Akhet - The Horizon

The Basis.

In ancient Egypt, the basis for existence of the country, society and of the individual was the maintaining of of Ma'at, the principle which ordered and structured the universe. But Ma'at did not exist by itself, without effort. The natural tendency was for the chaotic forces outside of creation, the 'uncreated', to invade and destroy it, so a continuos countereffort had to be made, and that could only be done by upholding and preserving Ma'at.

The various Creation Myths all teach that Existence came about due to the actions of a Creator God, wether it was Atum at Iunu (Heliopolis) or Ptah at Mennefer (Memphis). Ma'at was the Divine Order of things and of beings and the balancing principle which would react if Existence was threatened. It was thus important to 'do Ma'at' in the world, so that balance was kept. And this had to be done on all levels of existence - in the uppermost echelons of society as well as among every commoner.

Man and God

Everything had its place and function within Creation, and Man was a part of Creation, not its´ center, as the modern view tends to place him. Man's perception of the world around him was colored by symbolic interpretation. The symbols were telltale signs of the workings of the Divine as the ancient Egyptians saw the pesence of the gods everywhere around them. This Divinity manifested at the same time as the Creator God and as every one of the gods which were worshipped daily, whether hidden inside the temples or in the household shrines. For the ancient Egyptian there was in effect no difference between these aspects of the Divine. Neither did he experience any difference between that which was "religious" and that which was not. The word 'religion' did not exist in the ancient language. For man the Divine was present every day and everywhere, on any level of existence. They simply addressed that aspect of the Divine that was most suited for the matter in question.

The King as God

The mediator between humans and gods was the king. At his crowning, a new king was transformed into a living god, a concept which of course went through changes in the more than 3000 year long history of ancient Egypt, but nevertheless remained the basis for the prevailing religious, economic and social structure.

In the earliest Predynastic times the word ntjr was used to denote the king directly, at this time he was also called 'son of Re'. Later the word pr, meaning 'great house' became used to denote the king (think of the White House and how that word is used) and from there we have Per A´a meaning 'Great House' meaning 'Pharaoh'.

The theory which this was based on was that when the king, called the Living Heru, died, he passed over to the Kingdom of Wesir (Osiris) and left the kingship in the hands of his son, just as the myth of Wesir (Osiris), Aset (Isis) and Heru (Horus) describe. The newly ascended king becomes the Living Heru (Horus) at the moment of his coronation, and is thereby transformed into a divine status.

So the Divine Kingship rests on mythical precedence and on two generations - a transmission of status from father to son as laid out by the gods in the beginning of time. One important distinction should be made; it is the office of the king which is sacred, the office is eternal but the person holding it is human and of course he changes through time.

The ancient Egyptians seemed to have no problems with this transformation. The king was both human and divine at the same time, and as such he was active both on the mundane plane of existence and in the realm of the gods. This 'double' way of perceiving things, was to them complementary rather than contradictory, as is how the modern day person tends to observe it. And as the King was both human and Divine, he was the one best suited to act as a link between the world of the Netjeru and the world of humans. He served both.

Duty of the King

The most important task for the king was to serve the gods and by that making it possible to maintain order and structure in society. He was seen as the son of several gods, not just one; Papyrus Harris mentions Ramesses III as the son of Amon, Atum, Ptah, Shu, Thoth, Osiris, Wepwawet, Horus and others. He becomes in fact their incarnation on earth. By observing and obeying the will of the gods he upholds Ma´at, the principle of balance which leads to order, justice and harmony, and which is necessary for existence to continue. Here the daily Temple Cult plays an important part.

The King lives by Maat and for Maat. By reciting rituals and bringing forward offerings he is performing his duty; he represents mankind and personifies Egypt. He was the ruler by the grace of the gods and as such he had the task of fighting the disintegrating forces and uphold balance and justice in society.

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