Syncretism (Egyptology)
Syncretism in Egyptian mythology means that two or more gods merge into a unified whole, such as Atum-Re or Amun-Re , whereby the supra-regional sun god Re enters into a connection with the Heliopolitan god of creation Atum or the Theban Amun (the hidden) and in this way it becomes its own new deity, which can stand alongside the two original gods. Atum – Re describes the aspect of the evening sun god, while Re means the sun god in general.
requirements
The fusibility of the gods is causally related to the three thousand year history of Egyptian religion , the change in the image of God, the emergence of new gods like Osiris from the end of the 4th Dynasty, the Theban Amun from the end of the First Intermediate Period and the adoption of Asian deities in the New Kingdom . In addition, there is no theological codification so that the characters of the gods remain fluid. This is also noticeable in the iconography .
The possibility of equating the gods depends on their gender , characteristics and functions . Some, initially only local deities, are upgraded through the merging with a supraregional god before they become an overpowering god like Amun-Re in the New Kingdom.
Examples of merging gods
Old empire
Middle realm
- Amun-Re from the 12th dynasty
- Sobek -Re from the 12th dynasty merging and upgrading of the crocodile-shaped main god of Fayum with the supraregional sun god Re
- Khnum -Re (Chnum than originally local deity of Esna and in the area of the first cataract)
- Ptah – Sokar-Osiris (merging of three gods, see Ptah-Sokar)
New kingdom
The New Kingdom is characterized by expansion into the Middle East and the adoption of Canaanite gods. In the Great Sphinx of Giza, the sun god Re is worshiped in his manifestation as Harmachis (Horus in the horizon), but at the same time also the Canaanite god Hauron , so that there is a merging of Hauron-Harmachis.
In the New Kingdom from Tutankhamun , who moved from Amarna no longer to Thebes, but to Memphis, Amun – Re-Ptah, who is now considered the god of the world , was initially politically justified . The meaning of the trinity Amun, Re and Ptah can also be found in the Leiden Hymn of Amun :
All gods are three: Amun, Re and Ptah, none of them are equal. His name is hidden as Amun, he is perceived as Re, his body is Ptah. Your cities on earth remain forever: Thebes, Heliopolis and Memphis, until the end of time.
Late period
Only in the late period did male and female deities merge. In the Ptolemaic comes Serapis (Osiris Apis) added as a new syncretic God by Osiris connect to Apis , the bull god of Memphis comes in, Dionysian takes trains and finds its way into the Roman pantheon.
particularities
The sun god Re can also become the god of the dead Osiris and merge with him. This is made possible by the fact that Re dies on his nightly journey through the underworld and is reborn as Chepri in the morning .
literature
- Jan Assmann : Re and Amun. The crisis of the polytheistic worldview in Egypt of the 18th-20th centuries Dynasty . (Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 51). Friborg and Göttingen 1983
- Jan Assmann: Egypt. Theology and Piety of an Early High Culture . Stuttgart 1984, Kohlhammer Verlag (Urban Pocket Books Volume 366)
- Erik Hornung : The One and the Many: Ancient Egyptian Gods . 6., completely revised u. exp. Ed., Darmstadt 2005, Primus
- Wolfgang Schenkel , in: Lexicon of Egyptology, Volume II, keyword Gods Fusion , Wiesbaden 1977