“.....two fundamental realizations--of the inevitability of eventual death and the endurance of the social order have been combined symbolically and constitute the nuclear structuring force of the rites and, thereby, the society.”
Joseph Campbell
Myths are powerful stories that give meaning to individual lives and shape the civilizations they inhabit. The many functions of myths provide the narrative for individual lives and bring us together to share tragedy and create societal order. A myth, however, only retains its power by telling and retelling it’s stories and helps to shape and organize individuals into cultural and political groups.
There are many ways to tell these stories. In American Gods Neil Gaiman uses the metaphor of worship to explain why the old Gods are losing their power. Worship is another form of storytelling. No matter the form of the story, if the stories are not told they begin to lose their power and the functions they provide to individuals and society are replaced by new myths whose stories become accepted through the cycle of telling and retelling.
 |
| The Nile River |
The Egyptian myth cycle clearly illustrates this dynamic. As George Hart notes in Egyptian Myths, “Egyptian myths, though seemingly outlandish to some, have survived because the society out of which they originated considered them crucial to the creation of a view of the world. Scribes, priests and story-tellers transmitted myths to explain etiological phenomena, to provide data for the continuity of existence in the afterlife and to exhibit the versatility of their imaginations. So whether as part of a religious quest of anthropological investigation or whether for an adventure into the surreal, the myths and legends of ancient Egypt leave us richer for their speculation and imagery.”
The harsh realty of the Egypt's geography provided the material for its stories. A narrow river valley surrounded by bleak deserts and the punishing sun beating down each day was the genesis for Egyptian myths. As in all societies, there was a need for each individual to understand the meaning of their life and what happened upon death and there was a need to organize a society that could survive the harsh environment they had been given. The river Nile overflowing its banks and providing the rich silt which nourished the earth and gave rise to agriculture was proof of resurrection. Individuals had to work together to exist and insure that the cycle of life continued from year to year.
This brutal reality gave rise to many Gods and stories of creation, resurrection and survival in the villages up and down the length of the Nile river. Jules Cashford elegantly explains this concept, “The ancient Egyptians explored these questions in the context of the overwhelming reality of their daily lives: the annual rising and falling of the River Nile, on which their life depended. The land of Egypt is re-created every year by this river which flows from south to north, from the equator to the Mediterranean, Life was--and still is contained in a narrow valley on either side of the river. Beyond this lies desert, a barren land of sand and rock with no water and no shade from the burning sun.”
These stories began to consolidate as villages became city-states while leaders learned the power of the Gods to keep society functioning. The rites of worship and ways of life were forms of the stories needed to to create society and cultures. Significantly, the rulers began to transcribe the stories in order to perpetuate their power.
In Egypt these stories were transcribed on what is known as the
Pyramid Texts. In
Egyptian Myths George Hart explains that these texts are, “Columns of hieroglyphs were carved 4,300 years ago in the vestibule and sarcophagus hall of the pyramid of King Wenis (c2350 BC) at Sakkara, necropolis of the royal capital of Memphis, with the intention of seeking a hereafter for the monarch in the vicinity of the sun god. Subsequent rulers of the old Kingdom (c2649-2152 BC continued this tradition. Known as Pyramid Texts, this corpus of spells and speculations gives us the opportunity to evaluate the complex imagery centered upon the Egyptian pantheon,. It also forms the earliest religious compilations in the world. “
The pyramid texts were the precursors to a civilization rich in written stories, oral storytelling, rites of worship and a pantheon of Gods to support the many functions that myths provide. The four basic functions of myth were prevalent in the stories of the Gods. The creation myths supported the awe and explanation of the universe as seen from the perspective of the narrow river valley in which they lived. Gods such as Ra, Osiris and Anubis gave shape to the social order of the great civilizations that rose under the relentless heat of the rising and setting sun transversing their river valley. The story of Isis and Osiris gave instructions about how to be human in an ever expanding empire beset with outside attacks and the cruelty of nature.
As the city-states combined and a strong nation developed, encompassing the land from Sudan to the Mediterranean Sea, the Gods too consolidated and their stories were told in ever increasing ways. Other forms of storytelling beside the pyramid texts were the
Coffin Texts, the
Bremner-Rhind Papyrus and the "
Shabaka Stone" . The latter contains the story of the accession of the god
Horus to the throne of Egypt and the
Memphite myth of the creator god. These stories were preserved by King Shabaka (712-698 BC) who discovered the papyrus scrolls on which they were inscribed was being eaten by worms. Evidence for Amun as the creator is found on
Papyrus Leiden.
There are also stories inscribed into statues and buildings perpetuating the mythic stories. Temples in Luxor contain stories of
Amun and his sexual union fathering the future monarch of Egypt and temple decorations at
Esna and Edu that also record accounts of creation.
It is clear that the preservation of the stories was important to the rulers of Egypt. They understood the power of myth and in particular the organizing capabilities of the stories. In 1984 Mary Boyce reported on the research of Berger and Luckmann linking social construction, story and organization and determined that story can be a vehicle for social control. The wide spread telling and preservation in ancient Egypt would indicate that the Pharaohs and men of power understood exactly how to create a political state using myth.
The most enduring myth of Egypt is that of
Osiris. He underwent several changes over the years as his importance waned and waxed. His stories served many functions for ancient Egyptians. He was a legendary king who brought civilization to his people, showed them how to cultivate crops, taught people how to worship the gods, is associated with the afterlife, fertility, and resurrection and serves as a dynastic myth. He had a long and useful life in ancient Egypt as long as his story was told.
This myth, as Cashford explains, was not extant in a full epic version but had be pieced together from several ancient and classical sources: The pyramid texts of the old kingdom, the coffin texts of the middle kingdom, the
Book of the Dead from the new kingdom, a ribald text entitled the
Contest of Horus and from the twentieth dynasty and the summary of Plutarch in
Concerning Isis and Osiris from the second century AD.
The stories of Osiris are illustrative of the power of myth in relation to the telling of the stories. Plutarch saved Osiris by searching for his story and finding it at the festival of
Abydos a yearly event following the inundation of the Nile. It was not until 1882 and the discovery of the
Rosetta Stone that the stories of Osiris and other Egyptian myths became available to the modern world.
The resurgence of these stories in today’s world is an indicator of the power of the stories they tell. Although their power has not reach the level of organizing society, they are multifunctional and appealing to the individual who is wondering what life is all about.
Works Cited
Boyce, Mary E., Organizational Story and Storytelling: A Critical Review, University of
Redlands, California, 1996, Web, 13 Sept. 2010.
Campbell, Joseph, Myths To Live By, Penguin Group, New York, 1972, Print.
Cashford, Jules, The Myth of Isis and Osiris, Barefoot Books, Boston, 1993, Print.
Gaiman, Neil, American Gods, Harpertorch, New York, 2001, Print.
Hart, George, Egyptian Myths, British Museum Publications University of Texas Press, Austin,
1990, Print.
Reid, Patrick V., ed., Readings In Western Religious Thought: The Ancient World, Paulist
Press, New Jersey, 1987, Print.
