The Bactrian Greeks are said to have adopted Buddhism, but retained the worship the traditional Olympian pantheon. I'd love to hear Let's Talk Religion's thoughts on this interesting example of historical syncretism.
@@celsus7979 - Regardless of what the doctrine says, Buddha behaves as a supreme God in Buddhism. For example consider how he tames Sun Wukong, the rebellious monkey god who defeated Heaven (Tian) itself. For theological (theoretical) discussions you may be right but for all the effective meaning of what actually is a god or a God in human psychology and sociology, Buddha is a Supreme God.
@@celsus7979 classic Buddhists do believe that the Buddha had godly powers (omniscience, being able to fly to heaven and talk to gods, ability to tame animals and produce fire and water, emanating light, teletransportation, etc) and godly origin (considered to be the reincarnation of the god Svetaketu who descended in his mother Mayadevi as a white elephant, being born from the side of his mother, talking and walking from birth, etc)
I am an academic research scientist who grew up with a large amount of skepticism toward religion writ large for most of my life. Meditation made me more sympathetic to spiritual ideas about oneness, but I was still left with archaic and simplistic views about religion and theological history. Your channel has exposed me to the almost universal presence of universalism in religions across space and time, which has inspired in me this feeling that at some level we are all looking for the same thing. I find that feeling to be incredibly enriching existentially (something truly hard to find in the world these days) and has given me a great deal of empathy and respect towards others and their convictions. I don’t think I would have been receptive to these ideas in many other forms, but your academic due diligence, respectful delivery, and emphasis of nuance and context makes the information you present almost impossible to earnestly disregard. I also think that the value of your presentation qualities are amplified by the unfortunate state of the discipline you present on. I think that because the humanities don’t have immediate profit potential, they unfortunately lack a robust public communication industry that STEM research relies on for inspiring future thinkers and maintaining the pace of the public’s general knowledge about science. Because of this, ideas that are immensely important for understanding our place in the world and the experience of living itself are seen as esoteric and inaccessibly stuck in the Ivory Tower. You deserve praise for providing this quality of service on a free and accessible platform. I know many others on here have probably had interest in these topics for a while, but at least for me (and perhaps others who spent years calloused from appreciating spiritual questions), you have opened up a new dimension of the world to appreciate. Thank you.
I’m happy for you, my brother. Life is substantially more enjoyable with an understanding of the Breadth of It beyond this mortal coil, Prior to our own incarnations and Beyond. Blessings 🦋
The movie Zeitgeist believes Christianity was a copy of ancient Egyptian religion. I agree with you. I think all religions can fit,, as the same, and one. Their God was Atum. The splitting of an atom destroys. And Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe in the first human to be Adam. The Hindus believe the God of destruction and creation. Again, splitting an atom can destroy... We would have to rebuild and recreate. Plato's Atlantis story I believe to be true. We are on the same path, It seems humans never learn, we destroy and rebuild, and destroy ourselves again. Like a loop.
I too found orthodox organized religion too mired in ridiculous childish stories and inconsistencies to be credible. It was obvious to me from a very young age that all religions were human constructs being expressed in a variety of different ways. First I thought I was an atheist, but then I stumbled on the term 'Modern Deist' which seemed to describe my spiritual feelings better than the term 'Atheist' or 'Agnostic'. Then a couple of years later I again stumbled across yet another term; 'Scientific Pantheism' (also called 'Naturalistic Pantheism'). This seems the most appropriate description, because it's flexible, completely consistent with science, there's no anthropomorphized God, and no dogma, just the sense of oneness with the Cosmos. As Carl Sagan so beautifully put it; 'The Cosmos is all that is, all that ever was, or ever will be'...'We are made of star stuff...star stuff contemplating the stars'...'We are not only in the Cosmos, the Cosmos is within us...We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself'.
Please more of this content! Sadly there's not enough discussion about ancient religions as religions because they're only seen as myths with stories for videogames and movies.
Well, it doesn't help that most of them _are not_ religions in the modern sense. Egypt had a robust theology, but it was rather exceptional in that way. Most ancient "religions" were not nearly so structured.
Jan Assmann has truly revivified Egyptology. His article "Monotheism and Polytheism" is an eye opener too. Thanks so much for your insightfully historical presentations.
This is probably one of the most fascinating videos of yours I have watched. I spend quite a bit of time studying Hermeticism and have too many books on ancient Egyptian culture, religion, and literature so this aligns perfectly with my interests. Great work. I appreciate it. I wonder if one day you will ever do a video on Mesopotamian religion? We have a good amount of data on their religious beliefs but due to the "game of thrones" of southern and northern Mesopotamia and the mix of cultures and peoples, it can be quite the undertaking. I would love to see Sumerian, Akkadian, or even Babylonian religions or even possibly how their theology evolved or changed throughout the ages. The religious beliefs of the Sumerians were adopted by many of these cultures with some minor changes and different titles and ideas but I think that would be fascinating and would love to see what you could come up with. Top-notch channel with great scholarship.
@@adamhagewiesche7254 I don't think I could tell you the BEST ones. Still, some excellent ones on Hermeticism: Eternal Hermes, Egyptian Hermes, Secret History of Trismegistus, Gnosis and Hermeticism, and Quest for Hermes Trismegistus are all solid books in my opinion. You could read the actual Hermetic texts known as the Corpus Hermeticum. I really, at this point in time, do not have recommendations for Egyptian religion. Still, some books I have include Religion and Ritual in Egypt, Egyptian Myth and Legends, Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, Kemetic Literature, Book of the Dead, and Ancient Egyptian Literature Vol. 1-3. I have not read all of the Egyptian books yet so that is why I can't give the best recommendation but hopefully, this was helpful.
Some forms of ancient Egyptian religion could be interpreted as proto-Christianity in terms of moral precepts and general concepts of Mankind's relationship to the divine. This is a GREAT introductions to the depth and complexity of Egyptian religion. It also helps to explain the early acceptance and proliferation of Christianity in Egypt.
Id say its more like hinduism with its idea that the universe itself is apart of god or expression of it like brahmin is in hinduism. It also has a soft polytheistic layer and reincarnation
Anybody who is interested in this topic needs to read “Sufism and Ancient Wisdom”! A book that focuses on the influences on Islam and Islamic Mysticism mainly from Ancients Egypt and Mesopotamia, but also of course Greek philosophy, and delves into the theological concepts of Monotheism, Polytheism, Prophethood, Tradition, and so much more. It quotes Assman several times as well. fascinating book. Filip, I think you’d love the work and it would spark so many interesting videos. Thanks for this.
@@hl-yz7gr brief explanation?Yes well the book goes into a very detailed covering of Egyptian religion,cults,and even covers pre dynastic Egyptian religion which is much more totemic or animistic than polytheistic.It also covers indepth information on many of the Gods and who they were syncretized with and why,etc
@@ayatashraf8303 the age of a book doesn't make the research or material on it void because new findings or theories etc do that.That book is still on solid ground and footing over 15 years later because of the amount of research that's gone into it whereas books by more feminist Egyptologist like Kara Cooney don't even hold up to scrutiny
Another fascinating and informative piece from a man quickly becoming my favorite presenter. I am an agnostic, and sometimes flirt with true atheism. Through these videos I have begun to think that while religion (organized) is a bane, belief in higher powers is natural, human, universal and part of being human.
I have a saying that goes hand in hand with your sentiment; Saints, scriptures and sages and no Religion Yet I would recommend you look into the psychological benefits of communal experiences such as going to church or singing Kirtan with a group. Whether you believe what the others there do or not, you can gain the benefit of engaging in a superordinate goal of unity. I go to a protestant Christian church even though my knowledge of God is different than everyone else there. The experience of singing in unison and focusing on the immaterial is quite the blissful experience that easily puts one into a state of flow. art.
I think it might be fairer to say that a number of centuries-old religions that were organized in the last few millennia are a bane. When people accrete power from the weight of lineage and tradition, that has a bad effect on things. But the instinct to systematize reality into a coherent narrative isn't wrong. It's how people understand reality in the first place, at all. The problem is an unwillingness to change that narrative when evidence conflicts with its components, and that unwillingness comes from understanding that the privilege that someone has depends on everyone agreeing that their privilege is justified.
@@Duiker36 *Excellent comment!* I totally agree. The abuse of religion or the ruse of having divine backing or a secret occult recipe to fame and power without any real logical communal motive for good *only to create debauched monarchies by claiming to be God's replacement* (the usual "Daddy-said-I-can-now-shut-up" - tactic), is wrong. *Sibling rivalry!* The right to boss others must come from the others first. Merit is important. Any animal can have offspring, - but the real art is birth-control, and it protects from overpopulation and wars for resources. *Therefore consulting Ouija Boards is actually the best way to find out how lacking in power we all are and should remain. Lol.*
Thank you making it clear that the main resource you used here to survey this subject was the book by Jan Assmann. And for encouraging us to consider work by other scholars, even those with an opposing viewpoint.
Very well done video! I've been researching Egyptian religion recently and this was very concise with great production quality. The more I research the more I discover that "monotheistic" religions usually have some very "polytheistic" aspects to them, even if they don't officially recognize them as such. Thanks again for a wonderful video!
You have it backwards. Polytheistic religions always have a root of monotheism, most cultures around the world started of monotheistic, then typically once they form civilizations and organize cities they typically start worshiping other gods specifically lesser gods that are basically super humans.
@@justchilling704 Nopes there is enough archological evidence of polytheism pagansism is far older than monotheism . basically earliest civilization were pantheist and "henotheist" who worship one god as supreme but acknowledge other gods or godesss as well so i corect term is "henotheism" nor monotheism !
@@Sushil_sharma344 You’re conflating things. There is zero evidence that monotheism is somehow younger than paganism it doesn’t make sense either. I’d love to see how you think archeology has anything to do with metaphysical things such as beliefs that’s somewhat more related to history. There are tribes that have always been monotheistic, there are pagan civilizations that a record period in their past of worshipping one God. I have no idea why you’re pushing for this view so hard but it’s never been accurate, especially when Aboriginal Australian’s, Indigenous American’s, and African’s histories and beliefs demonstrate this. W for God L for you.
Monotheism was started by Judaism or zororastion but all ancient civilizations were polytheist paganist . whether it Mesopotamia Egyptian or indus valley civilization even Mayans so there is no way monotheism is older than polytheism or pagansism at all and Tribes were not monotheist they were henotheist that was the correct term to be used they do worship worship their personal god by acknowledgimg the existence of other gods as well ! And another important thing tribal very much like the idea of pagans to make idol of their own god so this again different from strict monotheism where you don't have build any idol for that but never possible in ancient civilizations all those polytheist or henotheist used pagangs way to worship their god ! What I'm saying is polytheism or paganism is older than "strict monotheism" what I mean by "strictly monotheism" is not building any idols or associating any symbolic to the god !
@@Sushil_sharma344 This is how I know you’re ignorant on the topic. How tf did Jews invent monotheism when, like I said before there are tribes far from them that believed in One Supreme God before them?! It’s also clear you don’t even know that Hinduism is monotheistic, or for that matter very ancient Mesopotamians go read a book or two instead of wasting my time.
@@Texasmade74 finding a non outdated scholar is extremely difficult, and finding an unbiased one is impossible. Historians have to make do with what they have.
This was a great informative video on something that's very poorly understood due to our specific history and relationship with religion. We often don't realize we project social ideas onto the thinking of other people's. For instance, many hunter-gatherer people believe in some kind of singular creator and original deity, but the perspective of whether it's "monotheistic" or not is anchored on where anthropologists stand on an argument about western Christian doctrine. The truth is our rigid idea of polytheism vs monotheism has kept us from understanding the complex dynamics of theology different people's have, and the idea that these ideas may not be diametrically opposed the same way we see them.
I agree, furthermore, our categories don't fit with the religions of the world. How do you even begin to categorize religions? Maybe if you add distinctness into the mix? Christianity is one God, distinct from everything else. Egypt is multiple gods, but not fully distinct from each other. Hinduism is an Ultimate God with multiple Gods with little to no distinction. Its a start?
