created the world, and they represent the unknowable epoch or unknowable local characteristics.

The core of Egyptian civilization is ancient Egyptian religion, and it is difficult for people who do not study ancient Egyptian religion to have a real understanding of Egyptian civilization. The three main themes of ancient Egyptian religion were nature worship, pharaoh worship, and the cult of the dead. The worship of animals and plants is subordinate to nature worship and occupies an important place in nature worship. The discussion of the causes, manifestations and effects of animal and plant worship is an important part of the study of Egyptian civilization. However, due to the late start of the study of Egyptian civilization in China, there are blank spots in the study of ancient Egyptian animal and plant worship.

This paper intends to discuss these aspects, on the one hand, to promote our understanding of Egyptian civilization, and on the other hand, to help the construction of Egyptology.

The cult of animals and plants is a product of the oasis cultural complex of the Egyptians living in the Nile Valley in the geographical and cultural environment of the time. The Egyptians revered flora and fauna because of their symbolic primitive thinking, their admiration for the tenacious vitality of plants and animals, and the concept of harmony and coexistence.

1. Oasis cultural complex

To understand the reasons for the cult of animals and plants in ancient Egypt, it is necessary to understand the Theoasisculture, which was the model of Egyptian agricultural civilization that was the background to its origin. Ancient Egypt was actually a closed agricultural country, surrounded by the sea and desert.

Due to the desert environment, the lack of water conditions threatens the survival of people, and they have a deep dependence on plants and oases, so they yearn for green, yearn for oases, and worship plants arise spontaneously. Therefore, the oasis cultural complex is fully reflected in the Egyptian religion. In ancient Egyptian culture, gods and mortals did not live in two different worlds, the activities of gods and humans influenced each other, and everything in nature was given a sacred color.

The waters of the Nile, the fertile fields, the flora and fauna of the desert, the starry skies, the vast deserts, the vast oceans, all contain a variety of creatures and gods, which conveyed eternal mystical messages to the ancient Egyptians.

First of all, the ancient Egyptians worshipped animals and plants because of their fear of the harsh natural environment. An Egyptian scribe wrote to another man: You can't go on the road to Meger, where the sky is always so dark and full of pine trees that reach into the clouds.

Lions, leopards, and hyenas run through the forest, and when you get there you will tremble, and your hair will stand on end with great fear, and you will be frightened. Your path is full of stones of all sizes, and in fact there is no road at all, because the ground is covered with reeds and thorns, and is stamped with the footprints of wolves.

Secondly, the reason why the ancient Egyptians worshipped various animals and plants was also because of the tenacious vitality of animals and plants in the desert environment. So it is not so much that the ancient Egyptians worshipped animals and plants, but that the ancient Egyptians loved life and worshiped vitality.

In view of the admiration of the Egyptians for the tenacious vitality of desert animals and plants, and the foundation of the Egyptians' survival, the Egyptians worshiped the animals and plants spontaneously. Among the many deities, Sekhmet, the god of medicine, occupies an important place, and her name means powerful in Egyptian.

She has a sun ring on her head, a lion-like face of the sun god and a cobra, which is also the symbol of the sun god Ra, these modeling elements represent her dual power to nourish and destroy the earth like the sun. The second is Osiris, the god of abundance and abundance. In the underworld, Osiris is the protector of the deceased, allowing them to attain eternal life after death.

Every member of a wealthy family in ancient Egypt wanted to visit the temple of Osiris in Abydos at least once in their lifetime.

2. The symbolic thinking of the Egyptians

According to Hegel, living things are superior to inorganic external things, because living organisms have something inside that is pointed out by an external shape, and because it is internal, it is very hidden or mysterious.

So this animal worship should be understood as the contemplation of the hidden inner aspect, which, as a life, is a power that is higher than the mere external things. He also believes that Egypt used animal figures in a symbolic way.

At this point, the animal image is not used for its own sake, but for a universal meaning. The animal image of the ancient Egyptian god apparently does not represent itself, but is intended to imply a universal meaning associated with it. For example, the lion's head represents kingship and strength, and the baboon represents wisdom. In this sense, Egyptian hieroglyphs were also largely symbolic.

The symbolic thinking of the Egyptians was concentrated in the image of the gods. Statues of deities that are common in temples and everyday life, either the heads of animals plus human bodies, or the heads of human heads plus animal bodies, such as crocodiles, various fish, frogs, and many species of birds, appear on stone tablets along the Nile, especially the stork, the god favored by the god of writing, Thoth.

