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Vivian Tu

21 September 2017

RSOC 19

Dr. Pinault

Egyptian Tales

The six Egyptian tales Island of the Serpent, Adventures of Sinuhe, Tales of the

Magicians, The Miracles of Khonsu, The Tale of the Two Brothers and The Trip to Wag-

el-Wag depicts various aspects pertaining to the Egyptian traditions. This includes their

relationship to divinity, magic, religion, morality, Nature, and human relations.

The divine respect Egyptians give to God is evident in these few tales. Throughout these

tales, one of the prominent physical characteristics of God is their gold-plated bodies. Gold, in

Egyptian culture, symbolizes the flesh of God. Egyptians think highly of their God, as they are

willing to perform rituals and magic spells for God. In Island of the Serpent, the good

attendant prostrates himself in front of the Serpent, as a sign of loyalty and humbleness. The

good attendant was also willing to worship the Serpent since the latter promised his safety and

return to the Residence. In The Miracles of Khonsu, Khonsu removed the demon from the

daughter of Bakhtan. This god was held in a sekhem, which would allow the Gods to have the

power of healing. Divinity, in this sense, holds special meaning to Egyptians because God is able

to protect them from any harm. These tales clearly show that faith in God is something that is

important to their culture.

Egypts devotion to God also correlates with their belief in magic and religion. The idea

of the sekhem is a part of the center to Egyptian religion. According to Jan Assmann, the basis
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on which [Egyptian religion] rested was the cult, the daily routine of an endlessly

differentiated service rendered to the deities in the forms in which they were locally resident,

their cult statues (Assmann, 40). In Egyptian culture, their devotion to cults is simply to honor

their gods. Egyptians use sekhems as a way to connect and communicate with God. Like in The

Miracles of Khonsu, a sekhem that held Khonsu was used to get rid of a demon in a daughters

body. As a result, the daughter became healthy. In Tales of the Magicians, magical knowledge

was used to bring back the life of the animals, which were important to the idea of Nature.

Because God offers protection to the people, Egyptians rely on magic in order to keep their faith

in God. For example, pouring water on a Cippus is a way Egyptians use to obtain that protection.

Nature also holds great significance to the people of Egypt. In Adventures of Sinuhe,

Sinuhe was desperate to be buried in Egypt because that was his hometown. He was successful

in life outside of Egypt, but he claimed that the only way he would be able to survive in the

afterlife was to be buried in Egypt. The Tales of the Two Brothers also showed Batas ability

to communicate with animals, such as his cow and cattle. This aligns with the idea of animism,

the idea that the whole Earth is filled with spirits. This implies that the Egyptians feel connected

to the Earth and all of the spirits that may reside in Earth. Nature is a huge part of their culture

because that was a way to keep true to their origins. In a way, this demonstrates the power that

Nature has over the decisions that the Egyptians make. Nature allowed them to survive and that

holds true to Bata and Sinuhe.

Human relations also vary within Egypt. A persons homeland is important to the

Egyptians as Egypt was divided between Kemet and Deshret. While Kemet refers to fertile

black land, Deshret refers to red land. As Sinuhe mentions in his encomium of the King

Sehtepyebre, one of the important roles that the King plays is ...to destroy the fugitive to
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strike down the barbarian horde (Lewis, 35). Non-Egyptians are seen in a negative light, and

because of that, they are discriminated from those in Kemet.

Society in Egypt was also hugely patriarchal. There was no female protagonist in any of

these tales. In tales, such as The Tale of the Two Brothers, Anupus wife was never referred

with her actual name. The title of Anupus wife demonstrates that women in Egyptian society

are not considered as their own individual self. This is also evident in the different titles that

women have such as Great Favorite and Mistress of All. Women in these tales are also

depicted as cunning. In The Tales of Two Brothers, Batas wife ended up betraying Bata by

telling His Majesty the way to kill Bata. In the end, when Bata revives as a bull, she tries to get

rid of him again by eating his liver. Anupus wife also tried to have an affair with Bata, but she

told Anupu that Bata was the one who put himself on her. When Anupu found the truth, he kills

her. The depiction of women in these stories make them seem pitiful. Their lives are revolved

around men and they have no choice but to use their man in order to accomplish their will.

In regards to The Trip to Wag-el-Wag and The Tales of the Two Brothers, the two

stories tell a tale that describes about clever men that were able to overcome the obstacles in their

life through their perseverance. This correlates to the motifs in the Samson and Delilah story in

the Biblical Book of the Judges. In this story, Samson continues to mock Delilah for trying to

discover his weakness. Because of Delilahs persistence, Samson does end up telling her his

weakness. However, even though he was captured, he was able to pass judgement to the

Philistines, who wanted to kill him. Similarly, Hasan was able to come back to the palace and

regained his status and Bata was able to exact vengeance on the Kings Favorite. As such, this

demonstrates that man is able to overcome physical obstacles, no matter what occurs, because

they have God by their side.

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I personally felt that these tales are intriguing. As I was reading, I was surprised by the

sheer number of clever people. I did not like the fact that most of the women in the tales were

portrayed as cunning people who desire wealth and end up dying because of those actions.

Although I could understand that Egypt was hugely patriarchal, being a woman myself, I would

not like to act or be treated like those women. The Egyptians relationship with their homeland

was also surprising. They are only willing to be buried in their homeland because that will enable

them to live in the afterlife. I never thought that mummification was also important to the people

of Egypt just like to the Pharaoh. Overall, these stories were interesting to read and offered

insight into the different aspects to Egyptian culture and traditions.

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Works Cited

Assmann, Jan. 2.3 Image and Cult. The Search for God in Ancient Egypt. Cornell, 2001. 40-

43.

Print.

El-Shamy, Hasan M. The Trip to Wag-el-Wag. Folktales of Egypt. The University of Chicago

Press, 1980. 3-14. Print.

Lewis, Bernard. Island of the Serpents. Land of the Enchanters. 2001. 23-28. Print.

Lewis, Bernard. Adventures of Sinuhe. Land of the Enchanters. 2001. 29-46. Print.

Lewis, Bernard. Tales of the Magicians. Land of the Enchanters. 2001. 47-54. Print.

Lewis, Bernard. The Tales of the Two Brothers. Land of the Enchanters. 2001. 55-65. Print.

Lewis, Bernard. The Miracles of Khonsu. Land of the Enchanters. 2001. 73-77. Print.