I don’t think you understand “Western Christian Doctrine” Christians depending on their culture may describe it differently, but the Bible makes it clear, that there are many gods but only one supreme creator God who created everything. This is why I’m Exodus for example, says that God will pass judgement on the “gods” of Egypt. Monotheism can be defined as belief in a one supreme creator God, or just one God.
@@justchilling704 I think you're misunderstanding my point. My point is that when people tall about what constitutes "monotheism", they are using a Christian framework whether in favor or against said "monotheism".
@@Atigulus1 Youee correct about Westerners and people from a Christian’s background, I agree, I’m just pointing out that the Christian and also Jewish framework is the same as the one found in much of Africa, Asias etc. Many gods but one supreme creator God. Check out Dr. Michael Heiser he does a lot of work in this area.
Indeed I did find this informative and interesting. Thank you for the great research and explanations. Mankind has never had such ease of access to such truly meaningful information. You are providing a great service. Take care.
Thanks for the excellent work, it was a pleasure to watch. When you mentioned the work of Hornung as offering an alternative view to Assmann, I must admit I had hoped to see a bit more of comparison between the two viewpoints. But after watching I had to subscribe.
Now that you have done videos on the "One God" in Ancient Egypt and on Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia I would like to ask this. Did Ancient Mesopotamia ever have a concept of, depending on how you want to call it, "One God"/"Absolute Divinity"/"Ultimate Reality"/"Brahman"? If so, I would like to see a video on that too.
Hello, It's great presentation on such highly complicated topic but you greatly simplified as much as possible, thank you. As an a Egyptian deeply interested in my Ancient Ancestors, as a Muslim believe in Oneness and as as believer in spiritism also, seems language has a great rule in misunderstanding or unclarity in these topics. The ancient word NITCHER (𓊹) which is translated to GOD and the word NITCHRO (𓊹𓊹𓊹) which is translated into GODs seems either misinterpreted or has another meaning. Seems ancient Egyptians somehow understood the concept of Spiritism doctrine. As per my understanding, they were dealing with all NITCHRO not as Gods but as noble spirits who guided and guides humanity in all aspects along with this they knew the ONE which they referred to as ATUM. It's very interesting when you see too many similarities in ancient Egypt's doctrine with modern monotheistic religions specially Abrahamic religions. Examples: 1- God has (Blown) life into ADAM's body through ADAM's (nostril) which very similar to ATUM blowing SHU!!! 2- God has created ADAM from clay which is typically the ancient Egyptian believe of human kind are created from clay on a clay roller by KHNUM!!! Seems there is some missing links between ancient religions in general and modern ones. Because as you mentioned in all polytheistic religions there is always a referment for ONE divine power which dominates over all other Gods they might be worshiping. I got this from a Hindu friend when was openly discussing such topic with him. And the most interesting is when I asked him on if they believe in ONE superpower or divine, he immediately responded back "of course" with a look which means (how you would think otherwise)!! Great work. Thank you
Considering that Ancient Egypt at various points in history either ruled or had large influence in Canaan/Israel, did any of the Ancient Egyptian religious traditions and notions influence the religious culture and thought of Canaan/Israel?
Well there is the idea that Akhenaten’s revolutionary monotheistic approach influenced Moses but I’m of the belief that these cultures transmitted info back and forth rather than some top down concept.
Man, any other religious philosophy nerds out there intrigued by the concept behind what the god Atum represents? Simultaneously representing nothing as well as everything kind of reminds me a bit about the "Dao." (EDIT: I slightly tweaked my previous sentences here for clarification now talking about what Atum _represents_ rather than kind of saying Atum = Dao or monotheistic God). This idea also feels like it parallels a thought I once had that partially led to my transition from agnosticism to apatheism. (for those who are curious, this thought experiment started by me thinking of a situation where I felt very thankful for something, but not toward any particular person. For me, this was being grateful for the experience of music, and the thoughts occurred while I was sitting in a lecture learning about the anatomy of the inner ear and the Organ of Corti. It was in this lecture where I finally learned why we're able to perceive pitch, harmonies, and volume due to the intricate structures that subdivide frequencies via the cochlea and the orchestration of depolarizing action potentials via the shearing of tiny hair cells. Without them, music as we knew it wouldn't exist. I then thought that even if the atheistic nihilism model of the universe were true, I wanted to thank something even if it was nothing. I wanted to thank the fact that I sat in the lecture that day. I wanted to thank the fact that I had prior experiences of music that impacted me during difficult times earlier in life. I wanted to thank the billions of years of Darwinian pruning that led to these structures forming the way they did. I wanted to thank how my own consciousness existed to the point where I'd be able to appreciate this realization even if it could just be the result of the anthropic principle and survivorship bias. Before I knew it, thanking nothing felt like thanking...everything. And thanking everything...felt like believing in God all over again.)
I once asked my philosophy group to compare the concepts of Tao and God. To some members, these were identical concepts, to others they were diametrically opposed.
@@Texasmade74 Thanks for pointing this out, and I've since tried clarifying the syntax of my first paragraph a bit more since I realized that I was actually focusing on the concept on what Atum _represented_ rather than saying that Atum is straight up synonymous with the Dao or monotheistic God. But meanwhile, it's cool that you also pointed a delineation between what is a material representation of a god and what is a pervading principle. It reminds me of how I've been having a continual thought experiment on how well the terms "the universe" (material representation) and "the truth" (pervading principle) could be interchanged with the word "God" within the context of the bible and say...secular scientific journals. While it doesn't always work 1:1 (i.e. God speaking through prophets), it's very interesting seeing what stays consistent when switching between an atheistic and theistic lens. Personally, I prefer the old testament God being represented by a pervading principle like "the truth" over the pantheistic representation of "the universe," but it's a close match.
@@cuckoophendula8211 well we can firmly establish that Atum is not like the concept of Brahman for many reasons one being he clearly has a creation account attributed to him and Brahman is absent from most all of Hindu theology but in Hindu philosophies Brahman is prominent because all of the sampadryas have their own ideologies on Brahman
"Was Egypt poly or mono theoist?" Depends on when you ask. Egyptian theology was around for thousands of years before the Greeks took over. Things change a lot in that time
Yeah, looking at how much abrahamic religion has changed over the course of its 3000ish year history, one can only imagine the plethora of movements and changes egyptian religion might have had in its own incredibly long history
It really doesn't depend on who you it has everything to do with reading the texts and primary sources on Egyptian religion rather than taking the skewed views of a scholar whose too influenced by monotheism
@@Texasmade74 The texts and primary sources that survived, sure. And maybe also looking at the difference between the everyday practices of adherents versus what's written on their conveniently-preserved book.
I've gravitated to panentheism in recent years, my view of deity inspired in part by my reading of the Bhagavad Gita. God can be experienced as one or many; both ways are valid.
@@Texasmade74 Indeed I do. Though perhaps I should've instead asked if you've ever heard of omnism, or perennial philosophy. Regardless, I have no problem taking the Gita's teaching that the Hindu gods are manifestations of Brahman and universalizing it to include other divinities from other religious traditions.
Out of Africa, man was aware of one God and 'meditative wisdom', they knew the 25000 year cosmic cycle and also knew Vedic mathematics (arithmetic and number theory) and even knew of the 12 Zodiac signs. And as man migrated from Gobekli Tepe to Australia, they preserved the same insignia inscribed on the pillars in Turkey.
The pyramid texts on cheops pyramid have a phrase written in ancient Egyptian language - wa wa en snu - that translate one and only has no second. The ancient Egyptians believe in one god who has characters represented in his creatures. So they appreciated the creatures who had these characters
Egyptians had been influenced by the message of Yusuf (Joseph) peace be upon him. I wonder if there are external sources confirming this, even if they were to give another name to Joseph (sometimes name change to describe or summarize the life of that messenger, like Yahya "He lives" as a name for John the Baptist, perhaps to confirm he was resurrected (or apparently so, like waking up from a coma, linking this with Jesus in the Quran) as there were rumors about that, or to refer to him being martyred thus living in another way) These are interesting topics. But i see people assuming lots of stuff. For instance, assuming these religions or sects are the original and the latter is the base. When we look at Christianity, we see how the One God now is three persons... so we see a tendency from monotheism to polytheism and henotheism or similar beliefs. Yet so many here believe we come from polytheism, and then some dudes decided on their own to worship one God alone... that is a big assumption. An assumption which ignores the big hole we have about how the religion of Noah was... and from Noah comes the Babylonian religions which have flood stories... they come from Noah, this doesn't mean their versions are not corrupted and that they didn't take angels as Gods and made up new gods... Peace
I find the idea of the overlap between monotheism and polytheism to be a fascinating topic. Like, some expressions of Catholicism are almost polytheistic in practice. You have patrons saints with specific domains that you can entreat for help with things in that domain. Like, some saint may be the protector of childbirth, so you pray to them for a safe delivery just like a polytheist might to the god of childbirth. I have vague memory of this being a criticism leveled by protestant thinkers, but I might misremember.
U probably don’t know any thing about Somalia But The earliest recorded ancient Egyptian expedition to Punt was organized by Pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty (25th century BC), returning with cargoes of antyue and Puntites. However, gold from Punt is recorded as having been in Egypt as early as the time of Pharaoh Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty. In our life style & religion and Gods in our history and culture still exist in Faroues culture in Somalia . All this gods that u mention here exist places in Somalia .. like El waaq Abudwaaq this waaq exist in Egyptian time even Ra exist like place in Somalia .. I hope world do some reaserch in Somalia .. we are finding some Egyptian money in Somalia
Just a minute and a half into this, and I'm already reminded of a conversation I had with someone who cautioned against using the terms "monotheism" and "polytheism" as they may make our minds gravitate toward some preconceived examples. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it reminding myself that Elohim in Hebrew technically means "Gods" and the concept of Brahman in Hinduism feels a bit monotheistic. EDIT: and then of course the video goes on to talk about this a bit more xD
Elohim does not mean "gods" in Hebrew/Canaanite. There are many words in Hebrew with the plural ending "-im" that are actually singular. Elohim is singular. *Some* argue that it's an example of "Pluralis Majestatis" which refers to the use of a plural word to refer honorifically to a single person or entity (also called the 'plural of respect', the 'honorific plural', the 'plural of excellence', or the 'plural of intensity'). But most Hebrew authorities agree that Elohim is not an example of the above and is just singular.
Great video. Thanks for all your stuff, I’ve really gotten into this channel recently and plan to get on patreon soon. Do you think you might ever make a video on Neoplatonism specifically? It seems like Platonic/Neoplatonic thought is so influential to a lot of the other stuff discussed on this channel
@@LetsTalkReligion please for the love of Atum could you explain the Henads in Neoplatonism and their relationship with The One 🙃 They are so confusing.
Great talk as usual From a Traditional esoteric Islamic perspective, all there is, is Allah, The One. The Abstract in relation to the concrete, the Transcendent in relation to the immanent, the Thinker behind thought. God is the Absolute in relation the particular. And the particular, which makes up the world, are all expressions of the Absolute through Divine Will. The purpose of religion is to cultivate a relationship with the Absolute such that there is bliss. The understanding is that, after you die, you present to God, to the Absolute, what is in your heart. The whole purpose of Islam is to cultivate a sound heart, which is rooted in sound understanding of God. The reason polytheism is reviled by traditional monotheism is because it represents a fractured and wayward understanding of the Divine, like a mind that has gone insane and has become incoherent. The Absolute is like the cosmic mirror, whatever you present to it is reflected back at the intellect which then manifests as one's experienced reality. But in the realm beyond death, the physical veils that otherwise shield us from our state, are removed and gone, and so there is no intermediary between conception, perception, and experience. In Islam, this relates to the kashf [unveiling]. Rightly guided ones, the Prophets, are teachers who came to make coherent our internal state and our intellect so that our relationship with the Absolute is sound. From this perspective, there is the Essence of God [dhat], then there are the Attributes of God [sifat], and then there are the Names of God and then the Acts of God, all in descending orders which make up the macrocosm down to the microcosm. When a person's relationship with God has become disrupted, and where a sense of transcendent oneness lost, then we all into a state of particularity. The Attributes of God manifest as the Names of God, like The Merciful, the Just, the Kind, etc. When we have fallen into a state of particularity, then we see the expressed Names of God, in the Acts of God, with essences of their own. In this case, they become seen as gods.
