By Mursi Saad El-Din The series of talks I was giving on the European service of the Egyptian broadcast had been going on for many years. In fact, I lost count. Often I thought I had come to its end, when suddenly a long list of new books are published and new names are added to those who have fallen under the spell of Egypt. Robert A Armour may not be a new admirer of Egypt, but, somehow, he has not come into my list. And yet, his relation with Egypt goes back to 1981 when he worked as Fulbright Professor of English at the universities of Al-Azhar and Ain Shams. His book which I am presenting here has run into five editions. The first was published by the American University in Cairo Press, and this fifth edition is still published by them. In this preface, Armour says that having spent two decades as a professor of literature he has developed a scholarly interest in mythology. His book Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt reflects his interest in the stories of gods of ancient Egypt. He may not be a trained Egyptologist, as he confesses, but he is, certainly, an excellent narrator, and also an indefatigable researchers. With the aid of some Egyptologists, whose help he acknowledges, he has managed to uncover the various documents and monuments that preserved the fragmented stories. What is more, he has succeeded in bringing them together. In his preface, he asserts that for any study of Egyptian mythology and religion, the most fundamental sources are the ancient texts written during the Pharaonic period. "Egypt", he says, "did not have a Homer to tell the stories, but it does have some of the most ancient religious writings -- however fragmented -- which have supplied latter-day scholars with much material. The book starts with an enlightening, introductory chapter describing the birth of mythology. He does this in the form of a beautiful narrative, which quite easily, falls into the category of creative literature. The myths of the lotus, a prominent Egyptian symbol, he says, from the ancient period down to modern times, are characteristic of the mythology of the ancient culture. Mysteries of nature which directly influenced daily life, especially the movement of the sun, were explained in stories that untied man's wish to understand the origin of all things with the realities of political events. The influence of Egyptian mythology has survived until the present time and the author tells us that in the 1970s, one of Bob Dylan's songs was named after the goddess Isis, the eternal mother. Furthermore, tourists visiting Egypt buy reproductions of Thoth, Anubis, Bes and scores of other ancient gods, the United States dollars, he says, depicts an eye and pyramid, Masonic borrowing from Ancient Egypt. What is the power of myth? asks the author. Myths are more than just folk tales; there are stories with special significance for the culture which gave them birth. Myths are defined as "stories that tell a society what is important for it to know, whether about its gods, its history, its laws or its class structure". So much for this section. The book contains 11 myths all beautifully told in an easy and flowing language. They can be easily told to children. Some of the stories, like Isis and Osiris is quite well known, while others are quite new, previously unknown. There is, of course, the story of Isis and Osiris, one of the most entertaining and illuminating of Egyptian mythology. It is the story of Osiris's murder and Isis's hunt for his body. It is, as the author says, an integral statement of Egyptian beliefs in life after death. It is described as the most vivid achievement of the Egyptian imagination. Then there is the story of Ra and his adventures. As a sun god, Ra's chief function was to travel the sky daily and provide light and heat for the residents of the earth. The Pharaohs understood that the sun was fire, rising from the waters of Nun in a boat that could float and then sail through the air during the day. This daily victory over darkness caused men and women to live, nations to rejoice, and souls of the dead to sing in joy. Ra has his enemies, a legion of devils and he fought them during the night to rise again safe from those battles, glorying in his victories over the powers of darkness. The enemies' attack on the sun god was seen as an attack on the stability of the world. Ra's renewed presence gave hope to those who depended on his light and warmth and was the cause of much rejoicing. Then there are the stories of Hathor, the archetype of the Earth Mother, and her relationship with Ra. At the instructions of Ra, Hathor rushed to attack his enemies. She discovered pleasure in shedding blood and as a result of her killings for many nights the waters of the Nile ran red with blood of mortals land Hathor waded through blood until her feet became crimson. Yet in spite of this, Hathor represented what was good and true. She was the epitome of a wife, a daughter, a woman. She was the goddess of beauty, love, music, dance and singing. The book makes fascinating reading and I am not surprised that it has had five editions so far.
