ACS 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Maat, Khnum, Red Sea
Document Summary
Formed around the same time as mesopotamia. Centered around stability and had a stabilized culture. Called their land black land , which was fertile and used for agriculture, and red land , which was desert dead land. Red sea allowed them to travel for trade in africa. Relatively isolated, and home bodied, they felt safe at home. World was created perfect and the responsibility and goal of egyptians maintain that perfection. Recurrent, cyclical change: two constants are the sun and the nile, sun rises in the morning and sets in afternoon, flood comes at the same time every year. Dualism: the felt their world was composed of opposites, which brought balances, black land (fertile) vs red land (sterile) Multiplicity of approached: seen in religion and their idea of how their world was created. Religion cannot be separated from daily life. Heliopolis/ god atum (sun/ sun god: means all or nothing, he embodies within himself.