An excellent video as usual. I wonder if anyone has explored the possibility of this budding monotheism influencing the ancient Hebrew concept of Yahweh? The One who transcends both being and nothingness is also clearly evident in the metaphysics of Plotinus who was himself born and raised in Egypt. His Neoplatonism had, of course, a big influence on the early church fathers, especially St. Augustine of Hippo.
Some have falsely claimed that the ancient Kemites (Egyptians) were polytheistic literalists, but in his book, “Ancient Egyptian Roots of Christianity,” Egyptian-American Egyptologist, Moustafa Gadalla, writes, “The ancient Egyptians believed in one God who was self-produced, self-existent, immortal, invisible, eternal, omniscient, almighty, etcetera. This one God was represented through the functions and attributes of his [or her] domain. These attributes were called the Neteru . . . In other words, the all, or the Neteru, are the One” (Gadalla, 2019). Furthermore, Gadalla states, “The ancient Egyptians used pictorial symbols to represent divine attributes and actions” (Gadalla, 2019). Lastly, he says, “The figures of Isis, Osiris, Horus, Nut, etcetera, became the symbols of such attributes, functions, forces and energies, and were never intended to be looked upon as real personages” (Gadalla, 2019). In summary, the Neteru represent symbolic personifications of the attributes, characteristics, or sub-personalities of the One Supreme Creator. Reference: Gadalla, M. (2019). Ancient Egyptians roots of Christianity. (S. Hennessy, Narr). [Audiobook]. www.audible.com/pd?asin=B07N8J1PJM&source_code=ASSORAP0511160006&share_location=pdp.
Neteru/netjerw literally means gods in plural. Netjer was the word for god (with a glyph of a sacred banner) -u/w is the plural suffix (three lines, or just repeated the glyph three times)
Dr Assman's parents must be disappointed he went into Egyptology rather than the family's proctology practice, I recall when Dr Van Nostrand met Dr Assman in a license plate mix up
This was an enjoyable film. I think you are looking at a time frame too late though. That is too late to be based on a memory of the original genuine God. The earliest God that we have evidence of having been worshiped as such is Anu the Sumerian God of heaven. Consider the following points. 1. Jacobsen says the earliest gods were not really gods but rather were inanimate powers. That is vital forces associated with various phenomena (Jacobsen "Formative tendencies in Sumerian religion"). 2. Kramer says that prior to 2600 BC the Sumerians only worshiped Anu (Kramer "The Sumerians"). 3. Rohl makes a very good case for the Egyptian first dynasty having been founded by travelers from Mesopotamia (David Rohl "A Test of Time") 4. Narmer's God was Ptah and Ptah is the first Egyptian creator god (James "Genesis in Egypt"). If you want an Egyptian connection to the original genuine God consider Ptah. Anu, El and Ptah were all supposed to have created the world by speaking a command. Perhaps they are just three different names for the real God.
We always did and still do call anyone who is not a Muslim, a pagan. Because that's what they are. You're either a Muslim monotheist or a pagan disbeliever.
There is a deep connection between the themes discussed in this video and the early Christian gnostics(that interestingly enough were very present in Egypt). We see the same idea of manifestations of an unfathomable One in the form of other “deities”. Maybe there is an old connection between those beliefs, the survival of the concept through different traditions
I am by no means a scholar in any of these areas, but I had an interesting thought with the dates of things. You said the Instruction for King Merikare comes from the Middle Kingdom, which according to people way smarter than me is approximately 2050 - 1650 ish BCE. According to biblical scholars, the story of Joseph of Egypt is also thought to occur during this same time period (2000 - 1600 BCE). So it would be interesting if this One God idea came from a mixing of Hebrew and Egyptian culture.
Paganism is such a beautiful and diverse religion, pagans don't have any issue with respecting Gods of other cultures and look at them like mirror images of their own Gods...beautiful...
That feels like a pretty selective reading of the history of polytheism. Even in Egypt itself there were instances of hostility towards other gods or religious systems.
Indian Hindus Pagans are peaceful as long as one does not eat cow meat.... If a person is allegedly found with cow meat, he's beaten to death by "peaceful", " Tolerant " pagan Hindus... Just search "Cow-Vigilantism" Or "Mob-lynchig in India"...
Concept of mono- and poly-theism is modern one. Most of the antic people were monotheists in our sense, but we don't understand them. "The God" has many names, as we today can call Him the Creator, the All-Knowing, the One, etc. These names are His manifestations, the ways we can "see" Him, since we cannot see Him as He is. Besides that, many people were seen as "god-given", kinda messiahs, as probably idea Brahma became from Abraham (Ibrahim) or Jesus (Horus) was seen as "baby-god" or "child-god" in ancient Greece. Also, many natural phenomena were seen as "God's action", as well as some moral codex were taken as "Divine". All this, at the beginning, was not understand as "another god", but rather as "from the God" and was glorified. All of this is because we cannot "see" the God, only His manifestation. Akhanaten tried to remove these ideas from the Egyptians, and forbade all the temples, except those he founded for Aten. But Aten was his fantasy and he was his representative. Akhanaten is the pharaoh mentioned in the Bible and the Qur'an, and his religion was certainly not mono-theism in a sense of the antic people, but can be in our sense. The difference is that today mono-theism is a belief in ANY "one god", but for antic people "the God" has to be Real and Only. We cannot talk in general of "people's belief" because belief is a personal thing and differs from a person to person. What I see as a common for most of ancient Egyptians is that they knew that they cannot "know the God", but can understand his manifestation. If somebody had a great knowledge, was wise, was brave, was strong, was ethical, etc., they could understand that those characteristics were "God's manifestation" in those persons and/or things, but it would be wrong if somebody understood that some of these were "God Himself". On the other hand, ideas as "trinity" cannot be mono-theism in any sense.
This was a great video! I’m Christian and although the way I was raised centres around one god, I feel like this is moreso what it would be like, I believe that religion is something ever more complex and grey than just monotheistic and polytheistic, and that somehow it’s all intertwined
@@user-yp7ke4et7o The original comment is me 20 years ago. Meanwhile you are me 10 years ago. Now I’m a dirty polytheist / animist 😂 ❤️ The idea of just saying “you’re wrong” without any context is incredibly silly. What did they say that is objectively wrong? Also, yes, there are forms of Christianity which are strictly Monotheistic. Most of them aren’t really though.
Gotta be careful with the generalizations of a supreme deity in Pre-Islamic Arabia. The name allāh is found in pre-Islamic pagan inscriptions, there is no doubt about it. Arab Christians from the 1st to 4th centuries used the word al-ilāh (the god) to refer to their monotheistic deity, not allāh. Christians do begin using al-ilāh and allāh interchangeably later on in the 6th century as seen in the poetry of al-Nābigha al-Dhubyānī and ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith. The Nabataeans often referred to their main deity Dhu-Shara simply as *ʾlhʾ (*the god) and so allāh being a contraction of al-ilāh used as an epithet that replaced a respective deity’s proper name is the most likely answer. Allāh meant the god, yes. The main god, whether that be of the Christians or Pagans. That seems to be the most likely answer; that allāh is a contracted form of the word al-ilāh. But this doesn't mean that allāh was considered a creator god by the Nabataeans or Safaitic writers, this might've developed later on in Late Antiquity and might not date that far back. "Pre-Islamic Arabia" covers 1500 years of history from the Qedarites of the Assyrian period to the Lakhmids and Ghassanids in the Byzantine-Sassanian period. It also spans a large geographic area from the fertile crescent where Arabs settled Hellenized Aramaean cities such as Palmyra and Hatra all the way south to the monsoon civilizations of Yemen
Most Arabs were not Christian from the 1st to the 4th centuries they were polytheistic but Islam is the first monotheistic religion to get ahold like that in the Arabian peninsula
Allah or al-Illah is surely more or less the same as El in the Canaanite religion, and as such the name may refer to the supreme (and rather personal, Amun-like rather than Atum-like) god of their pantheon (Zeus-like) or as just generic term for "god" or "deity", depending on context as our custom of capitalizing or not the first letter only began in the Renaissance.
“According to Maffie, they believed both that reality consists of one thing and that it consists of one kind of thing: teotl in Náhuatl (pronounced TAY-oht). He dubs these two beliefs ontological and constitutional monism, respectively, and they provide the basis for his overarching interpretation of Aztec thought. Teotl is both identical with reality and is the basic stuff of reality.”
Firstly, the ancients did not identify as Egyptians. Secondly, they did not adhere to a religion but rather embraced spirituality. Thirdly, they were the earliest to recognize the presence of a soul or spirit within themselves, interconnected with the earth, animals, and nature. Fourth, the ancient Kemetic people hailed from Africa, inheriting a spiritual culture deeply rooted in the continent. As Africans being the first people on earth.
Mr Philip, you really need to find Theological comparison aside from Hinduism's brahman vedanta & Shaivism, then try make a single video about Buddhism and it's Theology (alongside of how Buddhist Cosmology demotes many Vedic elements into lower strats) It's also feels like in this video, you also happens to just discovered the Theological concepts of Monolatry and henotheism, with hinges of Theopanies of the myriad of pagan deities into a Supreme being in either pantheistic or henotheistic manner, it's not as surprising as even the cult of Yahweh or El being speculated by many scholars to be syncretised and became national/patron deity of Israelites, not sure if that's true but if it's true, it's ended up sounding like a more successful version of Shaivism and Vaishnavism through how Christianity makes it a continuation of Tanakh/Torah Theology through Gospels/New Testament texts This is something which eventually questioned by Christian Gnostic groups of early Christianities to literally Greco-Roman, Near Eastern, Egyptian, (and even in Manichaeism and Mandaeism case of Vedic and Zoroastrian pantheons) to downright Hebrew deity names to be reduced into Demiurge(s), Archons and Archdemons and other world-crafting devils of early Christian Gnostic Cosmologies (see Perates, Justin's Book of Baruch, Ebionites, Ophites, Elchaisaites and Naassenes)
Apparently Egypt was made up of two countries- Upper Egypt, which is the Nile valley (really a canyon of you look at it with Google Earth 3D) and Lower Egypt, the Delta. Upper Egypt is part of a cultural continuum that includes the upper Nile all the way across Sudan and into Ethiopia, whereas Lower Egypt was settled by people from the Levant. They spoke different languages and had different religions. Egypt was unified when the Upper Egyptians conquered the Lower Egyptians, and the language and culture of Upper Egypt became dominant. I was wondering if there are traces of the two religious traditions of Upper and Lower Egypt merging?
Not true Egypt was made up of 5 city states that later was combined into one by naqada rulers also upper and lower Egypt both trace their cultures to the first culture fayium A culture both had the same language
This "monotheistic" conception of God being the One from everything emanates and also the same time Nothing has been recurred over and over through history. One thing comes to mind is (some sects of) hinduism. Where the Brahman(atman?) take the form as a central uncreated God who emanates all gods, and reality itself. Even in abrahamic religions, especially in mysticisms, this concept found itself again and again.
@@ihavenojawandimustscream4681 I guess the vastness of cosmos and nature, the inability to comprehend its mystery do bring a lot of people to contemplate in this direction.
I've met the creator personally! The way to find it is to look deep within! As long as the core of any religion is true love it is correct!. The one true God can even be other Gods but it's all one! It's testing us to see if even with our different beliefs in it do we get it's message and truly accept each other....and so far we haven't been doing do great... some pass this test but waaaaay more fail
really excellent video, the problem of mono/polytheism is so necessarily simplified for most people it's really essential to start pointing out how earlier models of "pagan" belief were just as confronted with the experience of an embodied god and pantheistic divinity especially when they were no longer allowed to worship at their temples. The parallels to Jewish development and the later Christian revolution echo the Egyptian experiences so profoundly. PS Loved the great clips and pics of egypt!
