Egypt, Trunk of the Tree, Vol. 2: The Consequences [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Simson Najovits (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 087586256X | ISBN-13: 978-0875862569 | Publication Date: January 1, 2004 | Edition: illustrated edition

An award-winning writer and international journalist leads the general reader through ancient Egypt in a 2-volume work that explores the maze of facts and fantasies, and examines Egypt's place in the history of religion and monotheism in particular. He shows how Egypt both influenced and mystified other civilizations for centuries.

Writing in an easy to read narrative literary style while respecting the norms of Egyptological scholarship, the author examines the contradictory opinions of major Egyptologists (and the major loonies), and brings us closer to Egypt's core meaning and influence. Along the way, he illuminates the enchanting, imaginative beauty of the Egyptian saga.
Ancient Egypt built a society on a remarkable mixture of the new, the useful and the beautiful, while retaining primitive magic, obscurantism, and the infantile but extraordinarily poetic. Egypt was also one of the most optimistic nations ever founded, inventing optimistic answers to many of man's fundamental questions.

(Volume I, ISBN 978-0-87586-221-7, situates the Egyptian religion, political system and society within the contexts some of them stretching back as far as before c. 4000 BC of the early history of religion, mythology, technology, art, psychology, sociology, geography and migrations of peoples. It surveys the religious underpinnings of the society, including the founding of the first nation - and the first nation to proclaim its sacred nature. Divine kingship, the holy city and capital city were invented here.)

This, Volume II, discusses the major consequences that arose from Egypt's system. The religious, funerary, afterlife and societal views of Egyptians are compared to the other major religions and societies. Their probable influence on Greek religion and on Hebrew and Christian monotheisms is carefully traced, as are Egypto-Hebrew relations. The highlights of Egypt's religious, political, colonial, artistic and literary life are examined as well as the subsequent decline of Egypt.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Not since Siegfried Morenz's Egyptian Religion (1973) has such a systematic effort on the topic been attempted. An independent scholar with a background in journalism, Najovits has based his book on careful reading and thorough analyses, using all the best scholarship and translations of Egyptian sources, with broader results than Claude Traunecker in the Gods of Egypt (CH, Apr '02). Beginning with the transition out of Neolithic 'agro-sedentary society' along the Nile with its need to give expression in writing, architecture, and art, Najovits identifies and compares those religious concepts for which the peculiar, nearly isolated Egyptian landscape with its totemic elements allowed the development of profound metaphors of meaning. He opposes all 'loonies of Egyptomania,' and in volume 2 gives a full narrative of how the contexts discussed in the first volume yield diverse consequences. ...This volume could be valuable on many academic levels for those studying the origin and history of religion and of Egypt. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. C.C. Smith, Emeritus, University of Wisconsin, River Falls. --CHOICE February 2004

Najovits provides a remarkably evenhanded introductory survey of Egypt.... Najovits contends that scholarly focus on ancient Greece and Rome and on Christianity and Judaism has tended to obscure Egyptian contributions to the development of culture. Egyptian religion was highly original, he says: 'Never before had such an elaborate religion and such an all-inclusive mythology been invented.' As to its lasting contributions, the Egyptians, he says, invented the belief that the body could be preserved and stay alive after death. They were also, he claims, the first monotheistic culture, although monotheism waxed and waned under various pharaohs. They developed a belief in a savior god, Osiris, whose resurrection led to a belief in the afterlife. Najovits even concludes that the holy family of Osiris, Isis and Horus offers the mythological foundations upon which later cultures constructed their own foundational holy families (e.g., Jesus, Mary and Joseph). Egypt also provided examples of early jurisprudence and political systems, primarily in its extensive legal codes and its focus on kingship. On balance, Najovits offers a detailed and original historical survey of Egypt as a cradle of civilization. --Publishers Weekly: July 21, 2003

A French specialist in systems of religious belief recounts his exploration of the Egyptian patrimony society from 3100 BC to AD 395. The first volume looked at the matrix from which the Egyptian religion, political system, and contexts emerged. This, the second volume, traces how Egyptians developed distinctive features to address their own concerns. --(c)2003 Book News, Inc.