Desert beasts such as lions, dung beetles, scorpions, and king cobras were revered by Egyptians, eagles and vultures were birds dedicated to protecting pharaohs and queens, and bulls, antelopes, and the longhorned buffalo, a symbol of the mother god Hathor, represented Egyptians' blessings for the prosperity of their families. The ancient Egyptians believed that the trunks, branches, leaves, flowers and fruits of various plants also hid the energy of life, and the branches of the trees inhabited the gods who blessed water and fresh air, and the sedge flowers and lotus flowers represented the rich land of the Nile Valley.

Images of the king unifying Upper and Lower Egypt often appear on both sides of the throne, with lotus flowers and reeds representing Upper and Lower Egypt linked together to symbolize the unity of Egypt. At the end of the lotus and reed stems were the Nubians and the West Asians, implying that the unification of Egypt was complemented by the conquest and enslavement of foreign peoples. The multi-seeded pomegranate was a symbol of fertility in ancient Egypt. In the temples, the Egyptians dedicated a corresponding space to those animals and plants that represented the gods.

3. The concept of harmonious symbiosis of nature

An important concept in ancient Egyptian religion was the idea of a harmonious coexistence between man, god and nature.

To sum up, we can see that the main reason for the worship of animals and plants in ancient Egypt was formed by the oasis plot of the Egyptians in the Nile environment and the admiration for the tenacious vitality of animals and plants in the desert environment.

The oasis plot of the Egyptians, the mystery and attraction of the exuberant vitality of animals and plants, made the Egyptians establish a harmonious relationship between man and nature, man and animals and plants. This became an important feature of Egyptian civilization;

The creation myths of the Egyptians and the main gods and goddesses in religion are inextricably linked to animals and plants. The **** worship that prevails in Egypt is undoubtedly an extension of the worship of animals and plants.

This kind of worship adds a layer of mystery to the relationship between Egyptians and nature, and makes Egyptians form national customs such as respecting the laws of nature and harmoniously handling the relationship between man and nature.

The worship of animals and plants in ancient Egypt penetrated into the philosophical thoughts, folk aesthetics, architectural culture, and even literature and art of the Egyptians. The reason why Egyptian civilization is gorgeous and colorful is inseparable from the injection of animal and plant worship into the civilization gene.

Finally, the study of the cult of animals and plants in ancient Egypt and its influence may shed some light on our harmonious handling of the relationship between man and nature, respect for the laws of nature, and the rational use and exploitation of natural resources.

The belief in primordial waters is a common view among the three systems, but each has different interpretations.

There are eight meanings about Hermopolis, and there are eight gods, and these eight gods are represented by men and women who hold the four characteristics of the primordial water, male gods

Nau and the goddess Naunaid, which means "abyss"; The male god Fufu and the goddess Hawu Haide, which means "infinity"; the male god Cook and the goddess Kakved, which means "darkness"; The male god Eminem and the goddess Amaud mean "invisible".

Among the eight gods, the male god is the head of the frog and the goddess is the head of the snake, and it is said that these gods swim in the primordial water and lay the primordial eggs here, but there is another theory that these eggs are born of a giant duck or a giant goose, and in the inheritance of the throne, it is said that the lotus flower is born from the primordial water, and from the lotus flower flies a lovely child, and he creates the world; And this child means the sun in the morning and the lotus flower in the evening.

In the myth of Hermopolis, the Lord of the Universe once said: I have made all kinds of gods with my sweat and human beings with my tears. In ancient Egyptian paintings, humans are referred to as Rummette, which can be interpreted as tears.

In the legend of Helioplis, it is believed that Atum created the power of various gods in the world, and there is also a saying that Atum is the son of the primordial water - Nunn, which means the high hill or ground produced after the great flood, Atum stood on the rock and spit out the male god Hugh and the goddess Tefna from his mouth, and Hugh and the goddess Tefna combined to give birth to the male god Kebu and the goddess Nut; When the two of them were about to be united, they were pulled away by their father, the god Hugh, and placed Cabe on the ground, sending Nut into the sky, but later married and gave birth to Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nefertis, the gods of the Four Pillars.

Osiris

Osiris, the eldest son of the god of the earth and the goddess of the heavens, Nuth, became king and taught the Egyptians to cultivate the land so that they could understand the benefits of civilization.

Ze was surrounded by the whole land of Egypt, which made the wind and rain within the borders of the country smooth, and the years were peaceful, and people were guided from the era of Ru Mao and drinking blood to the road of civilization. Osiris's brother, Seth, the god of darkness and the desert, was so jealous of him that he had him put in a box and exiled him to the Nile.

The box went to the port of Bibros at Phenici, where it was brought back to Egypt by Isis, the wife of Osiris, who gave birth to her son, Hols, the falcon god.