This blew my mind!!! Amazing video. I always used to wonder about the supreme god in ancient egypt and woukd just find the sun god which didnt make sense as according to biblucal accounts if two prophets came to egypt why was there not a shred of evidence of monothieism in their mythology!!!! This video has cleared so many things!! Thankyou. Can u please do a video on the accounts of an ancient flood across various theologies and mythologies.
Considering that the Egyptian gods began as separate cults, the efforts to keep them all but within a religious view which attempted to unify the land seems a very rational approach - avoiding the sort of religious fanaticism which can break a country apart. On the other hand, I think your vision of the Amarna cult is far more positive than mine. It was regarded as heretical and evil and the practice we know of - by which the ruler made men stand staring at the Egyptian sun until they died -does not endear Akhnaten to me, either. Just btw - when reading the Pyramid texts, and even some of the Coffin texts, I've always found it helpful to regard the deities' names as adjectival. Each 'name' was a quality, so to speak, so that the stringing together of names serves in the way our strings of adjectives do... to refine meaning more precisely. Hathor-Isis-Mut becomes the quintessential 'mother' type. Remarks apart - I greatly admire your work.
What led associating an all-encompassing divinity with different deities of the Egyptian pantheon, for example Isis over Amun? The worship of a female deity over that if a male can reflect on many elements and changes within a society (for example, a more agricultural society over one that practices more hunting, or makes use of a plow) and Isis is not just any female deity at that - such a Ma'at, who embodies cosmic order anyway - but one with specifically associated with womanhood. Could a transition from Amun to Isis be associated with any societal change in particular, or is it instead something perhaps more regionally driven, for example, if a city who worshipped Isis happened to come to a lot of wealth or power, thereby spreading the cult of their own patron deity to the whole of Egypt (a more plausible explanation perhaps, and a phenomenon that has seen itself repeated much more throughout history). I still find it interesting, the dynamics could have led to a change in the absolute divinity, from Amun, to Isis, to another altogether, and how that might reflect on state of affairs at the time ...
It may well relate to the loss of the pharaohs (Egypt became foreign-dominated) and their need to identify themselves with a chief patriarchal god. The chief patriarchal god and monarchy are closely related, even in Mesopotamian traditions it is Enlil the sky god who brings not generic creation nor humankind... but KINGSHIP to the world. It's only later as this patriarchal chief god becomes sole god in the context of Jewish religious evolution when he absorbs the attributes and powers of other deities, expelled from the pantheon. Prior to this patriarchal theism (first polytheism, then personal monotheism of an imperfect god which is only one side and not anymore everything like the original Pan-Theos), it was quite widespread (from the Basque Country to India and China apparently) a belief similar to that of Amun and his children, who in many cases manifests as gender-binary monotheism (two gendered gods a single God, there may be other spirits but are lesser, as happens in the Basque tradition, or are manifestations of the sole Pan-Theos and its binary derivation, as happened in Egypt and in some versions of Hinduism, notably Shaktism and some Shaivism). As Casilda Rodrigáñez interprets in her excellent book "El Asalto al Hades" ("Assault to Hades", freely downloadable at her personal site but only available in Spanish), in the times of the Metal Ages (Bronze, Iron), when notably the very patriarcha Indoeuropeans conquered the less patriarchal peoples of "Old Europe" (yes, she follows Gimbutas largely on this, I could add some shading but enough for this comment), the shift from a pre-patriarchal male god (Dragon or Snake God typically) to the patriarchal male gods of the Indoeuropeans (notably Zeus = Jupiter = Odin = Daghda) came with the legend of the dragonslayer, which she interprets not in the usual way but as the Dragon (the ancient male God) defending the Goddess (the maiden) and being slaughtered as result, then rape and female slavery ensues but is hidden by a carefully modified narrative, which makes the patriarchal dragonslayer a "hero" instead of a rapist-enslaver (that's the case of Apollo and Thor in ancient legends and of St. George for most Christians but Michael Archangel for the Basques, for reasons of a very weird and quite "Freudian" legend that I will spare you for the time being). So there was a longing for the old religion underlying all the Mediterranean (and probably other areas too), a longing for the end of patriarchy itself, which manifested often in polytheisms as veneration of this or that godess, for example Athena in the quite patriarchal Athens, Cybeles in Asia Minor and by import in much of the Roman sphere (Romans made Cybeles equal to Magna Mater) and Isis in Egypt, which became a focus for a very popular religion not just in that provicia but in much of the Roman Empire, being the main competitor of Christianity. That's surely a reason why Christianity made Mary such an important and near-divine figure ("mother of God" nonetheless!) and why in many areas Christianity basically means Maryanism, with not just the distant "God the Father" but even Jesus being rather secondary in popular devotion. Mary is of course a very "domesticated" version of the ancient Goddess but still gives women and mother-loving men a good spritual reference. I was raised as Catholic and at least 50% of the religion in terms devotional are Maryanism, which makes good sense for children very especially: having a second imaginary all-loving mum is better than having a second imaginary tyrannical second dad, really.
This is really interesting because it might also explain a lot in terms of the relationship between Christianity and Ancient Egyptian religion; especially considering the fact that Jesus lived in Egypt, where I think he absorbed many influences from their religion.
12:40 that is literally a 4000 year predated synopsis of the bible 😅 Christians literally call themselves "lambs or sheep", these people literally call themselves "cattle". I need not know anything else about religion than that to reject it 🤔🤷
It's interesting to compare to the Israelite religion. The early books of the Bible don't have much "explicit" theology, however their main strategy was to forbid worshiping "other gods", like that Akhenaten. By the end of the biblical period, the Hebrews abandoned all other deities, and have effectively become monotheists.
The earliest book of the Bible literally started with theology. It starts with a creation myth that also delineated the identity and status of the one God and explains his relationship with humanity and the universe. Additionally, the first prohibition against idolatry only came in Exodus. In all of Genesis God was pretty chill with other gods as we can see from this passage from Genesis 41: "45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt." So, yeah, God's favorite becoming the son-in-law of the PRIEST OF ANOTHER GOD was okay. It was only during the Exodus that he started getting jealous.
"Pray without ceasing" (i.e., stay with the flow) and "As above, so below/On earth as it is in Heaven" - are really old concepts. Why do we have to diminish the ancients' relationship to "Divine" by talking "fertility rites" and "appeasing the gods"??? I think you are amazing and love your videos - I just wonder about the words we use, and the pseudo-culture we place over the ancient world.
Why do you insist that they need to have "relationships" with the divine? Why can't the prayers they offer simply be transactional? In my interviews with Daoists, I've come to realize that whether they believe in and worship a certain deity depends on whether that deity is potent in his area of expertise and geography. And so communities who live by the sea are more likely to pray to Mazu, said to be able to prevent storms and getting lost at sea. Merchants love Guan-gong, because of his sense of justice, bravery and loyalty. Construction workers and architects would worship local earth deities, they ensure projects run smoothly and authorities won't cause you trouble. Everyone worships Cai shen, at least once a year, because he brings wealth. When the god you worship strictly depends on what career you pursue or what worldly objectives you want to achieve or to prevent disasters then it is absolutely right that we talk about appeasement.
There were always 1 God and many gods. The one God in Egypt had different names, like Atum, Amun, Amun-Re, or Aton. God and gods were not the same. Gods were aspects of the one God (like the god of the fertility, or the Nile god), here you recognize the pantheism. In the so called monolatry (as known from the Old Testament) you have tribal gods as aspects of the one God. Echnaton tried to cancel the gods, so there were only the One God left (Aton), he did not invent monotheism. Monotheism existed throughout all the times.
is there any way around these full length ads? i like listening to videos like these on my phone while i work and pressing the skip ad button isn't handy and breaks the flow of work. i don't mind the 15 second ads, but documentary level ads are mood killers.
The Bactrian Greeks are said to have adopted Buddhism, but retained the worship the traditional Olympian pantheon. I'd love to hear Let's Talk Religion's thoughts on this interesting example of historical syncretism.
Buddhism had generally no problem in incorporating all kinds of gods, as long as Buddha reigned supreme. This surely began in India itself.
'Reigning supreme' is kind of misleading. It paints a picture of Buddha as being a God.
Buddha didnt have any godly powers or godly origin.
@@celsus7979 - Regardless of what the doctrine says, Buddha behaves as a supreme God in Buddhism. For example consider how he tames Sun Wukong, the rebellious monkey god who defeated Heaven (Tian) itself.
For theological (theoretical) discussions you may be right but for all the effective meaning of what actually is a god or a God in human psychology and sociology, Buddha is a Supreme God.
@@celsus7979 classic Buddhists do believe that the Buddha had godly powers (omniscience, being able to fly to heaven and talk to gods, ability to tame animals and produce fire and water, emanating light, teletransportation, etc) and godly origin (considered to be the reincarnation of the god Svetaketu who descended in his mother Mayadevi as a white elephant, being born from the side of his mother, talking and walking from birth, etc)
@@LuisAldamiz great rebuttal
I am an academic research scientist who grew up with a large amount of skepticism toward religion writ large for most of my life. Meditation made me more sympathetic to spiritual ideas about oneness, but I was still left with archaic and simplistic views about religion and theological history. Your channel has exposed me to the almost universal presence of universalism in religions across space and time, which has inspired in me this feeling that at some level we are all looking for the same thing. I find that feeling to be incredibly enriching existentially (something truly hard to find in the world these days) and has given me a great deal of empathy and respect towards others and their convictions. I don’t think I would have been receptive to these ideas in many other forms, but your academic due diligence, respectful delivery, and emphasis of nuance and context makes the information you present almost impossible to earnestly disregard.
I also think that the value of your presentation qualities are amplified by the unfortunate state of the discipline you present on. I think that because the humanities don’t have immediate profit potential, they unfortunately lack a robust public communication industry that STEM research relies on for inspiring future thinkers and maintaining the pace of the public’s general knowledge about science. Because of this, ideas that are immensely important for understanding our place in the world and the experience of living itself are seen as esoteric and inaccessibly stuck in the Ivory Tower. You deserve praise for providing this quality of service on a free and accessible platform. I know many others on here have probably had interest in these topics for a while, but at least for me (and perhaps others who spent years calloused from appreciating spiritual questions), you have opened up a new dimension of the world to appreciate.
Thank you.
I’m happy for you, my brother. Life is substantially more enjoyable with an understanding of the Breadth of It beyond this mortal coil, Prior to our own incarnations and Beyond.
Blessings 🦋
Well said 👏🏽
The movie Zeitgeist believes Christianity was a copy of ancient Egyptian religion. I agree with you. I think all religions can fit,, as the same, and one. Their God was Atum. The splitting of an atom destroys. And Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe in the first human to be Adam. The Hindus believe the God of destruction and creation. Again, splitting an atom can destroy... We would have to rebuild and recreate. Plato's Atlantis story I believe to be true. We are on the same path, It seems humans never learn, we destroy and rebuild, and destroy ourselves again. Like a loop.
I too found orthodox organized religion too mired in ridiculous childish stories and inconsistencies to be credible. It was obvious to me from a very young age that all religions were human constructs being expressed in a variety of different ways. First I thought I was an atheist, but then I stumbled on the term 'Modern Deist' which seemed to describe my spiritual feelings better than the term 'Atheist' or 'Agnostic'. Then a couple of years later I again stumbled across yet another term; 'Scientific Pantheism' (also called 'Naturalistic Pantheism'). This seems the most appropriate description, because it's flexible, completely consistent with science, there's no anthropomorphized God, and no dogma, just the sense of oneness with the Cosmos. As Carl Sagan so beautifully put it; 'The Cosmos is all that is, all that ever was, or ever will be'...'We are made of star stuff...star stuff contemplating the stars'...'We are not only in the Cosmos, the Cosmos is within us...We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself'.