About the Author

Simson Najovits is a former Editor-in-Chief of Radio France International in Paris, where he wrote and broadcast on lifestyles, politics and religion. His essays, articles, stories an poems have been published in the United States and Canada. He is a winner of Canada Arts Council and Quebec Arts Council awards. Educated at Concordia University, he is a specialist of systems of religious beliefs. In this, his first American book, he shares the inexhaustible pleasure of exploring the Egyptian patrimony and capturing the glow of ancient Egyptian society.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Algora Publishing; illustrated edition edition (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087586256X
• ISBN-13: 978-0875862569
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,168,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As great as the first volume, March 25, 2005

By 

Stanley C. Sargent "Stanley C. Sargent" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Egypt, Trunk of the Tree, Vol. 2: The Consequences (Hardcover)

This second volume is as well-written, thoughtful, and extremely insightful as the first edition. (Please read my review of Vol. 1 at this site). I most highly recommend this book to any serious student of ancient Egypt. The language is not simplistic, but it is not all that difficult either. The text is wonderful and the author has done his homework 100 times over. Serious students of religion, ancient Egypt and the origins and comparison of various early religions will find themselves shouting, "Wow! That makes so much sense! Why don't other authors on this subject see how clear this really is?" more than once while reading Najovits' work.

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A MASTERPIECE OF PSEUDO-SCHOLARSHIP, April 3, 2009

By 

Donald Peyton (Ta Seti, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Egypt, Trunk of the Tree, Vol. 2: The Consequences (Paperback)

Najovits has written a 2 volume fantasy about ancient African culture.
Najovits remains captive to the Euro-centic intellectual paradigm which places Africans outside of human history. According to this intellectual paradigm , the series of ancient African cultures, commonly called "Ancient Egypt", had its origin in the "East". It further claims that the Egyptians were , unique and mysterious. In the first few pages, Mr. Najovits struggles desperately to fabricate an origin for the Egyptians that is divorced from the Great Lakes area in the heart of Africa. Ultimately, his pseudo-scholarships fails....
The Egyptians looked to the south as the land of their ancestors. The world's first Holy Land was far south of Egypt in the heart of Africa. The first ruler came from the south.
Any African, or anyone familiar with African culture would know that the religion of the Egyptians is very much like the African religions of today. For example, the concepts of the ka and the ba can be found almost every where in Black Africa today!The cosmology of black Africa and ancient Egypt are essentially the same.
Any African would instantly know that the hair styles of the Egyptians were totemic. The head rest is found almost everywhere in Africa today! The farm instruments are the the same or very similar, so are the musical instruments. Any reader who doubts this can simply study seriously African culture. See C. A. Diop, T.Obenga or A.M. Lam. Anyone who can read the writings of the ancient Egyptians in the original will quickly come to the conclusion that the South was their place of origin, and that the culture was purely African! The last native African pharaoh Nectanebo ll fled to NUBIA to escape the Persian invasion, c.324 bc.
It is interesting to note that all the hieroglyphic signs are African. All the animals and plants are found in Africa. The ox was unknown in Mesopotamia.
The language of ancient Egypt was a Black African language,genetically related to African languages spoken today!! Theophile Obenga and C. A. Diop have demonstrated that the language spoken by the ancient Egyptians is related wolof, Dinka,Nuer,and many other modern day languages. In fact, many unclear points concerning ancient Egyptian grammar can be clarified by refering to modern Black African languages and cultures. The same is true of word meanings.
No linguist, using modern scientific linguistic methods, can demonstrate that the language of the ancient Egyptians is genetically related to the Semitic family;it has not been done because it can not be done.
In fact, the ancient Egyptian language agrees with the black African language Wolof(spoken in Senegal)on just about every level of the grammatical structure!
Mr. Najovits again misleads his readers when he writes that Dr. Diop simply "declares" that the ancient Egyptians were black. Dr. Diop has produced numerous books and articles on the history,culture and language of ancient Egypt. It was his life's work.
Najovits carefully avoids tackling the massive and solid scholarly linguistic and cultural evidence produced by African scholars such as Dr. C. A. Diop. Instead he engages in ad hominem attacks, suggesting that Dr. Diop may be "a little racist". We wonder if Mrs Diop, a white French woman would agree with Mr. Najovits.
The attempt to separate ancient Egypt from its African origins has led Mr. Najovits to create this 2 volume fantasy of Euro-centric speculation upon speculation on an African culture that he does not understand in the least.
Most scholars of Egyptology agree that ancient Egypt can not be properly understood outside of its indigenous African cultural context.
If one wants to stay well within the euro-centric intellectual paradigm and read heart warming Eurocentic myths,fantasies,speculations and outdated opinions that ignores the black African reality and African cultural origins of "Ancient Egypt", then Mr. Najovits has written just the book for you.