Customer Reviews

Egyptian Myths (Legendary Past)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In buying this book I was hoping to get an idea of the stories in Egyptian mythology since I knew little about it. I was disappointed however because the author spends too much time in my opinion on the origins for learning the myths rather than the actualy stories. He goes into great detail describing the temples and shrines that the actual glyphs were found in. He even goes to the lengths of telling what museum some of these artifacts can be found in. While this is also an interesting subject, in buying a book entitled Egyptian Myths I was really hoping just to learn what they were.

Written by one of the most prominent and eminent Egyptologists of the modern era, this book covers, amongst others, creation myths and relates in vivid and colourful detail the myths of Horus and Seth, Isis and Osiris, together with the ever-popular myth of kingship, the myth of cataclysm, and Isis and the scorpions. The book examines closely renowned Ancient Egyptian books, such as The Book of Am-Duat, the Book of Caverns, and The Book of Gates, with the express aim of providing the visual and textual backdrop to the myths. Imhotep, the architect of the Third Dynasty pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, features prominently in the mythology of ancient Egypt. Hart captures eloquently the life and history of Imhotep, as well as the construction and perpetuation of his divinity status in later times. These historical and mythological perspectives make, along with amusing stories such as *The Shipwrecked Sailor* and *The Tale of Two Brothers*, for absorbing and informative reading.

As a big fan of ancient Egypt, I found this book to be a great resource that broadly covers the big themes in Egyptian mythology. Complex issues abound and researchers continue to unravel the political underpinnings of these tales. Hart handles this very adeptly, but to an American reader, his voice tends to interfere with the narrative; he often in finds some metaphors droll and the sexuality is couched in almost Victorian terms. His observations clearly indicate he feels he writes on the subject from a higher, much more civilized perspective.