But one religion kills you for thinking, conversion etc.
Islam kills you if you don't agree with what it says and claims.
Please more of this content!
Sadly there's not enough discussion about ancient religions as religions because they're only seen as myths with stories for videogames and movies.
Amazing stuff...blessings and love to you ❤
Well, it doesn't help that most of them _are not_ religions in the modern sense. Egypt had a robust theology, but it was rather exceptional in that way. Most ancient "religions" were not nearly so structured.
TIme may just heal that wound.
@@marvalice3455 they are more extremes, theyre either extremely intense and complex or very basic and unexplainably fundamental
Or, in my dark mind, if we studied them more, certain folks in various religions would have some ‘splaining to do.’😂
Jan Assmann has truly revivified Egyptology. His article "Monotheism and Polytheism" is an eye opener too. Thanks so much for your insightfully historical presentations.
An outdated and overturned eye-opener
This is probably one of the most fascinating videos of yours I have watched. I spend quite a bit of time studying Hermeticism and have too many books on ancient Egyptian culture, religion, and literature so this aligns perfectly with my interests. Great work. I appreciate it. I wonder if one day you will ever do a video on Mesopotamian religion? We have a good amount of data on their religious beliefs but due to the "game of thrones" of southern and northern Mesopotamia and the mix of cultures and peoples, it can be quite the undertaking. I would love to see Sumerian, Akkadian, or even Babylonian religions or even possibly how their theology evolved or changed throughout the ages. The religious beliefs of the Sumerians were adopted by many of these cultures with some minor changes and different titles and ideas but I think that would be fascinating and would love to see what you could come up with. Top-notch channel with great scholarship.
Yes, I hope to cover Mesopotamian religion eventually as well!
What are the best books on studying ancient Egyptian religion and hermeticism?
@@adamhagewiesche7254 I don't think I could tell you the BEST ones. Still, some excellent ones on Hermeticism: Eternal Hermes, Egyptian Hermes, Secret History of Trismegistus, Gnosis and Hermeticism, and Quest for Hermes Trismegistus are all solid books in my opinion. You could read the actual Hermetic texts known as the Corpus Hermeticum. I really, at this point in time, do not have recommendations for Egyptian religion. Still, some books I have include Religion and Ritual in Egypt, Egyptian Myth and Legends, Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, Kemetic Literature, Book of the Dead, and Ancient Egyptian Literature Vol. 1-3. I have not read all of the Egyptian books yet so that is why I can't give the best recommendation but hopefully, this was helpful.
@@JDG602 Thank you so much. I'll be looking into these.
I'm looking for good books on ancient Egyptian Theology. Any suggestions?
Some forms of ancient Egyptian religion could be interpreted as proto-Christianity in terms of moral precepts and general concepts of Mankind's relationship to the divine. This is a GREAT introductions to the depth and complexity of Egyptian religion. It also helps to explain the early acceptance and proliferation of Christianity in Egypt.
There definitely some overlap I agree. You see the same thing with a lot of various religions.
Id say its more like hinduism with its idea that the universe itself is apart of god or expression of it like brahmin is in hinduism. It also has a soft polytheistic layer and reincarnation
Anybody who is interested in this topic needs to read “Sufism and Ancient Wisdom”! A book that focuses on the influences on Islam and Islamic Mysticism mainly from Ancients Egypt and Mesopotamia, but also of course Greek philosophy, and delves into the theological concepts of Monotheism, Polytheism, Prophethood, Tradition, and so much more. It quotes Assman several times as well. fascinating book. Filip, I think you’d love the work and it would spark so many interesting videos. Thanks for this.
Sounds very interesting. Thanks for the recommendation
Dear Philip,
This was an outstanding presentation. very impressive with beautiful illustrations.Many thanks from all of us
I recommend the book "The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt" by Egyptologist Richard H.Wilkinson he's a professor emeritus too
Thanks, can you give me a brief?
@@hl-yz7gr brief explanation?Yes well the book goes into a very detailed covering of Egyptian religion,cults,and even covers pre dynastic Egyptian religion which is much more totemic or animistic than polytheistic.It also covers indepth information on many of the Gods and who they were syncretized with and why,etc
It's from 2003 I would recommend newer ones from 2010s more so but nevertheless the book is a good one
@@ayatashraf8303 definitely not
@@ayatashraf8303 the age of a book doesn't make the research or material on it void because new findings or theories etc do that.That book is still on solid ground and footing over 15 years later because of the amount of research that's gone into it whereas books by more feminist Egyptologist like Kara Cooney don't even hold up to scrutiny
Another fascinating and informative piece from a man quickly becoming my favorite presenter. I am an agnostic, and sometimes flirt with true atheism. Through these videos I have begun to think that while religion (organized) is a bane, belief in higher powers is natural, human, universal and part of being human.
You should check out the book “the Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss” by David Bentley Hart
I have a saying that goes hand in hand with your sentiment;
Saints, scriptures and sages and no Religion
Yet I would recommend you look into the psychological benefits of communal experiences such as going to church or singing Kirtan with a group. Whether you believe what the others there do or not, you can gain the benefit of engaging in a superordinate goal of unity. I go to a protestant Christian church even though my knowledge of God is different than everyone else there. The experience of singing in unison and focusing on the immaterial is quite the blissful experience that easily puts one into a state of flow.
art.
And when you play with the *paranormal* , you realize there is a higher intelligence.
I think it might be fairer to say that a number of centuries-old religions that were organized in the last few millennia are a bane. When people accrete power from the weight of lineage and tradition, that has a bad effect on things. But the instinct to systematize reality into a coherent narrative isn't wrong. It's how people understand reality in the first place, at all. The problem is an unwillingness to change that narrative when evidence conflicts with its components, and that unwillingness comes from understanding that the privilege that someone has depends on everyone agreeing that their privilege is justified.
@@Duiker36 *Excellent comment!* I totally agree. The abuse of religion or the ruse of having divine backing or a secret occult recipe to fame and power without any real logical communal motive for good *only to create debauched monarchies by claiming to be God's replacement* (the usual "Daddy-said-I-can-now-shut-up" - tactic), is wrong. *Sibling rivalry!* The right to boss others must come from the others first. Merit is important. Any animal can have offspring, - but the real art is birth-control, and it protects from overpopulation and wars for resources. *Therefore consulting Ouija Boards is actually the best way to find out how lacking in power we all are and should remain. Lol.*
I love Egypt……. Akenaton is very interesting, Hathor is my favorite! Dandera is a beautiful place. Bendiciones Filip para ti desde México 🇲🇽!
Thank you making it clear that the main resource you used here to survey this subject was the book by Jan Assmann. And for encouraging us to consider work by other scholars, even those with an opposing viewpoint.
Very well done video! I've been researching Egyptian religion recently and this was very concise with great production quality. The more I research the more I discover that "monotheistic" religions usually have some very "polytheistic" aspects to them, even if they don't officially recognize them as such. Thanks again for a wonderful video!
You have it backwards. Polytheistic religions always have a root of monotheism, most cultures around the world started of monotheistic, then typically once they form civilizations and organize cities they typically start worshiping other gods specifically lesser gods that are basically super humans.
@@justchilling704
Nopes there is enough archological evidence of polytheism pagansism is far older than monotheism . basically earliest civilization were pantheist and "henotheist" who worship one god as supreme but acknowledge other gods or godesss as well so i corect term is "henotheism" nor monotheism !
@@Sushil_sharma344 You’re conflating things. There is zero evidence that monotheism is somehow younger than paganism it doesn’t make sense either. I’d love to see how you think archeology has anything to do with metaphysical things such as beliefs that’s somewhat more related to history. There are tribes that have always been monotheistic, there are pagan civilizations that a record period in their past of worshipping one God. I have no idea why you’re pushing for this view so hard but it’s never been accurate, especially when Aboriginal Australian’s, Indigenous American’s, and African’s histories and beliefs demonstrate this. W for God L for you.
Monotheism was started by Judaism or zororastion but all ancient civilizations were polytheist paganist . whether it Mesopotamia Egyptian or indus valley civilization even Mayans so there is no way monotheism is older than polytheism or pagansism at all and Tribes were not monotheist they were henotheist that was the correct term to be used they do worship worship their personal god by acknowledgimg the existence of other gods as well ! And another important thing tribal very much like the idea of pagans to make idol of their own god so this again different from strict monotheism where you don't have build any idol for that but never possible in ancient civilizations all those polytheist or henotheist used pagangs way to worship their god ! What I'm saying is polytheism or paganism is older than "strict monotheism" what I mean by "strictly monotheism" is not building any idols or associating any symbolic to the god !
@@Sushil_sharma344 This is how I know you’re ignorant on the topic. How tf did Jews invent monotheism when, like I said before there are tribes far from them that believed in One Supreme God before them?! It’s also clear you don’t even know that Hinduism is monotheistic, or for that matter very ancient Mesopotamians go read a book or two instead of wasting my time.
I admire your videos. They are both deep and accessible at the same time, which is not an easy thing to accomplish.
Please keep making these videos.
Glad to hear it!
Jan Assmann has to be the greatest name in Egyptology.
Quoting outdated and biased scholars is this guy's specialty
@@Texasmade74 finding a non outdated scholar is extremely difficult, and finding an unbiased one is impossible. Historians have to make do with what they have.
@@iamseamonkey6688 what?There's plenty of current Egyptologists
@@iamseamonkey6688 your comment makes no sense at all
Love the Amun-Min cameo at 14:50 when talking about Amun-Ra.
Min's one of my favorite Egyptian gods, has to be one of the hardest workers out there
Ohh it’s so cool to hear you mention Jan Assmann! I love his work and I heard that he frequently visits the institute that I study and work at :D
Assman' work is dated and very off
This was a great informative video on something that's very poorly understood due to our specific history and relationship with religion. We often don't realize we project social ideas onto the thinking of other people's. For instance, many hunter-gatherer people believe in some kind of singular creator and original deity, but the perspective of whether it's "monotheistic" or not is anchored on where anthropologists stand on an argument about western Christian doctrine. The truth is our rigid idea of polytheism vs monotheism has kept us from understanding the complex dynamics of theology different people's have, and the idea that these ideas may not be diametrically opposed the same way we see them.
I agree, furthermore, our categories don't fit with the religions of the world. How do you even begin to categorize religions? Maybe if you add distinctness into the mix? Christianity is one God, distinct from everything else. Egypt is multiple gods, but not fully distinct from each other. Hinduism is an Ultimate God with multiple Gods with little to no distinction. Its a start?
I don’t think you understand “Western Christian Doctrine” Christians depending on their culture may describe it differently, but the Bible makes it clear, that there are many gods but only one supreme creator God who created everything. This is why I’m Exodus for example, says that God will pass judgement on the “gods” of Egypt.
Monotheism can be defined as belief in a one supreme creator God, or just one God.
@@justchilling704 I think you're misunderstanding my point. My point is that when people tall about what constitutes "monotheism", they are using a Christian framework whether in favor or against said "monotheism".
@@Atigulus1 Youee correct about Westerners and people from a Christian’s background, I agree, I’m just pointing out that the Christian and also Jewish framework is the same as the one found in much of Africa, Asias etc. Many gods but one supreme creator God. Check out Dr. Michael Heiser he does a lot of work in this area.
Great episode as ever.
Indeed I did find this informative and interesting. Thank you for the great research and explanations. Mankind has never had such ease of access to such truly meaningful information. You are providing a great service. Take care.
this is quality content. thankyou very much, have a fantastic day
Good teaching brother. Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Thanks for the excellent work, it was a pleasure to watch. When you mentioned the work of Hornung as offering an alternative view to Assmann, I must admit I had hoped to see a bit more of comparison between the two viewpoints. But after watching I had to subscribe.
Good one!...probably your best to date. Thank you.
