IT seems that part of what we call "science fiction" is nothing but imagination of the myth of the past. We can imagine, in science fiction, that we can use some technological machines to "transform" ourselves from certain state to another or from a human being form to another form of being. Also, in the science fiction, we can create flying creatures that have super powers and speed and fighting capabilities. This example of science fiction is very clear in the recent movie "Avatar" where the hero of the story is transformed into another creature to match with other beings living on another planet. When transformed, he mingled with these new creatures and adhered to their values. Then he used a super flying creature to fight a human General who represents the evil power and conquer him in a miraculous way. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote an article about the Pharaonic drama and how it preceded the Greek drama. Now we take the example of the myth of the fight between Horus (representing the good) and Seth (representing the evil); in this myth, which is inscribed on the walls of the temple of Edfu, there are several texts; one of them is called the "Legend of the Winged Disk", another is called the "Story of Fight between Horus and Seth". In this article, we shall handle the myth of the Winged Disk to show its similarity to the blockbuster movie "Avatar", although both of them are created under different atmospheres. The myth again portrayed the fight between the good represented by Horus and the evil represented by Seth. Both sides had the power of ‘transformation'; Seth and his followers had the power of being transformed into crocodiles and hippopotamuses, while Horus had the power to transform into a Winged Disk (the Disk normally symbolises the sun). The Winged Disk, as in "Avatar", has the capability of flying with high speed and robustness, so Horus in the form of a Winged Disk flies everywhere across the Egyptian territories in order to find his enemies and slaughter them. In the text: "Then Horus son of Isis slew that craven foe and his confederates and those enemies when he reached them in the western waters of this town. Horus was like a man of proved velour, with the head of a Falcon, crowned with the white crown, the red crown and the double blumes, with the two uraei on his head, his back being that of a falcon, and his spear and rope being in his hands. .. Now all things took place on Tobi 7 (a day of the Pharaonic calendar) then Thoth said: ‘Therefore shall this town be called ‘the town of slaughter' from this day, and the water that is in it shall be called ‘Denied' and Tebi 7 shall be called ‘The feast of rowing' from this day". All the great legends and myths are templates for human behaviour, that's why humanity always needed ‘myth', the kind that would serve most the saying of the Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi "As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves", the kind that would play a major role in rectifying the human conduct and highlighting that which is of the greatest value for his existence. Today, being far from the ‘myth' of old civilisations, like those of Ancient Egypt and Greece, might be the reason behind the creation of ‘Science Fiction' movies like Avatar and E.T. through all possible new technologies. [email protected] Saleh is the Director of Egypt's Centre for Documentation of Culture and Natural Heritage.