When Seth found the box containing Osiris, he broke it into pieces, dismembered Osiris's body, and scattered the pieces throughout the Nile.

Saddened, Isis traveled all over the country along the Nile, and finally gathered all the pieces of flesh scattered everywhere, and asked Anubis, the god of funerals, to bandage the pieces with a strap and make the first mummy.

Isis used her wings to pluck the corpse, and together with her sister Nefertis, she used a spell to bring Osiris back to life, and Osiris became the king of the underworld.

Hols and his uncle Seth competed for the throne on earth, and in the end, through the arbitration of the gods, Hols inherited his father's authority in Egypt, while Osiris became the god of the Nile and ruled the underworld.

As the legend suggests, the king of the earth is Hols, who rules everything on earth, and Osiris is in charge of the netherworld.

During the Middle Kingdom, the beliefs of Osiris became more widespread and powerful.

At this time, there were many pilgrims to St. Abidus, where Osilis was buried, and in order to pray for the happiness of the family in the underworld, they built monuments or statues of gods.

The story of Osiris is usually depicted in the tomb, and there are many images of Osiris guiding the king, queen or nobleman after death, or the deceased carrying something to Osiris.

In the picture, Osiris wears a white crown with two feathers on both sides, and holds a whisk and wat called Titicaca in his hand. These things are symbols of the Dominator, expressing the dignity of the king of the Netherworld.

Isis is usually shaped with two horns and a sun disc on his head, with the hieroglyphs of Isis on top of it, and an ankh (a symbol of life) in his hand. Sometimes it is also often seen in the posture of holding her child Halls.

Trial of the Dead

Anubis, who mummified Osiris, was originally only a local protector, but later became the god of death, a patron saint who was in charge of burial and mummification. His appearance is usually that of a mountain dog.

The dead were brought to Osilis by Anubis (the dog-headed god), and the dead had to work hard to prove their innocence during their lifetime.

The heart is believed to be the dwelling place of human consciousness, so the heart is placed in the weighing pan of a scale, and on the other side of the scale is placed a feather that symbolizes justice. If the heart is heavier than a feather, it will not pass the judgment, and the dead will be handed over to the devil with the crocodile head.

If the feather is heavier than the heart, the deceased is a good man without fault, and then the deceased will be taken by Halls to live in a paradise in the underworld and gain eternal life. However, living in the Promised Land, he had to take turns farming for Osiris on a regular basis, so it evolved into putting dolls in the tombs of the deceased, and the dolls served in place of the deceased.

Harthor Hert)

Horus's wife

The goddess of abundance in Egypt is the most beautiful of all the goddesses of ancient Egypt, and her appearance is transformed into a bull. One of the oldest goddesses in Egypt, the Greek text mentions her as the goddess of the sky.

It is often regarded as the same as Isis, and is mainly worshipped in Edfu, thinking that she is the wife of Horus. In Thebes it was once considered the god of death, but it was generally considered to be the god of love, dance, wine, and foreign lands.

Mythological stories

Osiris, the god of water, the earth, and the god of fertility, brought blessings to mankind, and he was in charge of the growth of the Nile's water, land, and plants, and created abundant food for the Nile people.

Later, Osiris was persecuted to death by his brother Seth and was taken by the gods to be the king of Hades, so he was more regarded as the god of Hades. In ancient Egypt, the people also worshipped Osiris, and later he was almost equal to the sun god.

On the one hand, every year in Egypt when the waters of the Nile fell, a ceremony was held to mourn the death of Osiris, who symbolically killed the god and then celebrated his resurrection, in the hope that the next year's plant harvest would be good and that disaster would be spared.

It is said that this is because the people of the Nile regard this god, which symbolizes abundance, abundant plants, and the development of all things, as the cause of the changes in the seasons. If God is hurt or dies, the rivers will dry up, the land will be barren, and the plants will wither. And when God is resurrected, the Nile will be full of water, the land will be fertile, and everything will be alive.

This ritual expresses the ancient Egyptians' naïve understanding of the mysterious natural society, and it reflects the eagerness of ancient humans to conquer nature. On the other hand, Osiris was also very important as the god of Hades, which is related to the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptians believed in animism, and they were especially concerned about people's survival.

Unlike other peoples, the Egyptians believed that life is still alive after death, and that life after death is as important as life, and that only by completing the continuation of life before and after death can people attain ultimate peace and completeness.

As a result, Egypt has many myths and legends of Hades. Since Hades rules over all the dead, that is, the people of Hades, Osiris, as the king of Hades, has a divine status.