Now that you have done videos on the "One God" in Ancient Egypt and on Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia I would like to ask this. Did Ancient Mesopotamia ever have a concept of, depending on how you want to call it, "One God"/"Absolute Divinity"/"Ultimate Reality"/"Brahman"? If so, I would like to see a video on that too.
Hello, It's great presentation on such highly complicated topic but you greatly simplified as much as possible, thank you.
As an a Egyptian deeply interested in my Ancient Ancestors, as a Muslim believe in Oneness and as as believer in spiritism also, seems language has a great rule in misunderstanding or unclarity in these topics.
The ancient word NITCHER (𓊹) which is translated to GOD and the word NITCHRO (𓊹𓊹𓊹) which is translated into GODs seems either misinterpreted or has another meaning.
Seems ancient Egyptians somehow understood the concept of Spiritism doctrine. As per my understanding, they were dealing with all NITCHRO not as Gods but as noble spirits who guided and guides humanity in all aspects along with this they knew the ONE which they referred to as ATUM.
It's very interesting when you see too many similarities in ancient Egypt's doctrine with modern monotheistic religions specially Abrahamic religions.
Examples:
1- God has (Blown) life into ADAM's body through ADAM's (nostril) which very similar to ATUM blowing SHU!!!
2- God has created ADAM from clay which is typically the ancient Egyptian believe of human kind are created from clay on a clay roller by KHNUM!!!
Seems there is some missing links between ancient religions in general and modern ones. Because as you mentioned in all polytheistic religions there is always a referment for ONE divine power which dominates over all other Gods they might be worshiping. I got this from a Hindu friend when was openly discussing such topic with him.
And the most interesting is when I asked him on if they believe in ONE superpower or divine, he immediately responded back "of course" with a look which means (how you would think otherwise)!!
Great work. Thank you
So many beautiful expressive pictures !
Considering that Ancient Egypt at various points in history either ruled or had large influence in Canaan/Israel, did any of the Ancient Egyptian religious traditions and notions influence the religious culture and thought of Canaan/Israel?
Well there is the idea that Akhenaten’s revolutionary monotheistic approach influenced Moses but I’m of the belief that these cultures transmitted info back and forth rather than some top down concept.
@@jessicaclakley3691 yeah I can see it like that.
There's a theory that Moses was a priest of Akhenaten but that's highly speculative
Canaanite dynasty also ruled Egypt
@@jessicaclakley3691 there's no archeological or anthropological evidence for Moses
Thanks for all the valuable information and excellent presentation.
Many thanks for this video. My understanding of the subject has been realigned and harmonized.
We need this information. Thank you for providing it for is.
Man, any other religious philosophy nerds out there intrigued by the concept behind what the god Atum represents? Simultaneously representing nothing as well as everything kind of reminds me a bit about the "Dao." (EDIT: I slightly tweaked my previous sentences here for clarification now talking about what Atum _represents_ rather than kind of saying Atum = Dao or monotheistic God). This idea also feels like it parallels a thought I once had that partially led to my transition from agnosticism to apatheism.
(for those who are curious, this thought experiment started by me thinking of a situation where I felt very thankful for something, but not toward any particular person. For me, this was being grateful for the experience of music, and the thoughts occurred while I was sitting in a lecture learning about the anatomy of the inner ear and the Organ of Corti. It was in this lecture where I finally learned why we're able to perceive pitch, harmonies, and volume due to the intricate structures that subdivide frequencies via the cochlea and the orchestration of depolarizing action potentials via the shearing of tiny hair cells. Without them, music as we knew it wouldn't exist. I then thought that even if the atheistic nihilism model of the universe were true, I wanted to thank something even if it was nothing. I wanted to thank the fact that I sat in the lecture that day. I wanted to thank the fact that I had prior experiences of music that impacted me during difficult times earlier in life. I wanted to thank the billions of years of Darwinian pruning that led to these structures forming the way they did. I wanted to thank how my own consciousness existed to the point where I'd be able to appreciate this realization even if it could just be the result of the anthropic principle and survivorship bias. Before I knew it, thanking nothing felt like thanking...everything. And thanking everything...felt like believing in God all over again.)
I once asked my philosophy group to compare the concepts of Tao and God. To some members, these were identical concepts, to others they were diametrically opposed.
Aten is not like the Dao because Aten is the sun disc not a deity and Dao is a pervading principle not a god or a life source
@@Texasmade74 Thanks for pointing this out, and I've since tried clarifying the syntax of my first paragraph a bit more since I realized that I was actually focusing on the concept on what Atum _represented_ rather than saying that Atum is straight up synonymous with the Dao or monotheistic God.
But meanwhile, it's cool that you also pointed a delineation between what is a material representation of a god and what is a pervading principle. It reminds me of how I've been having a continual thought experiment on how well the terms "the universe" (material representation) and "the truth" (pervading principle) could be interchanged with the word "God" within the context of the bible and say...secular scientific journals. While it doesn't always work 1:1 (i.e. God speaking through prophets), it's very interesting seeing what stays consistent when switching between an atheistic and theistic lens. Personally, I prefer the old testament God being represented by a pervading principle like "the truth" over the pantheistic representation of "the universe," but it's a close match.
Interesting reflection. Thanks for sharing it.
@@cuckoophendula8211 well we can firmly establish that Atum is not like the concept of Brahman for many reasons one being he clearly has a creation account attributed to him and Brahman is absent from most all of Hindu theology but in Hindu philosophies Brahman is prominent because all of the sampadryas have their own ideologies on Brahman
"Was Egypt poly or mono theoist?"
Depends on when you ask.
Egyptian theology was around for thousands of years before the Greeks took over. Things change a lot in that time
Yeah, looking at how much abrahamic religion has changed over the course of its 3000ish year history, one can only imagine the plethora of movements and changes egyptian religion might have had in its own incredibly long history
It really doesn't depend on who you it has everything to do with reading the texts and primary sources on Egyptian religion rather than taking the skewed views of a scholar whose too influenced by monotheism
There are definitely good legitimate non biased scholars of Egyptology out there
Of course. All religions change and evolve over time and place.
@@Texasmade74 The texts and primary sources that survived, sure. And maybe also looking at the difference between the everyday practices of adherents versus what's written on their conveniently-preserved book.
As always very beautifully done!
I've gravitated to panentheism in recent years, my view of deity inspired in part by my reading of the Bhagavad Gita. God can be experienced as one or many; both ways are valid.
Deity?
The Bhagavad Gita isn't related to Egyptian religion though and neither is Vaishnava philosophy
@@Texasmade74 Ever hear of religious syncretism?
@@Duragizer8775 do you even understand what religious syncretism is??
@@Texasmade74 Indeed I do. Though perhaps I should've instead asked if you've ever heard of omnism, or perennial philosophy. Regardless, I have no problem taking the Gita's teaching that the Hindu gods are manifestations of Brahman and universalizing it to include other divinities from other religious traditions.
Out of Africa, man was aware of one God and 'meditative wisdom', they knew the 25000 year cosmic cycle and also knew Vedic mathematics (arithmetic and number theory) and even knew of the 12 Zodiac signs. And as man migrated from Gobekli Tepe to Australia, they preserved the same insignia inscribed on the pillars in Turkey.
The pyramid texts on cheops pyramid have a phrase written in ancient Egyptian language - wa wa en snu - that translate one and only has no second. The ancient Egyptians believe in one god who has characters represented in his creatures. So they appreciated the creatures who had these characters
Egyptians had been influenced by the message of Yusuf (Joseph) peace be upon him.
I wonder if there are external sources confirming this, even if they were to give another name to Joseph (sometimes name change to describe or summarize the life of that messenger, like Yahya "He lives" as a name for John the Baptist, perhaps to confirm he was resurrected (or apparently so, like waking up from a coma, linking this with Jesus in the Quran) as there were rumors about that, or to refer to him being martyred thus living in another way)
These are interesting topics.
But i see people assuming lots of stuff.
For instance, assuming these religions or sects are the original and the latter is the base.
When we look at Christianity, we see how the One God now is three persons... so we see a tendency from monotheism to polytheism and henotheism or similar beliefs.
Yet so many here believe we come from polytheism, and then some dudes decided on their own to worship one God alone... that is a big assumption.
An assumption which ignores the big hole we have about how the religion of Noah was... and from Noah comes the Babylonian religions which have flood stories... they come from Noah, this doesn't mean their versions are not corrupted and that they didn't take angels as Gods and made up new gods...
Peace
I find the idea of the overlap between monotheism and polytheism to be a fascinating topic.
Like, some expressions of Catholicism are almost polytheistic in practice. You have patrons saints with specific domains that you can entreat for help with things in that domain. Like, some saint may be the protector of childbirth, so you pray to them for a safe delivery just like a polytheist might to the god of childbirth.
I have vague memory of this being a criticism leveled by protestant thinkers, but I might misremember.
I always thought the same thing! Sure there’s a Saint they pray to for safe journey when sailing. How is that monotheistic
U probably don’t know any thing about Somalia But The earliest recorded ancient Egyptian expedition to Punt was organized by Pharaoh Sahure of the Fifth Dynasty (25th century BC), returning with cargoes of antyue and Puntites. However, gold from Punt is recorded as having been in Egypt as early as the time of Pharaoh Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty.
In our life style & religion and Gods in our history and culture still exist in Faroues culture in Somalia . All this gods that u mention here exist places in Somalia .. like El waaq Abudwaaq this waaq exist in Egyptian time even Ra exist like place in Somalia .. I hope world do some reaserch in Somalia .. we are finding some Egyptian money in Somalia
I like Atenism.🌄
Just a minute and a half into this, and I'm already reminded of a conversation I had with someone who cautioned against using the terms "monotheism" and "polytheism" as they may make our minds gravitate toward some preconceived examples. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it reminding myself that Elohim in Hebrew technically means "Gods" and the concept of Brahman in Hinduism feels a bit monotheistic. EDIT: and then of course the video goes on to talk about this a bit more xD
Brahman is just a concept within Vedanta
Elohim does not mean "gods" in Hebrew/Canaanite. There are many words in Hebrew with the plural ending "-im" that are actually singular. Elohim is singular.
*Some* argue that it's an example of "Pluralis Majestatis" which refers to the use of a plural word to refer honorifically to a single person or entity (also called the 'plural of respect', the 'honorific plural', the 'plural of excellence', or the 'plural of intensity').
But most Hebrew authorities agree that Elohim is not an example of the above and is just singular.
@@omarchehimi8981 Elohim is definitely both plural and singular depending on usage
@@omarchehimi8981 most Hebrew authorities are not authorities at all except to other Jews
Elohim is a way to refer to the One God in Majesty by pluralising it, as far as i remember reading.
Sad to see that such a resourceful and well researched channel at +300 subs. Tell us lots about times we are living in.
Definitely not a well researched channel
Great video. Thanks for all your stuff, I’ve really gotten into this channel recently and plan to get on patreon soon. Do you think you might ever make a video on Neoplatonism specifically? It seems like Platonic/Neoplatonic thought is so influential to a lot of the other stuff discussed on this channel
Plotinus and Neoplatonism is definitely on my list of upcoming episodes!
Sweeeeeet! I’ll get a front row ticket
@@LetsTalkReligion please for the love of Atum could you explain the Henads in Neoplatonism and their relationship with The One 🙃
They are so confusing.
Could you please do a video on "zanadiqa" such as Ibn al-Muqaffa, Ibn ar-Rawandi or al-Razi? I think a lot of people would find it very interesting.
Thank you for your research. My curiosity lead me to “ Moses and Monotheism” by Sigmund Frued a year ago. I plan to reference Jan Assmann next.
Great talk as usual
From a Traditional esoteric Islamic perspective, all there is, is Allah, The One. The Abstract in relation to the concrete, the Transcendent in relation to the immanent, the Thinker behind thought. God is the Absolute in relation the particular. And the particular, which makes up the world, are all expressions of the Absolute through Divine Will.
