For thousands of years, our world has been shaped by biblical monotheism. But its hallmark - a distinction between one true God and many false gods - was once a new and radical idea. ""Of God and Gods"" explores the revolutionary newness of biblical theology against a background of the polytheism that was once so commonplace.Jan Assmann, one of the most distinguished scholars of ancient Egypt working today, traces the concept of a true religion back to its earliest beginnings in Egypt and describes how this new idea took shape in the context of the older polytheistic world that it rejected. He offers readers a deepened understanding of Egyptian polytheism and elaborates on his concept of the ""Mosaic distinction,"" which conceives an exclusive and emphatic Truth that sets religion apart from beliefs shunned as superstition, paganism, or heresy.Without a theory of polytheism, Assmann contends, any adequate understanding of monotheism is impossible. This work will be of great interest to anyone seeking to understand the relationship between God and gods.

For more than 2,000 years, between 1500 BCE and 600 CE, the Egyptian processional oracle was one of the main points of contact between temple-based religion and the general population. In a public ceremony, a god would indicate its will or answer questions through the movements of a portable cult statue borne by priests or important members of the community. The Egyptian Oracle Project is an interactive performance that adapts this ceremony to serve as the basis for a mixed-reality educational experience for children and young adults, using both virtual reality and live performance. The scene is set in a virtual Egyptian temple projected onto a wall. An oracle led by a high priest avatar (controlled by a live human puppeteer) is brought into the presence of a live audience, who act in the role of the Egyptian populace. Through the mediation of an actress, the audience interacts with the avatar, recreating the event. The series of carefully focused essays in this book provides vital background to this path-breaking project in three sections. After a brief introduction to educational theatre and virtual reality, the first section describes the ancient ceremony and its development, along with cross-cultural connections. Then the development of the script and its performance in the context of mixed-reality and educational theatre are examined. The final set of essays describes the virtual temple setting in more detail and explores the wider implications of this project for virtual heritage.

Volume 2 of the work providing thorough coverage of numerous gods of ancient Egypt by foremost Egyptologist. Information on evolution of cults, rites and gods; the cult of Osiris; the Book of the Dead and its rites; the sacred animals and birds; Heaven and Hell; and more.

A view into the sophisticated and highly advanced civilization that preceded the world of the pharaohs
- Presents historical evidence of the civilization ruled by the "gods" that the Egyptians claimed preceded their own
- Explains who these prehistoric people were, what happened to them, and why they built a series of pyramids along the west bank of the Nile River
Traditional Egyptologists have long resisted the notion that the architectural achievements of the Ancient Egyptians required the existence of a much more sophisticated technology than would have existed at that time. Yet, no records exist explaining how, why, or who built Egypt's megalithic monuments and statues. The ancient Egyptians did, however, record that their civilization resided in the shadow of a kingdom of "gods" whose reign ended many thousands of years before their first dynasty. What was this Civilization X that antiquity's most accomplished people revered as gods?
The recent discovery of a large stone at one of Egypt's oldest ruins presents physical evidence that clearly and distinctly shows the markings of a machining process far beyond the capabilities of the Ancient Egyptians. Likewise, experimental modeling of the Great Pyramid's subterranean chambers and passageways gives scientific evidence to further support the theory that the civilization responsible for such magnificent monuments is much older than presently believed. "Ancient Egypt 39,000 BCE" examines this evidence from historical and technical points of view, explaining who these prehistoric people were, what happened to them, why they built their civilization out of granite, and why they built a series of pyramids along the west bank of the Nile River.

First published in 1988. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

In continuation of the demotic votive inscriptions collected in Short Texts Volume I, this volume brings together some 650 demotic and Greek-demotic mummy labels. These are in principle all labels published to date, but this number also contains some fifty unpublished labels as well as some fifty of which only the Greek, not the demotic side had been published previously. Of some two-hundred labels from which the names had been excerpted for use in our onomastic repertoria, the complete text is here published for the first time. In order to enhance the usefulness of this volume, also the demotic inscriptions on mummy linen, coffins, mummy boards and mummy masks, as well as those on the containers of mummified fauna and a number of small funerary papyri are included in this volume, some 260 texts in all. Thus the funerary theme has been treated fairly completely for the demotic texts, except for the demotic funerary stelae which will make up a separate Short Texts volume of their own.The volume is of course completed by Concordances with previous editions and by full Word Indices. Five Appendices treat of various textual, onomastic and palaeographic problems chiefly concerning the mummy labels, which bring new insights in these domains for the Roman period.