Whether it was the pharaohs, princes and nobles, or the lower classes of the common people, the Egyptians all hoped to obtain the favor of Hades after their death, so Egypt had large pyramids, refined mummies, and the Book of the Dead for the dead to read.

However, whether as the god of fertility or the god of Hades, Osiris and his wife Isis are each other's spouses and accompany each other.

Isis was also a fertility goddess and a famous Egyptian witch, and she and Osiris were a pair of important agricultural fertility gods. After Osiris became the king of Hades, she also lived with her husband in the kingdom of Hades and became the queen of the kingdom of Hades.

The story of this couple is the most vivid and interesting myth after the legend of the god Ra, and Osiris is even considered the successor of the god Ra. Legend has it that when Osiris was born, a voice came from heaven saying that he would become the Lord of all things. When the god Ra was old, he gave the dominion of the earth to Osiris, but he ascended to heaven.

Osiris sat on the throne of Egypt and became the ruler there.

At the time of his accession, Egypt was still very backward, and the human race was also in a state of barbarism, they mainly hunted, and the tribes often fought and killed each other. Osiris began to govern the country, and it is said that he enacted laws, quelled tribal strife, and improved the living conditions of the people, so that Egypt became a peaceful and unified state.

As queen of Osiris, Isis sensed the need of mankind and gathered wild wheat and gave it to her husband.

Osiris taught the land to cultivate the land and sow food, and he taught the people to plant fruit trees so that the wasteland could grow plants. With these things done, the Egyptian people stopped fighting and began to live happily ever after. When Egypt was prosperous, Osiris wanted to travel around the world, and during his absence, he handed over the throne to his wife, Isis.

But not long after Osiris was gone, his brother Seth came to the palace. Seth was a well-known evil god, and he was dissatisfied with his brother's outstanding exploits, so he instigated rebellion and instigated hostility in the country, but the goddess Isis was superior to Seth, and she quickly thwarted his plots. So Seth began plotting against Osiris with seventy-two retinues, all of whom were assistants to the scheming queen of Ethiopia.

He had killed Osiris several times before, but he was resurrected by the magical goddess Isis. This time he came up with a plan, when he returned from abroad by Osiris, he invited his brother to his residence, and he was going to hold a grand welcome banquet for Osiris. Originally, Isis did not allow her husband to participate, but Osiris saw that his brother was very sincere, so he insisted on going.

Soon after the feast began, Seth brought out a very fine chest, and said that whoever happened to lie down in it would give it to whomever he wanted. The people at the banquet were so overjoyed that they wanted to get their hands on this beautiful box, so everyone lay down and tried it, but none of them did.

Now it was Osiris's turn to try, he was not interested in the box, but everyone wanted to know if he could fit, impatient, Osiris walked into the box, strangely, his body was just laid down in the box, everyone cheered, but when he was trying to come out, Seth quickly closed the lid, he nailed the box with nails, and soldered it with lead, and Osiris quickly died in it. Seth then ordered his retinue to carry the box away, and at Seth's behest, they quietly threw it into the Nile.

When Isis learned of her husband's tragic death, she was devastated. She made a vow to find her husband's body, cut off a bundle of her hair, put on mourning clothes, and began her journey to find her husband.

She had passed through many places, but no one saw the box, until at last she came to the seashore and saw a child, who told her that he had seen the box drift down the Nile into the sea.

Taking advantage of Isis's search for a husband, Seth seized the throne, and as soon as he came to power, the Egyptian people were oppressed, and his cruel rule made life difficult for the people.

Isis, on the other hand, became a thorn in Seth's side, and he ordered that no one should accept or protect her. So Isis's situation was even more difficult. At this time, she was helped by the miraculous seven scorpions, and the god Ra sent Anubis, the "guide". On one occasion, Isis came to a poor woman's house and saved her child, so that she could stay in peace.

Soon Isis gave birth to another son, Horus. When Seth found out, he did everything he could to arrest them, so that they had nowhere to hide. Later, Seth killed Horus, and the god Isisdra and the god of wisdom Toth helped to bring his son back to life.

When Osiris's coffin drifted to the beach of Biblos in Syria, a sacred tree grew from there, and the king there, seeing that it was growing so fast, thick and large, had it cut down and made it a pillar of the palace. Isis was inspired by God to find a husband in Syria, and the queen saw that Isis was smart and lovely, so she made her a babysitter for the children.

Isis was very fond of the child and wanted him to live forever, so he ordered him to be burned in the fire, and the queen was very angry when she saw it, and Isis had to resurrect the child, but he could not live forever. Later, Isis was restored to the form of a goddess and asked the king to give her the holy pillar, and the king agreed to her request. (To be continued.) )