The purpose of religion is to cultivate a relationship with the Absolute such that there is bliss. The understanding is that, after you die, you present to God, to the Absolute, what is in your heart. The whole purpose of Islam is to cultivate a sound heart, which is rooted in sound understanding of God. The reason polytheism is reviled by traditional monotheism is because it represents a fractured and wayward understanding of the Divine, like a mind that has gone insane and has become incoherent. The Absolute is like the cosmic mirror, whatever you present to it is reflected back at the intellect which then manifests as one's experienced reality. But in the realm beyond death, the physical veils that otherwise shield us from our state, are removed and gone, and so there is no intermediary between conception, perception, and experience. In Islam, this relates to the kashf [unveiling].
Rightly guided ones, the Prophets, are teachers who came to make coherent our internal state and our intellect so that our relationship with the Absolute is sound. From this perspective, there is the Essence of God [dhat], then there are the Attributes of God [sifat], and then there are the Names of God and then the Acts of God, all in descending orders which make up the macrocosm down to the microcosm. When a person's relationship with God has become disrupted, and where a sense of transcendent oneness lost, then we all into a state of particularity. The Attributes of God manifest as the Names of God, like The Merciful, the Just, the Kind, etc. When we have fallen into a state of particularity, then we see the expressed Names of God, in the Acts of God, with essences of their own. In this case, they become seen as gods.
Thats why islam, esoteric or orthodox, is still wrong. Thats a complete deformation of platonic oneness, which is the base for this idea.
@@xiuhcoatl4830 wtf are you on about bro. Did you read what he wrote? How does exactly pervert platonic oneness jackass?
Great video - really enjoyed it - keep up the great work!!
An excellent video as usual. I wonder if anyone has explored the possibility of this budding monotheism influencing the ancient Hebrew concept of Yahweh? The One who transcends both being and nothingness is also clearly evident in the metaphysics of Plotinus who was himself born and raised in Egypt. His Neoplatonism had, of course, a big influence on the early church fathers, especially St. Augustine of Hippo.
Some have falsely claimed that the ancient Kemites (Egyptians) were polytheistic literalists, but in his book, “Ancient Egyptian Roots of Christianity,” Egyptian-American Egyptologist, Moustafa Gadalla, writes, “The ancient Egyptians believed in one God who was self-produced, self-existent, immortal, invisible, eternal, omniscient, almighty, etcetera. This one God was represented through the functions and attributes of his [or her] domain. These attributes were called the Neteru . . . In other words, the all, or the Neteru, are the One” (Gadalla, 2019). Furthermore, Gadalla states, “The ancient Egyptians used pictorial symbols to represent divine attributes and actions” (Gadalla, 2019). Lastly, he says, “The figures of Isis, Osiris, Horus, Nut, etcetera, became the symbols of such attributes, functions, forces and energies, and were never intended to be looked upon as real personages” (Gadalla, 2019). In summary, the Neteru represent symbolic personifications of the attributes, characteristics, or sub-personalities of the One Supreme Creator.
Reference:
Gadalla, M. (2019). Ancient Egyptians roots of Christianity. (S. Hennessy, Narr). [Audiobook]. www.audible.com/pd?asin=B07N8J1PJM&source_code=ASSORAP0511160006&share_location=pdp.
Neteru/netjerw literally means gods in plural. Netjer was the word for god (with a glyph of a sacred banner) -u/w is the plural suffix (three lines, or just repeated the glyph three times)
Dr Assman's parents must be disappointed he went into Egyptology rather than the family's proctology practice, I recall when Dr Van Nostrand met Dr Assman in a license plate mix up
Lol
This is such an interesting video. Thank you!!
Reporting on religion is difficult, but this site does it well. Avoiding preaching when discussing religion is rare.
This was an enjoyable film. I think you are looking at a time frame too late though. That is too late to be based on a memory of the original genuine God. The earliest God that we have evidence of having been worshiped as such is Anu the Sumerian God of heaven.
Consider the following points.
1. Jacobsen says the earliest gods were not really gods but rather were inanimate powers. That is vital forces associated with various phenomena (Jacobsen "Formative tendencies in Sumerian religion").
2. Kramer says that prior to 2600 BC the Sumerians only worshiped Anu (Kramer "The Sumerians").
3. Rohl makes a very good case for the Egyptian first dynasty having been founded by travelers from Mesopotamia
(David Rohl "A Test of Time")
4. Narmer's God was Ptah and Ptah is the first Egyptian creator god (James "Genesis in Egypt").
If you want an Egyptian connection to the original genuine God consider Ptah.
Anu, El and Ptah were all supposed to have created the world by speaking a command. Perhaps they are just three different
names for the real God.
During the crusades, the Muslims referred to the Christians as "pagans" because of how they viewed the christian saints and the trinity
We always did and still do call anyone who is not a Muslim, a pagan. Because that's what they are. You're either a Muslim monotheist or a pagan disbeliever.
There is a deep connection between the themes discussed in this video and the early Christian gnostics(that interestingly enough were very present in Egypt).
We see the same idea of manifestations of an unfathomable One in the form of other “deities”.
Maybe there is an old connection between those beliefs, the survival of the concept through different traditions
I am by no means a scholar in any of these areas, but I had an interesting thought with the dates of things.
You said the Instruction for King Merikare comes from the Middle Kingdom, which according to people way smarter than me is approximately 2050 - 1650 ish BCE. According to biblical scholars, the story of Joseph of Egypt is also thought to occur during this same time period (2000 - 1600 BCE). So it would be interesting if this One God idea came from a mixing of Hebrew and Egyptian culture.
the ancient egyptian religion is so interesting and complex, and their idea of the beginning is just wild
Wild? Every single ancient religion speaks of the same creation story, even though thousands of miles apart.
Omnientheism: God is the cause of all true Religion.
If I am not mistaken there was a Slavic monotheism. That could be an interesting video topic.
Paganism is such a beautiful and diverse religion, pagans don't have any issue with respecting Gods of other cultures and look at them like mirror images of their own Gods...beautiful...
Paganism isn't a religion of it's own it's just a term for all non monotheistic religions
@Ab99 your comments are so absolutely horrible and uneducated that I can't even begin to debunk them because that would mean I take them seriously
That feels like a pretty selective reading of the history of polytheism. Even in Egypt itself there were instances of hostility towards other gods or religious systems.
Indian Hindus Pagans are peaceful as long as one does not eat cow meat.... If a person is allegedly found with cow meat, he's beaten to death by "peaceful", " Tolerant " pagan Hindus...
Just search "Cow-Vigilantism" Or "Mob-lynchig in India"...
@@LetsTalkReligion when?I know Egypt during the New Kingdom adopted Ba'al Hadad and a Canaanite Goddess and even Reshep/Rashep
Concept of mono- and poly-theism is modern one. Most of the antic people were monotheists in our sense, but we don't understand them. "The God" has many names, as we today can call Him the Creator, the All-Knowing, the One, etc. These names are His manifestations, the ways we can "see" Him, since we cannot see Him as He is. Besides that, many people were seen as "god-given", kinda messiahs, as probably idea Brahma became from Abraham (Ibrahim) or Jesus (Horus) was seen as "baby-god" or "child-god" in ancient Greece. Also, many natural phenomena were seen as "God's action", as well as some moral codex were taken as "Divine". All this, at the beginning, was not understand as "another god", but rather as "from the God" and was glorified. All of this is because we cannot "see" the God, only His manifestation.
Akhanaten tried to remove these ideas from the Egyptians, and forbade all the temples, except those he founded for Aten. But Aten was his fantasy and he was his representative. Akhanaten is the pharaoh mentioned in the Bible and the Qur'an, and his religion was certainly not mono-theism in a sense of the antic people, but can be in our sense. The difference is that today mono-theism is a belief in ANY "one god", but for antic people "the God" has to be Real and Only.
We cannot talk in general of "people's belief" because belief is a personal thing and differs from a person to person. What I see as a common for most of ancient Egyptians is that they knew that they cannot "know the God", but can understand his manifestation. If somebody had a great knowledge, was wise, was brave, was strong, was ethical, etc., they could understand that those characteristics were "God's manifestation" in those persons and/or things, but it would be wrong if somebody understood that some of these were "God Himself". On the other hand, ideas as "trinity" cannot be mono-theism in any sense.
This was a great video! I’m Christian and although the way I was raised centres around one god, I feel like this is moreso what it would be like, I believe that religion is something ever more complex and grey than just monotheistic and polytheistic, and that somehow it’s all intertwined
You are wrong either way. Btw christianity shouldn’t be categorised as a monotheistic religion.
@@user-yp7ke4et7o
The original comment is me 20 years ago.
Meanwhile you are me 10 years ago.
Now I’m a dirty polytheist / animist 😂 ❤️
The idea of just saying “you’re wrong” without any context is incredibly silly. What did they say that is objectively wrong?
Also, yes, there are forms of Christianity which are strictly Monotheistic. Most of them aren’t really though.
Gotta be careful with the generalizations of a supreme deity in Pre-Islamic Arabia. The name allāh is found in pre-Islamic pagan inscriptions, there is no doubt about it. Arab Christians from the 1st to 4th centuries used the word al-ilāh (the god) to refer to their monotheistic deity, not allāh. Christians do begin using al-ilāh and allāh interchangeably later on in the 6th century as seen in the poetry of al-Nābigha al-Dhubyānī and ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith. The Nabataeans often referred to their main deity Dhu-Shara simply as *ʾlhʾ (*the god) and so allāh being a contraction of al-ilāh used as an epithet that replaced a respective deity’s proper name is the most likely answer. Allāh meant the god, yes. The main god, whether that be of the Christians or Pagans. That seems to be the most likely answer; that allāh is a contracted form of the word al-ilāh. But this doesn't mean that allāh was considered a creator god by the Nabataeans or Safaitic writers, this might've developed later on in Late Antiquity and might not date that far back. "Pre-Islamic Arabia" covers 1500 years of history from the Qedarites of the Assyrian period to the Lakhmids and Ghassanids in the Byzantine-Sassanian period. It also spans a large geographic area from the fertile crescent where Arabs settled Hellenized Aramaean cities such as Palmyra and Hatra all the way south to the monsoon civilizations of Yemen
Most Arabs were not Christian from the 1st to the 4th centuries they were polytheistic but Islam is the first monotheistic religion to get ahold like that in the Arabian peninsula
jesus is lord
@@iSuKOwnerS really now?Can you prove that
Allah or al-Illah is surely more or less the same as El in the Canaanite religion, and as such the name may refer to the supreme (and rather personal, Amun-like rather than Atum-like) god of their pantheon (Zeus-like) or as just generic term for "god" or "deity", depending on context as our custom of capitalizing or not the first letter only began in the Renaissance.
All you've proven with that lengthy comment is that you have no idea about the development of languages.
“According to Maffie, they believed both that reality consists of one thing and that it consists of one kind of thing: teotl in Náhuatl (pronounced TAY-oht). He dubs these two beliefs ontological and constitutional monism, respectively, and they provide the basis for his overarching interpretation of Aztec thought. Teotl is both identical with reality and is the basic stuff of reality.”
Maffe doesn't have much credibility in many circles of academics that include Mesoamerican religions
He denies the dualism in Aztec religion because of monotheistic biases he has
Dualism in Psychology
By
H. W. Wright
Firstly, the ancients did not identify as Egyptians.
Secondly, they did not adhere to a religion but rather embraced spirituality.
Thirdly, they were the earliest to recognize the presence of a soul or spirit within themselves, interconnected with the earth, animals, and nature.
Fourth, the ancient Kemetic people hailed from Africa, inheriting a spiritual culture deeply rooted in the continent. As Africans being the first people on earth.
Most Europeanized folks would never understand this lmao
Mr Philip, you really need to find Theological comparison aside from Hinduism's brahman vedanta & Shaivism, then try make a single video about Buddhism and it's Theology (alongside of how Buddhist Cosmology demotes many Vedic elements into lower strats)
It's also feels like in this video, you also happens to just discovered the Theological concepts of Monolatry and henotheism, with hinges of Theopanies of the myriad of pagan deities into a Supreme being in either pantheistic or henotheistic manner, it's not as surprising as even the cult of Yahweh or El being speculated by many scholars to be syncretised and became national/patron deity of Israelites, not sure if that's true but if it's true, it's ended up sounding like a more successful version of Shaivism and Vaishnavism through how Christianity makes it a continuation of Tanakh/Torah Theology through Gospels/New Testament texts
This is something which eventually questioned by Christian Gnostic groups of early Christianities to literally Greco-Roman, Near Eastern, Egyptian, (and even in Manichaeism and Mandaeism case of Vedic and Zoroastrian pantheons) to downright Hebrew deity names to be reduced into Demiurge(s), Archons and Archdemons and other world-crafting devils of early Christian Gnostic Cosmologies (see Perates, Justin's Book of Baruch, Ebionites, Ophites, Elchaisaites and Naassenes)
so all possibilities are possible or what do you mean?
Great talk brother 🔥
You have a great channel 👌🏻
The Aten is not the Sun disk, but the whole Universe, represented as a disk.
Excellent explanation, thank you for this
Will you please do one on Kriya Yoga?
Wow - so many parallels!
Apparently Egypt was made up of two countries- Upper Egypt, which is the Nile valley (really a canyon of you look at it with Google Earth 3D) and Lower Egypt, the Delta. Upper Egypt is part of a cultural continuum that includes the upper Nile all the way across Sudan and into Ethiopia, whereas Lower Egypt was settled by people from the Levant. They spoke different languages and had different religions. Egypt was unified when the Upper Egyptians conquered the Lower Egyptians, and the language and culture of Upper Egypt became dominant. I was wondering if there are traces of the two religious traditions of Upper and Lower Egypt merging?
Not true Egypt was made up of 5 city states that later was combined into one by naqada rulers also upper and lower Egypt both trace their cultures to the first culture fayium A culture both had the same language
That Egypt was the union of two countries is uncontroversial.
Highly informative. Thanks!
Amazing topic that I often wonder about.
This "monotheistic" conception of God being the One from everything emanates and also the same time Nothing has been recurred over and over through history. One thing comes to mind is (some sects of) hinduism. Where the Brahman(atman?) take the form as a central uncreated God who emanates all gods, and reality itself. Even in abrahamic religions, especially in mysticisms, this concept found itself again and again.
The doctrine of an uncreated absolute being is philosophically sound,which is why almost every religion found its way back to it
@@ihavenojawandimustscream4681 I guess the vastness of cosmos and nature, the inability to comprehend its mystery do bring a lot of people to contemplate in this direction.
I've met the creator personally! The way to find it is to look deep within! As long as the core of any religion is true love it is correct!. The one true God can even be other Gods but it's all one! It's testing us to see if even with our different beliefs in it do we get it's message and truly accept each other....and so far we haven't been doing do great... some pass this test but waaaaay more fail
really excellent video, the problem of mono/polytheism is so necessarily simplified for most people it's really essential to start pointing out how earlier models of "pagan" belief were just as confronted with the experience of an embodied god and pantheistic divinity especially when they were no longer allowed to worship at their temples. The parallels to Jewish development and the later Christian revolution echo the Egyptian experiences so profoundly. PS Loved the great clips and pics of egypt!
Egyptian religion was never pantheism
@@Texasmade74 And that's exactly why I didnt say that it was. ;)
@@FraterRC most of your original comment makes zero sense
@@Texasmade74 lol
Very interesting video.
Your work is Very good,i thank you for that. There are much crackpots on you tube but you stay reasonable and educational.
This blew my mind!!! Amazing video. I always used to wonder about the supreme god in ancient egypt and woukd just find the sun god which didnt make sense as according to biblucal accounts if two prophets came to egypt why was there not a shred of evidence of monothieism in their mythology!!!! This video has cleared so many things!! Thankyou. Can u please do a video on the accounts of an ancient flood across various theologies and mythologies.
Considering that the Egyptian gods began as separate cults, the efforts to keep them all but within a religious view which attempted to unify the land seems a very rational approach - avoiding the sort of religious fanaticism which can break a country apart. On the other hand, I think your vision of the Amarna cult is far more positive than mine. It was regarded as heretical and evil and the practice we know of - by which the ruler made men stand staring at the Egyptian sun until they died -does not endear Akhnaten to me, either. Just btw - when reading the Pyramid texts, and even some of the Coffin texts, I've always found it helpful to regard the deities' names as adjectival. Each 'name' was a quality, so to speak, so that the stringing together of names serves in the way our strings of adjectives do... to refine meaning more precisely. Hathor-Isis-Mut becomes the quintessential 'mother' type. Remarks apart - I greatly admire your work.
love from the kemetic pagan community!
Same!
What led associating an all-encompassing divinity with different deities of the Egyptian pantheon, for example Isis over Amun? The worship of a female deity over that if a male can reflect on many elements and changes within a society (for example, a more agricultural society over one that practices more hunting, or makes use of a plow) and Isis is not just any female deity at that - such a Ma'at, who embodies cosmic order anyway - but one with specifically associated with womanhood. Could a transition from Amun to Isis be associated with any societal change in particular, or is it instead something perhaps more regionally driven, for example, if a city who worshipped Isis happened to come to a lot of wealth or power, thereby spreading the cult of their own patron deity to the whole of Egypt (a more plausible explanation perhaps, and a phenomenon that has seen itself repeated much more throughout history). I still find it interesting, the dynamics could have led to a change in the absolute divinity, from Amun, to Isis, to another altogether, and how that might reflect on state of affairs at the time ...
It may well relate to the loss of the pharaohs (Egypt became foreign-dominated) and their need to identify themselves with a chief patriarchal god. The chief patriarchal god and monarchy are closely related, even in Mesopotamian traditions it is Enlil the sky god who brings not generic creation nor humankind... but KINGSHIP to the world. It's only later as this patriarchal chief god becomes sole god in the context of Jewish religious evolution when he absorbs the attributes and powers of other deities, expelled from the pantheon.
Prior to this patriarchal theism (first polytheism, then personal monotheism of an imperfect god which is only one side and not anymore everything like the original Pan-Theos), it was quite widespread (from the Basque Country to India and China apparently) a belief similar to that of Amun and his children, who in many cases manifests as gender-binary monotheism (two gendered gods a single God, there may be other spirits but are lesser, as happens in the Basque tradition, or are manifestations of the sole Pan-Theos and its binary derivation, as happened in Egypt and in some versions of Hinduism, notably Shaktism and some Shaivism).
As Casilda Rodrigáñez interprets in her excellent book "El Asalto al Hades" ("Assault to Hades", freely downloadable at her personal site but only available in Spanish), in the times of the Metal Ages (Bronze, Iron), when notably the very patriarcha Indoeuropeans conquered the less patriarchal peoples of "Old Europe" (yes, she follows Gimbutas largely on this, I could add some shading but enough for this comment), the shift from a pre-patriarchal male god (Dragon or Snake God typically) to the patriarchal male gods of the Indoeuropeans (notably Zeus = Jupiter = Odin = Daghda) came with the legend of the dragonslayer, which she interprets not in the usual way but as the Dragon (the ancient male God) defending the Goddess (the maiden) and being slaughtered as result, then rape and female slavery ensues but is hidden by a carefully modified narrative, which makes the patriarchal dragonslayer a "hero" instead of a rapist-enslaver (that's the case of Apollo and Thor in ancient legends and of St. George for most Christians but Michael Archangel for the Basques, for reasons of a very weird and quite "Freudian" legend that I will spare you for the time being).
So there was a longing for the old religion underlying all the Mediterranean (and probably other areas too), a longing for the end of patriarchy itself, which manifested often in polytheisms as veneration of this or that godess, for example Athena in the quite patriarchal Athens, Cybeles in Asia Minor and by import in much of the Roman sphere (Romans made Cybeles equal to Magna Mater) and Isis in Egypt, which became a focus for a very popular religion not just in that provicia but in much of the Roman Empire, being the main competitor of Christianity.
That's surely a reason why Christianity made Mary such an important and near-divine figure ("mother of God" nonetheless!) and why in many areas Christianity basically means Maryanism, with not just the distant "God the Father" but even Jesus being rather secondary in popular devotion. Mary is of course a very "domesticated" version of the ancient Goddess but still gives women and mother-loving men a good spritual reference.
I was raised as Catholic and at least 50% of the religion in terms devotional are Maryanism, which makes good sense for children very especially: having a second imaginary all-loving mum is better than having a second imaginary tyrannical second dad, really.
Very interesting episode, thank you
This is really interesting because it might also explain a lot in terms of the relationship between Christianity and Ancient Egyptian religion; especially considering the fact that Jesus lived in Egypt, where I think he absorbed many influences from their religion.
12:40
that is literally a 4000 year predated synopsis of the bible 😅
Christians literally call themselves "lambs or sheep", these people literally call themselves "cattle". I need not know anything else about religion than that to reject it 🤔🤷
It's interesting to compare to the Israelite religion.
The early books of the Bible don't have much "explicit" theology, however their main strategy was to forbid worshiping "other gods", like that Akhenaten.
By the end of the biblical period, the Hebrews abandoned all other deities, and have effectively become monotheists.
The earliest book of the Bible literally started with theology. It starts with a creation myth that also delineated the identity and status of the one God and explains his relationship with humanity and the universe. Additionally, the first prohibition against idolatry only came in Exodus. In all of Genesis God was pretty chill with other gods as we can see from this passage from Genesis 41: "45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt."
So, yeah, God's favorite becoming the son-in-law of the PRIEST OF ANOTHER GOD was okay. It was only during the Exodus that he started getting jealous.
I like how that one character in 13:16 looks like an alien. lol
"Pray without ceasing" (i.e., stay with the flow) and "As above, so below/On earth as it is in Heaven" - are really old concepts. Why do we have to diminish the ancients' relationship to "Divine" by talking "fertility rites" and "appeasing the gods"??? I think you are amazing and love your videos - I just wonder about the words we use, and the pseudo-culture we place over the ancient world.
Why do you insist that they need to have "relationships" with the divine? Why can't the prayers they offer simply be transactional? In my interviews with Daoists, I've come to realize that whether they believe in and worship a certain deity depends on whether that deity is potent in his area of expertise and geography. And so communities who live by the sea are more likely to pray to Mazu, said to be able to prevent storms and getting lost at sea. Merchants love Guan-gong, because of his sense of justice, bravery and loyalty. Construction workers and architects would worship local earth deities, they ensure projects run smoothly and authorities won't cause you trouble. Everyone worships Cai shen, at least once a year, because he brings wealth. When the god you worship strictly depends on what career you pursue or what worldly objectives you want to achieve or to prevent disasters then it is absolutely right that we talk about appeasement.
To avoid speculation and unnecessary anachronisms.
I love to see philepe do a video on the egyptian moon god called iah (pronounced yah) and any confusion with the God of the old testament.
There were always 1 God and many gods. The one God in Egypt had different names, like Atum, Amun, Amun-Re, or Aton. God and gods were not the same. Gods were aspects of the one God (like the god of the fertility, or the Nile god), here you recognize the pantheism. In the so called monolatry (as known from the Old Testament) you have tribal gods as aspects of the one God. Echnaton tried to cancel the gods, so there were only the One God left (Aton), he did not invent monotheism. Monotheism existed throughout all the times.
No it didn't, and thats a poor understanding of old religion and polytheism in general
@@xiuhcoatl4830 No, you are wrong.
Excellent as always, my friend.
Thank you!
Amazing video. Very interesting.
Awesome work!! Bra jobbet! ❤❤❤
An extremely interesting video. Well researched. Well thought through. Well presented. Thank you.
Thank you for trying to put light on the grey.
is there any way around these full length ads?
i like listening to videos like these on my phone while i work and pressing the skip ad button isn't handy and breaks the flow of work. i don't mind the 15 second ads, but documentary level ads are mood killers.
Thank you for the information. This video is excellent..